AS Evaluation- Question 5

Primary research was essential for my production as it helped my group and I plan my thriller film, it allowed the group to understand what age group and what gender wanted to see in a thriller film, it also helped my group understand what age group we would want would want to target for our thriller film. I feel as if the research helped us understand what the general public wanted to see in a thriller film. To help with my thriller clip I carried out research, first I analysed thriller films. I researched into the editing, Mise-en-scene, cinematography and sound in different thriller films; I done this by watching clips from thriller films on YouTube and then analysed the different codes and conventions of each thriller film putting each separate one in blogs. This helped me gather ideas and inspirations in the different ways these thriller films used editing, sound, cinematography and Mise-en-scene to include in my thriller clip; I feel as if this research was beneficial in making my thriller clip successful as it gave me a feel to the way a thriller clip looks.

As part of my research I also learnt about the different narrative theories, this helped me plan my thriller as it gave me an idea in which theory to follow my narrative followed the theory of Aristotle because there is a sense of hidden identity within our clip which would mean that my thriller clip follows that specific proposed theory. Also it builds enigma amongst the audience as they're unknown about why and how the female girl became possessed and kills herself. As a group we created a questionnaire to research what the public wanted to see in our thriller clip we asked 40 people different questions about what codes and conventions they would most like to see in a thriller film this was vital to helping us plan our thriller as it helped us understand what the general public wanted to see in a thriller film it also helped us find out who we should aim our target audience to as we found out most people who watched thriller films was 15+.

AS Evaluation- Question 4

A target audience is important because then you can plan and film your thriller film aimed towards them. When planning my film and researching the genre at the start of this project I had to make sure that my storyline ideas were suitable for the audience that I wished to target. As the chosen genre was a thriller and from my questionnaire showed that the people who watch thrillers most is 15+ so I knew straight away that I was targeting the 15+ age range. This meant that the first two minutes of my thriller opening sequence needed to be suitable for a teenage/adult audience and which would also get the audience’s attention for the rest of the film.
I believe my thriller film appeals to the audience because in my groups questionnaire we found out that the public wanted to see a vulnerable protagonist, eerie music, and a common familiar setting where they can relate to the fear this was done as my group and I used a blonde female victim which the audience could relate to, the audience will be able to connect with this character because the target audience is of a similar age to the victim, therefore they can relate to how the victim is responding to her situation, we also included eerie music and used a common familiar setting of filming inside the house as well as the forest this will help the audience to relate to the situation and will deepen their fear. The Mise-en-scene used is normal clothes which normal female teenagers would use this will appeal to the audience as they can relate to her even more as she comes across as a normal girl, this will make the audience feel apart of the thriller film and sympathize with the victim.

AS Evaluation- Question 3

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AS Evaluation- Qeustion 2

My character in my thriller film is a blonde female victim, this is a very stereotypical element used within thriller films. Females are often associated with being vulnerable and innocent which is a strong representation of our victim as she will be naive and weak but also will be portrayed as an average person waking up doing her make up to build a relationship with the audience. Making a character relatable to the audience is a key in making a good thriller, this gives the audience the chance to sympathize or empathize with the character this makes the audience feel a part of the film. By creating this relationship is also makes it tenser and make the audience mirror the same feelings as the main characters. They can be related from clothing, music or personality, by making the audience more emotionally attached to the character they will be much more scared in further events.

I want to make my character as relatable to the audience as possible to engage with the audience. The audience will be able to connect with this character because my target audience is of a similar age to the victim; which is 16 years old therefore they can relate to how the victim is responding to her situation. Representing my victim as innocent also helps create emotions for my audience as they will empathize for her this means the audience will be much more engaged within the narrative and making my opening sequence more entertaining and technically good, my thriller clips also represents the teenage gender as this will be the age of my victim making it relatable.

The villain is unseen in my thriller opening sequence which gives a ghostly feel to our opening sequence as the victim is possessed by an evil spirit this is a popular convention found in thriller films such as the 'Paranormal Activity' films, 'The Devil Inside' and the two 'Insidious' films. This means the character is not relatable to the audience but I believed using an unseen villain would create a bigger effect of suspense on the audience than a visible villain who they might be able to relate to as it makes the opening sequence more spooky.

AS Evaluation- Question 1

The generic conventions of a thriller film are:

Characters- killer with hidden identity, blonde female victim, innocent child, demented child, detective and a suspicious old man.

Visual style- Low key lighting, shadows, close ups, low angle shots, high angle shots, medium shots and iconography such as blood, weapons which kill the victims and fire.

Themes- violence, gore, suspense and paranormal

Settings- Forest, abandoned house or school, village/city, car park and these settings are normally filmed at night time to add suspense.

All successful thriller films use some of these listed generic conventions. One example is Saw which follows a lot of the conventions you normally find in a thriller film; Saw includes a killer with hidden identity this is where the killer is covered with a pigs mask this creates suspense which is one of the themes which are found in thriller films. Other themes Saw follows are violence and gore where the audience can see brutal murders and lots of blood in the film. Saw is a good thriller film to relate to as they use camera shots very well by using close up shots on the victims to show there scared facial expressions and also using high angle shots on the victim to make them look small and vulnerable and low angle shots on the killer to make the killer look in control and powerful.

My thriller clip defines and follows the thriller genre through the conventions we have used in our opening sequence. My thriller clip follows the theme of suspense; this is done as the audience sees the blonde female victim drinking water then dropping it she then walks from her house through a forest leaving the audience in suspense as they do not know how it will end or what’s happening. The character used in the thriller clip follows the conventions of a thriller film as our character was a blonde female victim who comes across as an innocent child this makes her look vulnerable and weak to the audience, it then comes apparent she is demented and gets possessed which is another convention found in thrillers. The setting followed the conventions of a thriller film as we filmed in a forest which is spooky and normally found in thrillers.

The villain is unseen in my thriller opening sequence which gives a ghostly feel to our opening sequence as the victim is possessed by an evil spirit this is a popular convention found in thriller films such as the 'Paranormal Activity' films, 'The Devil Inside' and the two 'Insidious' films. I used a villain like this in my thriller opening sequence as I thought this would create more shock and suspense for the audience than a villain which the audience can see.

Our thriller opening scene can be compared to the successful thriller film the Exorcist. They are similar in the narrative, representation of characters, editing and sound. The narratives are both similar as both thrillers have a young girl who is possessed by an unseen villain, by using an unseen villain it builds up suspense and enigma for the audience. In both thrillers there is the use of a conventional character as there is a young female victim used who gets possessed; young females are stereotypically portrayed as weak and vulnerable and this is done in my thriller and the Exorcist as both girls get possessed showing them as weak this brings the audience closer to the victim and makes them sympathise with her, both thrillers also use the shock element, this is done when both female victims become possessed this shocks the audience as generally female victims are killed by serial killers. The Exorcist and my thriller both use a non diegetic sound track these sounds are very tense and jerky which both create an enigma and tense atmosphere for the viewers. The editing used is better in my film than the Exorcist this could be because the Exorcist was made in 1973 so we had better technology to use; the editing was vital to our thriller opening sequence as it turned a boring narrative into a fast paced, jerky and tense opening sequence which helped make our thriller successful.

AS Thriller Evaluation

My brief was to create a thriller opening sequence; which contained the thriller conventions and camera movements typical of the thriller clips I had researched. My thriller opening sequence had to be no longer than two minutes. I was put into groups to complete the brief and my group members were Robyn Tansley and Domenico Martini. We all had different roles for the production of the thriller opening sequence. My groups' production roles were:

• Producers- Domenico Martini. Domenico put himself forward to be producer as he was confident in doing this, he done a good job in producing our thriller opening sequence.
• Directors- Domenico Martini and Robyn Tansley. Both these were directors as they came mainly up with the narrative so I let them take control of this area as I knew I would be more confident in other areas. They both directed well and they managed to come out with a good final thriller opening sequence.
• Actors- Robyn Tansley. Robyn was the actor in our thriller opening sequence as she is blonde and we wanted to follow the conventions of a thriller by using a blonde female victim. Robyn done well in this role, she managed to come across as an innocent female victim in danger.

My production roles were:

• Director of photography- I put myself forward to the director photography as I took media last year and was confident in using the tripod and camera, I also used the camera in the preliminary task which meant I had already got a feel of how to use the camera. I felt I done a good job in filming my thriller opening sequence as I used a variety of camera movements and I learnt by the end of filming how to use the camera and tripods safely and properly.
• Music producer- I wanted to be the music producer as I was editor of our thriller clip and felt I would know which music would go best with my editing, I felt I done a good job as I used music which related to my editing which was fast paced and suspenseful.
• Editor- I put myself forward to be editor of my thriller opening clip as I done media for GCSE and was familiar to editing a thriller clips, I felt I managed to create a good thriller opening sequence as I turned just a normal unnerving narrative into a fast paced, jerky and gloomy opening clip.

I believe my group worked well together as we overcame having to film the opening sequence twice. We felt the first opening sequence we filmed did not have enough conventions of the thriller genre, together as a group we followed our filming schedule and all completed our production roles well to finish off with a good thriller opening sequence. I think we managed to make a successful thriller opening sequence for our thriller film as we related it to the conventions we found in the other thriller films we had researched about. We used a female victim who gets possessed after drinking water to kill herself, this follows the conventions of a thriller film as you normally find a blonde female victim in thriller films as these come across as vulnerable and weak. My group and I shocked the audience as it did not become clear what was happening until the end, leaving the audience in suspense while the blonde victim is walking from her house through the forest were the audience see the victim jump in the water and kill herself, the conventions of shock and suspense(which is further deepened through the editing added) used in our opening sequence helped us create a successful thriller opening sequence.

Production roles- Miss Miller

Production roles are used to provide organisation and consistency, everyone knows what role they have and can focus on that specific job. If a certain production member needs to change something or discuss a certain aspect of the film they know exactly who and where to go to do this. This results in the filming and editing becoming less tom consisting, as the film can produced as efficiently as possible. Production roles also allow the film to be consistent as each person knows how to do their job and keep at the same quality throughout, whereas if roles were not allocated then the quality of each job would be non consistent and the film would not be to a acceptable quality. The roles include:

Camera Operator - The camera operator is also known as the cinematographer who professionally operates the the film or the video camera. They are usually responsible for operating the camera and maintaining composition and camera angles throughout a scene or shot. Camera operators collaborate with directors, actors and crew members to make creative decisions.

Actors - For the audience, actors are the most visible and tangible part of the production. An actors role consists of rehearsing and reciting there line and performing them on camera. They act in a dramatic and comical way to entertain the audience and create and effect.

Editor - The editors job is to organise the footage and arranges individual shots into one continuous sequence. Every scene has dozens of different shots that have to be chosen and assembles from all the film. The editor's choices about which shots to use and the order in which to place them have a profound effect on the appearance of the overall film.

Location Manager - The location managers role is to identify and find the ideal locations for a film shoot, the arranging to film on the property. The role involves negotiating with each locations owners and once the filming has begun they are in charge of managing all aspect of shooting in each location.

Sound Technician - When sound was integrated into the film-making process, music, sound effects and dialogue became essential tools for enhancing a film's visual qualities. The sound is going to be created on garage band and plays over certain screen shots to create effect.

Storyboard Manager - A storyboard manager organizes and manages timelines to ensure work is completed on time. They plan the shots and camera angles that are going to be filmed and provides an overview plot of the story-line.
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Film Director - The job of the film director is to interpret the script and make it into a film. This can involve planning locations, shots, pacing, acting styles and anything else which affects the feel of the movie. It also involves them overseeing the cinematography and technical aspects film directs coach and direct the actors toward the required performance whilst coordinating staff on set. They are for directing the shooting timetable and ensuring the deadlines are met.

Production roles are a pivotal part of any film as they enable the co-ordination of roles within films. Our production roles were as follows:

producers - Domenico Martini; Domenico put himself forward to be producer as he was confident in doing this he done a good job in producing our opening clip.

directors - Domenico Martini, Robyn Tansley; both these were directors as they came mainly up with the narrative so I let them take control of this area as I knew I would be more confident in other areas. They both directed well and they managed to come out with a good final thriller clip

actors -  Robyn Tansley; Robyn was the actor as she is blonde and we wanted to follow the conventions of a thriller by using a blonde female victim. Robyn done well in this role as she managed to come across as an innocent female victim.

director of photography - Harry Fagan; I put myself forward to be the director of photography as I took media last year and was confident in using the tripod and camera, I also used the camera in the preliminary task so I got a feel of how to use them and felt I done a good job in filming our thriller clip by using all different camera shots.

music producer - Harry Fagan; I wanted to be the music producer as I was the editor of our thriller clip and felt I would know which music would go best with my editing, I felt I done a good job as I used music which related to my editing which was fast paced.

screenplay writer - Domenico Martini, Robyn Tansley

mes co-cordinator -  Robyn Tansley; Robyn was the M.E.S co-ordinator as she was the actor so decided what she wanted to wear and what location she wanted to film out. She done a good job as she wore clothes to come across as an innocent female victim and the setting was conventional of a thriller by being set in a forest.

editor -  Harry Fagan; I put myself forward to be editor of our thriller clip as I done media for GCSE's and was familiar to editing a thriller clip, not being biased but I changed the thriller clip a lot as the editing made the clip change from just a narrative to a jerky fast paced, gloomy opening clip.