Final Thriller

Feedback for thriller opening sequence

This is feedback from our media class in which we asked them questions about our opening thriller sequence. A  t the beginning a class mate says the liked how the suspense is built up throughout leading to the characters death. Another positive feedback was that the credits at the end of our opening sequence were really well done.  The non-diegetic music in our opening sequence also came across as appealing to the audience.  We then questioned whether or not the screen capture that was included was something that was relevant and looked good in our thriller. The responses supported the idea of the screen capture. the voice note that was used in our thriller for the voice of the mysterious caller produced a positive outcome also and fitted in really well, however there were some issues with the volume. 

Our film was inspired by the film Scream and this was obvious to the audience as this was the first film they thought it was similar to also. we questioned our class on whether our lead actress fitted the role. Their replies said she depicted a vulnerable blonde which is typical for thrillers and is a positive piece of feedback as that was our aim. They picked up on the fact that she is alone throughout showing she is isolated foreshadowing something bad to happen. 

there appeared to be controversy about the letter through the letterbox with the words Malice on it which was included to create a subtle hint to reveal to the audience what the film could be about and gives a subtle hint to the fact its also the title. 

Negative feedback was related to the fact that too much slow motion was included in our film consequently making it unrealistic and makes the clips that have this effect too long.

Presenting our film to the class allowed us receive positive and negative feedback that will allow us to make improvements to our thriller and also advise us on what needs to be changed, but also to hear about what they liked in our opening sequence and what they think we did well in editing and filming, indicating whether it would be a success or not.

Evaluation task 7 - What have I learnt in the progression from my preliminary task to my full product

Below displays my preliminary task first followed by final opening thriller sequence:

Evaluation Task 6 - How have i used digital technologies in my production

This is our final thriller opening sequence consisting of annotations explaining digital technologies used and why in my film. I also included annotations of different effects and transitions used along with some annotations on the mis-en-scene.

Evaluation Task 5 - How I've chosen to attract my target audience

Evaluation Task 4 - Who would be the target audience for our own thriller opening sequence

For our opening thriller sequence, elements of mystery, horror and suspense are implemented together to create this genre. I think for this film our target audience would be adults and teenagers with a 15+ age rating which is appropriate for violence, drug and alcohol references, and strong use of language.

Our film is based on a teenager so therefore an audience of teenagers would enjoy it more and could almost relate to the character and would feel more engaged. Young adults would also enjoy this genre and would stay interested in the horror side of the film. Furthermore, our use of mise-en-scene to portray the darkness and vulnerability of the victim will mean younger audiences will not be able to follow the film easily. An audience below the age of 15 may feel scared and frightened from an opening such as this which could potentially cause distress as they may not understand that it isn't real life.

The suspense in the opening scene would keep the audience on the edge of the seat as they anticipate what will happen next. The main character (teenage girl) is presented in a mysterious setting straight away foreshadowing something bad to occur later on.  
    I created my own survey and asked people to respond to get feedback and a sense of whom my target audience will be; shown below. I also created a Facebook profile to portray an example of whom my target audience would be.

A film poster was created in order to attract our target audience by attempting to reveal the characteristics of the character staring in our film. This can be evident from the black shadowy border indicating fear and frightening elements will be involved in our thriller. The font of our title 'MALICE', is large in bold, black capital lettering. This suggests our film includes thrilling and scary elements that will be portrayed both through the film and choice of the film title. Our poster will be exhibited in a variety of places to gain the attention of our target audience. The face of our teenage character is presented central on the poster to attract the male audience. 

Evaluation Task 3 - Who would distribute my thriller

Evaluation Task 2 - How have I chosen to represent social groups in my thriller

Evaluation Task 1 - How have I used matched or subverted conventions in my opening sequence

Target Audience Interviews

These are people I interviewed as these were our preferred target audience. I asked questions related to stereotypical thrillers such as actors, similar thrillers. I also asked about their likes and dislikes about thrillers and discussed whether our thriller idea appealed to them. 

From this I was able to predict that my target audience would be ages 17 onwards and allowed me to whether our film would be successful or not.

Account of editing

To edit my my media product, i used the iMovie software.We had the option of using adobe premiere pro or iMovie on apple. Prior to my final sequence, i used the software Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my preliminary task. I found using this software difficult and time consuming and i couldn't quite capture how to use it. Consequently, myself and my group decided using iMovie would be the easier and better option for editing our final piece. Charlie is good with technology and understood quickly how to operate this programme to make a neat and professional looking film, so he therefore took the leading role in editing. My main role in the group was filming the scenes and Lucie was director. Charlie edited but we all gave our input to help him edit so it would be the best it could be. I helped chose the transition effects and the duration s of each clip. We all gave our suggestions to help out. As a group we worked well together , dividing the roles fairly between us ensuring we all gave input in each role. 

We resulted in filming using a digital camera meaning our clips were stored on micro SD card making it easy to transport them onto the computer. After our footage's were uploaded onto the computer, we chose which one were to be kept and which to be discarded. The ones that were deleted were clips that had interruptions in them, unsteadiness of filming, background noise that wasn't supposed to be there or just clip that weren't necessary for our thriller.   All the clips to be used were dragged onto the iMovie software so we could begin editing. Our storyboard i created prior to filming enabled us to have a rough understanding of how our story line was going to be panned out. This made it quicker and easier to sort out the correct order of the clips. However, there were a lot more clips filmed then we had initially thought of so we had to re arrange the order of our thriller and decide what clips go where.

The clips were cut and placed into the correct order on iMovie and ensued the clips were of the right duration. Once the clips were in the correct position, Charlie began on the sound and SFX. We had to go onto the website 'Royalty Free Music' to ensure we wouldn't come across any copyright problems.

Once the first edit was completed, it was much easier to make changes and visually see what needed to be added or taken away as we were more comfortable using the software. We were then instructed to add in credits in the opening sequence, include transitions, make changes to the non-diegetic music and cut or add in other scenes that fitted the plot better. We also had to create how our title would be presented at the end of our opening sequence. 

There were numerous effects and transitions involved in our thriller. We had a fading effect in which scenes fade into each other, which connotes a passing of time. The dissolving effect shows the transition from scene to another more smoothly. We used a slow motion effect in the sections we wanted to appear more dramatic and quick cuts were involved to show a sequence of events. Our screen fades to black at the end signifying its the end of the opening scene. All these different effects made out thriller more exciting and interesting to watch and made it look more professional as the clips fitted together smoothly and neatly.

Changes to my thriller

Account of filming/shooting day

Charlie and I filming scene in study

 

Our shoot day began at around 11am. The only script involved was the short dialogue between the girl and the mysterious caller. We had the mysterious callers lines pre-recorded on Charlie’s phone enabling us to access it easily. We opened the shot timeline up on my phone to guide us on where to begin and what to do.  We also looked at the storyboard that I created prior to the filming day allowing us to have a rough idea how our scenes would pan out. However, our storyboard didn't exactly match our final outcome when filming but we managed to adapt to make it even more interesting and thrilling as possible.  The only major change that we decided was to reduce the number of calls from the mysterious caller from 3 to 2 and making the 3^rd one the foreshadowing of her death scene in the kitchen rather than the study. These were the only obvious changes, other than that everything was practically the same. We also had to change to a smaller camera and we weren't able to use a tripod so we had top compromise and use a wheely chair and stack boxes on them to rest the camera on keeping it steady. This actually turned out really well and easy to do. 

me filming rachel in kitchen

Firstly, we began filming the scene in the study. This scene consists of a teenage girl (Rachel) sitting at desk on a computer scrolling through Facebook. Various different shots, angles and movement were used to capture detail and emotion of our protagonist.  This is the room in which we filmed her reaction to seeing her first pop up (chain mail). We filmed using a variety of shots such as close ups to show the emotion on Rachel’s face, over the shoulder shots to display Rachel browsing through Facebook, Medium shots to show her sitting at the desk on the computer, Panning shot to exhibit the setting of the study to show Rachel is alone and appears vulnerable and anticipates something bad to happen and we also made sure to include a high angle shot to portray her as a weaker and more vulnerable character.  We had to film most of the shots numerous times due to the lens sometimes being blurry, bad lighting that ruins the clip or jittery filming which doesn't look very professional. We had to ensure everything was perfect. We eventually had to result in using a smaller camera that actually provided great quality filming and in the long run was beneficial as it was easily accessible to use.  The most important part of this scene was the phone call Rachel receives which introduces the mysterious caller. A close up of the first phone call indicates this is the most important part of the scene.  This was then followed by playing the pre-recorded voice note of my school teacher speaking in frightening, mysterious voice just like the caller in ‘Scream’ did, once Rachel answered the call. The first recording exclaims “You shouldn't have deleted that!”

rachel trying to film from her own perspective

Furthermore, once we finally completed the scene in the study, we moved onto the next scene that needed to be filmed. This consisted of our character moving from the study to the kitchen. The first shot was Rachel being filmed getting up from the study and walking out into the hallway. This was done using a panning shot which followed her movement round out of the room showing her walking a few steps from the behind view also. I then filmed her walking towards the kitchen and her walking straight past the camera allowing the audience see the expressions on her face.  We then attempted to get Rachel to hold the camera herself while she walked in the kitchen to look like you are seeing from her point of view yet this turned out to be jittery and unsteady so it wasn't kept. We also captured a still shot of an area in the kitchen in which our character walks into the shot to boil the kettle.  I filmed a close up of Rachel pushing the button to boil the kettle making the scene more dramatic. I also then held the camera in line with Rachel’s face as she reached to get a cup from the cupboard following her movements making it appear as if you are seeing this happen from Rachel’s perspective and it turned out really well.  

Eventually, after these scenes were completed, we moved on to the death scene.  I began by filming a wide/ medium shot of Rachel answering her 3^rd and final phone call. A close up follows to show her emotion of fear on her face after hearing what the mysterious caller has to say (also a pre-recorded voice note). Once it was dark outside, we went out in the garden to film clips to make it seem like it’s in the killers perspective of him watching Rachel through the window. However, it was raining during doing so which worked out to be an advantage, making the clip more frightening and makes the audience anticipate what is going to happen. It also gave the clip an eerie vibe with the drops of rain on the window. We also filmed her falling down from the poison from outside too to show the killer is watching her die. We did close ups and medium shots of her choking from the poison to exhibit her facial expressions during the process of her death. As she fell down we filmed various shots that will be put together in a series of shots to show her death, making it more dramatic. As she lay on the floor I filmed a close up to show her position showing her feeble body and pale face signifying her death. I also captured a shot from resting the camera on the floor to the side of her face as she frothed at the mouth showing her faint blue lips indication her lack of blood and no circulation.

exhibiting the makeup we put on rachel

To complete the death scene, we used toothpaste to create the froth at Rachel’s mouth which had to be done numerous times to get it right and look realistic. Lucie and I put makeup on her to make her face seem paler, black/blue under her eyes to create bags to make her appear weak, and put blue on her lips showing her lack of circulation. Dramatic irony was used during her choking, as the audience knew already she had been poisoned but Rachel was completely oblivious to how this was happening.

My role in the group of myself, Charlie Horne and Lucie Stafford was filming. Lucies main role was directing which I assisted her with whilst I filmed, along with help of Charlie also. Charlie’s main role was editing once everything was finished filming. We all however gave him input in what looks best and what to do with it but Charlie was the most comfortable using the editing programme. Lucies role as main director meant she had to ensure the positioning of our character was always correct and was visually appealing to the eye. We all ensured our shots matched the order of the timeline as much as possible to allow it running more smoothly and quickly. Whilst Lucie and I did the makeup, Charlie re watched the clips already filmed to check if any needed redoing, saving time at the end.

rachel laying dead on floor

Filming was my main focus in the group, ensuring I captured all the right shots, angles and movements accurately and correctly, avoiding any unsteadiness and blurriness. I had to make sure the clips provided a clear quality image making it more professional. I nominated myself for this role and Charlie and Lucie the same for theirs as we knew these are the roles we were best at and would fulfill the roles to the bets of our ability which is proven from the outcome of the day. We all contributed to each role however, ensuring we all included our opinion’s and inputs to make sure our film is the best it can be. Charlie was the most comfortable with using the editing software and knew how to use it very well so we didn’t have to waste time attempting to use it. From the beginning, we have all worked well together as a group with a few disagreements during filming to express our individual opinions on what was occurring yet everything worked out well in the end. I enjoyed working with Charlie and Lucie in creating our thriller. All our ideas together combined created the story line, the filming shots, the different scenes, and the mis-en-scene and helped us to produce our exciting, thrilling and mysterious final piece.

Overall, my favourite part of our film so far is the death scene that ends it. It leaves the audience with suspense and fear and leaves them anticipating what will happen next. The frothing of the mouth is dramatic and exciting and looks very realistic.