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

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

In the making of our preliminary, we produced it in school. This meant that there were a lot of interferences and distractions due to other students and teachers walking around. This caused issues and meant that we had to focus on filming at the right times in order to avoid interferences and problems because of distractions.

In the making of our preliminary production, continuity was less of a problem seeing as the setting of our preliminary was the school. This meant that we could go out and take more shots if there were any continuity errors, poor quality shots or any shots missing that we would need in order to produce a successful preliminary task.

This was not the case in our main thriller opening as the locations that we chose were hard to access as they involved large amounts of travelling and lots of organisation if we wanted to return to these places just to get a couple more shots. Although we did realise this in planning, when we were filming, we decided that we had enough shots way too early and therefore we stopped. We then realised that we did not have the necessary shots and we could not go back to shoot them as it was too late by this point.

We were better at using I-Movie when editing our main production. We had a greater length of time to spend on making our production just right and in editing any errors out of it. This meant that, although there were most likely some continuity errors in both productions, it was much easier to edit them out in our main production as we had more time to edit and we had to focus much harder on making sure our thriller opening came together effectively. This shows that I improved in my knowledge of editing as shown by the amount of time we spent on editing our main production compared to the preliminary. This improvement is also shown by the fact that, in our preliminary, continuity errors were noticeable whereas in the main production, we used experienced editing and clever methods in order to hide any continuity errors.

 

I have also learnt about specific rules that are involved in the creation of a successful movie. One of these important rules is the 180 degree rule. This means that throughout the film, all the shots must be taken on the same side of a metaphorical 180 degree line. This allows the audience to feel like they are watching the movie from a specific direction at all times, making it less chaotic and all over the place. During the preliminary, we did not consider this 180 degree rule whereas in the main production, although it caused lighting issues because of the sun, we made sure we stuck to the rule throughout the film, showing a clear improvement in my knowledge of hot to manoeuvre around the 180 degree line as well as how to use it to my advantage in film-making.

 

Another useful thing I have learnt in the progression from my preliminary to my main production is the ‘over-the-shoulder’ shot. For example, during a conversation between two people, if a person is saying something, the camera may be placed just above the shoulder of the person speaking in order for the audience to see the reaction of the other participant in the conversation. This may happen numerous times in order to give the audience a clearer understanding of what is going on and the reaction of each character because of what is being said. We improved on  the use of this shot during our main production as, instead of using it to show people talking, we used it to show the emotion on each person’s face at the realisation of what is happening and to show the recognition between the characters, meaning that speech was unnecessary in our main production as the audience could read how each character is feeling because of the use of this particular shot.

One more useful type of shot that I have discovered is the ‘match on action’ shown by the shot where Connor approaches the gravestone and places the flowers on the floor. A match-on-action shot is where the shot that shows what is happening is then followed by a close-up shot that gives a closer view of what is going on. We used this shot in both our preliminary production and our main production, although in our preliminary we just showed a ‘match-on-action’ shot of a hand opening a door whereas in the main production we used it in the placement of the flowers as well as to highlight the rock that was being used to knock the victim out, showing that we developed this skill and used it more effectively to give a clearer insight into the emotion and drama behind each action.

 

A significant difference between our preliminary production and our main thriller opening was that, as shown by this image, we were able to do extensive research into the location of our main production whereas we had no chance to look into the location of our preliminary as it was required that we did it in school.

Our preliminary was set in an everyday location which is fairly unexciting in comparison with our main production that was set in an abandoned train station, which is a much more thrilling and unpredictable setting. This meant that there were a lot of variables that had to be considered and caused problems in the filming of our preliminary task. One of these that we had to consider was other students. Students walking around school caused an issue as they sometimes made a lot of noise or got in the way during our filming, meaning that we had to re-do some shots.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the editing and overall production of our thriller opening, we had to make sure that we used I-movie. This was a new experience for me as I previously have had little experiences using this particular programme. For this, we had to come together as a team and use our initiative in order to edit our film. This wasn’t too helpful as we didn’t have full knowledge of what we could and couldn’t do in terms of effects and pacing. Eventually we got used to it though and managed to edit out all continuity errors using fast-paced cutting between scenes and using particular shots like ‘over-the-shoulder’ shots and ‘cut-away’ shots that cut away to another scene, in order to keep the audience’s attention away from errors and seeing things that were not supposed to be seen during the production.

We had many issues with catching shadows of ourselves and the tripod in the film. We filmed our thriller in daylight where the sun was quite high in the sky, meaning that we struggled to overcome the problem of shadows. Any high-angle shots we tried to shoot, usually caught the shadow of the tripod in it and by the time we had started we could not change sides as we had to make sure that our filming did not include too much of our surroundings in it as we were filming at an owned house.  

We also had to make sure we stuck to the 180 degree rule, meaning that we had to stick with what we were doing and alter camera position constantly in order to keep the sun from causing issues for us. Also, the movement of light is noticeable in our production, as, due to pauses and position altering, by the time we had gone through all the motions, the sun had moved meaning that any shots we had were not continuous on the lighting side of things. We could have solved this by filming another day as well so the sun hadn’t moved but it turned out that we were quite happy with our shots at the time and just wanted to get straight into putting our production together.

 

We had terrible problems with continuity in the making of our production. Luckily, the way that we edited it managed to hide many of our errors as we were able to cut away to other shots like the trains and the credits which allowed us to mask any continuity issues. The main reason behind our continuity errors was that we didn’t take enough shots and as we only filmed each shot a couple of times, in some cases, there seemed to be something wrong with it that we missed when we were filming it. Things like someone talking in the background, shadows were caught on camera and props that weren’t being used being seen in the background of a shot. That meant that a lot of the shots that we took were useless and we couldn’t put them in the final edition of our thriller opening, meaning we had to come up with alternative ways to maintain a solid plot, without all of the necessary shots.

 

This shot had to be put in due to a lack of shots able to replace it but due to some fast-paced editing, we managed to avert the audience’s attention away from this fairly large error.

I also used Prezi in my research and this evaluation. This was my first time ever using Prezi.I have found it to be a very useful website as it allows you to present all your ideas in a simple but creative way that seems to be a lot more imaginative than using boring and fiddly programmes such as PowerPoint where the animation and slide transitions are hard to use and it takes a long time to get it to look just right. This made my work a lot more presentable and made it easier to brainstorm our ideas and present them in a more exciting and a better-looking way.

 

I made 3 Prezi’s, one was the inspirations for our thriller opening which can be found in my research and planning sections. This Prezi involved 4 different slides outlining our inspiration for our use of trains, dramatized acting, plot and the idea of using a damsel in distress to cause uncomfortable emotions amongst the audience. This ‘damsel in distress’ idea worked fairly well as it made the audience feel sorry for her and made the audience go through the ‘don’t want to look’ emotions. Another one of the Prezi’s that I made was included in this evaluation of my thriller opening. This Prezi is outlined in question 1 of my evaluation and shows how our production challenges the typical conventions of a thriller film. This Prezi has 5 slides and shows within each scene, how the typical conventions of the thriller genre are challenged and how they are followed within each specific scene of our production. The final Prezi I produced was shown in question 4 of the evaluation and outline the audience’s opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of our production, also showing how the strengths outweighed the weaknesses using the scales theme of Prezi.

I also used Wordle twice within the creation of my evaluation. This is another program I have never used until this media project, although it is fairly simple to use. Unfortunately the HTML code to input it into blogger makes it comes out extremely pixelated so you have to screenshot it to get it to import properly, allowing me to hone my skills and learn how to screenshot effectively and crop to the right size for what I am trying to show. The two Wordles I have created are; The Roles within Filmmaking and Professional Production Companies. Wordle is an effective and good-looking way of listing things, making it a popular website to use when work can be made ‘text-heavy’ as it allows you to brain storm all your ideas into a good-looking and well-presented list of words in many different colours, fonts and rotations.


Here is an example of a Wordle i made, outlining how it makes a list of words look less boring and much more presentable.
 

How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

These certain survey questions relate to the way in which our production was made, the plot we followed and the expectations of our audience that we feel that we fulfilled in the production of our film:

The result of this particular question was instrumental in the opening of our thriller and I believe that we have definitely fulfilled the audience expectations in the representation of death in our thriller opening. This is shown quite clearly by the fact that our victim is run over by a train and there is no way she would have escaped, obscuring the audience’s view of her actually dying but symbolising death and referring to its occurrence.

We have also referred to this question in the production of our thriller opening. We decided to focus on making a film that would need the audience to concentrate as that seems to be what the audience want and what they expect of a thriller film. The title that we used, Kate’s revenge, is ironic because Kate dies in the opening of our thriller, making the audience think, ‘how can she get revenge when she is dead?’ Also, the plot has to be concentrated on due to the narration which gives an insight into the reasoning behind what is happening in our thriller opening. If the audience do not listen to the narration then they will struggle to understand what is happening and why.

 

We used fast-paced editing fairly successfully in the editing of our film. This was mainly to hide the mainstream continuity errors that came from a lack of shots but also, we decided that the flashes of a fast-moving train, jumping away from the main plot, added suspense and suggested a build-up to something. Our fast-paced editing also challenged the audience to keep up with what was happening, so therefore we didn’t have to focus too hard on what the plot actually was as it would always be a struggle to take everything in. The trains that we flashed throughout our movie here and there, makes the audience uncomfortable, especially in the very first scene as there is a sudden jump from the calm, yet eerie, silence of the graveyard to the sudden loud noise of the train jetting past.


The audience would have been expecting typical props like a balaclava and some type of weapon. We managed to avoid the use of weapons apart from the rock that was used to knock the victim unconscious. They also would have been expecting dark scenes and creepy music. We attracted our audience through by using completely different ways of creating a thriller film. Instead of a psychological, creepy thriller, we made our thriller opening as much more action-packed with the use of fast-paced editing and dramatic scenes and actions.


This Prezi shows the audience's responses to our thriller opening:

 

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We decided that the most suitable audience for our production was male adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17. We identified this particular age range mainly through the use of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) film ratings. We chose it as a 15 because we decided that after our brief opening, it would be a hard-hitting film with plenty of strong language and violence, meaning that it can be classed as a 15 in accordance with the BBFC.

The British Board of Film Classification

 

The BBFC was introduced in 1912 as an independent organisation put in place to classify films by age according to the plot and occurrences of the film. They decide whether films are not viewable for the public and can decide whether to ban films or cut out scenes that would provide unsuitable viewing for people of certain ages.

There are 7 different classifications of movies in accordance with the BBFC film ratings:

·U – Universal, meaning that the film is suitable for all age groups. It is advised that the films are set within a positive moral framework, and that violence or horror should be reassuringly counterbalanced. Discrimination is not permitted, and only infrequent and innocuous reference to drugs and alcohol may be used. Films should only contain brief and mild scenes of horror, and none of the behaviour or actions in the film may be copied. No sexual content may be displayed, and only occasional natural nudity is permitted.

·PG – Parental guidance, meaning that some scenes may require advice and support from parents or guardians. Generally, these films should not disturb children over eight years of age, but parents should consider if sensitive children may be disturbed. If reference to drugs is mentioned, a relevant anti-drug message should be carried, and horror sequences should not be prolonged or intense. Only mild bad language should be included, and sexual activity can only be implied. Moderate violence, if justifiable, is allowed.

12/12A – The exact same criteria is used for both 12 and 12 A films, although 12A certificates are issued for films in cinemas, where no-one under this age is permitted to watch. Discriminatory work must not be endorsed by the films message. Drug use should be infrequent, and instructional details should not be given. The film should not dwell on behaviours that can be copied by the audience, and the use of moderate language is allowed, although its use should be infrequent. Sexual references can be briefly portrayed, although the activity should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Moderate violence is allowed, although it should not dwell on gory details

·
15 – Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed, and drug misuse can be shown, although the misuse should not be endorsed. Dangerous behaviours (such as hangings) should not dwell on details which can be copied, and frequent use of strong language is allowed. Aggressive or repeated use of strong language should not be encouraged. There are no constraints on nudity in an educational setting, and violence may be strong, and should not dwell on the infliction of injury.

·

18 – These films usually observe the fact that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Therefore, films will only not be granted licence when the material has been created through breach of a law, where material appears to risk harm to individuals or the public through the imitation of behaviour, and where the use of explicit images cannot be justified by the context.
 

R18 – Can only be shown in specially licenced cinemas, or supplied in specially licenced shops. The following is not acceptable: material that is in breach of criminal law, obscene material, material likely to encourage an interest in sexually abusive activities such as rape, the portrayal of sexual activity which does not include consent, the infliction of pain, the penetration of any object associated with harm, or any sexual threats or humiliation which do not clearly define part of the plot.



This question is part of the survey that we gave to 10 people and asked them to fill out, both male and female, between the ages of 11 and 17 as we decided it would aid us in the creation of our thriller production. The image below shows that 10 of the 10 people we asked like to watch films that involve death, clearly showing that references to and acknowledgements of death are detrimental in the making of a successful film for many teenagers and adolescent youths.

Although we did have a variety of answers according to the results of question 1 of our survey, it does show that for people between the ages of 11 and 17, horror, action and thriller films are the main favourites (along with comedy) amongst adrenaline-searching youths. This meant that, in our thriller, we had to make sure that we used references to death and made parts of it what the audience expected to see with chase scenes, fight scenes and psychologically intense moments, making sure though, that there were unexpected moments that the audience didn’t see coming and are not used to seeing in typical thriller films. The idea that teenagers prefer more intense, thrill-packed films is shown in the results of question 1 of our survey as shown below.

There is a large variety of subcultures amongst teenagers. Some of these subcultures are referred to as ‘nerds, geeks, chavs and goths’, each different subculture relating to the way in which these different groups of people behave, dress and their interests. In our film, we weren’t really targeting a specific subculture so we decided that we must produce a film that would entertain all of these different groups, meaning that we had to know what to produce in order to succeed in doing this. A typical audience member for our sort of film would be someone like this:

Most teenagers also try to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ meaning that they will always try and have the latest gadgets and resources because that is what other teenagers have and like. This means that they are modern and don’t have a lot of old things that is no longer ‘cool’ so people tend to be more popular when they have all the latest things. Also, many teenagers listen to music that is in the charts or that gets played on the radio as this is well known music amongst their friends and many won’t admit that they like other things in case they’re friends thinks its uncool or odd. Clothing is another thing that changes regularly in terms of what is seen to be ‘in trend’ and what isn’t. This means that many teenagers will notice items of clothing that others wear and tend to buy the same items or things from the same brand because that is what everyone wants to be seen in. This is good for movies as it means that if a new movie is out, one teenager will see it, then tell all their friends about it if they like it, so more people gradually join in on wanting to see this film too.

During the part of our film when our victim is grabbed by the killer, Issy Schiavi (Bourne Academy 6^th Former) said, “I hope she escapes or someone saves her”, whereas Lewis Simmonds (Also a Bourne Academy 6^th Former) said, “Well the killer is quite clearly an amateur”. This shows the distinct difference in opinions about our characters from outside views of people of different genders, portraying the protectiveness of their own gender that people have. During our production, a point of view shot from the killer’s perspective is used, showing him creeping up on the victim, allowing the audience an insight into his dominance, representing the patriarchal bias of our film.

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

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

Production Companies:

 

There are many production companies that produce genre-specific films. For instance, PIXAR and Dreamworks tend to create the animated adventure films like Toy Story and CARS, whereas companies like Dimension Films and Cracked Screen Films produce Sci-fi and Thriller movies. These companies use difference in font, colour, background and movements to portray to their audiences what genre of film they tend to produce. For example, PIXAR have all the letters lined up in bold black font across the screen and then a little animated lamp bounces from letter to letter until it reaches the space where the ‘I’ should be where it settles and the light shines towards the audience. This small, easy-to-create animation shows that PIXAR tend to produce more casual animated films, created purely for the enjoyment of young children, with very child-friendly comedy and action. This is show by a fairly pleasant production ident. Completely different to PIXAR is Lionsgate who produce the more action-packed films like The Expendables and Hunger Games. Their ident shows the words Lionsgate floating in a cloudy sky. This logo represents the idea of falling through the sky in my opinion, which brings a great adrenaline rush but also an impending sense of fear which is exactly how action and thriller films make the audience feel because of their intense scenes that always have you on the edge of your seat and get your adrenaline going.

This Wordle shows a list of all the different professional production companies involved in producing films throughout the world.

 

Our Production Ident:

Our production logo and name that we used was completely made up by our group. We came up with the name ‘JJCM Productions’ because we decided to use the first letter of our names to create a company and it worked out quite well. Our ident fitted well into the way that our thriller begins, as every letter appears with a large banging noise, immediately putting the audience on edge as the loud banging bring with it a tense atmosphere, building up, in a way, to the start of our production. Our production logo was inspired by the whole PIXAR idea of movement through the letters and because our film is a thriller we decided to make loud banging noises at the arrival of each letter, creating suspense and adding a dramatic feel to it.

 

Titles:

We decided to put the names of the people involved in the filming and overall production of our movie on wooden boards that we propped up on the front of an old fashioned train. We flashed these throughout the production, showing each actor and actress’s name as they appeared in the film. We then added Henry Saunston (Narrator) as we decided that he plays a key part in the film as his narration describes in more detail what is occurring and why. We also added in Matthew Bostock (Director) due to the fact that he was the our main cameraman in the production of our film and James Parronchi (Editor) as he was, at first, the only one who knew how to edit our movie to an acceptable standard until we all learnt how to use I-Movie properly.

This wordle shows the different rob roles and responsibilities that are involved in the making of modern day films:

 

 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main protagonist in our film is represented as a particularly evil person. In our thriller opening, the killer uses the balaclava and hood to hide his identity, coming across, at first, as very mysterious character but with clear intentions showing that he wants this woman to come to some sort of woman. Whereas our victim is wearing designer clothing and carrying an expensive-looking handbag, our killer is wearing trainers, tracksuit bottoms and a coat with a hood, showing that it is possible that he does not come from the same sort of background as the victim as his clothes are not quite as posh or expensive. This shows that there is a possibility of jealousy which causes him to kill her because he wants what she has like her wealth and her power within society. A conventional thriller involves a show of male dominance, usually over a female. Our film follows these conventions as our killer is shown as having power over our victim who is female, representing the patriarchal society and male dominance within society. This patriarchal power is especially shown through the shot of the killer up on the platform with his victim laid on the train tracks beneath him.

Our victim is a fairly small woman which shows vulnerability through her blatant acts of panic and shock at what is happening to her. When the killer first grabs her, she begins to struggle and immediately starts trying to escape. When she finally does escape, she is portrayed as being not very intelligent because instead of looking for a way out, she succumbs to panic and tries to run off across a field in an attempt to outrun a much more suitably dressed man who is equipped to chase down his target. This show of man against woman is very common in thriller films as it shows a clear distinction between the two genders and identifies the pros and cons of each gender and their abilities in different ways. Also, this hits the audience hard as many women have sympathy for the woman and lots of men look harder at the mistakes that the man is making, identifying differences in the minds of the different genders.

In what ways does your media product us, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 Thriller films are meant to excite the audience through tension and suspense. The higher the anticipation of the audience, the more enjoyment they should feel upon reaching a conclusion, although they should go through certain frightful and jumpy moments that are very common compared to the typical conventions of the thriller genre. The thriller theme is usually, based on typical conventions, quite dark, abstract and involves deadly plots or situations which are used to thrill the audience and have them ‘on the edge of their seat’ figuratively speaking.

 

Thriller films are very similar to horror films in the way that shot types, fast editing, lighting are all used to create tension and anxiety building up to the climax of the film. The main difference between a horror and a thriller film though is that the horror films are generally used to induce fear and create a terrifying atmosphere involving more gory scenes and horrific sights, whereas the thriller films excite because of the suspense and intense storylines.



Taking Of Pelham 123

There are many subgenres of thriller films including; psychological, action, mystery, political and paranoia thrillers. The Thriller genre tends to overlap with the action and horror genres as they can be used together to create suspense as well as an exciting/scary storyline like in the film Taking of Pelham 123, where dark and vague scenes are used to present the thriller side and fast-paced chases and intense gun-fights portray the action genre within the film.

We chose to use action as our subgenre of thriller as we decided it would be the easiest to do in our local area with the resources at our disposal. The audience expects that this genre will be full of action-packed scenes where there are constant breath-taking scenes including chases, fighting, death and conventionally some scenes that involve a means of transport being used in a dangerous way. For instance, in the film Unstoppable, where trains are shown in a negative manner, portrayed as dangerous as the train becomes a runaway and wreaks havoc throughout the city. This had an influence on the making of our thriller film, and although trains being shown as dangerous are not particularly that conventional within the thriller genre, we decided that trains were a valid transport type that we could showcase as dangerous instead of the typical idea of using cars as the conventional dangerous type of transport.

 Thriller films use very unique techniques that set the scene within the first two minutes. Setting the scene for a film of the thriller genre can be done through:

·         Sound – diegetic and non-diegetic sound will create suspense and add to the tense atmosphere.

·         Editing – Shots from a moving camera and fast moving transition effects will help to create a pacey atmosphere for the film and give a dramatic feel to it.

·         Shots – Close-ups that prevent the audience from being able to see too much, making the audience feel like they want to know what is going on elsewhere as well as making them feel uncomfortable as the person is seen to be ‘invading personal space’ by being so close.

·         Mise en scene effects like props, lighting, costumes and setting.

For example, in The Sixth Sense, the first shot that we see of the mother and her child is looking in through the window at an angle so you can see the boy and his mother. The focus of the shot is on the boy’s face, he looks scared and really traumatised whereas the mother looks serious and concentrated, showing a clear distinction between the boy’s emotions and the mother’s. The boy informs his mother and the audience that a woman has died in a car accident. At this point, digetic sound can be heard, allowing the bustling streets outside to be clearly heard within the car and by the audience, adding suspense and showing that it is building up to an important event. The boy looks very vulnerable as he is slightly lower than the eye-level camera shot and the scene creates suspense  well through the use of speech, diegetic sound and clever high-angle and close-up camerawork. This is quite conventional of a thriller film as the intention is to make certain people look vulnerable and others dominant, as well as creating suspense through mysterious sound effects or dramatic emotions. We used this shot to show this dominance and the vulnerability of our victim as we thought this shot showed perfectly who is in charge and leaves the audience with no doubt as to whom the power figure is in our movie.

Location Conventions:

Our location is very conventional as the deserted train station is an ideal place for a thriller film to be set, due to the desolation and danger that an isolated train station holds as there is nobody around in case of the occurrence of a problem. For example, like in our production, if a lady is standing alone on a platform, it would be incredibly easy for someone to get away with knocking her out before she notices them and then getting her onto the tracks as there is nobody around to witness this happening or do anything about it. Some examples of conventional locations for thriller films are shown below.



Thriller locations usually follow the same sort of conventions. They are usually set in dark, dreary places, although many thriller have challenged these conventions by being set in the home, because this unsettles the audience as the home is seen as a safe place and if that security is gone, people become uncomfortable. Thrillers are, in many cases set in the forest at some point during the film. This is fairly typical because the tightly-packed trees and endless stretches of forest are used effectively to make the audience feel uncomfortable. This is because they feel like there is no escape due to the idea that you can go any way and it wouldn’t make any difference as it just goes on and on and the trees are effectively ‘closing in’ on the character causing the idea of an ‘invasion of personal space’ which unsettles the audience.

 

Narrative Conventions:

Gravestone and flowers (symbolises death)

Trains tracks (symbolises death)

 The typical conventions of a thriller film involve death, destruction and tension. Our production shows death in many ways; one of these is through the use of the graveyard and the flowers at the very beginning, symbolising that someone will, or has, died, meaning the audience want to watch on and find out who dies or has died, how they die/died and why it happened. Another symbol of death in our film is the train tracks.Usually in a typical thriller film, the setting gives an insight into how the victim will die, so our train tracks symbolise death in this way. One more symbol of death within our film is the balaclava that our killer wears. This is due to the fact that, conventionally, if an actor is wearing a balaclava or any type of mask in some cases, it associates them with doing something wrong or being an evil character, hiding their identity for some sort of bad purpose, involving death under typical circumstances.



Bank Robber masks in 'The Town'

Freddy and Jason's masks in 'Freddy Vs Jason'




Leatherface's mask in 'Texas Chainsaw Masacre'




Batman's mask in 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Some examples of a hidden identity are; The Dark Knight Rises, The Town, Texas Chainsaw Masacre and Freddy vs Jason.


Lighting Conventions:

'The Butterfly Effect'

The typical conventions of the lighting in a thriller film usually involve dark, dreary places at some point. Most open with dark scenes like ‘The Butterfly Effect’ that try to make the audience curious as to what is happening and why the actor is where they are. In our thriller, the lighting is not dark, challenging the typical conventions of a thriller. We chose to do this as a dark setting was hard to produce with the resources at our disposal as we do not have proper professional cameras so we did not want to film our production in dark areas as it may be hard to make out what is happening. This confuses the audience as the darkness usually symbolises the idea of death but the bright sunlight is not a typical convention of the opening scenes of a thriller film. The representation of death is still present though, because of the graveyard scene that opens our film, meaning that we did not need to play around with lighting and find a way to open our thriller production in a dark setting. The sun was really helpful in creating shadows in places that we needed them, which helped to create a tense atmosphere as the killer could be seen creeping up on our victim right at the start of the 2nd scene. The sun also played havoc with our filming as we had to try and stick to the 180 degree rule but that was difficult when you were trying to prevent the camera from catching the shadow of the tripod or anything else on film.

 

 

In this image, you can see the shadow of our killer, shown to be creeping up on our victim, building up the tension and showing the audience that something bad is soon to occur. This foreshadows the coming events, adding to the plot and assuring the audience that this is definitely the opening to a movie of the thriller genre.

Shot Conventions:

Extreme Close-up in the film 'Psycho'

Typical shots that you will see in a thriller film are always used as an effective way of showing the contrast between vulnerable characters and more dominant, powerful characters (usually the main protagonist). Low-angle shots and extreme close-ups are used in an effort to make the audience feel uncomfortable as it gives the impression of ‘closing in’ as well as the idea of the dominant character knowing more than the audience and representing the character’s power over the everyone else. 

 

These types of shots also make the audience unaware of most things that are happening in the film, as they are obstructed by the fact that a lot of shots are used to show different points of view and control the audience’s perception and what they are seeing. In our production, we used a very effective low-angle shot that shows the dominance that the killer has over his victim.

This low-angle shot is especially effective as it shows the unconscious victim tied up and the killer standing above her on the platform, particularly showing his power over her and leaving the audience with no doubt that he is an important character in the film.

Title

The title of our film, ‘Kate’s Revenge’, is not very conventional as it is a fairly unconventional title that doesn’t suit the usual mystery, horror or action sense that most thriller titles have (Sixth Sense, Psycho and Die Hard). It does though, foreshadow that something bad is going to happen to somebody because of something they have done wrong to somebody called Kate so some would say that there is a sense of mystery to the title of our production. As the opening shows, the girl dies which immediately causes the audience to think that she will come back as some sort of spirit in order to get revenge showing a slight psychological change to our thriller that, so far, is mainly based around the conventions of an action thriller. This immediately makes the audience on edge as they are unsure of how exactly this revenge will be taken, making our title quite an effective one as it lead to uncertainty and making the audience even more uncomfortable because they are unsure what subgenre this film belongs to yet and want to find out.