Final Product - Thriller Opening Sequence

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I have learnt recording main shots like the 180 degree angle shot aswell as the shot/reverse shot.The preliminary task was mostly based on these shots, it wasn't very difficult to get the hang of them. While editing the shots, it was mostly based on getting the shots right so we didn't use any transitions or other effects to make it interesting. What I learnt from that was you shouldn't waste time on what is irrelevent and always stick to the task set.

When it came to the final product it was more complicated as we had many other shots to work with. In our 1st edited draft of our film opening we found that there was too much dialogue and not many shots which made it boring. We decided to cut down on dialogue and add more shots and make the scenes only 2 seconds long, this allowed us to add more of the story line in to the opening, making it more interesting to watch. When we edited our opening for the last time we decided that we use only music which runs through the whole 2 minute clip with just one bit of dialogue in the end of the conversation between Pia and Elizabeth, this was much more effective in terms of being able to not just make the audience listen but to also visually attract and make it independent of them to try to establish the twist in the story.

Regarding the problems we faced such as lack in planning and organising the time allocated for shooting, we were still able to produce a decent product which we more or less planned to produce. It was right in the end that we decided to change our storyboard making it very difficult to get the cast together for a last few shots and then re-editing the whole opening. Although we didnt have enough time, we still managed to finish our product in time and more or less acheived our aims. I feel that our product is still successful because we stuck to our treatment from the start which made it a little easier.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We learnt a lot about and from these technologies while constructing our media product. It was very difficult at first, working with a video camera and learning to take various shots such as a shot/reverse shot or the 180 degree angle, etc.

While getting to grips with handling the equipement, other technologies that we came across, during the pre-production process, were using the internet for research using excel for our audience research, scanning the storyboard, using the blog, keeping it up to date. We also came across a fun and innovative software called 'Prezi'. This software allows us to make presentations, it is also known as a 'storytelling tool'. I enjoyed using Prezi since it made presentations more attractive and enjoyable.

During the production we used a canon handheld camera, it was a challenge getting used to, we used the camera itself to record many of our shots such as the close-ups to capture real emotions of the characters, high angle shot of Elizabeth locked in the toilet, making her look small, banging on the door seeing that she is not able to set free. We also used a tripod which was a very useful tool in keeping the camera steady for shots like panning in a mid shot, recording a conversation at a leveled angle. We used the tripod for most of our shots because this enabled us to record everything in a steady position. We also used the tracks for one of our main shots, this helped as we were able to broaden out the variety of different shots and angles we used. Using the tracks allowed us to record a conversation while walking in a slow but steady pace making it more real the audience so they can feel part of the scene.

In the post-production we used a software called Imovie, it was brilliant tool to help us in editing, mixing music in our opening and allowing us to overlap shots with other shots, in particuar when we took the panning shot of the cast in a group and merging it with a shot of the newpaper article about Columbine.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 4. Who would be the audience for your media product? and 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We used a variety of research methods to get the most reliable and valid research to help us make our media product of a thriller opening. We applied Questionnaires, interviews etc to gather the kind of data we are looking for. Our target was aimed at teenagers mainly, even though our film is rated 12. This is because 12 year olds are aware of the challenges they will have to face in the coming years of being a teenager.

In the questionnaires we found that our target audience liked realistic thriller produced by mainstream companies, as they provide with the audience's preferred material. We also found that in order for our media product to be successful it is important that we got our characters, setting and props exactly right. So we used characters that were that looked 16 years old so it fits the criteria. Our setting was in a school and we showed lockers, classrooms, corridors etc. to create a realistic feel for the audience, as they can easily relate to the surroundings. As for the props we tried our best to make our characters look like school children, they wore uniform such as a white collar shirt, grey skirt etc. We preferred not to use a specific school uniform because we thought that since our idea regards the issue of bullying, it would be better to have them being recognised as school children rather than of a specific school because they are representing all victims of bullying.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Looking back at the audience research we found that our target audience preferred mainstream rather than independant production companies this is due to how largely mainstream production companies are presented. They attract more audience than independent as the audience presummably give more attention to mainstream films rather than independant ones because mainstream companies have symbols or logos that they use so the audience can easily remember them, as well as they meet the needs of their consumers. A production company handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources, the organization of staff, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing. Production companies are maybe owned or under contract with a media conglomerate, film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, these institutions act as the production companies partner or parent company. Examples of mainstream film production companies like Columbia pictures, which is an entertainment company owned by Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal etc, would produce and distribute our product.

Screen Gems are an American movie production company, owned by Sony Pictures, one of the main conglomerates, and they produced and distributed films like 'The StepFather', 'Prom Night', 'Obsessed', 'the Roommate', 'When a Stranger Calls' and many other thrillers. Since our film targets mainstream audiences, our product may be funded by the film council or the National Lottery.

Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product develops the idea of bullying and the kind of negative effect it can have upon its victims. The social groups used in our media product are 'bullies' and 'nerds' or 'geeks'. a similar example to our media product is the 'Inbetweeners' which is about four teenagers who are social outcasts and are also friends with eachother. This programme tackles bullying with the use of comedy although it is such a widely attracted issue, regardless of what genre used to portray the issue it has gained awareness successfully.

Our media product is represened in many ways. Our target audience can easily familiarise with our media product because of the stereotypes we have used. What we found in our audience research was that the majority of our audience consist of 13-19 years old who prefer watching thrillers which involves the concept of teenagers. A few examples where we witness events like paper being thrown at the outcasts or one of the outcasts are locked in the toilet, these are wildly recognised events which commonly occur in minor bullying incidents. Many teenagers can relate to these events as they have probably been a victim, the perpetrator or witnessed some sort of bullying in their lives.

Taylor Loring- Thriller Evaluation: 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Development of Conventions: Furthermore our knowledge of other films and conventional thriller narratives allowed us to create ideas based on the Hitchcock film, Memento we decided to focus on the idea of memories and looking back at the past. Therefore we decided to create several flashbacks that the girl's will suddenly remember, subsequently transporting the audience to a previous time in their lives, hinting at the up and coming narrative. The sequence of shots developed conventions of thriller films as using a series of extreme close ups of the girls features provided a "personal" aspect to our opening, as well as symbolising the girl's hidden emotions, rather than displaying emotions through a dramatic form. What we challenged: However despite using these conventions of a thriller to fit general features of the genre, I do not feel our product challenged thriller conventions in any way, the event taking place in a school being a popular narrative for films aimed at a teenage target audience, E.g Prom Night. Even though our product featured camera shots seen in Hitchcock's thrillers, our narrative restricted our product from developing conventions as to attain some realism within our familiar setting we could not elaborate our narrative.

Thriller Conventions on Prezi

Blog thriller research the birds on Prezi