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?

The purpose of the preliminary task was to get to know the equipment that we would be using in the actual filming of my opening scene this would be the camera, tripod and the editing software (Final Cut Pro X)

Aside from learning how to basically use the equipment given in the preliminary task we learnt what we needed to consider when we are actually filming such as an appropriate setting this can be seen when we tried to film some angles, particularly the angles in the shot reverse shot, they were difficult to film as our characters were placed quite close to the wall so it was hard to actually get the camera to show the whole of both of the characters in the shot reverse. I overcame this by only getting the sections of the characters that we needed in the film so just the head and not a large proportion of the body. In the case that we couldn't fit one character in we decided to film without that characters so it looked like to the audience a Point of View shot. Reflecting back to overcome this we could have moved the characters along to a place where we had a lot of room behind each of them.

This task benefited my group and I for a mixture of many reasons......... 

From this I clearly understood what I needed to achieve before I even considered starting film, like finding particular places for all of the shots I need to be achieved before we started filming so they looked as professional as possible, with lots of space behind so the angles are  not hard to film, also we need to take into consideration zooming in on subjects for impact on the audience as out shots are quite wide and expose a mass amount of the background in the setting, this can be seen in all of the screenshots in the blog. Other skills that I took were how to successfully operate the camera and tripod maintain a steady shot at all given times, in addition I also took a basic understand that I have already mentioned of using the editing software as we were able to successfully import, place in order, crop and export the preliminary task footage. All together this provided a platform at which we could go and film then edit the footage once I had collectively decided on a narrative of my opening scene from the result I would gather from the research and questionnaires. 

       

  

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constucting the product?

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

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

Question 3 -What kind of media institution might distribute your media and why?

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

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

There are only two characters in my opening scene these being a small blonde female girl and a teenager.

My group and I decided to include the small blonde female as she was a conventional character to the thriller genre but also because she is a strongly relatable character for my target audience as they will have mostly a younger brother or sister that can be related to through the use of this character. The target audience will feel the duty of care for that character so  will create a stronger bond, this because at first this character is portrayed as weak and vulnerable due to the particular camera angles used also this will be further portrayed by the costume of this character.

This is why I have included the other character of the teenager. The teenager has a representation of the typical person that would be seen in a thriller film which is around the age of my target audience. They will see this character as a threat to the child at first because he is male, older and more educated than the girl. This is why the audience will have a weaker bond with this character as they will see him as a threat to that girl.

I also included them as they audience can relate to them both in a fashion and can because the audience can easy be manipulated into thinking that the character is a victim then a killer as both roles are easy to achieve through a carefully plot narrative and good use of camera angles which I think we have achieved.

I think gender is presented in a stereotypical way through the opening scene through the characters and the conventions of a thriller genre it is hard to not do this. Blonde Females are always portrayed as victims and weak, while the male teenager is portrayed as dominant as and awfully more powerful than the girl. But by reversing the roles it makes the scene also un-stereotypical as the for when the roles are reversed then the dominants of the female changes dramatically as she been portrayed as weak then see becomes extremely powerful when it is apparent to the audience that the male actually the weakest of the two.

The clothing worn by both of the character is one that is stereotypical of both of the characters gender and both age. The young blonde female killer is wearing clothes that resemble a female, a nightie worn by also that particular age group upwards, while the victim a teenager is wearing causal clothes jeans, trainers and a coat which is the expected attire of all teenage males. The only thing that I would consider as not conventional is the clothes worn by the female in this particular setting as it is considered as indoor night wear not outdoor clothing. I specifically used this because it is meant to resemble the idea of mental illness issues as the clothing is slightly different to the norm expected in the setting. 

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of a real media product?

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

There are many generic conventions of the thriller genre that I identified seen from my research into the different areas of the thriller genre so therefore we have an understanding of the typical codes and conventions through a thriller or opening scenes. The following conventions are some that I have seen in consistent use throughout the films that I have researched specific to the tasks that I set. 

Blonde Female Victim, This convention is used widely across the genre because a blonde female is stereo-typically weak, so it will engage the audience when they are first introduced to this character as they will automatically start to think that this character will be the first to be killed rather than any other character. This can be seen in such films as Scream, which is one of the films I researched specifically for its conventions. But it can also be used to manipulate the audience this can be seen in The last house on the end of the street, where at the beginning a small blonde child is walking through the corridor being portrayed as weak not only because she is blonde but because of the consistent use of the high angle, but this turns out to be a false portrayal of the character as in fact she is the killer.   

Hidden Identity, is also a common convention of the thriller genre, the killer behind the masks gives the film a sense of mystery. The audience not being able to see the killer engages them more as they are consistently trying to figure out what the killer looks like as personally and facial features are removed making the main element of surprise more intense when the character is first unveiled to the audience. Such films that represent this are again Scream and The Strangers.  

Jump Cut, Is one of the common editing techniques that is used across the thriller genre, it is used to represent when the film suddenly focuses on something else. This editing gives the audience a sudden sense of shock breaking in to the main element of surprise. This is typical for most thriller films but some researched examples are The Uninvited. We decided to use this as it is conventional and could be fitted many times into the scene therefore meaning the audience was constantly feeling the intended state of shock, which they expect to feel when they are watching a film under the thriller genre. Also it would challenge the conventions of a media product recreating this experience.  

Timing of Shots is another conventional editing style as it is used to create tension/emotional impact throughout the audience, but the slow or fast pace of the time between different camera angles or shots it either to create a weak or a strong bond between audience and characters. Again it is typical for most thriller films another example would be The Uninvited. It has a massive effect on the audience particularly in the emotion impact they feel which yet again is expected when the audience watches a film under the genre. They feel such elements as suspense and surprise due to the different lengths of shots, this is why it was taken to so much consideration. 

Credits, there is also a conventional style of font for the thriller genre, credits are on a dark part of the footage or a black screen with the soundtrack playing at the same time, The font will be either a bold or printed like font (Se7en) or a hand written style (Hannibal). And they will either be black or white in colour depending on the background. In some cases they will be jumpy or distorted to engage the audience further. The audience expects a convention style of credits and this is what we gave to the audience my film had a similar font to thriller that I have seen and researched. 

Camera Angles, there are many conventional camera angles used by all films under the thriller genre, close up, high angle, low angle, panning, two shot, point of view etc. These were taken into massive consideration as they would play a vital role in how the audience would react to the opening scene. This is why there are a massive amount of varied angles in the scene so the audience continue to be engaged but at the same time are having an emotional impact that we expect them to feel at specific sections of the scene. 

Sounds, again also there are many sounds used by the thriller genre designed to make the audience feel uneasy or nervous about a particular situation they have been placed in or to engage them as a whole. These include the soundtrack, eerie sounds, high pitched sounds or even silence. Again alike Camera angles there are an array of sounds through the scene to keep the audience engaged as well as create an emotional impact by making them feel unstable through the sound they hear in relation to what they are viewing.  

Through my research and the information that I gathered in that process and with use of our storyboards my group and I were able to follow the generic conventions of the thriller genre.  We all understood the generic conventions of the thriller genre and we knew we had to portray this in the opening scene through camera angles, editing styles, sounds, characters etc.  

One of the things that is apparent to the audience in my thriller genre are the credits in the opening credits they are white on a black background and are of a bold text conventional to the thriller genre. The credits take place in the same order as the one of Se7en making the films credits alike as they follow the same order that roles are introduced in a thriller film. In addition the font of the credits is also a conventional style of the thriller genre that the audience would be able to define the genre easily. 

The characters are conventional to the thriller genre in the way that they are based on our inspirations as mentioned previously The last house on the end of the street. This is where the girl in the film is portrayed to the audience as a victim where in fact she is actually the killer. We took this idea because it is not used widely across the thriller genre but is still conventional, it is commonly increasing to see child killers in thriller films as they tend to be more intense on the audience rather than adults.

I also used both of the conventional editing styles in our opening scene. The jump cut was used mainly twice for two different reasons, to introduce the second character the teenager into the scene and also to show the audience a particular part of the setting which was a light (used to illustrate the convention of low key lighting within the setting).  In addition I also carefully used timing of shots to get my audience to react in a particular way we wanted to build up tension at the start of the scene making the audience bond stronger with the character, then when it was discovered that the girl is the killer we wanted to weaken the bond by increasing the time between different camera angles used.

I also followed the generic convention of using all of the specific camera angles and sounds of a thriller film including them all within the scene. I used a variety of camera angles which include:

Ø  Panning

Ø  Long Shot

Ø  POV

Ø  High Angle

Ø  Mid Shot

Ø  Low Angle

Ø  Two Shot

Ø  Close Up

I also had a clear soundtrack that was used to engage the audience further into the scene, and eerie sound to make the audience feel uneasy and also a high pitched sound when the killer returns for a second time letting the audience known that something is going to happen.

My opening scene defines the thriller genre because I have challenged the main conventions of the thriller genre by taking inspirations from other researched films and have collaborated ones into the narrative that stand out so that it is clear to the audience the genre of our work, because they can relate to the conventions or micro elements with other thriller films that they have seen and possibility even their own life’s through the main character because of younger brothers and sisters or even possible the setting or other sections of our opening scene.

I believe that my thriller opening scene is successful as it can be compared with another thriller opening scene to show the comparison between the conventions of each of them and how I have developed a successful thriller film. Firstly they both in away have very similar narratives so our conventions are very similar. We both have a blonde female firstly seen by the audience as a victim then switched so she becomes the killer. We also both have a conventional setting to the thriller genre, our film using an industrial estate for which many of our target audience will have parents that work in them or will have passed one so will be able to easily relate to the setting. Meanwhile the other film follows more conventional setting of a household which is more commonly used through the thriller genre in films such as Scream and the Strangers.  In addition our setting both contain Low Key Lighting which casts shadows and engages the audience further into the scene as they have to concentrate more.  Again we have both used conventional camera angles and sounds to have further emotional impact on the audience.     

Camera Angles

Sounds

Mid Shot , We both use this camera angle in our scene on all of the characters as a shot to introduce the character into the scene. Close Up, is used to show the victim and the killers emotions to a certain element of the scene, and to reflect the audiences emotions at this time as well. Point of View, Point of View is used on both of the killers in the opening scene to show their movements and there thought, but also so that the audience empathises with the characters. High Angle, is used to show the weakness of all of the characters in the scene as at some point the audience is left wondering who is the antagonist and the protagonist with the scene.  Low angle , is used to show the audience the dominance of one of the characters in the scene particular the killer in our scene or the mother in the other over the small blonde child.

Soundtrack, peaks at certain points  to create emotional impact on the audience but  also to engage them within the scene that they are watched. High Pitched, sound is used to show the audience the reoccurrence of the killer in the scene to make the audience feel uneasy when the situation is suddenly seen by them.

Lastly we both have similar Iconography in the way we both use weapons that will cause fatal injures when they come into contact the person but will not kill them directly like a gun which is unconventional to the thriller genre. We use a knife alike Scream, but instead a hammer is used which is also a conventional weapon as it can cause serious harm to the victim when used. It conventional in the way that this category weapon is widely used across the genre.

Evalution Post Introduction

There were three members in my group, Me, Hannah Mahoney and Luke Durance and . We all took various roles during the filming production.  Each of the main roles that was taken by various members of the group. The main roles were shared out as evenly as possible by the group considering what we all felt that we were all confident with.  The main roles with the group were Producers, Director, Actors, Director of Photography, Music Producers, Screenplay Writer and Editors as these were the roles that placed major roles in the final outcome of the film and without anyone assign to these roles we wouldn’t be able to produce a final production.  

The Producer role was taken by me and Luke as we felt that we could handle managing the financial aspects of the film. We done this by laying out all of the things that we needed for the production and deciding what we needed to purchase. As a group we felt it was best if we split the cost evenly as it would wholly in the end benefit us all. An example would be when we went to purchase a fake knife, as we felt it would be safer and real one would have been illegal and potential dangerous , we brought a fake one off an online website, and spread the cost between the three of us.

I felt confident with the role of the Director as I felt I could take the complex, important role that took charge and control of the group co-ordinating them with the tasks they had to complete, but also I would be helpful in the role of actually helping them if they could not complete any of the instructions that I had previously given them. This was mainly as I knew the screenplay very well as I was the Screenplay Writer. So I could guide them with where to position themselves but also what they had to complete in each of the shots/angles that we took.

I learnt many things from these roles particularly the Director role as I saw that it is very important to be able to clearly communicate with the group, but also manage what shots and the positioning of the characters and what they would do in each one could only be completed by having a clear communication. I also learnt that it is helpful to listen to my peers when directing them to listen for feedback given. This was because we could co-operate as a team more as we would link ideas together to make a more effective opening scene, during the filming process. This was clearly seen when we collaborated together and decided the dialogue part of the scene should be erased and replaced with a scream as it was too long and was unconventional to the thriller genre. By doing this we was on track for the task we had been set as we followed the guidelines given.

This is why I think we work well as a group. We were all listening to each other’s contributions , but also adding on how we could improve them. This did not just happen during the filming process but right through the ideas of the narrative, characters, setting and this is why I believe we have well thought out and considered opening narrative specific to the thriller genre.

By doing this we have been successful in creating a thriller opening scene as we have stuck to the conventions that are typical of this genre from all areas from Lighting to Setting to Camera Angles.

Lighting – We have used Low Key Lighting throughout the whole of the opening scene this is as it casts dark shadows and additional adds the element of mystery to the scene. By doing this it keeps the audience on edge and makes them more engaged in the scene so they will become open to the element of surprise.   

Setting – We have used a conventional setting that would be easy for our target audience to be able to relate to as they have probably have walked through or seen an industrial estate or some form of like setting. We considered this mainly for its Low Key Lighting but also because it is quite dangerous at any time of the day with heavy lorries carrying loads, machinery which is prone to accidents happening and even life being taken.  

Camera Angles – We decided to use a mixture of angles/shots from Long Shots to Panning and so on, we only used angles that were conventional to the genre as they created emotional impact on the audience for the characters in relation.  

Characters – We used conventional characters that would stand out or be relatable from other areas of the thriller genre as we directly based one of our characters on the girl from The last house on the end of the street, The audience would be familiar with this character regarding that they had seen the film and would try to link the two as they both switch roles from appeared victim to killers in the film and our opening scene.

Sounds – We used only sounds that were specific to the thriller genre, such as the eerie/intense sounds that would have a prolonged affect on the audience making them feel uneasy and nervous for the characters in the scene.

Editing- We also only used editing styles that were specific to the genre such as the reaction shot or jump cut as these are used to have an effect on the audience regarding the characters in the scene.  This can be shown by the reaction shot as this is used to show the characters reaction due to a occurrence in the scene, the reaction of the audience should match the one of the characters.

Iconography- We didn’t use much iconography in our opening scene but the two we did use were very applicable for the audience as they will have connection from real life but also other thriller films this is why they are conventional. The knife is commonly used as a killing weapon by many films as it is a slow, painful means of death, they are in everyone home and widely available this is why it feels so realistic for the target audience in mind, again the teddy bear is a common relation to anybodies childhood but is used in thriller films to make the audience feel an eerie feeling such as the film Still of the Night, when one of the characters is holding a bleeding teddy bear.

Thriller Comparision

Do you think you have created a successful thriller sequence and why?

In my opinion I think that we have created a successful thriller sequence as we have challegened the conventions of successful thriller films by portraying the most common one in our opening scene. In addition we had a twist on one convention which is only used rarely in this genre of a female girl killer. By doing this we would appeal to a wider audience as we would have a new fresh idea that would also attract new audiences, as the scene slightly differs from common thrillers that are on ofter recently.

By doing this it will make the film more popular therefore more successful. Than a film that just follows the typical conventions as audiences will not want to view these as they will see them as being just another typical thriller, that will follow a plot similar to one that they have seen before.

Which micro element, best shows your creativity and understanding of thriller conventions the most?

The best mirco element that best shows our creativity and understanding of thriller conventions is having a blonde female killer. This is for a mixture of many reasons. It shows our creativty as a group as this is rarely seen across the genre, this mirco element was really thought through before we considered using it in our opening scene. We didnt want to just follow a typical storyline as we though it would be boring and not excite the audience, which is the main purpose of thriller and why audiences tend to watch them in the seek for aderaline. This uncommonly used convention would still be in the main principles of a thriller scene so the audience would be able see that the character is the killer due to the camera angles used. We wanted this element not to be apparent to the audience at first otherwise it would have had such as greater impact on the audience when the killing takes place, so this is why we decided to portray her as the victim at first through camera angles such as the high angle suggesting to the audience how vunerable/weak the character actually is.

This element shows our understanding of the thriller genre as we have risked our work by not folloing a conventional storyline of the killer being apparent, because we wanted to offer audiences a fresh new view of the thriller genre. Films that follow the conventional plot are such thrillers as Scream and The Purge. While thrillers that are alike ours are Orphan and The House at the End of the Street as they use a small female killer as the main character. (Although the Orphan is a middle age women for the majority of the film she is portrayed to the audience as a younger female.)

Compare your opening sequence to a successful thriller and explain how your thriller is conventional.

Our thriller opening scene can be compare to similar films such as Orphan.

Narrative and Representation of Characters,
Both films follow a similar plot as they both include young females that have been abandoned previously on there path for a new life. Both characters are scared by there past and there mental status changed and as a result murder innocent victims that have no connection with there past.  

Sound, Both of our films use a series of diagetic and non-diagetic sounds to attract into the scene and make them feel submerged/engaged within the content they are viewing. Our film doesn't contain any dialogue and we felt the audience were able to interpret what was happening without a conversation between the different characters. Although our films are not alike when Orphan uses both types of sound to engage its audience further into the scene, whereas we only use the soundtrack and high pitched noises to grab the audiences attention.

Editing, We both use very similar types of editing by the fact we both use Timing of Shots, Shot Reverse Shot, Reaction Shot, Straight Cuts and Jump Cuts.

Mise-en-Scene

Setting and Iconography, we do not use any similar setting but we do use similar killing weapons as we both use knife as the method of killing choice.

Costume Hair and Make Up, Both main killing characters wear similar costumes and make up some point throughout the scene.

Lighting and Colour, Orphan uses a combination of both Low Key Lighting and High Key Lighting due to the amount of scenes that take place in day and night throughout the scene. Whereas we only use Low Key Lighting do to our narrative being set during the night.

Audience Feedback

Explain why audience feedback is important to a production?

Audience feedback is important to a production as it enables the product to be improved before release to the public. It enables feedback to be give that is not bias and truly critics what are the faults that need to be improved. By doing this as a result the final product will be improved and better that the previous version to minimise criticisms by the audience and the media.

How did you receive audience feedback from your target audience?

We received feedback through a presentation of our film. We first displayed the origins of our opening scene through a PowerPoint presentation and then went on to show the audience the scene. During and after the viewing the audience were asked a series of questions about the strengths and weaknesses that they saw. We would focus on the negatives and try to improve our production based on these results.

How would this feedback benefit your production and the industry?

This feedback would provide a constructive path for us to follow when making improvements to the opening scene. We would know immediately the weaknesses that need to made stronger so they would not be picked up in the future viewing of the scene. This would benefit the industry by making the final scene look as professional as possible making it seem like a genuine  competitive product that could challenge other conventional thriller films. By doing this it will make the film bring in more profit as it will not have many negative parts as they have been corrected due to being pointed out by the feedback gained. The increased profit will benefit the industry by being able to put more money into the production of other films in the market.

Constructive Comments made by Groups

Clearer Narrative, A small percentage of the audience were not able to clearly understand the narrative of the whole of the scene. This would mean a whole rethink of the narrative and another shoot. We determined that this was down to the fact that the audience could not see the vital shots that pieced the scene together.

Brighten Shots Up, We used a series of filters on our shots to make them seem darker with colours for effect. The audience through they were too dark and could not see what was clearly going on.

Sounds Louder,  the audience stated that on some of the parts of the scene sounds that were meant to shock the audience weren't that surprising and did not have that effect on them.

Larger Credit Size, The audience though the credits for our production were too small and should be enlarged.

How we overcame this comments

Clearer Narrative, we decided it wasn't necessary for a whole rewrite and shoot of an opening scene as we though it would make more sense when the audience were able to clearly see the shots that they couldn't see before.

Brighten Shots Up, we brighten up shots by changing the filters settings of contrast and transparency to make them brighter and more clearer for the audience.

Sound Louder, we as a group though that the sound was not necessary to be changed as it was mainly negative feedback due to the quality of the speakers the opening scene were being played on. When editing on the Apple Mac's the sound was loud, clear and had a very good bass that would attract and shock he audience unlike the speakers used.

Larger Credit Size,  we didn't think there was a problem with the credits but because a majority of the audience suggested that they were small we increased there size a fraction.

Rough Cut - Miss Miller

Why it was important to make a rough cut?

It was very important to make a rough cut rather that just create our final opening scene as it will allow the group to be able to receive feedback from an audience, which will be our peers. Our rough cut is base on how far we was into the editing process, we was quite far so only a few changes in our mind were needed.  Our rough cut includes the sequence, sounds, and changes in editing like filters, credits. From this now we can see if they audience likes, understands and important feels that the product is finished.

Once our rough cut was finished we exporting and uploaded it to YouTube, the rough cut is below, this was purely for the audiences viewing and for them to be able to give us feedback on how we could improve our opening scene.

   

Why audiences feedback is important ?
The audience is a major factor to consider as they are the people that will be watching our final opening scene. So it will be vital for us to be able to obtain feedback from them. The audiences feedback will not be based on there true thoughts about the scene and will not be subject to bias as it will not be criticized openly by members of our own group. This means that all things that need to be improved will be taken into account as it is the audiences true opinion.  

How we got our feedback?

We were given our feedback in two different ways......

Powerpoints and Questions - As a group we made a presentation to show to all the fellow groups of the media course in our class. Within this PowerPoint we included how we got our main ideas for our narrative from each person, the location of our setting and our characters and the main ideas behind them. From this our peers will be able to understand our main inspirations, and ideas behind our opening scene. After we had presented we received questions on the PowerPoint from our class, from which we answered them. 

Peer Group Reviewing - After our powerpoints had been presented and while the class had been watching the rough cut, they were given forms to fill out. This forms contained the mark they would be giving us that they had obtained from the mark scheme. Also they contained what went well and what could be improved in our rough cut. These were given to the all the groups in our class and they were collected and given to us to read over and take into account how we could improve our final piece. 

Feedback
We received back all of the forms from our peer groups that reviewed our work. From analyzing these results, it is clear that we have a mixture of results.

Mark out of 60 - We obtained a mark of 37-54 from our peers with an average of, 44. This means that we are obtaining a Level 3 Band Rough Cut for our opening scene.  By improving our scene and obtaining 4 or more marks we will be able to hit the top band Level 4 for our rough cut.

What Went Well - Our peers thought we did the following well. Good use of camera angles, editing techniques, low key lighting, sounds and effects, characters chosen, conventions,narrative. In addition some groups liked the twist at the end of our scene.

Even Better If - Clearer narrative, some shots made lighter, credits too small, louder soundtrack, antagonists face was lighter at the end.

From looking at these results it is clear that we need to improve some sections of the film, particularly the lighting of some shots as it is clear that the audience cannot see or understand what is happening. From this the audience will be able to understand the narrative. But we cannot make our soundtrack any louder as there is no technique to improve the loudness of the audio. In addition the sound was loud on the Mac that we were using we just think it was a technical issue with the speakers as they were very quiet. Now we understand the issues that need to be fixed and will resolve them to make our final opening scene better for the viewing of our target audience. 

Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

Opening Scene Narrative

Our opening scene follows the plot of......

A young girl has been abandoned and is walking along an industrial estate at night. The girl is wearing a nighty, with her treasured teddy bear. She is seen as a victim of some kind as she is a little girl in a dangerous setting on her own and is therefore completely vulnerable. She walks along the estate lonely and fragile in the freezing cold, showing barely any emotions through her face or body language as if she is being secretive concealing something unknown to the viewer. She walks under very dim light, through deep, dark shadows cast by the lampposts, with the natural elements passing by her, like the wind and rain again showing no emotion. She is really pale from the cold and has really black eyes to make the assumption that she has been beaten. She decides to walk down and alley way on a diversion from her course that she has been walking on. She walks for a small amount of time down the alley way and then is encountered by a tall, dark figure that walks up to her. He looks and stars at her drawing to his attention that she is injured and obviously fragile. As he becomes more draw to her, a large and deathly scream is heard in the background. The man turns around to try and locate the source of the sound. He turns back to find the little girl has disappeared. In shock he stands and tries to justify what has just happened. He goes deeper into the alleyway retracing his steps and going further into the dark in search of the little girl. As he is walking down the alleyway one of the lights turns off leaving him blind as he cannot see a large part of the sections he was search. Nonetheless he decide to continue his search into the dark and find the girl. He turns his light on his phone on which gives him a very dim light so he can see where he is walking barely. Little does he know the little girl appears behind him in the distance out of hiding with her teddy bear which is concealing a knife. As he has reached the end of the alley he turns around to see the girl running towards him with her knife up in the air. She receptively stabs the man until he is dead. She stands there over the body reflecting on what she has done. She suddenly turns around and walks off into the distance to never be seen again.

Each Frame of the Narrative

The narrative starts of as a panning shot of the scene so the setting is established to the audience and then they are familiar with the setting then they are introduced to the small girl walking on her own down the street into the alley way. They will see the girl walking down the setting as a surprise as they will only see her for a couple of seconds and as she is in the corner of the shot. This will be accompanied by the use of the soundtrack to build up tension for the audience.

Then the audience will then be suddenly moved into various such as the mid-shot and long shot,  surrounding the girl concentrating on her as the main focus so they become more engaged and bonded with the character. The camera angles are Long Shots from the front and back. Again the use of the soundtrack.

Then the audience see the setting through the eyes of the character in a point of view shot that they have been introduced to this will make the audience feel as if they are in the characters shoes (empathy)  and will begin to sympathize with the character. At this point the soundtrack will peak an have a mystery feeling as the audience has now been tricked into thinking that the girl is the victim. Again the use of the soundtrack.

The girl then turns off course and begins to walk down a path into the alley way on the side of the street this is seen through the use of the high angle this intends to show the audience the vulnerability of the character. This camera angle is filtered to look like a security camera, this is in attempt to make the audience engage more as cctv is a normally of everyday life. The soundtrack will peak at this point as it is now the audience have an understanding that this character is a victim.

Then the audience is introduced to the second character in the scene walking out of a boxing club this is just a Mid - Shot simply showing to the audience that this is another character that is within the scene.

The next series of shots are Reaction Shots, they are not used to show a conversation but, a encounter between the two characters showing there emotions this is quite a long part of the scene relating to the content, but is used to engage the audience and make them feel uneasy as they would be if they were to encounter a small girl and not have any conversation with them and just complete silence.

After this a scream is herd in the background and the teenage male turns around and back in a Point of View Shot of the character reacting to the scream. He turns around to face the general direction of it and then reverses back to see the character gone. At this point there is a high pitched sound as it is used to create an sense of uneasiness in the audience.

After this there is a High Angle through the use of another cctv camera to show to the audience that the balance of power and vulnerability has shifted to the teenage male as he is been place in venerable position. This is where the soundtrack will continue throughout the scene.

 The character continues to walk down the route into the dead end of the alley way in search of the girl. This become more tense for the audience as they know it is likely at any moment that something is going to happen to this character given the current events. This is displayed by various camera angles such as panning shot and Mid-Shots and Panning as he is walking further into the darkness of the setting. This again where the soundtrack peaks to give the audience an indicator that something is going to happen to the character in the scene.

He then comes to the end of the alley way to find he cannot go any further shown by a Mid- Shot. This is only after a mid shot and a zooming in shot are used to display to the audience the reappearance of  the small girl that he is in search for. Again another eerie sound will be used to further the shock that the audience will feel.

Once he comes to a standstill another Point of View shot is used to show to the audience him turning around to face the girl with a knife in her hand rapidly running towards him.

One of the final shots used again is a zooming in shot of her face to show her facial expressions of the events that she has just committed. This shot is used to again make the audience feel uneasy as they are starring into her dark face striped of her emotions. There will be no sound used in this particular shot as the silence will be used to create further tension for the audience as they will begin to doubt whether this is the end of the killing of the little girl.

Finally she is seen walking off into the distance in a long shot, I feel this is a good ending to the opening scene as it leave the audience pondering what the event of the future of the film will be.         

Summary

There are a few elements which will make our sequence better/conventional such as...........

Scream - at first we was going to include a brief conversation between the two characters in the scene. It would be a conversation about the injures to the girl and how he was going to help her. This is slightly unconventional to a thriller opening scene as opening scenes to not generally contain dialogue. To overcome this we decided to use a Scream instead of a conversation. As it would take less time in the film length and also would also be conventional to the thriller genre.

Removal of the phone - In my original idea I had included a phone at which a sub-narrative between the girl and someone was taking place. Although this would make the opening scene more relateable to the target audience, it would also draw there attention away from the scene and what is taking place. So we decided to take this element out as it would take to much time up in the opening scene and would distracting for the audience.

Teddy Bear - With the removal of the phone we decided to add an the teddy bear into the scene because it would make it easier for the audience to be able to relate to the events of the scene. As everybody has a childhood experience of having a teddy bear and can relate to it.

Group Storyboard - Miss Miller

The purpose of creating a group storyboard is we can collaborate all the ideas of ourselves and combine certain elements of them together to create a better collaborated narrative together. We will combine different elements from our individual storyboards that stand out to create the one that we all agree on so there will be an equal balanced contribution by all of us. 

We created our group storyboard by looking at each others storyboards and deciding which elements were better or stood out from the others to put in to the final ones. So we swapped all of our storyboards look at them and wrote down what we wanted to include. So I looked at Hannah's and Luke's Storyboards and visa versa for them. 

Elements

Harry Hyett 

Panning Shot, At the start of my storyboard I included a panning shot of the setting which included the character as a start to get the audience engaged with the plot and the setting.

Handheld Camera Angle - I had an idea of a point of view, handheld combination to show what the character was seeing, this was to create a connection with the audience as they were looking through the eyes of the character. I took this inspiration from The Uninvited in the scene when the character walks into the room at the start of the scene in this particular camera angle.

High Angle - This was another camera angle that was taken from my individual storyboard, this camera angle was to be used on both of the characters to show vulnerability of the character via the shift of power as well. I again took this camera angle from The Uninvited where the character is running through the corridor and this camera angle is used to show her vulnerability.    

Luke Durrance

Hidden Identity- We felt that the idea of hidden identity should be used so we took this from Luke's. This is because it is conventional to the thriller genre and will add to the element of mystery. The hidden identity can be acheived by both characters. If the girl is wearing dark make up over her face it will not be clear and the audience will not be able to see completelty what the character looks like. And again the same for the male character if he is wearing some form of clothing that covers a section of his face it will make the audience feel as if the character is the killer although he is not. Although they are not fully hidden they will not be clear to the audience making them feel nervous about the situation for the oppsing character.
 

Weapon - This was taken from Luke's as we didn't know what weapon we should include in our opening scene. And Luke's idea of how the knife would be used in the scene was a good and effective idea.

Reaction Shot- This element was taken from Luke's as we though it was a good idea that we should include this to show the audience the reaction of the character. This will make it easy for the audience to engage in the scene and become more relate able with the characters via the conversation between the two.

Hannah Mahoney
Long Shot- We decided to take the element of the long shot from Hannah's Individual Narrative as we all felt that the section of the scene that she used these camera angles on was effective in creating an emotional responses with the audience for both the protagonist and the antagonist.

Tracking- Hannah had the idea of using the camera angle of tracking in the scene we all felt that this angle was conventional to the thriller genre as, it makes the audience feel as if the character is being watched.

Extreme Close Up- Another Camera Angle we decided from Hannah's storyboard was the extreme close up at the ending of the scene this was as we felt it was a engaging ending for the scene to end on as it would show the audience how powerful the character has become over the course of the scene. Also it is a creepy ending to end on as only the eye will be focused on not show the true emotions of the character to the audience.

Evaluation

I think that our group storyboard is a massive success as we have a clear understanding of our narrative that we will be filming in the near future. We have done this by incorporating different elements that stood out from each persons individual storyboard and collected them together and combined them into one for a storyboard that we all like and agree on. Now when we go to film we will all have a clear idea what it is we need to achieve when we film and have a understanding of how the final opening scene will be. If there was anything that I would change to the storyboard it would probably be the conversation the man has on the phone with the emergency services as it unconventional for an opening scene and draws the audience away from the plot of the scene. During the film of the scene I think it should be changed to a distraction of some kind that draws the character away from the other so then they disappear rather. This will keep the audience interested and engaged within the scene.

                 

Risk Assessment - Miss Georgiou

Risk Assessment

Why is it important to consider risks before filming?
It is very important to consider all the risks that we may encounter during the filming period, this was to ensure that the health and safety of my group was taken in account.By creating a risk assessment I can identify all of the risks we will need to look out for before and during the filming process, by identifying this hazards we can prevent from any form of injury occurring to the group. Any faults we found with the setting could therefore be resolved by following the risk assessment and identifying the problems, and making changes to the setting to ensure it was safe while we were there.

 How will the Risk Assessment assist me with filming?
The Risk Assessment will help me with the preparation of filming as now I know what needs to be identified first so we can have a smooth filming problem that will not encounter and problems during the process.

Knife - In our narrative we have included a knife as the main killing weapon, at first we were going to use a real knife. By preparing this risk assessment we can clearly see that this needs to change as it is a sharp weapon that can easyly be harmful if not used with proper precautions. To prevent this hazard we made the decision to purchase a fake plastic knife, as it looks real and will not cause any harm on ourselves. In addition we will also not be running the risk of being arrested as we will be carrying a weapon. If we were to be arrested we would face a minimum of 4 years in prison and a fine of £5000.

Filming Down Roads - This is also another hazard that we need to prevent, as this could inflicted serious injury to members of the group if we are struck by a car. injury's such as broken bone, internal bleed and even death. There are many things that we can do to prevent one of us being seriously injured such as be careful when filming near the roads and be on consistent lookout for traffic when filming. But I think the most effective way of solving the problem is for people that part of the filming process and not actors to be wearing high visibility jackets so it is easier for passing cars to be able to see us and slow down.

Broken Glass - Another hazard that we will have to look out for will be broken glass or anything else that will be sharp on the floor of our setting. This is as it can hurt, or cause bleeding if stood on which can result in serious injury. This is why it is extremely important to make sure the area that is being used for filming is clear of any sharp objects.

Filming Schedule - Miss Georgiou

Why is a Filming Schedule so important?
The Filming Schedule was created during the planning stage of our thriller opening scene, this was for the reason that we had a plan that we could use when filming that we could stick to so we were more organized and productive when we went to film. By making this schedule we defined what we needed to complete on certain days at particular times so we completed the task in time interval we were given to film. This meant that we would not missing anything out and would not have to re-film later on, taking up time from editing therefore making our final scene lack what we would have completed if done in the time interval. Our filming schedule consist of a breaking down of what we needed to include in our film which was the Date and Time we were filming specific parts, location, content and action of each of the shots, there type and duration and then what was included in the shot in the form of Iconography, Personnel and Equipment. From this we have a structured Filming Schedule that we can follow, this will benefit us because we will have something to follow when filming and we can tick off sections when they are complete.

Was the Schedule followed or were any changes made?
We followed the schedule best as possible. We filmed on the proposed data as we were all available on the 13/11/13 and we meet around 4:30 to inspect the setting for any health and safety risk (further explained in risk assessment post). We filmed all of our shots in chronological order that we placed them so that we didn't miss out any of the shots that we needed. We followed it like this as some of us live quite far from the setting so we wanted to complete the filming in one day to increase time being able to edit the footage. However we did decide that some shots weren't need so we removed them from our film one example would be the Point of View shot of the man in search of the girl. This was as we had to many shots of the man walking down the alley way and it would take up more time of the 2:00 minutes if we had to many. In addition we filmed an extra long shot at the end of the girl walking off into the distance, as we felt this was a better cliff hanger. This was because it gives the audience the impression that the girl is walking off to commit a murder again and we saw this ending to be more creepy than a  zooming in close of for the child's face.

Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

Credits are very important to film under the thriller genre this is for a mixture of various reasons. Credits introduce the audience to the film that they will be watching by engaging and drawing there attention to the centre of the screen. Credits also clarify to the audience the genre of the film they will be watching. They then go onto to show the audience the actors/actresses , production company and the director.

Se7en Opening Credits

We as a class have analysed the opening credits from Se7en. The credits from the film Se7en appear to be jerky, in a hand written style font, this is for effect as the credits make the audience feel  as they are suddenly place apon them. By making the credits stand out it makes the audience feel as if they are more involved in the scene. The colour of the text is white which contrasts and stands out to the audience as it falls apon a dark brown/black background this shows the contrast between the good and the bad or in the case of the thriller genre the antagonist and the protagonist.This puts the audience on the edge of as they can clearly have the understanding of the narrative which makes them feel more engaged in the scene.

The credits are showed to the audience at equal time intervals which sets out the pace of the film to the audience. To add to the credits they are used during low key lighting which is conventional to the thriller genre which helps for the audience to establish what the genre of the film is straight away. 

In addition during the opening scene the audience sees various Iconography that is conventional that the audience would expect to see throughout the whole of the thriller genre this are things like the small blade, scrapbooks containing photographs, but additional other elements such as, blood (also the colour red, hidden identity, soundtrack are all present within the opening credits as well to implement the understanding of the narrative and genre to the audience. 

Order of Credits of Se7en - Production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music costumes, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writing, director

Hannibal Opening Credits Analysis

I individual have analysed the credits of Hannibal.

There are only two main colours used in the opening credits of Hannibal. At the very start the word "Hannibal" is the colour red or the colour of blood straight away after the audience see this they can confirm the genre of the film as the colour is the symbol of blood and blood is used widely across the thriller genre. 

Again the other colours used like Se7en are the colours black and white which again contrasts between the good and the bad. There are two different styles of credits at first the writing of Hannibal is a conventional style which is a lot like handwritten text. Meanwhile the style of the rest of the text is big and bold so it stands out to the audience but is slightly unconventional to the thriller genre. I like the way that the credits unlike Se7en appear to be still and more calming for the audience, this means that audience are given a false representation of the events of the film, and are not completely set up for the events of the film. By using credits like these it doesn't elaborate on the genre of the film and may make the future events of the film seem more alarming to the audience as they have not been set up correctly.

The credits also alike Se7en are shown at equal time intervals throughout the opening scene which again sets out the pace of the film to the audience, they are not displayed in LKL as they are white on a black and white background. But this does distort the audiences view of the credits as they have to engage more in the scene to be able to read them.

Thriller conventions used are the colour red for blood, jump cuts between the random CCTV footage of bird and various buildings, sinister sounds through the changes on screen to make the audience feel vulnerable and close up although this may not be apparent at first the formation of the birds on the floor create the face of the main character, Dr. Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins.  

Order of Credits of Hannibal - Title of film, Main Actor, Other Actors, Casting, Costume Designer, Music, Editing, Production Designer, Director of Photography, Executive Producer, Producers, Screenplay, Director. 

Our Opening Scene Credits

We have decided that our credits will be at the start of the scene and continue throughout the scene until a certain point which will be the scream. They will stop for a period of time and continue to the end of the scene up until the reappearance of the girl in the scene as this is an important part of the scene that needs to be focused on by the audience. The credits will be white so they stand out on the darkness of our footage.

Font One

 This is an unconventional font as it is quite friendly and attractive to the audience view. It engages the audience and is not the style that the audience would expect to see if they were viewing a thriller film.  

Font Two

This is why we are using Font Two as it is quite a conventional font that it similar to ones that have already appeared in thriller films. It stands out to an extent and at the same time is appealing to the audience and quite sinister looking as well. 

Order of Appearance of Relinquish

Production Company - Tiger Blood Productions

Actors Names - Hannah Mahoney, Luke Durrance

Music - Luke Durrance

Costume - Hannah Mahoney

Casting - Hannah Mahoney

Editors - Joshua Lester

Camera Operation - Joshua Lester

Co - Producer - Luke Durrance

Producer - Harry Hyett

Screenplay - Harry Hyett

Director - Harry Hyett

Production Roles - Miss Miller

People need to be given specific roles in order to know there jobs in the opening scenes production. By doing this the process of making the scene will be done effectively in a short space of time as specfic roles have been allocated to individual(s). There are many roles that are of importance but without a certain few there would be no film such as the director, camera operator, actors and the producer, without these roles there would be no film. The director couldn't tell the actors and camera operators what to do . Without the camera operators different camera angles and footage will not be filmed and most importantly without actors there would be not film to watch.

Roles of Our Group
We decided our roles by conferring with what roles we were confident with, so our film would be quicker and more effective. We each had to do a certain amount of tasks between the four of us so we decided to do at least two each and then more if we felt we would be able to do/complete the task that the role would allocate.

Producers - Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance. A person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of the making of the film, Together we will decided what we will need for our film and purchase the items we need and pay for it ourselves.  

 Director - Harry Hyett. A film director is the person who directs the making of the film, I felt confident in taking this particular role as I constructed the screenplay of our narrative and I know it better than anyone else in the group. This is because I decided on the final camera angles we would be filming and also fully under the role of the audience and how they would respond, It would be easier to complete the opening scene directing.

Actors - Hannah Mahoney, Luke Durrance. A persons whose profession is acting in films, as they are both willing to act in the scene and feel confident in that role, also they are both stereotypical like characters of the thriller genre. Also we had to find people who understood the narrative of the plot, which would be easily maintain by just sticking to the people in our group, me and Joshua already had roles which took up sectiosn from filming so by defeault it had to be Luke and Hannah to perform in this role.
  

Director of Photography (Cameraman) - Joshua Lester. A person whose profession is operating a film camera., Joshua took this role as he clearly knows the location of the setting very well and from this it would be best for him to take the role of cameraman and he already has an idea of what angles can be achieved at the setting. He has worked with the camera before so also knows how to effectively achieve the angles that we need for our opening scene.

Music Producers - Luke Durrance. A record producer is an individual working within the music industry producing music for a film., Luke took this role as he has a knowledge of how garage band works, and also knows various websites that can be used to find copyright free tracks to use in our thriller so therefore he felt confident with this role.
  

Screenplay Writer - Harry Hyett. Is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting of films etc., I took this responsibility as I had a clear understanding of the story line at which we would be including in our opening thriller scene. So I took it apon myself to construct the individual narratives together and combine to make our real narrative/screenplay. This is as I felt I knew the plot better than anyone in my group and knew what elements from each we should combine to make our thriller more effective.

MES Coordinators - Hannah Mahoney, Joshua Lester, Harry Hyett,
The five elements of MES are...

Settings and Iconography, Lighting and colour. - Joshua took this aspect as he had a clear understanding of the setting.

Costume, Hair and Make Up , Body Language and Facial Expressions- Hannah Character was put together by herself and she decide to have a specific costume, and with this used her hair and make-up to make an orphan like character. She also helped with the design of the other character.

Positioning of Characters within the frame - Joshua as the camera with the help of myself will position the characters where he wants them to be on screen this is as he took the role of being the Director of Photography so therefore it is his and my job to decide where we want actors in relation to there position on screen as it is effected by every camera angle that we use it will be an import role made easy by the help of two people.

   Editors - Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance, Joshua Lester. A person who is in charge and determines the final content of the film. We all have a basic understanding of the editing software that we will be using so together we would work together to put our film together. We gained this experience from the preliminary task that we were set before we started filming our opening scene. 

Evaluation of Roles of the Group

By assigning everyone important, different roles, it will make for a smoother running of the creation of our film, this is because everyone will be contributing to the make and completion of the opening scene of the film. It will make the filming take a lot less longer to complete and editing will be quicker as we have a team of three working together to get the job done. If we were to not spread the roles out evenly as a team this will mean that some people will be doing more work than others with will make for a slow process of completing the task set.

Harry Hyett - Director, Editor, Screenplay Writer, Producer. I think I completed all my tasks well. I constructed a organised and combined narrative for our opening scene and then went on the direct for our film as I knew the events of the scene well. In addition I also spent time with Luke arranging a purchase of a knife for our film.

Luke Durrance -Actor, Editor, Music Producer, Producer - I think Luke completed all of his tasks very well, Luke was a good actor and took directions from me and Joshua when we were filming, Luke was a help when we were editing contributing ideas of how the final product should look and again he made the purchase of the knife we need for our scene as well.

Hannah Mahoney - Actor, MES Coordinator - Hannah was a very good actor she was confident in her role of acting as the main character, She also made her character believable and it was very conventional to the thriller genre. She done her own Hair, and Make Up which was really good which therefore made her character even better.

Joshua Lester - Director Of Photography, Editor, MES Coordinator,Co- Producer. - Joshua was a very good cameraman, he took all of my instructions that I gave to him and even talked back suggesting how we should come over problems etc. He found a good location for the setting which had good lighting so was conventional to the thriller genre. Again alike Luke he was very helpful when we were editing and help along the process of putting the film together.

I think if anything could have been done differently I think we should have allocated roles such as Director/Cameraman to more than one person, this  is as these roles are play a massive role in the outcome of the result of our final opening scene. If we were to do it again I think me and Joshua should combine together as joint Directors and Directors of Photography as then we will both have a clearer understand of what we both want to achieve by the end of filming our opening scene. In addition we can also confer ideas to make the opening scene more effective. This can be seen by our collaboration in the positioning of characters on screen where we worked together.