Our Chosen Locations:

Why Do We Think That They Will Be Suitable?..

Our Thriller is about school children. The school will be a perfect place to film as it fits in with our thriller story. We have rang and asked for permission and the school were very understanding. Our group are looking forward to starting our filming as we have come up with several interesting ideas.

We also are going to steal the sound of the children playing in the playground. This will create a realistic and believable atmosphere in our thriller as it will be played over the music to add extra effect and create a atmosphere for our audience.

Here Are Some Photographs Of Our Location:



This image is taken outside the school near the railings. The railings will add extra effect as we will be able to take depth of field shots of the gate and add them in our Thriller, to create the sense of mystery. This effect will focus on the third angle and blur what seems to be far away, so therefore, it will create a sense of mystery for the audience.



Here is just a clearer shot of where we will be shooting and filming our film. As you can see, their is plenty of open space allowing us to take different angle shots around. This will help create an effect on our audience.



Here we are going to have Alex (Our main character), leaning on the garages, he is going to look menacing and threatening to help portray the boys vulnerability.

Health and Safety Hazards*

Our group will need to ensure we think about the following when filming:

*Don't linger around anyone's house- as you could create them to feel uncomfortable

*Be careful what props you use- no guns (as this could scare the public if in a public place).

*Ensure that our group are not working loudly and creating and abrupt scene for the neighbourhood).

*When using a school ensure you ask for permission.

*Be very careful when filming on the roads, due to passing cars.

*When using public cars ask for permission before just filming them.

*Use children you know, do not just assume that you can use and children.

*Be subtle with camera equipment for your own saftey (prevent muggings)

Timeline For Our Main Project*

Our schedule to complete our Thriller, This includes:

*Planning*
*Filming*
*Editing*

It gives us a basic timeline as it shows us when things should be completed by, it helps give us a better understanding as it sets us a timeline and we have to acheive the deadlines.

DATE* What We Will Be Doing...* Completed..

12th Feb: Begin Planning (Brainstorming ideas) /
17th Feb: Continue Planning (include a Storyboard) /
24th Feb: Completed a detailed storyboard /
26th Feb: Complete all Planning (including props, costume ect) /
3rd Mar: Went to visted locations /
5th Mar: Anamatic Storyboard /
10th Mar: Start Filiming /
12th Mar: Research Audio Sounds /
16th Mar: More Filming /
17th Mar: Final Filming /
18th Mar: Editing /
19th Mar: Editing (hand in first draft) /
24th Mar: Get feedback and update blog /

Have we kept to our schedule?

24th Feb: My Point Of View
Our group have been very consistant on deadlines. We have met all deadlines and kept everything updated. Our group work very progressively to all our work is so far meeting our deadlines. I therefore, am very proud of the way my group are working with one another.

5th March: My Point Of View
Our group have completed a very detailed plan and have worked hard achieving a good first base. We need to continue working hard whilst filming and editing now to achieve a grade 'A' which is my targetand it is an achievable grade.

17th March: My Point Of View
My group have worked extremely hard on the filming and editing and the shots that we have got look great and will create tension for our viewers. We need to work extremely hard now to reach our deadling which is in two days as our final draft is due in.

19th March: My Point Of View
WAHOO!*
We reached our deadline, and handed in a tense, eerie atmosphere thriller. Now we just have to wait for our feedback.

Internet Research Into Genre:

Psychological thriller: (relevant to our Thriller)*

Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. This genre often incorporates elements from the mystery genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre.

Generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and therefore emphasize intense and physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot.

The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflicts with their own minds. Usually, this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them. These conflicts are made more vivid with physical expressions of the conflict in the means of either physical manifestations, or physical torsions of the characters at play.

Summary: Is where a mood of high tension and excitement is created mainly as the result of psychological drama and dilemma.

This research has helped me with my Thriller as it is very similar to our main character. This information helps portray that our genre is a Psychological thriller as our main character has had a rough past and been mis-treated by his family leading him now to feel alone and isolated. This is what has made him like he is. He has not been taught right from wrong and feels that he is helping the children when in actual fact he is hurting both them and their families.

Quoted from:openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/glossary/view.php

Target Audience Research And Statistics:

The target audience depends on the kind of thriller the film is. Like all genres, there are sub-genres and to really give an accurate answer to your question you would have to specify what kind of thriller the film is.

Silence of the Lambs and No Country for Old Men are considered the two best thrillers in recent memory. Their target audience is aimed at young male adults. Meanwhile, there are those thrillers that are borderline horror films, such as M. Night Shyamalan films The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village. Since they're close to horror (and horror films target teenage girls), the demographic would be slightly different and it would aimed at younger audience and often they are made to make the female feel comfortable. The legal thrillers (Fracture, Runaway Jury) and crime thrillers (Memento, Se7en) that target a more mature sophisticated audience. Then there is classic thrillers (any Alfred Hitchcock film) that are rated PG, but are intended for adults.

But if you just need a target audience for a generic thriller film. Then the young adult demographic from 18-25 are your safest bet. They are interested in the action packed films and can relate to the films. The inspiration of fighting and gun crime also is provided in thrillers and this is one possible reason why Thrillers are so popular.

More Research :

Psycho’ Thrillers like the majority of other conventional thrillers focus on the audiences reception, thrillers are about provoking a reaction from the viewer through extreme suspense and excitement. ‘Psycho’ has a fairly fast pace and generally focuses more of plot than character as thrillers are known to do. This information helps me understand what my thriller needs to include, as we have chosen to have a stalker as our main idea.

Research into openings:

It is said in a documentary that a good beginning must make the audience feel that they don't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that the audience doesn’t know too little.

Pre-limanary Task *Final*

Media Preliminary task from Nico Turner on Vimeo.

What I Like About My Film and What I think worked well:

*I think that the music helps create a tense atmosphere.
*The editing is very precise and helps create a believable scene.

What would I change about my film to improve it:

*Unfortunately due to limited technology our ending did make the film look unreal, however if we had more time and better technology this could have been improved.

Questionnaire Results*

Results:
I collated all my results and analysed them to get a better understanding of what my target audience would want....

Question One:
Thriller action based film is a popular choice, these types of films are well liked and several people watch them. My first question help me understand whether people enjoy watching Thrillers. It is easy to see that most people enjoy watching them as only 2 people out of the 15 disagreed and said they prefer to watch something different.

Question Two:
My results again showed that only 2 out of the 15 people that were asked do not enjoy Thriller films. This portrays that Thriller films are a popular genre of film and are enjoyed by many different audiences.


Question Three:
Question three's results gave me a clear understanding of what the audience enjoy about Thrillers. This is going to help me and my group as I'll ensure to make my Thriller exciting and fearful. I am going to create both a confusing but tense scene at the start to ensure my audience are on edge. I will give away little clues to give the audience some understanding of what is going on however there will be a twist. The antagonist will be played my a man and the hero will not be revealed in the opening sequence. I will ensure that my Thriller is exciting and exotic and the music used is going to spook out the audience.

Question Four:
This question didn't surprise me. I personally enjoying watching films at night, in the dark as it makes it more tense to watch. However our scenes will work better in the day as we have set the scene to finish at the end of a school day. However due to these results we have decided to film when it is getting darker as in Winter at four o'clock it begins to gradually get darker. We think that this will work better. It will make our Thriller more eerie and create suspense throughout.

Question Five: What Fears You Most Out Of The Following:

I was impressed by these results, as in our scene we have a paedophile following a group of young school boys home. It interests me that seven people would fear being followed. Therefore, hopefully this scene will make the audience feel anxious and on edge as they are unsure what the man wants from the little boy and what the little boy has done wrong to be followed.

A mini Questionnaire to help my research develop:

1) Do You Watch Thrillers?

Yes (13)

No (2)

2) Do You Enjoy Watching Thrillers?

Yes (13)

No (2)

3) What Attracts You To Thrillers?

'Thrillers are exciting'.
'You never know what is going to happen'.
'They always have a twist'.
'They leave you on edge throughout the entire film'
'Several clues are given but still it is hard to work out what is happening'
'I like to see realistic events, they scare me more'.
'Their good to watch as rhey are very interesting'.
'The exotic settings highlight the film'.
'The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men", therefore its nice to see the men working hard'.
'They are fearful'.
'Enjoy being on egde and getting spooked out'.
'The music is very clever'.

4) What Time Of Day Do You Prefer A Thriller To Be Set In?

a) Morning (2)
b) Afternoon (0)
c) Night (13)

5) What Fears You Most Out Of The Following:

A dangerous looking man walking towards you? (7)
A clown laughing? (1)
A mystery car that seems to be following you? (7)

Titles For Our Thriller

In His Sights

On Track

Captured

Follower

Preditor

Prowler

Intruder

Imprison

Reprisal: FINAL TITLE NAME

We decided that this name was well suited, it represented the characters emotion of revenge and anger. It also sounds very edgy and catchy, so therefore the audience will be interested in the film.

Our group worked well together to come up with this idea. We are going to ensure that the font used will be eye catchy too to match and compromise the titles name.

Devolping Ideas*

Different Scenes We Would Like In Our Opening:

*A mysterious man walking down the street...
Of course this man will be the paedophile, however the audience will not know this.
*Children playing on the playground...

*Close Ups Of the children on the swings (their enjoying themselves)

*A vision of the school bus

*A Shot Of the playground and the children leaving the gate.

Actors/Actresses:

It is important who we choose as we also get marked on the acting, therefore our actors have been chosen specifically.

Alex (a member of my group has agreed he will play the role of the paedophile), he is tall and has black hair which will work well as we can make Alex look suspicious. He is a very over the top person, who will be great for the role. He has taken GCSE Expressive Arts and passed with a excelling grade B. This exam was taken in year 9 and Alex has continued on with his drama work. He is a very confident character when not acting so we will have no problems when it comes to him acting for our Thriller.

The children we are are going to film, are family members. (Gender: male, Age: 10)
Jamie (Jade's Little Brother), is playing the role of the victimised child. He is a young boy and is present at Fairfield Primary School. He will be wearing their school uniform when acting. He again is a confident character and hopefully this will portray through the filming we use of him.

I am confident with both of my actors, and I am hoping they work well together.

Final Costumes*

Man (Paedophile): Will be dressed in:

*Dark Clothing- Long Coat, black trousers and shoes.

We want him to look dangerous however, he must not look suspicious stood outside of the school as this will cause concern of the parents. We want the character to make the audience feel tense when they see him, as he will look dodgey and this will make the audience frightened however, he still must fit in, in the neighbourhood.

Final Idea*

To get to our final idea we used several of our initial ideas to help create the best final outcome. We merged a variety of our ideas and came up with:

- a character who is physiologically disjointed as he has been neglected by his family. He was abused physically as a child leaving him in a mentally in stable state, who now as an adult pursues the lifestyle of a obsessive, compulsive paedophile.

In the opening sequence that we have to produce we are going to have several scenes, here is a quick brief:
*man stood at school gate, watching the children
*Children leave school, man follows
*Series of events happen on the way home, man watches
*Children split up and leave one child on their own.
*Man attacks child.

How well my group worked to create a final idea:

My group is very motivated, I came up with lots of ideas to help contribute to our final idea. Our group quickly got through the beginning of the planning so we could continue to work on the more specific aspects. We then began to go into detail about the important things such as, camera angles we were going to use to ensure the audience were unease, we also began to think about the costumes that we would use to make the thriller look believable and realistic, the editing and how it was going to work in order. We also thought about the actors/actresses we were going to use to also make the thriller look believable.

My Final Group*

I was pleased to be working with both Alex and Carl. We started by brainstorming initial ideas to furthermore work towards an exciting, suspense thriller.

Ideas To Start And Develop:

Idea One: *Car Scene*

-The lighting would be dark and mysterious
-The unexpected would happen
-The weather conditions would be dangerous (heavy rain) creating a tense atmosphere.
-The scene would be set in the middle of no-where to make the audience feel on edge.
-The car would be being followed and then a major crash would take place.

We decided against this first idea, as we thought that to film a car crash it would be difficult. It would also be difficult to film a person in the dark and in the car as we do not have professional equipment to use.

Idea Two: *Kidnap*

-We would see flashes of a girl tied up to create a sense of confusion as the audience will not understand what has happened or what is about to happen.
-The lighting would be very dark and it would be hard to see what sort of state the girl is in.
-The setting would be in a very old building, to create the sense of it looking gloomy and cold.

This idea has potential however it is very similar to my first pre-liminary task and i want to show that my work can vary. I think that this idea is very simple and can not reach the best of my ability.

Idea Three: *Police Investigation*

-A murder has taken place (dramatic, tense)
-A intense interview would take place with a suspected killer and the officer (violence may be used here)
-Flash backs to show the arrest (inform the audience what has happened).

Idea Four: *Stalker*

Could Involve:
-a man following young girls from the school gates to the school bus and then home
-a group of men obsessed with a group of girls
-an old man who is coming back for revenge on a family and takes it out on the daughter.

How We Would Show It*
- Collage of photographs on the wall of the victims
- Candle lit room to create a mysterious feeling
- A main character who is the peadophile who has an obsession with one girl inparticular.

Idea Five: *

-A man who was neglected by his family when he was younger, this is what makes the charcater be so violent and alone now. He has come to get his own back and have revenge on his mother's new children.

Groups Diary*

Planning and Research:

We all planned our work very well and completed a very detailed plan to ensure it was easier to film. This was an advantage as we had everything written down to prevent anything being forgotten. After 1 hour of planning (describing our costume, props, location, actors and actresses), we began to film our 30 second Thriller (Room 60). We scheduled our timetable and worked very hard and very quickly to ensure that we kept to it.

Filming:

We filmed the different scenes in different rooms to create confusion for the audience as it creates tension as the audience are on edge and do not know what to expect. We used several different camera angles to create the sense of mystery. We tried to make the girl tied up (myself) look vulnerable and scared, and contrast her to the main character (Carl) who would look empowering and superior in the scene.

Editing:

Our group experimented with the colour correction until we got it perfect, we adjusted the saturation to give it a dull sense creating an eerie and spooky atmosphere. We also used backing sounds from Video Copilots sound bank and deepened some of the voices to make them sound scarier and more empowering.The white font used was for the title of our film, was Copper Gothic Light which gave it a more sinister feel as the font is traditional.

For the TV effect used at the beginning a simple TV fx is used, this gives it the feel that a camera is watching over the tied up girl and adds to the sense of mystery. It is creepy and makes the girl look vulnerable. The audience are then left unsure what is happening?.. and where she is?

Props that we are going to use in our Preliminary Task*

Props*

*Briefcase :

Is used to add a suspicious feeling about what is inside it and why the main character is using it.

*Door Handle :

A close up is going to be used to create tension as we do not know where the opening of the door is going to lead.

*Knife :

The prop that is going to be used to kill one of our characters. This will help make the scene believable

*Room Sign :

Room 60, will add to the tension, as again the audience are unsure what this means.

*Tables:

Add to realism.

*Chair:

Again... making it believable

*Piece Of Material:

That is going to strangle the girl, to make the scene look realistic and believable, this will also show the audience that she has been tied up however, they will not know why and what for.

What Is A Thriller?

A Thriller is a suspenseful adventure. Their are different types of Thriller film types. They each intend to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and nerve wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.

Their are many different types of Thrillers, such as...

*Crime Thrillers*
*Disaster Thrillers*
*Drama Thrillers*
*Eco-Thrillers*
*Horror Thrillers*
*Erotic Thrillers*

More Detail Provided:

*Crime Thrillers* : This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers. They often offer a suspenseful account of successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s). Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects.

*Disaster thriller*: The main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, or some sort of nuclear disaster.

*Drama Thrillers*: The story consists of elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists.

These helped me wider my understanding of thriller films. I provided me me good potential ideas to put forward to my group as I wanted my thriller to be the best it could be.

Films include the following:

Murders, Robberies, Chases, Shootouts.

Thrillers are often set in wholly or partly exotic settings such as:

* Foreign Cities
* Deserts
* Polar Regions
* High Seas

Examples Of Thrillers:

*Dracula
*Heart Of Darkness
*First Blood
*The Riddle Of The Sands

Thriller Conventions*

* A crime usually takes place at the core of the narrative (often murder).

* A complex narrative structure, with false clues and resolutions (red herrings).

* A narrative pattern of establishing enigma's which the viewer expects to be resolved.

* A protagonist who is systematically dis empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the protagonist.

*Extra ordinary events happening in ordinary situations

*Themes Of Identity

*Themes of Mirroring

*Themes Of Voyeurism

* A protagonist with a flaw which is exploited by the antagonist.

*The title sequence often reflects an aspect of characters physiological state.

*Their is often a scene at the end of the film where the protagonist is in danger.

*Mis-en-scene which echo's or mirrors the protagonists right.

Research On Other Thrillers*

Main Task*

Things To Remember When I Start The Camera Work:

*Clean Lens- check the aspect

*Effects are better than manual

*When recording, ensure you wait 5secs before acting. (Pre roll)
& after acting. (Pay roll)

CHECK WHITE BALANCE:

Otherwise...
When outside in winter: Blue Tint
When outside in Summer: Yellow
Inside Tint: Orange

* When you want ambient sounds, record the play over by using the camera with lens cap over the rest.

My Storyboard*

Here is my storyboard.

Simple Plan*

Man walks down the hallway

Opens the door slowly (create tension)

Walks into the room (audience still unsure on what is happening)

We then visual the young girl who is trapped and strapped up (Create confusion unsure what is happening)

Man walks over with briefcase, slams it down and the desk.

Conversation takes place here.

He walks round the table and then kills her.

Costume For Our Preliminary Task*

Man One:

*Suit
**Shirt
***Shoes

To make him look mysterious and dangerous!

Girl One:

*Clothes that look dirty
**Very plain
***Hair a mess

... Make it look like she has been there for a while.

Thriller Two- ‘What Lies Beneath’- Textual Analysis:

How does the opening of the film What Lies Beneath create tension, and what techniques and conventions are used to do so?

Lighting: The lighting is very gloomy, there is no bright lighting used and the sky is very grey. This makes the audience aware that something bad has occurred or about to. It makes the audience feel unease and leaves them on edge. The foggy air creates a sense of mystery and makes the audience feel nervous as it is a perfect setting for something horrific to take place.

Music: The non-diegetic music that is played throughout the entire sequence at the start is very gloomy. It seems spooky and makes the audience feel scared and frightened. It is all one tone and does not increase in pace which makes the audience feel tense as they are waiting for the bad to happen. There is also no dialogue so the audience are guessing what has happened and are actually in fact unsure on who is who and what is what.

Enigmas:
‘What has happened?’
‘Why is she leaving?’
‘Who is the girl in the photo?’
‘What role does she play?’

Narrative: The structure of the thriller is complex. The lighting is unclear and the weather conditions make it difficult for the audience to understand the plot at the start. This leaves the audience feeling nervous as they do not know what is going to happen, however they expecting something bad to happen.

The thriller also follows the conventions of that the title sequence often reflects an aspect of the characters psychological state. In this thriller it is easy to see that the mother is missing her daughter. She feels very alone and this is shown through her mopping around the house and keeping herself to herself. She is sorting through photos and when she finds one of her daughter she looks at the photo as though she is reminiscing. The audience however are not completely sure where the daughter is in the opening; therefore the opening intrigues the audience so they continue on watching the Thriller.

Thriller One- Blood Simple - Textual Analysis :

How does the opening of the film Blood Simple create tension, and what techniques and conventions are used to do so?

Lighting: Several different lighting techniques are used throughout the opening of the film. The opening is very dark and gloomy to create a sense of mystery. The dark lighting creates the audience to feel unease and the tension increases as it is unclear to see what is happening. Many people fear the dark therefore; it forces the audience to feel suspense as they are anxiously waiting for something bad to occur. The lighting helps create a an unnerving opening scene and makes the audience want to continue watching the film.

Music: The music that is used throughout the opening of the thriller is created to seem edgy and makes the audience feel afraid. The audience are on edge about the unexpected and therefore, they fear that something awful is about to take place. The music is very quick and the pace increases to make it more eventful. When the music stops it leaves the audience tense as the pause is held for along period of time therefore, the audience are waiting for something to happen however, nothing does. This follows the conventions of thrillers as it tries to give you a clue about what is going to happen but it is false as the driver behind them waits for a moment and then continues on driving.

Enigmas:
‘Where Are They Going?’- The weather conditions are not safe for driving, so it creates the audience to feel that where they are driving to, must be important.
‘Why does she scream stop?’- Seems mystifying, but leaves the audience on edge as they feel that something is going to happen to them. However, nothing does.

Narrative: The structure of the thriller is complex. The lighting is unclear and the weather conditions make it difficult for the audience to understand the plot at the start. This leaves the audience feeling suspense as they do not know what is going to happen.

Camera Angles: The camera shoots them from the back making them look like silhouettes; this again creates a very mystery feel to the thriller. It forces the audience to try understand what is going on however, it is difficult to tell. We are unsure who the characters are, their relationships with one another and where the actual characters are going to.