Victim: (Struggles in chair.)
Monster: (Opens door.)
Victim: (Looks towards the
direction of the door.)
Monster: (Walks towards and towers over victim, before dragging a chair
to the victim and sitting.)
Monster: Are you ready
to talk?
Victim: What do you want from me?
Monster: It was you who did it, wasn’t it?
Victim: Okay! It was me!
Monster: Roar! (Towers over victim and strikes
them.)
Furthermore, additional to the opening scenes created, we considered the pitch for the entire film to express how we have considered the key conventions of the genre, as well as the need to appeal to the target audience:
"This thriller film, aims to successfully capture the audience of teenagers to young adults through a combination of classic conventions, modern plots that are orientated around real life themes, and aspects of intriguing fantasy.
Beginning with the premise, a group of students become clutched in a spiralling world of drugs and dealers, and something wants revenge. The actual plot follows the students’ nightmare as they are consumed by drugs and must pay a colossal debt to an unknown and violent dealer. As the group individually accumulate the money, they meet their comeuppance through sickly killings by a masked being. Yet as the final death is near, a shocking twist appears. It is revealed that the threat from the dealer is a red-herring, and the final ‘friend’ is revealed- their actions driven by their psychotic need for a fix."
I chose to follow the film media, initially because of my interest in more independent areas of the genre that allow more unique directing and production. Relating to the expression of film, we felt that the thriller genre would allow us to apply our knowledge of skills and conventions to create an effective piece. Furthermore, as i and another member of our group achieved a GCSE in Media, we had experience of using the camera correctly, as well as using the editing software Adobe Premiere Pro. Obviously, this past experience makes the most of limited time and means that we had a basis for improvement.
Also, it is important to consider the skills required and how we employed them in the process we went through. Firstly, research was required for our group to understand what conventions should be present. Through this, teamwork and creativity were essential in devising our plot. In order to make it relevant and intriguing to the audience, we decided to base it around drugs, as they are a prominent issue in society. Once I had devised pitch, I created the storyboards with consultation, to clearly determine the shots required, order on timeline, sounds, action and effects.
Plus, we found it essential that we had created storyboards to place shots in an accurate order on the timeline, as the shots were not filmed in the correct order. Additionally, storyboarding allowed us to consider things such as sound, as we had time to gather the song ‘Thriller’ to play during the credits of our work. Plus, we decided that the walking shots should only be diegetic sound, to create a menacing feeling and allow the audience to understand the situation.
Furthermore, planning was necessary for the costume and correct management of limited time. After all, we were required to shoot everything in one session, in order to keep continuity concerning the costume, location, and conditions.
The villain character’s face we decided to cover with black to create an uncomfortable feeling of the unknown for the audience. Also, a large open building was thought to be effective for the video, as the audience could sense the characters isolation and vulnerability, and so be anxious for the impending events.
Camera skills are necessary to create a professional and clear piece of work, meeting expectations of a high standard. Also, the framing of shots affects the audience’s view of the atmosphere, characters, and situation. Therefore using a camera correctly can make viewing more suiting to genre and more entertaining. Furthermore, directing skills were important as conventions of the genre had to be met. For example, we purposely had only mid-shots and close-ups of the villain initially. The reasoning for this was that a sense of intrigue would be created s the audience would not be certain of the character, and so would understand that they were sinister.
Importantly, a panning shot began the action to establish the location. This expressed just how helpless the victim was, but instantly makes the audience eager and nervous about the events- as did the close-up of her tied hands. Furthermore, we felt during the sequence where the villain walked towards the character that we should track the feet, and then have a shot from the characters point of view to really draw the audience into the action. Additionally, we planned both low and high angle shots to show the contrasting status of the victim and villain. A crab shot was utilised to express that the meeting of the two characters was isolated, ensuring recognition that the villain had a dramatic power. An extreme close-up was necessary to show the victim looking towards the villain, as this shows each of the locations in context with one another, showing that they are connected. Also, over the shoulder shots are used during the dialog as an aesthetically pleasing method of showing the direction of the speech, whilst filling the frame effectively whilst the 180-degree rule is followed. Also, to create fast paced action, we have used match on action shots when the peak of the opening scene happens. Finally, concerning camera abilities, we have tried to ensure that the eye-line is correct on all included parts.
Moreover, creativity is needed to generate refreshing ideas concerning story lines and camera usage. After all, the more new ideas present, the more unique the piece of work shall be. Yet with this, leadership skills were necessary to select the most effective ideas, and ensure that all aspects come together for the deadline. Once more, teamwork is vital to produce a coherent and effective piece of film. Without cooperation the work wouldn’t be as strong as instead of many ideas, all the thoughts would come from only one person. Plus, the work load can be shared, and therefore produced to a much higher quality.
Finally, our editing skills were essential as they allowed us to remove pauses and outtakes in a meticulous fashion. Hence, this enabled us to create a seamless piece of work, despite numerous takes and shots not being filmed in the correct order. Also, we wished to firstly have a long-shot of the victim and then simply have a straight cut to a medium-shot of them. However, we did not notice until viewing the video back that it broke the 90 degree rule. Nonetheless, we could make use of the transitions and make one shot fade to the next in order to maintain the shots we wanted, but make the film be correct. Additionally, our ability to add features such as text allowed us to create suitably gothic titles to introduce the film and actors, whilst also expressing the genre to the audience, through the colour scheme and font. Lastly, along with the realism of the diegetic sound included, we were able of adding and fading the non-diegetic song ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson.
Overall, it was of great importance that we considered our target audience greatly when creating this film. From the outset, the film is intended for the age group of 15 to 30. We decided on this age range as they are the most likely to seek entertainment from attending the cinema, and a more likely to seek a thriller- giving us a large audience which would mean high ticket sales. Yet as it is aimed to be rated at 15, it was important to get the correct balance between a serious adult theme that maintains fear, but not to be so gruesome that it exceeds the age rating of 15. Therefore, we have used the classic convention of an unknown and mysterious victim as this works at all levels. Relying on such suspense building techniques and limiting the violence makes the actual attacks emphasised, whilst the theme of drugs is a relevant issue in society that then audience can recognise and be interested in, whilst also finding it sinister.
Despite this very specific recognition of our audience, there were some challenges we had to overcome, they we did not for see when planning the task. For example, the combination of limited time to film and a low camera battery meant that some shots could not be perfected. Although we were able to charge the camera for brief periods, we did not realise how long it would take to charge and the cable would not reach far enough to film at the same time. Yet still, we decided to film through the eye-piece to save from losing the energy used by having the screen open.
Analysing our planning now, i feel that we were very thorough and encountered no problems in creating the opening scene. After all, we did research the genre and its conventions, as well as creating detailed storyboarding. On the other hand, i feel that we should have a closer look at effects and transitions available as it may inspire us when creating our actual piece, as we did just use the effects that we were previously aware of.
To consider how effective our task was i created a survey and got ten people from our target audience to complete it. yet to evaluate on a deeper level, i have analysed the results.
The majority of the people who took part in the survey believed that overall; the opening scenes of the film were excellent. However, as this conclusion is not undisputed it is important to understand how improvements could be made so we can make our actual practical coursework to the highest standard. Firstly, every person asked, agreed that the storyline was in keeping with the thriller genre. Hence, future plots would be effective of they included an unknown and mysterious villain and victims begin ordinary people. This is because the audience can empathise with the character, and feel more fear due to them being able to picture themselves in such a position.
Furthermore, the effectiveness and the accuracy of shots were voted as excellent and, yet the ‘good’ option just gained a majority. Considering these results in context with what we produced, I feel that the shots chosen were popular, yet we could perhaps improve the quality in the future. In further depth, the still shots would have been smoother by using a tripod, and so look more professional. Also, using a tripod would show a clear contrast between the shots that show the villain’s perspective.
Following this, participants were asked whether all of the required conventions were present. Only one person said partly, whilst all of the others said yes. From this I feel it is evident that aspects such as the situations, dialogue, and costume, have been recognised as part of the thriller genre. Yet the reasoning for the one other answering only ‘partly’ is the limitations of only creating the opening scenes. After all, our plot later involves a twist, which is a key convention of the thriller genre.
Plus, it is positive that all who were asked agreed that the editing was smooth. This is essential, as if the editing is inconsistent; the atmosphere of the film is ruined. Additionally, this question approached the idea of relevancy, and results show that all transitions and sounds had reasoning and were not considered unnecessary.
From 70 percent saying that they thought the film was modern, it appears to have been successful. This is because it must appear different and unique from older films for our target audience to feel eager to watch it. However, by the remaining percentage feeling that it was both modern and traditional, it seems that it contained enough of the classic features to boldly be a thriller film.
Continuing, a majority felt that both the diegetic and non-diegetic sound were excellent. I feel that this is partly because of the atmospheric non-diegetic music that presented the credits, as it makes the audience’s anticipation heighten. Also, the diegetic sound included helped form this opinion as aspects such as the footsteps created tension and an air of reality, just as the emotive voices created empathy. Yet I feel that a few people believed that the sound was only ‘good’ because of the subtlety. In the future, I feel that we should make the sound of the footsteps more prominent.
Considering the costume, most people believed it to be good, with one person voting poor, and three voting for the ‘very good’ option. I feel that the average reaction of the costumes was due to the success of the villain’s, yet the mundane of the victim’s. Having a masked face and covered hands added to the frightening nature of the villain. Alternatively, in the future I feel we should make the victim look more scruffy and tortured so show suffering, yet keep everyday clothes so the audience can relate.
Also, a very large majority have stated that the setting adds to the film. This is essential as this is a continuous aspect of the film. Therefore I feel it is an ideal location as it is very much empty as well as large, displaying just how extreme the victim’s helpless situation is.
Overall, I feel that we have been fairly successful, as 80 percent believe they would definitely watch the whole of the film, with 20 percent stating that they possibly would. Therefore it appears that all skills and aspects of the film have been followed to a high standard. Also, this preliminary task has been very beneficial as we have realised that further equipments and slight alterations to the process will allow us to make an excellent piece of work.
Finally, now i have evaluated our preliminary project, i feel eager to begin our actual task. After all, i now am aware of effective aspects that our film includes, and i am am positive because of this. Additionally, i have closely considered all negative feedback, and i am now aware of how to perfect errors such as panning too far. Therefore, both negative and positive feedback has shaped our future project for the better. Hence, i feel proud, but also very much prepared to continue.
