Finished thriller opening

Complete Thriller opening

Question 7

Looking back at our preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the product? 

Question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 4

Question 3

What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

Question 3 from kemique

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

Question 2 from kemique

Question 1

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

In our opening of a thriller we portrayed many thriller conventions such as the hermeneutic code, one of Bathes' Main thriller codes, which portrays an unexplained sequence to the film. this is shown in the part where the phone call is made from an unknown source, this is a mystery to the viewer. The viewer may feel as though the person behind the phone call may be the villain. This creates suspense for the viewer and a guessing game is created in their mind. The final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved. In addition, the Todorovs' theory can also be applied our opening sequence. Although it is not very clear, a state of equilibrium has been portrayed in our opening sequence. The viewer  is uncertain about who plays which role in the film, this can be classed as the Enigma code. The way the tension is built up and the audience is left guessing what happens next, this is portrayed near to the end of the sequence when you are able to see a mysterious hand landing on the shoulder of the 'Mother'. This convention was developed throughout the sequence as we have made suspense the main culprit for the audience.  


Our opening sequence can be compared to other films in the film industry such as kidnapping story line which usually add a sense of fear and angry in the emotions of the audience. Usually, films with this type of story line tend to be very physiologically difficulty for the audiences to comprehend. In addition, our thriller opening sequence has a challenged the Vladimir Propps' convention, whereby it doesn't abide by the rules of this theory. This is because Vladimir Propp proposed that there is a struggle between the hero and the villan. Although, it seems like our opening does portray the conventions but it challenges it because of ethnicity and gender throughout the sequence. Films such as 'Copy cat' (1995) which was an agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.

Audience feedback

Audience Feedback

Here we have feedback form the viewing of our final piece. It is mostly all positive except for the fact that our actors were amatur, but this we could not have helped. He described that he liked our ways of editing and filming in general, but overall he gave us 3/4 which is not bad for a viewing of our thriller opening sequence.

Final day of editing

Final Day of Editing

Here we complete our editing and all of our thriller opening sequence was ready to watch. Although, we left our editign to the final day where me as a director done most of the editing to complte our thriller whilst the rest completed their blogs the pressure was on to make everyone proud of what i was able to do and finish in that short space of time. I gained little help from Dorcas, but Deja and Tanya chipped in to finish the job to the best of our ability,this was a relief to finally have completed everything.

   

Designing; making / title sequence

Designing: Making / Title Sequence

                                                              

                                          

Here we have done our title sequences over our thriller sequence to complete the start to a film look and make it look professional. In addition, we made sure that the font of the words were kept the same throughout and this made it look better and that we involved all the actors names and the main people. 

Designing; making / ident

Designing; Making / Ident

This is a screenshot of our ident. We made it by dropping black ink into water, we thought of this idea by seeing a past student thriller that had another. Even though the background is dark and gloomy the outlining of the white gives the effect of the light and makes the black inc. the main focus, it also makes it stand out from any other colour like a dull brown colour would look bad. To make our ident name it was a group discussion to make it up. 

First Draft Evaluation

First Draft Evaluation 

Our first draft of our opening thriller was not very different from our final sequence. Although we had some errors that we changed to make it better such as when Tanya opened and closed the door we edited it to make it flow better. In addition, we uploaded it onto youtube and we then realised some of the wrong things throughout then we had to re-upload the video onto youtube after changing some things.The first draft was basic and we realised as a team we could perfect it by adding more effects to make it seem like a professional film.

2nd Day of Filming

2nd Day of Filming

                                                            

This is when i completed filming the whole film. As the dircetor i had to bring everything together and to aclose making sure we had all the shots we intendted to film and alittle extra to make sure that we would need need to do out and film again. Although, it was difficult to get everyone motivated to go out and film eventually i just went out by myself with the cast that were going to play in the ened of our thriller whilst the rest finished their coursework and eventually it was a success.

 

Editing day 1

Editing Day 1

Day one of editind was a sweet success we completed our ident and added non-diegetic sound to make it sound like the dripping of ink into the water. Although, it was the day only me and Deja was there edit the takings of the film that we made sure we editing the material that we had allowing us the next time we filmed to get straight onto our editing of our opening thriller sequence.

1st day of Filming

   1st day of Filming

Today we started filming our thriller. We also filmed a variety of shots of him walking down the stairs. This included an extreme close up of his feet and whilst walking down the stairs as well as a long shot from him walking behind the banister. We also had to film some shots outside of the 'Mum' and 'Michael' of them walking to school. 














Here I am filming 

  

Today we filmed your studio ident. We came up with the idea of being called "Black Inc" so therefore, we decided to use black ink in our ident. We spilled black ink into a glass of water in front of a white wall, zoomed in extra close and played it in slow motion. When editing we will add the title of "Black Inc" and decide what font, colour etc to use.

                                                                                                                  

The Birds

The Birds

Plot Summary 

Melanie Daniels is the modern rich socialite, part of the jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favour. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends the weekends with his mother Lydia and younger sister Cathy. Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. A seagull attacks Melanie as she is crossing the bay in a small boat, and then, Lydia finds her neighbour dead, obviously the victim of a bird attack. Soon, birds in the hundreds and thousands are attacking anyone they find out of doors. There is no explanation as to why this might be happening, and as the birds continue their vicious attacks, survival becomes the priority.

Opening scene

• The opening sequence of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds portrays different elements of the thriller genre. These include the opening scene being off the ordinary and a usual every day situation which would happen in real life as the main character goes to the pet shop to pick up a previously bought bird – something of the norm. 
• A man is introduced into the scene and requests a bird from the woman, they converse and he leaves saying he shall see her in court. This raises questions to the audience, a convention of the thriller genre.
• An enigma is introduced when the woman buys two love birds and takes them to the man’s apartment, where she then finds out he is on holiday, and then hunts him down to hand over the birds to him.
• There is no soundtrack in the opening sequence, which is odd for a thriller, as most thrillers contain some form of diegetic music behind the moving image. This makes the film seem more like an everyday scenario, which adds to the thriller convention because when something bad happens it will seem more surprising and shocking. 

                                             Conventions of a Thriller

Psycho

Psycho 

Plot Summary 

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane (Leigh) is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam (Gavin) in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman Bates (Perkins) who seems to be dominated by his mother. 

The Shower Scene

The shower scene in Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho' which Marion is killed is considered one of the most stunning and horrifying scenes of all time. It is this scene that makes Psycho worthy of inclusion on a list of top phobia-inducing films. Legions of fans claim that for many years following their first viewing of this film, they refused to take showers. It is difficult to prove the truth of this claim, but shower phobia is a legitimately documented phobia, and if any film moment could induce it, this would be the one.

The shower scene has long been studied in film classes as a preeminent example of masterful editing. The scene is highly unique, as the camera becomes the knife. It has been claimed that the knife never actually pierces the skin, but this is technically untrue. In three frames, the knife penetrates the skin just below the navel about ¼ of an inch. Regardless, the decision to shoot the scene in close-up from the point of view of the knife itself both limited the gore and made the scene much more personal to the audience than most on-screen attacks.

modern thriller openings

Shooting schedule

Costume and props

Here Tanya has created a popplet for our costumes and props. We have all decided together what we should wear for our shots and we have to be consistant with it.

3rd production meeting

Today Me, Dorcas and Tanya worked extremely hard getting work done. Kemique was drawing up our story board. 




Dorcas filled in the location visit sheet with incredible dedication. I filled in the shot list and risk assessment.










Dorcas finished of some of her blogging and used the computer for most of her task.  For this we also tried to finish some of our group work of the computer like shot list, costumes and props. 

AS Media Studies – Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

 The Preliminary task

For this task we had to film a carefully make a film that would show all the key editing techniques such as Match on action, Eye line match, shot-reverse-shot, 180 degree. We decided to get an eye line match shot of deja watching the clock waiting for her delivery to come to the door this was the first eye line match shot that we filmed together as a group. We created this shot by filming a shot of Deja looking straight into the camera and then we filmed a shot of just the clock.

Also for our Preliminary task we filmed a shot called match on action. Dorcas filmed me walking up to the door and putting my hand on the door handle. Then she filmed me opening the door from the other side which made it look like it was an all rounded shot which was easy to see how it worked. This was how we made our 180 degree rule. 





 By no fault but our own we edited myself walking down the corridor poorly. I can see myself walking at then suddenly then i seem to magically appears in front of the door the door. It looks incredibly unprofessional so we must make sure we do not make this bad mistake whilst editing again.

AS Media Studies – Preliminary Exercise

Animatic

This is our animatic version of our storyboard that we created in lesson and Tanya placed it onto Youtube.

Location Shot list

Location Visit Sheet Film title: The revenge Cast: Dorcas Tshizungu, Tanya Ahmed, Kemique Scantlebury, Deja McCoy and Ephraim Tshizungu Writer:  Dorcas, Tanya, Kemique Producer:  Dorcas Tshizungu, Tanya Ahmed, Kemique Scantlebury, Deja McCoy Director:  Kemique Scantlebury Date: Tuesday 16 December 2014

Our first location is located at 55 Bosworth roads this house belongs to Tanya and after consulting with her parent they have allowed us to film there. In her house we would be using 3 main areas; kitchen dinning area were the shot of Deja will be filmed. There’s the corridor/ stairs were my little brother Ephraim will be coming down the stairs and interacting with Tanya. Finally you have her living / sitting room where the final scene will take place before leaving the house. The second location is outside of five elms school right before the gate. This is where Tanya is dropping her so-called son Ephraim to school. We don’t need any permeation in order to film there. These are our main location apart from the street the pavement. Access to location via:  in order to get access to the house you would need to take the bus to Morrison’s then walk. Bus and walking. However to get to the school from Tanya house all you need is to walk it’s a 10-minute walk. Name and number of location contact: 55 Bosworth road, five elms school , kitchen, dinning room.

Health and Safety Issues to note: ●   road safety is one of our concern whist filming. Also when were filming at tanya house we need to make sure that if theres any loose wires it need  to be tuck away.

Potential Filming Problems: The weather is one of our concern due to the fact that its winter and it gets really dark quickly and we want to be able to keep the same lighting it has to be consistent and has to match with each scene. More over, the fear that not everyone is able to turn up to the filming especially Deja due to the fact that she lives quite far and if she will be able to meet the deadline. Another potential problem is that we might have problem filming outside five elms shool. Yes I know that we don’t really need permition however some parents may not want their children been exposed online. Thats why if theres children near by we must get permition in order to film.

Additional Notes:  (map of area/weather forecast etc) Tanya house is located in Dagenham. Five elms located in Dagenham. Were currently un aware of the weather forecast of the days that were going to be filming but finger cross that the weather is good enough for us to film? We hope that it’s not snowing or raining. Were also hopping that the temperature isn’t too low because we don’t want to be filming in freezing weather.

How to film a thriller

How to Film a Thriller

This is a short film that uses most the conventions of a thriller.

Techniques 

1. `POV (point of view) - When the viewer can see what the actor can see and we can picture ourselves in the actors position. 
   
   
   
   
   

2. Fast pacing sinister music to make the audience feel anxious for the actor and places them in their point of view and what they would then decide to do.

3. This shows a dark and uncomfortable surroundings with glimpse of brightness coming from the cracks and spaces in the walls. This shot is a medium shot showing the surroundings.
                                              

4.This is an extreme close up that shows the eye of a person watching. i makes the view feel as though they know more than the actual person acting.

Rope

Rope

 Brandon and Philip are two young men who share a New York apartment. They consider themselves intellectually superior to their friend David Kentley and as a consequence decide to murder him. Together they strangle David with a rope and placing the body in an old chest, they proceed to hold a small party. The guests include David's father, his fiancée Janet and their old schoolteacher Rupert from whom they mistakenly took their ideas. As Brandon becomes increasingly more daring, Rupert begins to suspect.

Opening Scene

The opening sequence of Rope starts with a view of a street shown as a high and establishing shot making the setting appear normal and this makes the viewer wonder what is going to happen, creating a sense of mystery. The title sequence is a simple style of text but there are a lot of names, this is because in older movies had the major credits are at the start not the end. The background music is very happy and tranquil, but with a hint of danger, perhaps reflecting the niceness of the men on the outside, with their dangerous selves within.

Conventions of a thriller 

The movie Rope by Alfred Hitchcock there is a lot of dramatic irony because the audience are aware of the murder and that they body as places in the chest that they are now eating food off. This places the viewer in a very unsteady position because knowing that the characters know nothing about what had happened before they all arrived to the house. I think that the Classic Hollywood Thrillers match because the viewer already knows.                                                                          

Storyboard

Treatment

Treatment

Group Roles Camera work will be done by - Myself and Dorcas Mum - Tanya Dad - Deogracias Fundi Mums friend - Deja McCoy Son - Ephrain (Dorcas’s little brother) Cinematography: Mise-en-scene: Set in someone’s home as they are on “the school run.” Outside a local school - William Bellamy primary school.   Sound: Editing:

Title: Revenge Tag Line:

Synopsis: A divorced couple. They have a child together. The father goes to prison and the mum has full custody of the child. The father is released from prison and poses a threat to the mother. The mums friend attempts to warn her but she's too busy to take notice. The mum is taking the child to school - normal weekday morning.

Key Genre Conventions: Our film follows Todorov's narrative theory. We are in a state of equilibrium when the mother and child are on there way to school. There is disruption of events when the father is released from prison. We realise this when mums friend sees that the father has been released from prison in the newspaper and attempts to contact the mum. This film contains suspense as the audience knows that the father has been released from prison and the mother is too distracted to find that. The film ends on a cliff hanger when the father stalks the mum and grabs her shoulder.