Evaluation

My brief was to create an opening two-minute sequence, for a thriller film which included the credits and a soundtrack. I also had to create a blog to document the planning and research that I carried out.

To complete the task of creating this thriller opening sequence I worked within a group. My group consisted of me, Daniel Armstrong and Reggie Witham. Daniel and me paired up imminently and we where allocated Reggie as an additional group member to complete our group.

The production roles our group identified as the most primary where director of photography, director of editing, director of sound and actors.

Director of photography- Daniel Armstrong was assigned to this production role and was responsible for operating the camera. Determining how scenes are shot, how closely/far away the camera is from the character/object on set as well as controlling the lighting on set. 

Director of editing- The director of editing was tasked with piecing the film together using computer program ‘Final cut Pro.’ Inserting effects and music to make the film feel more real and dynamic. (For this task two group members where used. Me and Reggie. as apposed to one as the size and importance of this production role was huge.)

Director of sound- I took on the role of the director of sound and was responsible for all sound on set. Whether it was diegetic or non-diegetic I would use sound to, in the case of our thriller opening, increase the effects of tension and suspense. 

Actors- A primary production role in all filming, actors play a huge part in defining our opening and what we want to portray. Our actors where Cara Gaffney (female victim), Daniel Armstrong (Antagonist) and me, who played a small cameo part as the victims boyfriend at the start. As an actor our jobs where to follow instruction and the script to ensure our director of photography (Daniel Armstrong) gets the desired shot.

With creating a thriller opening with out any first hand experience being a pretty dawning task for us to take on our group thought It was imperative that every group member was allocated at least one of the above production role’s within the creation of our thriller film. This would help keep our thriller opening on track and all group members would be able to share all potential ideas allows us to make a opening with good conventional thriller genre ideas as well as allows every group member to get involved with the project. They will also be specialized in the specific task they where allocated allowing them to become more familiar with the techniques and allowing them to become better at it, making our thriller film better as a result.

In order to allocate each member of our group a specific role we sat down and all wrote down any relevant experience or skills we had that where relatable to the project. This was done to make the group feel comfortable with the task they where assigned to do as they had previous experience doing it and had a basic understanding of how to complete it, this made the group member more motivated to complete the task to a good standard.

My production role was the director of sound as I had previous experience working on the Garage band application through school use as well as some home use. I was responsible for overseeing all audio aspects of my project, diegetic and non-diegetic however my main duty was to produce a soundtrack to be played throughout my thriller opening. This was a vital job in order for my thriller opening to be successful as much of the thriller openings tension is sourced from the music that is being played in the background and so I look at previous successful thriller opening on YouTube such as Shutter island, Insidious and Se7en to take inspiration and replicate the effete that they created. Although after creating my soundtrack our group opted to use another piece, which they got from an audio sharing site called www.freesound.org.

From my time being director of sound I have learnt the basics of what it takes to become an effective director of sound using the variety of sound techniques at my disposal such as music and dialogue to enhance the effects of tension, suspense and desperation our group is looking to achieve with the filming to thriller opening, conventional of the thriller genre. I also increased my teamwork skills as working within my small group of three pushed us to work together combining points and notes to achieve an opening we all thought appropriate. As well as this I also gathered a more advanced knowledge of sound in media, learning new terminology and techniques to make my work even more effective.

Overall I would say that my group performed well with one another one the project. As they where able to specialize and excel in the task they where individually assigned and as a result we where able to spend more time as a group on the harder tasks that took longer such as editing making editing done to a excellent standard. The only problem we as a group encountered was the naming of our film. With suggestions from my group members such as 'the disappearance' and 'the taken’ feeling to generic, I put forward the title name of 'Phobia' relating to the target audience of teens relatable 'phobia' of clowns (our antagonist) which was ultimately chosen as our films title. As we where all familiar with one another we felt comfortable talking and conversing ideas with one another this made communication much easier and as a result I would argue that it increased our productivity and quality of our work as a whole.

During the course of planning my thriller opening our group incorporated as many thriller conventions as we thought necessary. In doing this we are making our thriller film more convention and therefore more effective in the portrayal of the conventional thriller effects of tension and suspense.  So yes I would say that our thriller film is a successful one as a result of relating back to its conventions to support our points.

Final thriller

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

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

The contrast between my preliminary task and my finished thriller opening is massive. My complete thriller-opening product feels more complete and dynamic as opposed to my preliminary task. The purpose of the preliminary task was to introduce me and my group to filming and what would be expected of us when we begin to create our thriller opening when we arrive back from half term.  The completion of our preliminary task assisted in the preparation and creation of my group’s thriller film as we where then aware of the problems we will encounter during production (Time, who has the final word and how to recreate the editing styles we have learnt about in lesson). Our group where then able to improve as the experience we have from completing our preliminary task helped us learn new skills and made us aware of what to expect when filming. Upon completing the preliminary task I had a understanding of how to use the technology’s such as tripod, and Final cut Pro, that I would be using to complete my thriller opening and therefore I was able  to use them more effectively when Itcame to filming my thriller opening.

Question 6- what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product

Question 6- what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product

I used a variety of different technologies in the process to constructing my media product. Blogger was essential within the research phase of my production. Computer programmes where also essential, Garage band being one as it helped produce parts of the soundtrack at the start, despite this soundtrack not being used it still gave us inspiration as to what sounds we where looking for in our thriller film. Microsoft word and Final cut Pro where also used Microsoft, to produce our evaluation and Final cut to edit and complete our film. During our filming however we used a camera (obviously) and a tripod to steady our camera during filming. As Daniel Armstrong was our director of photography he was able to improve his skill with both the camera and tripod through time and experience. After a couple of hours he perfected how to use the tripod effectible with the camera to produce the desired angle we where looking for by adjusting the tripod. We found one shot particularly hard to film however. We encountered lots of problems with the high angle shot that can be seen above. As it was a high angle shot the camera needed to be positioned high up, however the tripod would not allow the camera to be positioned so high for the shot to be that of a conventional thriller high angle shot. To overcome this I got a chair and stood on it to get the height needed. Despite solving this problem we then encountered a new problem. In standing on the chair there was nowhere to place the tripod and therefore the shot was all shaky. After reviewing the shot we all concluded that it was effective and conventional to the thriller film as the shaky effect conveyed instability, confusion and fear and therefore we kept it.

The editing software used ‘Final Cut Pro X’ was more than helpful in the final stages of completing our thriller film. Being part of the editing team I had to use this software and I was more than able. I found it incredibly easy to use, as it was similar to that of other apple software’s such as Garage band, which we also used. Throughout the editing stage I was able to further my Final cut Pro skills, improving on the difficulty’s I faced with inserting effects and my strengths such as moving the sound and soundtrack to suit the narrative.

I am most proud of the static effect used in collaboration with the soundtrack to create the jumpy, sinister, danger effect I was hoping to achieve. I would argue that it is a true reflection of my editing prowess.

Question 5-How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 5-How did you attract/address your audience?

Primary research was essential within our production, as we needed to identify what conventions and effects our target audience finds the most effective and what makes a thriller film successful.  I had done this through my blogs particularly through my post Target Audience Results - Miss Miller. It gave us an understand of the audience our thriller opening appealed to and what this audience like in a thriller film, this then allowed us to adapt and change our thriller opening in ways that appealed to our target audience of 13-16 year olds. However this was not the only blog post that helped us though production, many of the others where helpful as they gave us an understanding of the thriller conventions and how to use them effectively, making our thriller opening as successful as possible and therefore earn more marks.

Our research though our blogs also gave us the opportunity to look closely at other thriller openings and analyze how they where successful though their use of conventions. Through doing this I was able to take inspiration from other thriller films and apply them to my film. An example of me doing this was the blonde female victim within my thriller film which I took inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The lodger’ where blonde female victims play a pivotal role in the narrative and helped define the thriller convention of blonde female victims today, this is why I thought it essential to use within my thriller film. The inspirations I took from my research helped make my thriller film more successful through using more generic thriller conventions and the more conventional your thriller film the more successful it will be.

My primary and secondary research was essential to the planning of my thriller, as I was able to gain an early understanding of the thriller genre and its conventions. This allowed me to then begin the planning of my thriller film quite early on however as I progressed with my research I was able to change my plan in particular ways that suited my audience and the thriller genre the most. As was not stressed for time I was able to really focus in on my plan, making sure no problems would arise during production and that it would all run smoothly. This was planned through my Risk Assessment/filming schedule- Miss Georgiou where I outlined the risks during production and how to prevent them as well as my filming schedule where allocated times where given to certain scenes to guarantee we didn’t run out of time.

Question 4-Who would be the target audience for your media product?

Question 4-Who would be the target audience for your media product?

A target audience is also an important to consider before or when making a production. It is important as it allows you to produce something that will be effective in what effects it is trying to persuade. So in the case of my thriller film for example I have a target audience of young teens (13-16 years old) and so I needed to identify what particular themes and characters would be effective in making them feel tense and build a suspenseful atmosphere, making my thriller film conventional and effective as a result.

I immediately choose an audience I wanted to target my media product at as it then allowed me to begin planning my work knowing what content I was allowed in terms of it be appropriate for my target audience as well as what conventions and content I would use to enhance the effectiveness of my film as it would be specifically tailored to that of young teens. I chose young teens as I quickly identified clowns as a relatable fear among this age group and I thought it make an effective thriller film if I could transfer this childhood fear into my work like the film ‘IT’.

I would argue that my thriller opening appeals to my target audience on the whole as all parts feature thriller conventions. The narrative is that of a conventional thriller. Where an antagonist peruses a female victim and kills her. This narrative appeals to my target audience of young teenagers, as it isn’t too complex and lets them understand the plot while enjoying the tension and suspense throughout. I was confident that this choice of narrative would be that of a successful one as it is one of the most common conventions used within the thriller genre and therefore clearly effective in achieving the generic thriller effects that make it successful.

The variety of camera angles used within my work where also crucial to my success in appealing to my target audience. The variety of shots gave the film a much more dynamic feel and made it feel more believable. The use of camera angles also gave me the opportunity to convey certain things to my audience. An example of which would be the high angle shot at 2:10 where our female victim is being looked down on by the camera suggesting a sense of vulnerability to my audience, which enhanced the tension and made the audience enjoy watching it.

The soundtrack was again an effective means of making my thriller film that of a conventional one that appeals to my target audience. It is a non-diegetic music to be edited in and played throughout the filming. It is similar to that of Sevens opening scene music as we identified Seven as a vary successful thriller, with a conventional thriller opening and we hoped that in taking inspiration from it we could achieve some of the same success. The generic tone and pace of my soundtrack is appropriate to what we are seeing on screen and sets the atmosphere, which appeals to my audience as they are not confused by what they are seeing as the audience isn’t contrapuntal in anyway it just elevates the already present effects of suspense and tension which makes the audience feel more involved with the narrative.