Evaluation 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the finished product?

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

In our preliminary task there was a large amount of planning. Firstly, we were not concerned about the costumes and props in our film, we just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible and we were also had one character in the forest. We got to a stage where we took care in every shot. We also took several retakes until the shot was up to a good standard and no problems. The quick planning gave us a lot of time to plan every shot and helped us ideally in helping us produce a good film.

In our preliminary task, the main focus was getting the shots done without worrying about he quality, this would give us a good foundation and starting point to help progress from. The POV shots were shaky, far too long and out of focus. We also adjusted our shots so as to not break the 180 degree rule and we focused the view of the camera before shooting.

For our final film, we carefully thought out choice of story line compared to our preliminary which was thought of briefly as we wanted to progress and add from it. In the final filming we had three choices of storyline which we all liked by all of our market research. We chose the best one which went down well with the audience.

Our preliminary task had very little editing as we rushed to get it done briefly. Our finished product had many different forms of editing, We changed the lighting in a particularly dark shot and added in transition editing in the way that one shot where the paper was hanged on the tree. 

To conclude, our final film was incredibly more detailed and advanced than our preliminary idea and, even though it was shorter, took several weeks as opposed to several days to complete as we wanted it to be perfect.







In our preliminary task, the eyeline match was not very good, as we held the shot too long. Also, the setting did not fit the scene. A classroom would not be appropiate for a drug deal. So we decided to improve this eyeliner match by changing the storyline and in a better location. Also, this eyeliner match builds suspense as we wasn't sure at what Lord Healey was looking at, or what he was planning to shoot at.

Evaluation 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

6. 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?

To complete our short thriller film we used a variety of different software and technology

The Software We Used: 

Premiere Pro
Premiere Pro was the main video editing software me and my group used to create my practice films, rough but and final films.

At the beginning Premiere Pro was quite complex to use but with the help of my peers and colleagues i understood how to use it quite quickly.

Premiere Pro allows you to add music and sound effects,create transitions,change different colour grades and etc.

The Internet Sites I Used: 

Blogger
Blogger is an internet blogging website which is used to make blogs, this is how i explain how I have been able to made the thriller and processes doing so. Also, i have evaluated some films in looking at the techniques they use.

Prezi
Prezi is an online presentation software that uses motion, zoom, and spatial relationships to bring ideas to life and make people a great presenter.

.

Youtube
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California.

I used Youtube to share and spread my thriller film to increase the amount of people who view my thriller film.

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is an online survey cloud-based software.

I used SurveyMonkey to get feedback on how to improve my short film. I also used it on the final cut and rough cut.

This help me find out what people liked and dislike about my short film.

The Hardware We Used :

Tripod

I tried filming without a tripod and my filming came out quite shaky and blurry but in some films its best to film by hand.

When i learnt how to set up a tripod the standard of my films improved and i could film a variety of different scenes.








Microphone 

A microphone is great to capture all sounds.
In our thriller film we used a microphone to make the sounds within our thriller more sharper and clearer.

Digital Camera

The most important piece of hardware in making a film. A high tech camera would give us all the advantages as it has the latest technology in making the film. 

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4:Who would be the audience for your media product?

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?


Create your own user feedback survey

From the survey above me and my group have learned that the age groups from the ages of 19-22 would be most likely to watch our thriller whilst the least amount of people who wouldn't go to view it would be those ages 14 and under. This is mostly because the genre of my group thriller is a fantasy adventure film, because i think that the younger generation would rather see an action film or comedy film. Also because of the story line would not really impress teens and children to view it because they would simply not get the concept of the short film and it wouldn't really attract them.

Demographics
Create bar charts

The pie chart suggests most viewers was aged 18-24 this may be because the subliminal messages of our short film is to find yourself and motivates our audience in following their dreams.  In conclusion, the message of our short film is to follow a path until you reach your map (dream) to success and happiness.

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

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

The big production companies, are mostly likely not take my completed thriller into consideration, as my media product story line, hasn't been published, developed or produced before. This could mean that they face a huge risk of losing money if it doesn't become successful in the box office. This is too big of a risk for the big production companies to take. These big production companies prefer developing existing films and creating sequels, as it has a higher chance of being successful, due to the success it has had before. For example, Fast and Furious has had 7 sequels, as every sequel has been successful and always generates profit, so they would repeat those so they wouldn't lose money.

However, I distributed it through social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat because I have a lot of followers on both my Instagram and Snapchat so I knew my followers would enjoy seeing what I have been working on for all this time as I used to keep them updated. And this benefited us because these were ways we promoted our film for free. But as Instagram and Snapchat videos could only be about 10-15 seconds long, showing them a few clips of the interesting scenes. YouTube and Facebook was useful because you are able to have a long duration of videos and it can be accessible to everyone and it will be easy for them to share it with their friends and family.

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

The key convections used in most thrillers are:

• Suspense 
• Tension
• Fast pacing
• Red herrings
• Cliff Hangers
• Action
• McGuffin

A McGuffin is a plot device in the form of some goal or an achievement in the film that the main characters in the film seem to focus on a lot making it seem like their main goal in the movie.

The audience aren't really engaged about what happens in terms of the McGuffin as they are more likely to more intrigued about the characters of the film. In me and my group thriller the plot device is the map in which Lord Healey is trying to recover to restart the human race.

Suspense is used in me and my group thriller film in a number of very effective ways. Suspense is firstly used by the background music which takes place throughout the thriller film, the music gives a sense of adventure., when he is picking items, so the audience is wondering what is he trying to do?The background music is taken from the theme song of award winning PlayStation 4 Game ''The Last Of Us'' the song was made by Gustavo Santaolalla.

Another way suspense was created in our thriller film was the story-line because with each scene passing suspense builds up into revealing if Lord Healey retrieves the map or not.

Also we added many filming techniques to add suspense. Firstly, we used an eyeline match to add suspense, as it puts a question in the audience heads, as they wonder what the protagnist was looking at. Also we used POV shots, to add the thrill into our thriller as it makes the audience feel like their in the protagnist position, making this a very effective shot.  

A cliffhanger is when the film ends in suspense. 
The cliffhanger in our thriller "Road to London" is the audience isn't sure if Lord Healey recovers the human race with the map he found in the end. The film ends with Lord Healey walking in the distance. This leavers the audience with a question in there head, what is going to happen next? 

Examples of Cliffhangers





Examples of eyeline match:

Both of these eyeline matches are very professional, as it adds suspense to what the protagonists are looking at. The audience would want to know what the characters are looking at.

Audience Feedback on Thriller

After screening our thriller we received lots of positive feedback and criticism from our audience. Many people felt that the film had an interesting idea that managed to draw them into in and said that they would like to watch the rest of the film. However many people felt that the film needed to be faster paced and have more conventional elements of a thriller. Some people also said they would of liked some dialogue in the film.

Examples of feedback:

Screening

Screening

In this, we had to show our thriller to a class, to see if they liked our thriller. we gave them a questionnaire to fill out to see if they liked our film and see if there any way we could improve our film. We got many positive feedback, better than our rough cut, which was a good sign. 

Completed Thriller

Audience feedback on Rough Cut

Audience Feedback on Rough Cut

First Impressions

Good Editing/ Effects, Interesting, Confusing, Professional, Short, Good Camera

  

Out of 10? 

Average 5/10

What went well?

Good effects, Music, Camera Work,  Intense, Attention grabbing beginning, 

What Could Be Improved?

Better Production Company, Longer, Need Complete Film,

Analysis of Rough Cut

After viewing my rough cut I have come to the conclusion that it is not very well made and could be done better. 

Pros: Good Editing, Some Good Shots, Good Music Choice

Cons:Rushed, Generic Story, Not Enough Footage, Too Short, Filmed at school

After seeing the audience feedback I have decided that I am going to completely redo my film with a completely new story. This is not too bad as I did not film too much of this film so not much would be lost.

Rough Cut

Editing No.2

Editing No.2

This is our editing of our rough cut and this scene was shot in central park and we had to do different camera angles. We added in different types of screen transitions, to make our film to look professional. Also, added in music which fits into our thriller. Furthermore, we added titles and  used a colur corrector to perfect our thriller. 

Editing No.1

Editing No.1

Today I edited 20 seconds of my film, I had to edit scenes of me running at different angles to make it look like one smooth motion. I also added some effects to make my footage look more cinematic and a soundtrack to improve the atmosphere.

Filming 1

Filming 1

In the first filming day we filmed the start of the chase scene. Next time we need to make sure we have more time because we did not manage to film enough. We also need to make sure we have all the necessary equipment at the start next time as we forgot we needed the Dolly and had to get someone to get it which took up more time.

Filming 2

Filming 2

In the second day of filming we managed to complete our chase scene. In this we included a variety of shots including a POV, mid shot and a close-up. We also included many sounds including off screen and on screen and afterward some non-diegetic sounds. We also including a match-on action and graphic match. However when editing we discovered that some of our shots did not move smoothly into each other and saw numerous over minor mistakes with our filming and so we will have to re-film those shots at a later date.

Thriller Conventions

Thriller Conventions
Thriller are a type of genre that involves a lot of action. They can also have a major plot twist. The thriller has a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub genres.

A flexible genre
The genre is flexible and can engage the audience through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social and political tension. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience to put their toe in the cold water and fear to see what it is like.

Types of Thrillers
Legal thriller, Spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, poltical thriller, religious thriller and high tech thriller.

Todorov- The 5 stages
These are the stages in which the narrative can progress through:
A state of equilibrium, a disruption of that order of event, a recognition that the disorder occurred, an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption, a return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

The Thriller
This is one of the genres most enduring characteristics, the wide variety of thrillers all have something in common, this is the face that each thriller will use the same techniques to make the film tense. The thrillers each try to create a mood, they want the viewer to feel as if they are in the movie themselves.  If it thrills, then it is a thriller!

Thrillers differ from mystery stories 
In a thriller, the hero must thwart the future plans of an enemy, danger and violence confrontations are a standard plot thriller.

More Characteristics of a thriller
Thrillers often take place in exotic settings such as foreign cities, the heroes in most thrillers are frequently 'hard men' accustomed to danger.

Conclusion on thrillers
Thrillers have: fast pacing, frequent action, resourceful heroes and better quipped villains. Thrillers are also a villain driven plot. Also thriller uses devices such as: suspense, red herrings and cliff hangers.

Modern Opening Thrillers

When looking at the beginnings of thrillers you can see that there are many similar techniques used. I looked at the beginning of a few thrillers and were asked to analyse different techniques used:



The opening of "No country for old men" starts off using non-diegetic sound, a voice over of a man with a southern accent which lets the audience know, and puts the viewer on guard as stereotypically an accent from the deep south, such as cowboys. This creates a feeling of for the viewer that there might be some cowboy action or something has gone wrong. The image at the beginning is a series of dark landscape scenes of native american land filled with shadows which adds an evil feel to all of the nature, like the nature in the film is turning evil. As things start to light up as day begins it gives the impression that something big is about to start. 




The opening of "Brick" starts with non-diegetic western music, which feels a bit weird. The sound is almost trickled into the film but the transition is a little off putting. This is followed by a pot to a close up of shoes which again is a little bit of an odd way to start, it gives the audience very little information about what is going on and makes the audience question why they are being shown shoes. This then transitions to a close up of a face which then cuts to the view of a tunnel where we can see that the face and the shoes belong to a boy and the boy is crouched looking over at the dead body of a woman. He appears to be quite fascinated by the dead body which is really creepy. This is then emphasized by the western music that is still playing in the background. However the fact that the boy is looking at the woman in this way, and the way that he is positioned on the other side of the tunnel crouched makes the audience curious as to whether he killed this person.

Idents

Film Idents

An ident is designed to identify a particular studio, it is like a logo. This design needs to memorable and easily recognisable to the audience. Both film and television studios often have moving title idents. The ident always appears at the start of the film.


Film 4 ident




Columbia Pictures ident




BBC TV Ident

Psycho Analysis

Psycho

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Joseph Stefano (screenplay), Robert Bloch (novel)
Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles

Plot
Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam on lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in the alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sams California store. Tired after a long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into Bates hotel.

Main Cast

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates

Vera Miles as Lila Crane