We learnt from our audience feedback that both male and female audiences liked our thriller. We found that our audience thought the non-diegetic sound was good as it created suspense and was in time with the credits at the start. However, the audience felt there could be more diegetic sound when the car door closes and the strangling to add to the narrative. they also didn't think the strangling looked to staged and didn't understand why the sound got quieter during the strangling. We also learnt that our audience liked the plot of our thriller because it was quite an original idea for a film of the thriller genre. They also understood the plot well through our opening sequence. We also learnt that the fact the audience don't see what the man is looking at adds to the mystery and tension. We also learnt the characters our actors played were very convincing because of their costume and this added to the overall mise-en-scene.
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Feedback about of final product
Feedback on our thriller
We learnt from our audience feedback that both male and female audiences liked our thriller. We found that our audience thought the non-diegetic sound was good as it created suspense and was in time with the credits at the start. However, the audience felt there could be more diegetic sound when the car door closes and the strangling to add to the narrative. they also didn't think the strangling looked to staged and didn't understand why the sound got quieter during the strangling. We also learnt that our audience liked the plot of our thriller because it was quite an original idea for a film of the thriller genre. They also understood the plot well through our opening sequence. We also learnt that the fact the audience don't see what the man is looking at adds to the mystery and tension. We also learnt the characters our actors played were very convincing because of their costume and this added to the overall mise-en-scene.
We learnt from our audience feedback that both male and female audiences liked our thriller. We found that our audience thought the non-diegetic sound was good as it created suspense and was in time with the credits at the start. However, the audience felt there could be more diegetic sound when the car door closes and the strangling to add to the narrative. they also didn't think the strangling looked to staged and didn't understand why the sound got quieter during the strangling. We also learnt that our audience liked the plot of our thriller because it was quite an original idea for a film of the thriller genre. They also understood the plot well through our opening sequence. We also learnt that the fact the audience don't see what the man is looking at adds to the mystery and tension. We also learnt the characters our actors played were very convincing because of their costume and this added to the overall mise-en-scene.
Evaluation task 7 - Looking at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?
- Camera work - We didn't use many different angles and different types of shots in our prelim. We mainly used close-up, medium and long shots and over the shoulder shots to show the narrative from different perspectives. We progressed to use more shots in our final product such as high angle, low angle, tracking shots and panning shots by changing the position and height of the camera when filming certain scenes.The difference in our final product is very effective as it added to the narrative and helped to create suspense as the high and low angle was used to differentiate between the personalities of the two characters and to show they are binary opposites. Also these shots are used a lot in the thriller genre so therefore through these our thriller conforms to many thriller films and TV dramas. Also, during filming our prelim we only filmed each scene from one angle whereas in our thriller we did each shot from a few different angles so when we began editing we had more shots to work with compared to the prelim. The was more effective as we could ensure in our thriller we had the best shots that fitted with the genre, narrative and mise-en-scene to appeal more to our target audience which we couldn't do in our prelim.
- Mise-en-scene - There was very little mise-en-scene when filming our prelim as we had to work with the space we were given.Therefore it didn't create any effect.The mise-en-scene in our final product is much more effective as we had many more props and a better and bigger setting to work with and create the right effect for our thriller for example we were able to film from many more different angles to display more aspects of the mise-en-scene and also add things to complete the overall narrative we were trying to create.It is effect as it creates mystery, tension and suspense. There was also no lighting to create effect in our prelim, however there was a lot more effect through lighting in the final product to add to the tense atmosphere.
- Editing - The editing isn't very effective in our prelim as it only used very simple cuts to go from shot to shot to show the conversation between the characters. We have learnt in the progression from the prelim to our product that by manipulating the editing and making it more effective it adds to the atmosphere we wanted to create such as building up tension and making certain scenes stand out to the audience for example using slow motion in the strangling scene which we did by slowing down the clips on the editing software. We also used colour correction and cinematic effects when editing our thriller which we didn't use in our prelim which improved the quality of our opening sequence and made it look more professional which is a progression from the prelim. We also used a tool on the editing software to add titles to our thriller which we did not do in our prelim to add details about the title of our film as well as people featured and involved which made our opening sequence look more like a real film and more professional which will affect attracting an audience.
- Sound - We only used diegetic dialogue in our prelim, the conversation between the two characters. This was to tell the narrative. We also used some diegetic dialogue in our product, a short conversation between the male and female, also to help tell the narrative therefore the effect of diegetic dialogue in both our prelim and product is the same. However, in our product we progressed to use non-diegetic sound to build tension, establish the mood and atmosphere and match what was actually happening and the narrative by adding a backing track during the editing process. This was effective as it helped to bring our product together and make it more appealing to audiences as they could understand the genre better.The non-diegetic dialogue was also effective along side the editing of the credits as credits appeared on different beats to add effect, something that we did not have in our prelim and therefore shows our progression from prelim to product.
- Working as a team - When working on our prelim we worked okay together as a team. We all talked to each other and tried to help each other out but it also got quite difficult at some points because we weren't very familiar yet with how to film and use the equipment properly as well as everyone thought they should have their own specific role. Our teamwork did improvement when filming our product as we decided to share roles slightly more which helped us work better as a team as we all got an opinion from different aspects of the filming and it also helped as we were able to help each other more if someone was unsure about what they were doing or were meant to do.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Evaluation task 6 - How have I used digital technologies?
1. We used the internet to help us research films similar to ours as we looked at different film websites such as IMBD. On the website we searched the genres that were similar to ours and came across several crime and mystery thrillers. This is where we found films such as Silence of the Lambs, Drive, Identity thief and The Long Kiss Goodnight. After finding these films that we thought were suitable we looked at their opening sequences and trailers using YouTube to see how we could relate our thriller to them.
2. We used the internet to research real life incidents similar to our thriller by looking at different newspaper online such as The Mail Online. We also Google searched real life incidents relating to stolen and fake identities; we came across many on peoples personal and daily blogs.
3. Our online research helped us come up with locations and costumes because by the research we had carried out previously we noticed a theme in the films similar to ours, as they were made realistic with little effects and were just filmed in normal, suburban settings. For the costumes we researched what FBI would normally wear and tried to recreate this costume with what we already had. Our inspiration for the costume was mainly from Drive and the TV series Intruders- which we discovered from our previous research online.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Evaluation task 5 - How have you attracted/addressed your target audience?
Evaluation task 5 - How have you attracted/addressed your target audience
There are aspects of our thriller that will appeal to a wide range of audiences. One way which we attracted audiences was through mise-en-scene. The opening scene features a silver, sleek and sophisticated car that would mainly appeal to our primary audience of 18-25 year old males and possibly some middle-aged men in our secondary audience who are interested in cars. Also, most of our opening sequence was filmed in the dark which conforms to the thriller genre and will address an audience of people who enjoy thriller.We also had the main character as an FBI agent including other props such as fake FBI badges and the costume for the male character which is a black suit that would be worn by professional FBI agents. This may attract an audience that are interested in the crime aspect of our thriller.
One scene in our thriller is the strangling scene. This involves a lot of action and violence which will appeal to a more male target audience. This is because men tend to be attracted to action and tension in films rather than woman who usually prefer calmer and more relaxed films. Therefore, this is one of the ways we attracted our primary target audience of 18-25 year old men.
The actor and actress we used also helped to attracted audiences. Our male actor was a middle-aged man who would attract our secondary audience of females because women may find him attractive. On the other hand, our female middle-aged actress would attract men in our primary and secondary audiences as men may find her attractive but she could also appeal to our secondary audience of females and women may feel they can connect, empathise and sympathise with her better than men because of the stereotypical role of women in thrillers as the innocent victim.
There are aspects of our thriller that will appeal to a wide range of audiences. One way which we attracted audiences was through mise-en-scene. The opening scene features a silver, sleek and sophisticated car that would mainly appeal to our primary audience of 18-25 year old males and possibly some middle-aged men in our secondary audience who are interested in cars. Also, most of our opening sequence was filmed in the dark which conforms to the thriller genre and will address an audience of people who enjoy thriller.We also had the main character as an FBI agent including other props such as fake FBI badges and the costume for the male character which is a black suit that would be worn by professional FBI agents. This may attract an audience that are interested in the crime aspect of our thriller.
One scene in our thriller is the strangling scene. This involves a lot of action and violence which will appeal to a more male target audience. This is because men tend to be attracted to action and tension in films rather than woman who usually prefer calmer and more relaxed films. Therefore, this is one of the ways we attracted our primary target audience of 18-25 year old men.
The actor and actress we used also helped to attracted audiences. Our male actor was a middle-aged man who would attract our secondary audience of females because women may find him attractive. On the other hand, our female middle-aged actress would attract men in our primary and secondary audiences as men may find her attractive but she could also appeal to our secondary audience of females and women may feel they can connect, empathise and sympathise with her better than men because of the stereotypical role of women in thrillers as the innocent victim.
The camera shots we used also conform to the thriller genre for example close-up shots to display the characters emotions and feelings and medium-shots to reveal more about the narrative and the parts of the mise-en-scene that show our opening sequence is of the thriller genre. This will attract audiences who prefer and enjoy thriller films as they are shots which they expect from thrillers and are familiar with and they will enjoy when watching the film.
As the rest of the film unfolds after the opening sequence we will insure the genre of thriller and sub-genres such as crime and action continue throughout the thriller and there will be faster, more action-packed scenes to address the audience who are watching the film mainly for these types of scenes so they become attracted and continue to watch. We will also introduce younger actors and actresses to attract the younger half of our primary audience as we only have middle-aged actors in our opening sequence.
Evaluation task 2 - How does your media product represent different social groups?
Gender
There is quite a lot of gender divide in our thriller. We have a male and female character, with the male being in a position of authority. The man is powerful, violent and and is a threat. He is shown in a negative light. This is shown through camera, as there is a lot of close-up shots to show his facial expressions and a low angle shot during the strangling scene to display him as being the character in the stronger, more authoritative position. The non-diegetic mysterious, sly and dangerous music foreshadows his negative character. The mise-en-scene based around the male character of the black gloves, fake FBI badges and dark lighting at most of the points he is seen is also used to show this character and personality. He conforms the stereotype of males being the villain in thriller films. He treats the female character badly by manipulating her and then strangling her to death. The female character is shown as the weaker and vulnerable character through the use of a high angle shot to show she is in a weaker position than the man and her costume which shows she is innocent and vulnerable as she is unsuspecting that the man could be a potential threat to her. The sound also goes quieter when she is being strangled to show her being victimised and hopeless. She also conforms to the stereotype of women being weaker than men and the easy targets in thriller films.
There is also a film called "Drive" and a TV drama called "Intruders" that show gender stereotypes and similar things that are represented in out thriller. In "Drive" there is a man driving a car who wears smart clothing and black gloves to show he is the antagonist and authoritarian and dangerous. This is also similar to the man in "Intruders" who wears a suit, black gloves and has FBI badges to show also show his authority and threat. The woman in "Intruders" also represents the social group of the stereotypical innocent and vulnerable woman in thriller films. Our media product therefore represents gender similarly to this film and TV drama.
Regional Identity
This is represented through the male character. Firstly, he had fake FBI badges and wears a suit to pose as a real American agent. He has an American accent which fits the character description of a fake FBI agent as the FBI is an American organisation. As he is fake he subverts the stereotype of typical FBI agent who does work to solve crimes and help people but our male character is negative at commits crimes and is a threat to many people. We also used a male American for the fake FBI as they are stereotypically regarded as more powerful and authoritative then women. This is shown through many different crime and thriller TV dramas such as Intruders and criminal minds.
Disability
Even though there are no characters in our thriller with disabilities there are able bodied characters. These characters are usually presented as having more power, authority and strength over disabled characters and tend to use this in either a positive or negative way. In our thriller, the male character uses his ability and power in a negative way, posing as a threat to people around him, acting violently and putting people in harm.
There is quite a lot of gender divide in our thriller. We have a male and female character, with the male being in a position of authority. The man is powerful, violent and and is a threat. He is shown in a negative light. This is shown through camera, as there is a lot of close-up shots to show his facial expressions and a low angle shot during the strangling scene to display him as being the character in the stronger, more authoritative position. The non-diegetic mysterious, sly and dangerous music foreshadows his negative character. The mise-en-scene based around the male character of the black gloves, fake FBI badges and dark lighting at most of the points he is seen is also used to show this character and personality. He conforms the stereotype of males being the villain in thriller films. He treats the female character badly by manipulating her and then strangling her to death. The female character is shown as the weaker and vulnerable character through the use of a high angle shot to show she is in a weaker position than the man and her costume which shows she is innocent and vulnerable as she is unsuspecting that the man could be a potential threat to her. The sound also goes quieter when she is being strangled to show her being victimised and hopeless. She also conforms to the stereotype of women being weaker than men and the easy targets in thriller films.
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| This shows that men are stereotypically more violent and harmful to people and women are more innocent and vulnerable. |
There is also a film called "Drive" and a TV drama called "Intruders" that show gender stereotypes and similar things that are represented in out thriller. In "Drive" there is a man driving a car who wears smart clothing and black gloves to show he is the antagonist and authoritarian and dangerous. This is also similar to the man in "Intruders" who wears a suit, black gloves and has FBI badges to show also show his authority and threat. The woman in "Intruders" also represents the social group of the stereotypical innocent and vulnerable woman in thriller films. Our media product therefore represents gender similarly to this film and TV drama.
Regional Identity
This is represented through the male character. Firstly, he had fake FBI badges and wears a suit to pose as a real American agent. He has an American accent which fits the character description of a fake FBI agent as the FBI is an American organisation. As he is fake he subverts the stereotype of typical FBI agent who does work to solve crimes and help people but our male character is negative at commits crimes and is a threat to many people. We also used a male American for the fake FBI as they are stereotypically regarded as more powerful and authoritative then women. This is shown through many different crime and thriller TV dramas such as Intruders and criminal minds.
Disability
Even though there are no characters in our thriller with disabilities there are able bodied characters. These characters are usually presented as having more power, authority and strength over disabled characters and tend to use this in either a positive or negative way. In our thriller, the male character uses his ability and power in a negative way, posing as a threat to people around him, acting violently and putting people in harm.
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Account of Editing
Account of editing
Firstly, we uploaded our footage to Adobe Premier Pro. This is the editing software we used to produce out final thriller. It took a bit of time to get used to using the software and figuring out how to use all the tools to edit but as we gradually learnt it became easier to build up our sequence. If we went through the editing process again I would research how to use the software and ask people familiar with it questions so our editing process could have been completed quicker. We began to take cut down our footage into different scenes that we put in our storyboard, disregarding any footage that we decided we definitely didn't need. This made it easier to produce our sequence with all the clips that we wanted rather than having to look through all our footage when we moved onto the next scene. As we decided to film a few shots for each scene this helped when putting the sequence together as we could look at which shot we preferred and looked better to fit with the theme we were trying to create - drama and suspense.
After we completed our sequence, we added non-diegetic music from a royalty free website. we also overlay this with the diegetic music in the thriller. This was to add the finishing touches to solidify and bring together the tense atmosphere we were trying to create for our thriller. It worked well with the thriller genre and the personality of the male character who was quite dangerous and mysterious.
For the strangling scene we decided to use slow motion and lower the sound slightly. This was to add effect and drama to the scene and so the audience could focus on the action. The slow motion emphasised the woman's struggle to release herself from the man's grip around her throat but also the force the man is using to push her to the ground. It also helps to identify and make clearer both the characters facial expressions. It helped portray the man to the audience as scarier and angry and also allowed the audience to empathise with the woman and feel sympathy for her because of the shocking, innocent and frightened expressions on her face.
We also decided to add some effects to some of the scenes to make them look bolder and add to the tense and dramatic feel. We did this mostly in the car scenes and a some of the house scenes. We mostly added a lighting effect to the house scenes as the original footage was slightly to dark.
Lastly, we added the credits in and the title at the end. We made the credits appear at certain beats in the sound to make them stand out and create a strong powerful effect, which matched the male characters personality. We had white writing on black background to keep it simple but effective. It also kept with the mise-en-scene of the narrative taking place in the night. The made the title at the end flash between white writing on a black screen and black writing on a white screen. This was to make it bold and eye-catching to the audience and keep with the tense ambience of the narrative.
Firstly, we uploaded our footage to Adobe Premier Pro. This is the editing software we used to produce out final thriller. It took a bit of time to get used to using the software and figuring out how to use all the tools to edit but as we gradually learnt it became easier to build up our sequence. If we went through the editing process again I would research how to use the software and ask people familiar with it questions so our editing process could have been completed quicker. We began to take cut down our footage into different scenes that we put in our storyboard, disregarding any footage that we decided we definitely didn't need. This made it easier to produce our sequence with all the clips that we wanted rather than having to look through all our footage when we moved onto the next scene. As we decided to film a few shots for each scene this helped when putting the sequence together as we could look at which shot we preferred and looked better to fit with the theme we were trying to create - drama and suspense.
After we completed our sequence, we added non-diegetic music from a royalty free website. we also overlay this with the diegetic music in the thriller. This was to add the finishing touches to solidify and bring together the tense atmosphere we were trying to create for our thriller. It worked well with the thriller genre and the personality of the male character who was quite dangerous and mysterious.
For the strangling scene we decided to use slow motion and lower the sound slightly. This was to add effect and drama to the scene and so the audience could focus on the action. The slow motion emphasised the woman's struggle to release herself from the man's grip around her throat but also the force the man is using to push her to the ground. It also helps to identify and make clearer both the characters facial expressions. It helped portray the man to the audience as scarier and angry and also allowed the audience to empathise with the woman and feel sympathy for her because of the shocking, innocent and frightened expressions on her face.
We also decided to add some effects to some of the scenes to make them look bolder and add to the tense and dramatic feel. We did this mostly in the car scenes and a some of the house scenes. We mostly added a lighting effect to the house scenes as the original footage was slightly to dark.
Lastly, we added the credits in and the title at the end. We made the credits appear at certain beats in the sound to make them stand out and create a strong powerful effect, which matched the male characters personality. We had white writing on black background to keep it simple but effective. It also kept with the mise-en-scene of the narrative taking place in the night. The made the title at the end flash between white writing on a black screen and black writing on a white screen. This was to make it bold and eye-catching to the audience and keep with the tense ambience of the narrative.
Account of shoot day
Account of shoot day
We used mise-en-scene to try and create a dark and mysterious thriller so the film was set in normal, suburban street and actors were normal middle-aged actors who were wearing simple everyday costumes. We didn't use make-up, blood or prosthetics as that relates more to the horror genre rather than thrillers and we only used some main props such as a car and fake FBI badges to fit with the storyline. We didn't have a very high concept mise-en-scene as we producing a low budget film.
We used many different shots to film our thriller but mainly close up and medium shots to capture our characters emotions and movements and to create suspense and mystery which is a main aspect of the thriller genre. This was mainly in the car to show the detail of what the male character was doing such as taking the badges out of the bags and emphasising he was wearing black gloves to indicate to the audience that he is mysterious and dodgy. We found it quite difficult to film these shots in the car because it was quite small and tight so we used the zoom on the camera to make the shot closer. We wanted to incorporate a wide range of shots so we also used a tracking shot which we did handheld to follow the character and show the scene from his point of view so the audience could engage more with him. By doing this shot handheld it made the scene look smoother and more dramatic as when trying it first with the camera on the tripod and dolly it was quite bumping and shaky making the image look slightly distorted because of the surface we were moving the camera along. Other shots we used were high and low angle shots during the strangling scene to show which character was in the more powerful position and which was weaker and also an establishing shot with panning of the car driving into the street to indicate the main concept of the film. We also did this shot handheld because it was easier to pan but just moving our body round than the whole tripod with the camera on top however we had to practice a few times before pressing the record button to ensure the camera wasn't shaky.
The costume for our male character was a black suit with a tie and trench coat as he was an FBI agent and we wanted to give him an authoritarian look. He also wore black gloves to fit with the general look killer characters are given in the thriller genre. He also had fake FBI badges, as he was a fake agent but wanted to be a clever killer, and drove a silver car to put on the façade that he is an important, top agent as he wants to manipulate people. we were inspired by a TV series called 'Intruders' and a film called 'Drive' for these props and costumes as these are of the thriller genre and presented themes we were looking at using for our own thriller. The female character wore normal, casual gym clothes to make her look more vulnerable and more realistic to everyday life to show the build up of her unexpected killing for her and the audience. This helped to create the overall suspense and tension of the thriller genre. We were inspired for her costume again from 'Intruders' that featured an innocent woman in her home in casual clothing.
The actors we used were very enthusiastic to be in our thriller. The male character is American so this fitted the description of the character being a fake FBI agent. He would also appeal to a secondary audience of women. He suggested some ideas for different camera shots we could use to display his dark and manipulative personality and show he is in power. We picked our actress to fit our description of an innocent, vulnerable woman as she is a normal, middle aged women who is unsuspecting of her lurking killer. She was very willing and happy to participate and do the strangling scenes and falling which made it easy to work with her and do the shots well.
We filmed in the dark to show it was the night and give a mysterious, dramatic effect and create tension. We used a small outdoor light as well on top of the camera to still give some brightness so the shots and characters would be clear to the audience. Many thriller we researched were also filmed in dark lighting to create these effects as well. I think the natural lighting we used as well as the lighting equipment and light from the house worked well to create the effect and theme we wanted.
We had a lot of diegetic sound in our thriller - knocking, dialogue and general outdoor sounds such as the wind. The loud knocking help to build the tension and suspense leading up to what was going to happen in the house. The dialogue was mainly to help tell the narrative but also created some mystery. This is common in a lot of thrillers with minimal dialogue to create suspense. We also thought about sound whilst filming to then incorporate non-diegetic sound when it came to editing.
I played quite an important role in the production of our thriller. I helped to position the shots and made sure they looked good and worked well when being filmed. I also put myself forward and volunteered to do which I did quite often, helping to do most of the handheld shots as I could hold and steady the camera well. I also voiced my opinion that I thought would work well towards certain aspects of filming, costume, lighting etc. to ensure that all the shoots we had were perfect so when it came to it, the editing process would be a lot easier. Therefore, I think I played a key role towards producing our thriller.
We worked as a good really well, diving up roles between us and all putting in our opinions and ideas about how to improve our thriller. We contributed in our own to create the right mise-en-scene, shots, lightning and other more to create the right drama and suspense for our thriller. We all worked together to adjusting the lighting to make it look how we wanted and all looked at through the view finder and at the position of the camera when filming particular shots to make sure we all all agreed it worked well or that if someone thought we should change something we worked together to change it. We also did small things to help each other as well such as if someone was holding the camera to do a handheld shot and had it positioned right, another person would press the record button for them so we wouldn't ruin the shot. Also, if someone was struggling another person would help them out. This is why think we had very good teamwork and if we didn't all work together on the small and large aspects of our thriller or contribute our ideas and opinions our thriller would have not come together and well and as smoothly as it did.
I was definitely happy with our overall result as it fit my expectations and more about what the final thriller would look like. By doing all the shots several times and repeating them if they weren't done well we made sure that our end result came together well. Our shoot day was a lot more difficult then I expected as the camera equipment was a lot more difficult to use and it was hard to determine if what we were filming would actually look good when put on a proper screen. However, I think all the aspects of our thriller when filming worked really well to produce a final result that all our group was really happy and proud of.
We began the day around 4 o'clock to set up the equipment before it got dark. We waited to film until dark as this is the theme we wanted for our thriller. We established what we were doing and how to use the camera and other equipment properly before filming to familiarise ourselves with it again after only using it once briefly and to ensure we wouldn't have to stop as much when filming because of difficulties with equipment. We filmed in a different order to our storyboard, getting the harder scenes in the car done first so we could spend more time on them. We changed our storyboard slightly by deciding to film shots from a few different angles to see which ones looked better and fitted in well with the suspense, tension and mystery of the thriller genre we were trying to create. One thing which we were going to change from our storyboard but decided not to is the scene with the woman answering the door. We planned to have the man knocking on the door in the original storyboard and we did stick to this however we were going to change this to the man ringing the doorbell and the woman looking into the ID screen to see who it was. however, we decided to keep the knocking as it kept with the general theme we were trying to create of mystery and tension as it is more dramatic hearing the loud diegetic sound of the knocking at the door late at night. Our target audience is late teens to young adults which we think we targeted well through the use of an opening sequence with a lot of suspense and tension.
We used mise-en-scene to try and create a dark and mysterious thriller so the film was set in normal, suburban street and actors were normal middle-aged actors who were wearing simple everyday costumes. We didn't use make-up, blood or prosthetics as that relates more to the horror genre rather than thrillers and we only used some main props such as a car and fake FBI badges to fit with the storyline. We didn't have a very high concept mise-en-scene as we producing a low budget film.
We used many different shots to film our thriller but mainly close up and medium shots to capture our characters emotions and movements and to create suspense and mystery which is a main aspect of the thriller genre. This was mainly in the car to show the detail of what the male character was doing such as taking the badges out of the bags and emphasising he was wearing black gloves to indicate to the audience that he is mysterious and dodgy. We found it quite difficult to film these shots in the car because it was quite small and tight so we used the zoom on the camera to make the shot closer. We wanted to incorporate a wide range of shots so we also used a tracking shot which we did handheld to follow the character and show the scene from his point of view so the audience could engage more with him. By doing this shot handheld it made the scene look smoother and more dramatic as when trying it first with the camera on the tripod and dolly it was quite bumping and shaky making the image look slightly distorted because of the surface we were moving the camera along. Other shots we used were high and low angle shots during the strangling scene to show which character was in the more powerful position and which was weaker and also an establishing shot with panning of the car driving into the street to indicate the main concept of the film. We also did this shot handheld because it was easier to pan but just moving our body round than the whole tripod with the camera on top however we had to practice a few times before pressing the record button to ensure the camera wasn't shaky.
The costume for our male character was a black suit with a tie and trench coat as he was an FBI agent and we wanted to give him an authoritarian look. He also wore black gloves to fit with the general look killer characters are given in the thriller genre. He also had fake FBI badges, as he was a fake agent but wanted to be a clever killer, and drove a silver car to put on the façade that he is an important, top agent as he wants to manipulate people. we were inspired by a TV series called 'Intruders' and a film called 'Drive' for these props and costumes as these are of the thriller genre and presented themes we were looking at using for our own thriller. The female character wore normal, casual gym clothes to make her look more vulnerable and more realistic to everyday life to show the build up of her unexpected killing for her and the audience. This helped to create the overall suspense and tension of the thriller genre. We were inspired for her costume again from 'Intruders' that featured an innocent woman in her home in casual clothing.
The actors we used were very enthusiastic to be in our thriller. The male character is American so this fitted the description of the character being a fake FBI agent. He would also appeal to a secondary audience of women. He suggested some ideas for different camera shots we could use to display his dark and manipulative personality and show he is in power. We picked our actress to fit our description of an innocent, vulnerable woman as she is a normal, middle aged women who is unsuspecting of her lurking killer. She was very willing and happy to participate and do the strangling scenes and falling which made it easy to work with her and do the shots well.
We filmed in the dark to show it was the night and give a mysterious, dramatic effect and create tension. We used a small outdoor light as well on top of the camera to still give some brightness so the shots and characters would be clear to the audience. Many thriller we researched were also filmed in dark lighting to create these effects as well. I think the natural lighting we used as well as the lighting equipment and light from the house worked well to create the effect and theme we wanted.
We had a lot of diegetic sound in our thriller - knocking, dialogue and general outdoor sounds such as the wind. The loud knocking help to build the tension and suspense leading up to what was going to happen in the house. The dialogue was mainly to help tell the narrative but also created some mystery. This is common in a lot of thrillers with minimal dialogue to create suspense. We also thought about sound whilst filming to then incorporate non-diegetic sound when it came to editing.
I played quite an important role in the production of our thriller. I helped to position the shots and made sure they looked good and worked well when being filmed. I also put myself forward and volunteered to do which I did quite often, helping to do most of the handheld shots as I could hold and steady the camera well. I also voiced my opinion that I thought would work well towards certain aspects of filming, costume, lighting etc. to ensure that all the shoots we had were perfect so when it came to it, the editing process would be a lot easier. Therefore, I think I played a key role towards producing our thriller.
We worked as a good really well, diving up roles between us and all putting in our opinions and ideas about how to improve our thriller. We contributed in our own to create the right mise-en-scene, shots, lightning and other more to create the right drama and suspense for our thriller. We all worked together to adjusting the lighting to make it look how we wanted and all looked at through the view finder and at the position of the camera when filming particular shots to make sure we all all agreed it worked well or that if someone thought we should change something we worked together to change it. We also did small things to help each other as well such as if someone was holding the camera to do a handheld shot and had it positioned right, another person would press the record button for them so we wouldn't ruin the shot. Also, if someone was struggling another person would help them out. This is why think we had very good teamwork and if we didn't all work together on the small and large aspects of our thriller or contribute our ideas and opinions our thriller would have not come together and well and as smoothly as it did.
I was definitely happy with our overall result as it fit my expectations and more about what the final thriller would look like. By doing all the shots several times and repeating them if they weren't done well we made sure that our end result came together well. Our shoot day was a lot more difficult then I expected as the camera equipment was a lot more difficult to use and it was hard to determine if what we were filming would actually look good when put on a proper screen. However, I think all the aspects of our thriller when filming worked really well to produce a final result that all our group was really happy and proud of.
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