Filming Day!

We arrived at James' for 11.30am, and for 2 hours we decided the order of the scenes we were going to shoot and in what locations we were going to shoot them. We decided to shoot the outside scenes first as we found a great location which was dark for the suspense but was well lit so we could get clear shots. We weren't able to use the cat outside for obvious reasons but I still mentioned it on the risk assessment as it would of been a risk but instead we used a piece of black material, so the audience know something is in there but don't know exactly what it is. Shooting the scenes outside took us about an hour or so, because we shot many short scenes and we had to get the camera angles right.

There was a bit of trouble as it was a rainy dull day and our location was slightly muddy so we had to make sure the equipment clean and safe from any damage throughout the whole filming day.

After finishing the outdoor scenes, we went back to James' house to film the scene just outside his house and the scenes inside the house. We changed some of the shots and replaced them with more effective shots such as we used the living room for the conversation scene instead of the kitchen because as it came to filming it looked and worked much better.

The whole filming day was successful as we finished at 4 and used the school camera so we know our filming will be safe on the back up tape also.

Risk Assessment!

Safety is very important when filming, if the equipment being used becomes damaged or even the actors that are involved in the filming get hurt then it could cause much more trouble than needed for filming etc so I have created a risk assessment table to assess what possible risk's could take place, what level the risk is and how we will avoid these risks.

	What is the risk?	Who/What is at risk?	Risk Level	What we are going to do to avoid risk?
	Breaking/damaging the cameras when filming.	The Camera	Medium/High	To avoid dropping the camera, it will be screwed onto the tripod at all times and when it is not in use it will be protective bag. We are planning on using a few cameras to shoot and to take stills so we have to make sure all cameras are protected.
	Breaking the tripod	The Tripod	Low	The tripod will always be in use and this will hopefully prevent it being damaged. We will make sure that all screws on the tripod will be tightened and not loose as that could cause damage. When the tripod isn't in use, it'll be laid down on a flat surface to prevent it from tumbling over.
	Losing any equipment/props	Any props/equipment that are being used.	Low	The only valuable props that is at a risk of being lost are the mobile phone and portable music player. These will be in the actors pocket when filming is not taking place. We will make sure that all props and equipment are safe and make sure nothing is missing after the filming.
	Damaging the environment when we film outside	The environment	Low	We haven't got any equipment that could possibly damage any of the environment but we will consider where we shoot our outside shots to prevent any damages to the environment. We will also make sure the plastic bags that we use in our filming will not be left anywhere.
	Actors eye's become irritated by the red contacts	Cast/Crew	Medium	The contacts could cause some irritation for the actor wearing them. If this happens then the contacts will be remove and eyes will be washed but if the actor feels as though he cannot place them in the eye, we will apply to red eye effect when we get to the editing stage.
	Cat not co-operating/needing a lot of looking after in case it runs off.	Cat	High	We might be using a cat in our opening sequence and this could cause a bit of trouble. If this does happen we will make sure that James or James' mum is on hand to help if the cat becomes un co-operative or run away from the scene, if we don't use the cat then we will be can easily change the shot.

Locations!

'The Sidings'- Toton:

This location is used for the first few shots of our opening scene. We needed to use a path for Rachel to walk down and we thought this was the best. The forest type look I think will add to the tension of the first moments of the opening sequence, therefore building up the suspense as she walks down the hill. The weather was very dull on the day we filmed also which I think will definitely work to our advantage, because it sets the cautious and creepy mood and pathetic fallacy could be effectively used as the later events turn for the worse and the weather possibly foreshadows this.

James' House:

We filmed the indoor scenes of our opening sequence in James' house, we filmed just outside the house also for the scene where Rachel walks back into the house.

James' Living room:



We used James' living room to show the scene where the two characters talk and where the character that I portray; Lindsay Thomas notices the infected scratch mark on Rachel's characters hand. We used this side of the room as it provided the most light and the staircase and the sofa can be seen so that both characters can converse. The room looks well kept so implies that the two girls as characters are room mates and let out the house with other people.

Costumes and Props

When we film the opening sequence, we're will be using props, costumes and make-up to make the mise-en scene of the opening sequence match our unique idea. We will probably need to think more about props and make-up as that pieces the opening scene together.

Costume: Both me and Rachel will wear warm yet modern clothing as we need to put across to the audience that we're students that don't take things too seriously. Both of us will wear jeans and a casual top and cardigan showing the period of which we're setting our opening sequence in and the type of people we're portraying. Rachel plans to wear lighter colours to show her innocence playing the character who gets bitten whereas I plan to wear darker clothes, maybe showing that we may be best friends but have different personalities.

Make-up: For most of the opening sequence, me and Rachel just wear natural make-up showing that it's a normal casual day. In the last scene, Rachel needs to look ill and washed out so we will be using a paler foundation and use grey eye shadow around her eyes to achieve this look. When we filmed the opening sequence, I used red and brown lipstick to create the scratch marks, which looked very effective, real and was inexpensive.

Props:

We used a cat/animal box in our opening sequence as the main character discovers it walking back from the shops. It was a bright colour which adds to the seen where Rachel's character notices it as it is a bright object in a darker setting. When it is seen in the shot, audience may think a little cute cat or dog is in there but once a low angle shot shows the sticker (prop below) then the audiences perception will change.



Originally we were going to order a bio-hazard sticker but printing one off and using sticky-back plastic was must more cost effective and looked exactly the same. This will be placed on the back of the cat box. It'll be seen through a low angle shot where only the audience can see it rather than the main character as she puts her hand in the box. This sticker is connotated with danger adding to the suspence of the scene.

Actors: Character Profile and Casting!

I thought after creating the storyboard and thinking more about the characters that we should think more about characteristics and detailed information about the characters so the audience and people who are portraying the character understand more. This will help with thinking about the small bit of dialogue that will be in the opening sequence and thinking about how the character is perceived by the audience. We have made some changes to our original idea as we have also decided instead of using a man and a woman, we would show 2 women in their late teens/early 20's, we thought this would work better as they would be housemates rather than partners as it would connect more to the main target audience plus me and Rachel were up for acting in our opening sequence which made it simpler.

Name: Lindsey Thomas

Age: 19-20

Character facts:

• Young woman who studies Biology at University and has a passion for it.
• Best friends with Lindsay, met in secondary school, go to the same uni and now lives with her.
• Very curious person, wants to know about things, which explains why in the opening sequence he wonders whats in the box and even puts his hand in it.
  
• Quite cool and relaxed, doesn't like to make a deal out of something that maybe really she is worried/panicked about.

What their actual role is: The main character that finds a mysterious random cat box in the middle of a wooded area when walking home from the shops. She is the one who gets scratched by the animal tested cat and becomes infected.

Costume: Casual clothing that is not too old fashioned as she is just a normal late teenager but maybe a jacket or scarf, nothing too fancy as she is walking through a wooded area.

Actor/Actress playing the role: Rachel Aylott agreed to play the role as Sarah Davis and I think she would be great at portraying the role. She hasn't had too much drama experience but I think Rachel can cleverly show the characteristics that have to come through within the acting for the character of Sarah Davis.

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Name: Sarah Davis
Age: 19-20

Character facts:

• Young woman who studies Medicine at University
  
• Best friends
  with Sarah, met in secondary school, go to the same uni and now lives with her.
• Caring and hard working person, likes to help people.
  

What their actual role is: The secondry character that worries about Sarah when she comes back scratched, she knows that it doesn't look right but Sarah doesnt make a fuss so she lets it go.

Costume: Casual clothing that is not too old fashioned as she is just a normal late teenager e.g. jeans, top and cardigan.

Actor/Actress playing the role: I agreed to portray the character of Lindsay Thomas. I have had quite a bit of experience in Drama and I am taking an A Level in Drama and Theatre Studies but I wasn't too sure about being the main character in this project as I was in the preliminary task and I wanted to focus more on Media in this main task such as editing and camerawork.

Filming Schedule!

We have decided to do all of the filming on one day in the half term holidays, this is a date where we are all free including our extra actor.

Date for Filming: 25th February 2011, arriving at the first location (James' house at 11am)
Location: Toton - James' house and 'Sidings'
Order of shots: We plan to film the indoor shots first in James' house and then go to the 'sidings' to film to outisde shots in the wooded area.
Actors needed: Sam Milne (Me) and Brad Evans
Props needed: Cat, Cat box, Red contacts, Shopping bags, Phone, iPod or portable music player of somesort and Make up to create the scratches on hand.

Storyboards!

Drafts

This is our draft storyboard for the opening sequence of our Medical thriller 'Bloodshot'. This is the basic shots and layout we are going to use in our 2 minute task. We realise that this is an ambitious idea, but we hope to achieve a unique opening sequence in the time limit we have. In the draft, I just roughly sketched the shots and angles of the camera with little description before completing a final storyboard.


Final Storyboard

In our final storyboard, I made the images more clear to show exaclty what we are trying to show within the shot etc. I also added a lot more infomation such as the type of shot, if music is included or not, and the transitions from shot to shot.

Our first shot will be a mid shot of the distribution and production logo's that will need to be created in the following weeks before the editing stage. The music will start in this shot and continue into the following shots also this music is more upbeat, this is partly to confuse the audience therefore making it eery. A fade transition will be used to build tension into the next shots.

The next shot will involve 2 types of camera angle. The camera will move to a tracking mid shot to a tracking over the shoulder shot. We have decided to use quite quick snappy transitions to speed the pace up. A sound effect will be brought in at the end of a mobile phone 'beeping' before going to the next shot. A straight cut will be used to keep the pace up.

This sound effect will continue in the next shot for a few seconds before the phone is taken out of the pocket, the music in the background will be turned down/off for effect also. This will be shown through a extreme close up of a pocket. A straight cut will be used.

Two very quick shots will be used in this shot, an over the shoulder shot to see him looking at the text (saying something like 'are you nearly back from the shop? xx') but the sense that someone is looking at him which will completely confuse the audience into the sub genre of this opening sequence which I like. Then a close up of the phone will show the man texting back saying something along the lines 'yep just walking through the woods now, will be home in min xx'. A fade will be used to show time passing.

A long shot will be used to show the man walking up to the wooded area, this automatically adds to the tension as woods normally symbolise something 'going wrong'. A fade will be used.

Once he enters the woods the man notices something and this is shown through a mid shot, this is a very quick shot which establishes that something else is there, building up the suspense. A straight cut will be used.

A close up of the cat box will be the next shot (eyeline match), and this will confuse the audience as they will beleive that it's just a sweet little animal. Straight cut will be used.

The next scene will show the man looking more closely at the box and putting his hand in then pulling back after being scratched, but we can see the biohazard sign on the back of the box whereas the man can't, making the audience feel the extreme tension in this shot. Dialogue or sound effect: 'AHHH'. Straight cut will be used.




This will be a very quick shot; close up of the scratched hand. 5-10 seconds max, straight cut will be used.

Point of view shot will show the cat running away. Fade will be used.

A long shot will be used to show him walking home, keeps looking at hand, and facial expressions will show the uncertainty of the male.Eery music will be used. Straight cut will be used.

Very quick close up of scratched hand opening a front door. Scratch will look much worse building tension. Fade will be used to show time passing. Music still being played.

Two shot will show man putting down bags in the kitchen and woman seeing the scratch. Dialogue will be said, not too much though and straight cut will be used.

Close up of man washing hand under the sink, maybe a bit of blood drains down the plug hole, signifying danger. Straight cut will be used.




Close up of the door closing, builds tension to what happens next for the audience. Fade to black will be used to build the suspense for the last shot. Music has continued to the last shot

The first of the last two shots is a very quick extreme close up showing the eyes opening to show they are bright red. The climax of the music will hopefully be edited into the scene. Fade to black will be used so that the titles can fade onto the black. Also being shown through a mid shot.

Brainstorming!

This is the brainstorm we did about the different sub genres of Thriller and which one would work for us and be unique at the same time. We brainstormed the main sub genres and expanded on their conventions and what normally is included in them. We crossed out the idea of Action Thriller after we spoke about it as the conventions are highly professional such as the use of cars and effects, this is the same reason why we crossed out Fantasy/Sci Fi. We like the sub genres of Crime and Psychological but we thought that this had been used a lot of times in this task for A level so we all decided on a different and unique opening sequence based on the sub genre of 'Medical Thriller'. We understand that this will be a challenge but we wanted to be different to everyone else and we believe that we can achieve a tense opening sequence.

This was our idea page for the Medical Thriller. We thought of a few ideas but the main medical idea we came up with was virus spreading or an infection. We thought of zombies/supernatural creatures but we wouldn't of been able to pull of the professionalism that big film makers have in that area. We then came of to the idea of one person being infected by nature such as a tree/animal and expanded on that for our main Thriller task idea.

Our final idea is a Medical Thriller opening sequence based on a virus being spread by an infected/animal tested cat. We brainstormed the main stuff like costumes and props which are going to be minimal to make it easy to work with. Our settings are going to be in Toton and James will be finding our specific locations nearer the time. I think the final choice for the Thriller task name is Bloodshot.

Orphan- Film Analysis

Film: Orphan
Year: 2009
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Sound: The music that is used in the title sequence of 'Orphan' is very eery and tense. The instruments used are mainly strings (violins) that tend to squeak at certain moments, normally when the pictures are about to be 'distorted'. This piece of music builds up throughout the opening sequence, making the audience feel tense and slightly uncomfortable during this opening piece. Throughout the titles, there are a series of images and when these images become distorted so does the music because on top of the music, there is a sound effect that sounds similar to fire cracking or thunder crashing. This effect on top of the music with the distorted image is nerve-racking as it builds up, making that audience quite restless and nervous.

Mise en Scene: The distributors are presented first in the titles, then lots of pictures that look as though they are drawn by a child such as a tied up Bible and pictures of a family. These images are displayed on a dim background but then they change and distort. The images distort by colour being splat on them at a high pace, this contrasts with the whole pace of the titles and creates a tense atmosphere. The Bible drawing could symbolise that the family or the 'Orphan' is religious or maybe not religious as the Bible looks as though it is tied up. When the images of the family are displayed on the screen, it distorts to show that they are burning in a fire or being killed somehow e.g. a picture with a pair of scissors to the neck.

Camera work: The opening titles for this film don't have a wide range of camera angles and movements, I think that is used for effect as the images and the sound build tension for itself, so really the camera stays central for most of the time so we can see the images clearly and also it creates an eery effect. Saying that, the camera does move slightly; when the images are shown on the screen with the titles, the camera very slightly pans across the images at a extremely slow pace, this creating more of a scary/eery effect as it moves ever so slightly so that the tension builds up. Most of the opening titles are shown at a mid-shot with some of the images shown being seen through a close up shots, this maybe to emphasise the connotations the images have with the film.

Editing: The whole film is very dim, not black and white but more of a 'sepia' wash, this immediately shows that this isn't a happy, cheery film but dark and cold. A lot of fades are used as transitions in this opening sequence to build tension towards the end title, the fades set the eery atmosphere of the titles and makes the audience feel the suspense as soon as it starts. The images that are presented in the titles are dim (the same as the background) but then the images change as the effect looks like bright colour is splattering onto the images; the splatters also look like blood being splattered. When the colour appears it looks like a light is flickering on and this immediately gives connotations of a weird/creepy setting and foreshadows what happens at the end of the film.

Titles: The titles are next to the images that are presented during the titles. The font is standard but when the images become distorted so does the font and looks like it's been scratched into something, giving a scary feel to the titles. The titles are of mid size so it's not too big therefore it doesn't dominate the screen, taking the effect away from the images and not too small so that we can't read who stars in the film.

Phone Booth- Film Analysis

Annoyingly I was only able to find the titles of 'Phonebooth' as copyright issues on YouTube wouldn't allow me to find an 'opening sequence' but even though this is just titles, I think this will help on with ideas with the credits and edits for our own Thriller sequence.

Film: Phonebooth
Year: 2002
Director: Joel Schumacher

Sound: At the beginning of the titles, we can hear a non-diegetic track playing a piano melody over and over again until it changes slightly 13 seconds in. This piano sound is quite tense as it is slow paced but also that over the top of the track, there is a heavy breathing sound effect, which builds tension and makes the audience feel slightly uncomfortable. At 13 seconds in a light drum beat is put of top of all the sound also then a few seconds after the drum beat becomes much heavier, creating an urban feel to the titles. The piano sequence is then replaced with a single low piano note played every 4 seconds, this builds up tension as the notes are spaced out, as an audience makes us think there's a mystery of some sort. The music becomes faster and more 'techno' as it adds different sound effects, even though all this music is played, we can still faintly hear the breathing, keeping that feel of mystery as the music tempo changes slightly. Then just before the title 'Phonebooth' is placed into the scene, the music changes back to the original melody, bringing down the tension a little but leaving the audience with suspense.

Mise en Scene: The beginning of the titles, we can see a white screen that is faded black around the edges, bringing a sort of 'mysterious' look to the titles as no colour in the titles makes the titles a bit surreal. Then we first see the titles next to a line or wire and this is to represent the telephone wire. Lots of little circle shapes then appear on the screen and as the zooms in, it then turns into 'Telephone cord curls' making it look futuristic. Then the curls turn into moving triangles like '/\/\/\' symbolising a heart rate monitor then it changes back to the straight line before the line creates a city scape. The straight lines after the 'heart rate monitor' symbolises death and foreshadows the story of 'Phonebooth'. The line then creates a 2D shape of a city scape therefore establishing the setting and time of the film before it has even started, again being in black and white, creating suspense and tension. The city scape then becomes 3D and as the camera moves between the city scape we see more credits. The last credit ends with the directors name before the tower block creates the title of the film 'Phonebooth'. All in all the mise en scene shows doesn't make it tense but sort of surreal in a futuristic way.

Camera work: This opening sequence has an interesting use of camera movement as it follows the beat of the music. At the beginning the camera tracks the 'telephone wire' allowing the audience to see the titles. The camera movement are very quick and on each transaction to another credit, there's either a tilt, pan or zoom, making us as an audience focus even more on the camera movements and what is says on screen. This builds up suspense massively as we are following the wire with camera and wondering what will appear next on the screen. When the drum beat is introduced the camera makes quick cuts such as zoom in and out's so that we see each individual name in the credits. Then the long shot pans over to what looks like the side of the wire which then changes into the triangles. The quick movements and cuts make the audience feel tense and uneasy as we watch to see what happens next even though these are just the titles. Then the camera pans across the 'heart beat monitor' and into the 3D city scape, tracking the city scape whilst panning slightly from right to left, this is so we can see the titles and establishes the setting even more, then as the camera tilts up the tower, it becomes a birds eye view which then spells 'Phonebooth' then there's a zoom that fades to black, this makes the audience feel tense and uneasy as they don't know what to expect next except from maybe the setting and who stars in it.

Editing: The editing of the straight wire then to the curly wire, provides the audience with a story, adds suspense as it is not a obvious connotation and the audience have to think about it. Then the curls turn into a heartbeat monitor which portrays death or struggling to survive. The shape then edits to a city scape which establishes the surreal yet modern setting. The colour black and white makes the sequence tense to watch. Black and white backgrounds are regularly used in Thrillers, as it adds to the dramatic effect more than colour would. The fade at the end of the titles add a dramatic effect and makes the audience wonder about the story that is about to be shown.

Titles: The font of the titles is in bold and slightly italic. It makes the titles stand out as the camera moves around the wire to present the titles. The titles follow the telephone wire and are split up and shown at a slow pace within the opening sequence. The slow pace adds to the tension as well as the edits of the font matching the music makes it edgy to follow.

Sin City- Film Analysis

Film: Sin City
Year: 2005
Director: Frank Miller

Sound: At the very beginning, there is non-diegetic sound of a low Saxophone which immediately sets the tense atmosphere and creates a mysterious urban setting. Ambient non-diegetic sound is also used such as footsteps, 'city' noises, gunshot, rain falling and thunder. All of these sounds are nicely spread out during the opening sequence, making the pace freakishly slow and this then adds to the suspense and adds a sinister effect by adding emotion to the sequence.

The first piece of dialogue we hear is a non-diegetic piece ( voice over/narrative) as the person who is talking is not yet in the scene, however a few seconds later the male figure appears. This adds to the tense atmosphere because the voice over/narrative is directed to the female that is already in the scene who looks slightly vulnerable (playing on that stereotype). The dialogue states... "She shivers in the wind, like the last leaf on a dying tree" not only does the dialogue create the meaning that the woman is vulnerable but "last leaf on a dying tree" gives connotations of death or an end to something and the audience can actually picture the last leaf on a dying tree. The dialogue is said by a man in a very deep and husky voice, this adds to the tension as it makes it seem as if the man who is talking has some power over the vulnerable women.

At the end of the sequence a piano piece which is quite dramatic and sad, maybe reflecting on the emotions in the sequence. Then a light drum beat is added to the sequence adding again the tense urban mystery back to the sequence.

Mise en Scene: The opening of this film reveals a centralised woman wearing a vivid red, elegant dress and as she is shown in the centre of the screen, it perhaps shows her importance in this film. The dress is also backless and shows quite a bit of skin, which could suggest that she is vulnerable target. This vulnerability is reinforced by colour of the dress as red has connotations with danger. When the man appears, he is hidden by the darkness for most of the sequence but he wears a formal black suit which portrays the man as a business type but also has a cold, dark emotion towards him.

Throughout the whole opening sequence, the colour of the film is black and white but there is slight glimpses of colour such as the red dress and lipstick. I think that the colour of this sequence definitely portrays danger, mystery and darkness because of the woman being defined by the colour makes her stand out with the first few seconds of the scene. At the beginning, the lighting is low because it is reflected from the windows that are seen a couple of seconds later then at 15 seconds in the camera angle changes to show where the light is coming from therefore making the light brighter. The low key lighting added to the mystery at the beginning and when the lighting changed it, I think it shifted the mystery and tension a little bit.

There are a minimal props used in this sequence, just a cigarette, a lighter and a silent pistol. The gun is used to shoot her but with the silencer, the sound fades in the city noise, which then again brings back the mystery.

Camera work: Firstly there's a long central shot of the woman walking elegantly towards the balcony where she looks out onto the city view, after the dialogue, the shot changes and a male silhouette walks behind but is situated nearer stage right, perhaps suggesting that he is not the most important in this moment as the woman is more central.

When they start to converse, there is a slight two shot between them both as they stand together side by side but the women has her arms crossed showing that she could be uncomfortable in the situation. A varied amount of camera angles and shots have been used to slow paced effect and shows the full emotions of both characters. The slow pace of the dialogue and camera movements also build the tension and suspense. A close up of the woman's face features including her eyes is used when the male offers a 'smoke' and from the shot we can see her facial expression changes to be much more fearful.

A two shot of the two passionately kissing before he shots her and she falls to the ground. This showed that the male did have feelings for the woman but maybe had to follow orders to kill her. At the end there is a long shot of the two on the floor as the man holds her and the camera spirals out into the shape of the city and this shape therefore makes the logo of the film 'Sin City'.

Editing: In this opening sequences, they use a lot of straight cuts used, this helps the audience understand what is happening without the distractions of fades and fancy effects ect. Even though the woman enters the sequence first, both male and female have the same amount of screen time. There is a quite a long shot that edits to a medium shot which then moves to a close up and then an extreme close up, these cuts shows the emotions well. Then there is a over head shot of the man holding onto the woman, then a cartoon effect is introduced, this is completely different to any other Thriller movies and making it an original opening sequence.

Titles: Weirdly there is no titles in this opening sequence.. only at the very very end but this is unusual for an opening sequence. Maybe this is because they wanted to make this opening sequence different or didn't want anything to take away to mystery or effect of the dialogue. Frank Miller had made this very different so that the audience don't tend to think firstly on who stars in the movie but what it is all about, making this quite unique.

Audience Research

Everybody has a different taste in films and the Thriller genre is not for everyone and this is probably because Thriller is aimed at a certain age and gender. Whilst I was researching, I have found graphs and figues that show the differences between age and gender on who is most likely to enjoy and watch Thriller films and who is not.

The type of audience who stereotypically would enjoy Thrillers would be someone who likes to work out the mystery for themselves and people who are intrigue by mystery. From this graph we can see that people who most likely to enjoy or watch Thrillers are people who are in the category of 50+. I think this is unusual as I would of thought that people who enjoyed Thrillers more would be younger audiences.

From this graph, which analyses the gender who enjoys and watches more Thrillers, we can see that women are more likely to watch Thrillers. I found this pretty suprising as I would of thought that men are more into the jumpy films with a sense of thrill.

Audience Questionnaire

I conducted an audience questionnaire for 20 people as a part of my research to see what audience out there like to watch or find for in a Thriller movie.

1) Male or Female?
Male- (8)
Female-(12)



2) How old are you? What age group do you belong to?

5-10- (0)

11-20- (7)

21-30- (5)

31-40 - (2)

41-50- (4)

51-60- (2)

60+- (0)

3) Is the thriller genre one of your favourite types of film?

Yes (It is one of my favourites)- (5)
Maybe (Depends what type of Thriller)- (8)
No (Not my sort of film) - (7)

4) Could you name any famous directors that are famous for directing a thrillers?

3+ - (4)
2- (7)
1- (6)
None-(3)

5) What sub genre of thriller films do you particularly enjoy?

Crime Thriller- (4)
Action Thriller- (3)
Medical Thriller-(5)
Sci Fi Thriller-(1)
Psychological Thriller- (6)
Other- (1)

6) Could you define what a 'Thriller' is?

• A film that keeps you intrigued during the whole film
• Builds suspense throughout the film
• Normally involves a hero and a villian
• Eerie setting to match the action
  
  

7) What do you look for when you are watching a thriller or what do you enjoy?

• Feeling tense and to be a scary atmosphere
• Keep me intrigued
• Trying to figue out the ending but theres always a twist

8) Name a film (a film from the Thriller genre) that you enjoyed?
Inception- (6)
The Dark Knight-(4)
Terminator- (2)
Fight Club-(3)
Pulp Fiction-(2)
Sin City- (3)



From this questionnaire, I questioned females and males where the majority of females said that they enjoy Thriller movies which is totally against the stereotypical view that Thriller is not the type women enjoy. From the people I questioned, they were below the age of 20 and said they considered the Thriller genre to be one of their favourites. With sub categories, people said that they liked Action Thriller and Psychological thriller, looking at it stereotypically, I think men would prefer Action and women like the Psychological thrillers. People said that their favourite thriller films were recent such as Inception and Dark Knight, it shows that people enjoy the newer storylines or maybe that we have the technology now to provide a more vivid story than 20 or so years ago.

Thriller Directors- Top 10

1. Alfred Hitchcock

Known as the 'King of Psychological Thrillers' and 'The Mast of Suspense', Hitchcock's career as director is the most prestigious in the world of the thriller genre with a total of 63 films with 6 of his films appearing on the IMDb list such as 'Vertigo', 'North by Northwest', 'Psycho' and 'Rear Window' 1954 and many more but the last 2 being his most popular being joint 6th together on the list. From the sources it shows how successful Hitchcock was from 1940-1976, this is based on the gross profits of the films at that time. I believe Hitchcock changed the word of Thriller and film itself as he has influenced many other directors with his own work.

2. Steven Spielberg

Spielberg is undoubtedly one of the most well known directors in the business, being one of the wealthiest directors in the world. He has countless big grossing credits to his name as a writer, producer but mainly a director. Spielberg's first major directorial effect was 'The Sugarland Express' 1974 which is the film that marked him as a rising star however the film that made him an international superstar among directors is 'Jaws' 1975 but no one can forget that he created the class 'ET- The Extra- Terrestrial'. With all of this and so much more, there's no wonder that he's looked at as one of the greatest ever figues in entertainment.

3. James Cameron

James Cameron is a director who is responsible for genius pieces of film such as Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986). He was the first director to make 2 films which have grossed more than $1 billion in the worldwide box office with the films Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009). In 2010, Avatar became the highest grossing movie of all time but before Avatar, one of his previous films, Titanic was the highest grossing movie of all time for 12 years.

4. Quentin Tarantino , 5. Martin Scorsese, 6. Christopher Nolan, 7. Roman Polanski, 8. David Fincher, 9. John Carpenter and 10. David Cronenberg.

These directors have been an inspriation to the future of the Thriller genre and have been inspirated by past directors. I think that there work will encourage us to create a opening piece based on a mixture of their ideas.

Thriller Conventions

A group of us mind-mapped the conventions and codes of Thrillers and this is some that we picked out.

A Thriller story normally includes these conventions:

• Tension and suspense is built up throughout the whole film.
• The lighting is normally darkened and muted, to give a sinister and eery effect.
• Non diegetic soundtracks that add to the tension of a film, use a number of instruments normally heavy strings.
• Setting and atmosphere is in a dark place.
• There is normally a vulnerable victim, most likely to be a female or a child.
• A serious villain that carries the tension of the film.
• There is normally a twist in the plot that throws the audience to what they think the outcome will be.
• A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, rape or kidnap).
• Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations.
• Narrative enigma.
• Themes of mirroring and forshadowing
  
• Protagonist with a problem which is exploited by the antagonist is a common theme where the Protagonists have to solve it.
• Title sequence sometimes reflects on the character's psychological state.
• There is often a scene near the end of the film where the protagonist is in danger and this makes the audience wonder if the protagonist or antagonist will win in the end.
• Likely to leave a few cliff hangers to keep the audience "on the edge of their seats"
• In other genres, the antagonist is not normally identified but in thrillers the antagonist is often known throughout the film.
  

Definitions

Thriller: 'Thriller' is a type of genre which uses suspense, excitement and tension as its main components. There are lots of sub categories of this genre which include: Crime thriller, Medical thriller, Psychological thriller and many more but these 3 being the main types. The plot is normally villain-driven, where he/she presents problems that the hero has to overcome throughout the film. It is also said that this type of genre derives from the 'Horror' genre as they are very similar but the 'Horror' genre is much more scary in its content such as props and setting whereas 'Thriller' is more about the tension building and the suspense it tends to hold throughout the film.

Opening Sequence: The opening sequence or opening titles is when at the beginning of a film, it presents information that is used to grab the attention of the audience such as Distributors of the film, some of the main cast and setting. In the opening sequence it is vital that the director or producer to establish the setting/location, which is used to intrigue the audience and to keep them interested.

Trailer: Trailers are used for films advertisment for a film that is soon to be exhibited in cinemas. These trailers have to be attention-grabbing for the audience to want to see the film however some trailers for films are packed with the most/only exciting parts in the film, just to make the audience want to see it when really it could be an awful film.

Introduction to the Thriller genre!

The Thriller genre is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The genre uses suspense, excitement and tension as its the main components and strives for a anxious, high tensioned response that well known directors of this genre seek to provide.

IMDb (The Internet Movie Database) provides a substantial amount of information on all films. From the information I have read, thrillers seem to be a very popular genre, as it supported some of the highest grossing films of all time (information provided by Worldwide Box Office). This genre including films such as 'Inception' (Directed by Christopher Nolan 2010) which was ranked 25th and had an overall gross of $292,568,851. 'The Dark Knight' (also directed by Christopher Nolan 2008) ranked 7th and had an overall gross of $533,316,061.




Alongside these popular films, many other Thriller hits made it onto the list such as 'Fight Club' (Directed by David Fincher 1999), 'Se7en' (Directed by David Fincher 1995), 'Psycho' (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock 1960) and 'Jaws' (Directed by Steven Spielberg 1975).



Before creating our own thriller, we will be be doing some advanced research into sub genres of Thrillers and also looking at examples of opening sequences. This will give our group more ideas on how to create our 2 minute task and will also helps us to see what conventions are used within thrillers and how we could incorporate them into ours.

References: IMDb and Wikipedia

Preliminary Task- Final Cut

Our final cut for our Preliminary Task!

Editing Lesson 3!

Last lesson we concentrated our attention on the appearance of our film but by doing this, we didn't get all of the audio editing done, we thought we had to concentrate more on the appearance than the audio but when we realised audio effects was just as important for us. This was because of the Thriller genre we have been trying to portray relies a lot on non-diegetic sound, so because of this we have decided to use a the backing track which Jay provided and we used this over the top of the film.

We did some of the audio editing last week such as muting the 'buzzing' noise out of the scenes that don't have dialogue. This lesson we imported the track onto the software and edited it into the film, adjusting volume etc. Once it was fully uploaded, we cut the track to fit in with the film so it didn't go over the dialogue. We did this by using the razor tool and using the effects on the software to fade the sound in and out when scenes with dialogue came up. The image below is a print of how we adjusted the volume in the film so that when the music came in after a scene with dialogue in, the voilume wasnt harsh but it faded in.

We finished the audio editing and saved the film as an 'avi' file, then we uploaded it onto YouTube as we thought it would then be easier to upload it as we just embed the file instead of uploading it using 'Blogger Uploader'