Whilst discussing thrillers as a genre we depicted what made a good thriller and what elements were a contributor to this. We decided to base our Thriller opening heavily on a Psychological theme. Perhaps even some psychosis portrayed through the characters dream.
For example, The films below demonstrate our ideas on basing our thriller on a psychologically related theme. Events which occur throughout the film that play tricks on the mind, some triggering mental illnesses and such like.
Black Swan, The Strangers and The Terminator are all so successful as thrillers because they focus on how the mind relates to certain events which take place throughout the film, For example in The Strangers it is based on a paranoia theme. However in our thriller we incorporated a different type of psychological issue and began to explore the disorder insomnia.
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Shot One:
> over shoulder shot of her coming through the door.
> shows her in relation to the door.
> shows a shadow, creates an eerie feel to the shot.
Shot Two:
>Her sitting down, showing her isolation in the room
> shows she may be in deep thought about something
> she may be feeling upset due to the fact that she cannot sleep
> the light is shining off her face to show that from the beginning of the shot and scene she is the main character.
> simplistic room, shows that this character may leave a pure, non materialistic lifestyle.
Shot Three:
>extreme close up of her face, showing the intensity of the situation.
>one side of her face in the shadow and the other in light, perhaps a split personality?
>Sad/glum facial expressions to show she may be worried, or have troubles that she has not yet shown.
> Tired looking eyes show her insomnia and how long she hasn't slept for.
Shot Four:
> Bright lighting of her reflection in the mirror on her bed side table.
> Shows she is trapped, her face in the small mirror connotes that she may be stuck or captured within the reflection
> Distinct shadowing of the objects on the table to set a particular mood of a mysterious vibe.
> Tablets may help the audience to discover what kind of character she is. an enigma. Does she need these tablets to survive, or again, could it relate back to the sleeping problems and how she is an insomniac.
Shot Five:
>The quickness of the tossing and turning in her bed, shows her restlessness whilst she sleeps.
> As this shot cuts between the bedroom and the woods it shows how quickly her mind flicks between her dream world and her sleeping disorder characteristics.
>The light is on one side of her pillow - this could show that she has two side of her personality.
> The fact her lamp is still on, may show her fear of the dark, or the fact she has to wake up a lot during the night due to the insomnia.
> Scattered bed covers show a chaotic atmosphere whilst she sleeps. Perhaps reflecting a troubled life.
Shot Six:
>Close up of her face in the woods, showing her in a different scene, perhaps where she is at peace here.
>The filter on the shot here, creates a dream like tone to the shot, and shows her split personality, how she is happy in her dream world, but not in reality.
>It is definitely a different setting to her norm. And maybe she is smiling here due to her being at peace with the outdoors and nature. The daylight also makes it seem like a more welcoming setting.
>She is sitting down for the first time in a while, which may show she was on a journey. Breaks up the time.
>She may be taking a rest as she hasn't slept in a long while.
Shot Seven:
>This is a point of view shot, she has obviously seen something up in the trees. Something bewildering and it makes the audience inquisitive to find out what this is.
>The lighting and filter effect on this shot gives a surreal effect on the trees and sky. We wonder if this is a real life wood. Or is there something else to it.
>The trees also look as if they are comforting her in some way, by the positioning of them, she is surrounded by them, enclosed by them.
Shot Eight:
>Extreme close up of her face again.
>Allows audience to feel empathetic towards her as she is clearly a girl of mixed emotions.
>She seems much more content in this setting, allows audience to notice this clearly.
>Filter effect again, to create a dream like world. Her facial features aren't as clear, adding to how she may change when she is in this dream world.
Shot Nine:
>Birds eye view shot of her at the end of the film.
>We get to see her in relation to the setting.
>She seems more on edge here, the suspense builds up as the ending approaches. - Her facial expressions and body language are much quicker and more distinct. The audience suspect something crucial to happen at this point. Which is of course the gun shots.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Who are we representing? and why?
What is a Distributor?
>Distribution is the process of distributing films and releasing as many copies as possible.
> They will also publicise the film through methods such as advertising through posters and merchandise etc.
> This will therefor enable the company to sell as many copies of the film as possible.
How does the distribution process work?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Who are we representing? and why?
- We decided our character would be a female, for reasons such as the characteristics we wanted her to portray.
- As the stereotype goes, females are more vulnerable, sensitive and show their emotions more clearly than men do. So we thought that deciding on a female for our one and only character would suit well.
- Her age would be considered to be any age from 16 to early 20's. This is because we wanted to show how some young women's psychological state of mind can change dramatically during these late teens . This age range would also appeal to the target audience that we were aiming for
- Her appearance as a whole is very pure and simplistic. We wanted to make a contrast between our character and the typical teenager of today, for example her night dress is one that may have been worn in the past. Where as today, teenagers may wear patterened pajamas or night dresses etc. We wanted to give this image across of innocence and purity.
- Her make up was to make her eyes look really tired and a scared bewildering look. Dark makeup to make the eyes look droopy from the lack of sleep.
- As women are stereotypically seen as inferior to men not as strong etc this fits in with this well.
- However women are often seen as stronger mentally when compared to men. So perhaps this rule doesn't fit to our film. Which makes an efficient contrast.
- There are a mixture of close up and long distance shots of the character. To show she is free in her dream world, but not so much in her reality. She is really trapped in her room and escapes when she goes into dream. The escapism also creates another genre in itself.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
What is a Distributor?
>Distribution is the process of distributing films and releasing as many copies as possible.
> They will also publicise the film through methods such as advertising through posters and merchandise etc.
> This will therefor enable the company to sell as many copies of the film as possible.
How does the distribution process work?
>The license says that the distribution company will may the producer.
>They will market the film usually on a friday or during school holidays to maximise profits.
>They then print and distribute the copies of the film. baring in mind each print of the film to be shown in cinema's are around £1500 each.
>They then have to check that the cinema's are paying the correct percentage of the tickets sold to see the film. Then they forward this money to the producers.
Who is going to distribute our film?
As it's a low key film, we would definitely go for a regional release at an art house. Possibly at a local independent cinema in Brighton called the Duke of Yorks. We would then get a major distributor to promote our film, to get more hype for our film. Although this may loose profit to begin, we would regain money this way by our film being promoted by companies such as Sony or BBC. This way a respected company would get us a larger audience with more respect for new film makers. At first however the film would be shown to a smaller audience with tickets being sold for a fraction of a multiplex cinema price.
How will we promote and marketise our film?
>They will market the film usually on a friday or during school holidays to maximise profits.
>They then print and distribute the copies of the film. baring in mind each print of the film to be shown in cinema's are around £1500 each.
>They then have to check that the cinema's are paying the correct percentage of the tickets sold to see the film. Then they forward this money to the producers.
Who is going to distribute our film?
As it's a low key film, we would definitely go for a regional release at an art house. Possibly at a local independent cinema in Brighton called the Duke of Yorks. We would then get a major distributor to promote our film, to get more hype for our film. Although this may loose profit to begin, we would regain money this way by our film being promoted by companies such as Sony or BBC. This way a respected company would get us a larger audience with more respect for new film makers. At first however the film would be shown to a smaller audience with tickets being sold for a fraction of a multiplex cinema price.
How will we promote and marketise our film?
Once the film has been distributed it needs to be promoted.
For example..
Promoting through talk shows
Promoting through red carpet events
Promoting through film magazines
For example..
Advertising on Buses
>all methods are very powerful in persuading potential customers to go and see a film, or even buy the film on DVD for example.
>Some are more effective that others, for example posters and advertising on buses - everyone can see them and they become publicly recognised by all.
>Tv talk shows especially let a potential customer gain an insight into the film - perhaps by seeing clips from the film and seeing an actor's point of view on the film.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
>Our audience ideally would be anyone who has an interest in thriller's and films that involve mind manipulation etc.
>The main age range would be anyone from 16-25 i would say. as this seems to be the prime age of people who enjoy watching films.
>If we were to continue with our thriller film we would definitely still play on this psychological theme. Due to the fact that it is a popular genre of film, and would generate the most interest in our film.
>Our film would appeal to both males and females. Because even though the stereotype of women is that they are scared or 'aren't able' to watch scary films is an understatement and not true. This is only the minority.
What age certificate would we give our thriller?
I would say the certificate of 15 would be a suitable limit because the 18 certificate would involve areas such as:
>drug use
>explicit sex scenes
>explicit violence
>overall disturbing scenes.
Our thriller wouldn't involve much of the above so therefor suits the 15 age certificate
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
>We used a number of reasons to attract our audience. The main reason being how we kept the whole opening neutral.
>The character was female yes, but we tried to kept it as simplistic as possible.
>Her night dress was white, so as to keep it a pure, simple dress style.
>She was also not attracting an entirely female audience, because she wasn't dressed in a particularly feminine way. merely a old fashioned style night dress that in the olden days the would have worn.
I asked a number of people as to what they thought of our thriller opening. They gave some constructive criticisms but mostly positive feedback.
Mathilde Perdrix, 16;
> I thought the shots of the woods came across quite personal as I had been here before and could relate to where this was taken. The filter effect was rather eery and added a creepy sense to the trailer due to the fact that anyone could have fulfilled an experience like this. The music was mysterious and threw in an oxymoronic concept as it related to the purity and whiteness of the dress, which completely threw off the audience seeing as the bullet shots came from no where. This left the audience leaving wondrous of what the film would have to come.
Abbie Macey. 17;
The filter effect was very creepy and made me think something scary was about to happen. Also, the gun shots at the end made you want to know where she was shot, either bedroom or woods, and find out who was the one to have shot her. Also, the music was quite freaky as you didn't know where it came from or where it was going to lead.
Anna Lewis. 18;
When you started to watch you had no idea what was going on as you saw one simple, average thing; a pill. You couldn't guess what a person was thinking or why they were to take this tablet, so you were left thinking 'why would such an innocent person take such a thing?'. After this, along with the mysterious song choice that portrays innocence and a sense of purity, you wonder why the bullets were shot. I mean, why were they shot? All we saw was a woman concentrating on insomnia and deliria, so it would be wonderful to see why the shots were heard and what people wondrous locks.
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The video below is me discussing the question:
>Tv talk shows especially let a potential customer gain an insight into the film - perhaps by seeing clips from the film and seeing an actor's point of view on the film.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
>Our audience ideally would be anyone who has an interest in thriller's and films that involve mind manipulation etc.
>The main age range would be anyone from 16-25 i would say. as this seems to be the prime age of people who enjoy watching films.
>If we were to continue with our thriller film we would definitely still play on this psychological theme. Due to the fact that it is a popular genre of film, and would generate the most interest in our film.
>Our film would appeal to both males and females. Because even though the stereotype of women is that they are scared or 'aren't able' to watch scary films is an understatement and not true. This is only the minority.
What age certificate would we give our thriller?
I would say the certificate of 15 would be a suitable limit because the 18 certificate would involve areas such as:
>drug use
>explicit sex scenes
>explicit violence
>overall disturbing scenes.
Our thriller wouldn't involve much of the above so therefor suits the 15 age certificate
Films that relate to 'Silent Wood' would be:
The Blair Witch Project.
>It is set in the woods, which obviously relates to our thriller well because the opening is set mainly in the woods of her dream world.
>Noises of wood and wildlife can create immense suspense around the wood and can create a thrilling experience for the audience.
The Village
>This film also relates excellently to our thriller because of its relation to the wood again and how it incorporates elements of 'creatures living there' to create suspense.
>It is a fantasy-thriller made up of supernatural happenings which again, makes an interesting thriller.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
>We used a number of reasons to attract our audience. The main reason being how we kept the whole opening neutral.
>The character was female yes, but we tried to kept it as simplistic as possible.
>Her night dress was white, so as to keep it a pure, simple dress style.
>She was also not attracting an entirely female audience, because she wasn't dressed in a particularly feminine way. merely a old fashioned style night dress that in the olden days the would have worn.
I asked a number of people as to what they thought of our thriller opening. They gave some constructive criticisms but mostly positive feedback.
Mathilde Perdrix, 16;
> I thought the shots of the woods came across quite personal as I had been here before and could relate to where this was taken. The filter effect was rather eery and added a creepy sense to the trailer due to the fact that anyone could have fulfilled an experience like this. The music was mysterious and threw in an oxymoronic concept as it related to the purity and whiteness of the dress, which completely threw off the audience seeing as the bullet shots came from no where. This left the audience leaving wondrous of what the film would have to come.
Abbie Macey. 17;
The filter effect was very creepy and made me think something scary was about to happen. Also, the gun shots at the end made you want to know where she was shot, either bedroom or woods, and find out who was the one to have shot her. Also, the music was quite freaky as you didn't know where it came from or where it was going to lead.
Anna Lewis. 18;
When you started to watch you had no idea what was going on as you saw one simple, average thing; a pill. You couldn't guess what a person was thinking or why they were to take this tablet, so you were left thinking 'why would such an innocent person take such a thing?'. After this, along with the mysterious song choice that portrays innocence and a sense of purity, you wonder why the bullets were shot. I mean, why were they shot? All we saw was a woman concentrating on insomnia and deliria, so it would be wonderful to see why the shots were heard and what people wondrous locks.
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The video below is me discussing the question:
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
looking back from our Preliminary task to our final thriller opening, many improvements have been made.
I will include screenshots of how these improvements have been carried out.
Firstly, it is clear to see how the title sequences have improved.
>The technique of having it zooming in and fading out in different effects is well crafted.
>It's more subtle that 'The Deal" as it is not as central and 'in your face'
Our framing techniques also got alot better, we were able to make the subjects in the frame an equal distance from the sides and top and bottom of the frame.
>This gave a more professional look.
Our continuity editing also improved greatly, due to our knowledge of the editing software.
>This made our film seem more professional, as this is one of the most important techniques.
>For Silent Wood, this was a very important point in which continuity needed to be just so. as the shots were shooting from the bedroom back to the woods.
Overall out final piece has improved dramatically comparing to our preliminary. For example we included a soundtrack in this piece instead of just random bits of mood music which was non diegetic. We added some sound effects in for real effect. Mainly to create suspense when our main character was walking through the door and was in her room, alone.
If we were to improve our thriller opening of 'The Silent Wood' we would do the following:
>Make the intro music perhaps even more edgy by perhaps making the music ourself on garage band.
>Making the filter effect more consistent throughout the piece.
>We could have added more titles, throughout the sequence, to show off our skill of this.
>Experiment with light more, as we had great difficulty in making the light just so.
>Give ourselves more time, because we had to re-film some shots, it took time away from editing the final piece together. Which then eat into our evaluation time, meaning our time management wasn't as efficient as it could have been.
>Enhance some of the shots, for example the shot where she is looking up at the tree, and there is a piece of string swaying in the wind, this shot could be a lot more meaningful, if it was more of a focus. Perhaps by slowing the shot down, and meaning the pan across the trees is more noticeable.
>The preliminary however, was a great learning curve for the group, and enabled us to learn skills to produce an impressive thriller opening.
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