thriller evaluation!!

In our final work, we were asked to create a two minute opening thriller of our choice. This involved planning, filming and editing. The first task was to plan and brainstorm different ideas, which we thought of as a group, during this task we came up with different ideas which we brainstormed in detail. For instance the different locations, like the park, the city, a club and even a library. As well as thinking of the different narratives, costumes and characters. Furthermore as a group we discussed potential storylines for our opening thriller such as a chase, a dream, a search and revenge. After planning and discussing different ideas, we based our thriller opening on revenge, where a character seeks revenge to the anonymous killer of her mother.

My media opening challenges the forms and convention of a real film because of the stylized effects used in the opening and at the end of the sequence. The overdrive effect used gives an eerie and uncomfortable mood which puts the audience on edge when watching it. For example at the beginning of the first sequence you see several shots with different effects, like the blurred close up shot of the attacker’s hands reaching for her pocket.This shot puts the audience on edge because the effect used and the slicing sound, makes the audience question what is about to happen. In addition the repetitive images shown in the film allows the audience to take in and understand the storyline but at the same time, it leaves them wanting more. Like the meeting point where the attacker attacks the victim, this is shown at the beginning; this leaves the audience with a cliff hanger because they do not know what happens until the end of the sequence where you see the vulnerable victim screaming because the attacker has grabbed her.

Furthermore in this work we used forms of convention used in real products like a company logo of the distributer. For instance in our opening sequence we have a flower shaped logo called J.A.D.S Inc Production. As a group we wanted something which represents each member, so using initials was the easiest way of creating a name for our logo. Furthermore I think the first scene of my thriller opening grabs the audience attention with its tense sound and effects.

Looking back at past projects like the ‘thumbs war’ match cut lesson, I have learnt and progressed from that project. As we extended our skills and knowledge when filming, we captured various shots like a low angle shot of Dominique the victim, walking in to the park, also match cutting shots which made the images flow, we did this when editing. Furthermore I learnt how to use sound in more detail, as I experimented with the sound after editing the shots, we as a group had to create a tense soundtrack which fitted with our film sequence. The duration of making the soundtrack was long as we experimented with a lot of instrument like the piano, brass, drums, vocals and many more. However the longest part of the whole project would have to be editing because we had to match cut shots to create a flowing sequence, we also added different effects like solarise and negative to create something unusual. I noticed that the final project took a lot longer than the thumbs war project because we finished that project in three days, whereas the final project took weeks to complete. In this project I learnt how to cope under pressure, I also did things I need thought I would do like filming nonstop in the cold and rainy weather.

My media product represents women in society because in this film the victim is a woman and the attacker is a woman. We tried to convey power amongst women by using female characters rather than the usual male attackers. By doing this, it challenges stereotypes, which viewers would find unusual. We also portrayed the dominant and powerful women who takes role as an attacker but still had the ‘weak’ stereotype. We also challenge race by not using a white woman as the weak character.
I think this film would be distributed in small UK ‘art house’ cinemas, like the film ‘Kidulthood’. Also as this is a low budget film, the distributer would also release this on the internet to get recognition then releasing it on DVD. The film audience for this film would be working class people from the ages of 15-25, male and female who are interested in thrillers. The reason for this is that the viewers can relate to films that are about revenge and the majority of people like this type of thrillers.

I would attract the audience by making trailers for my opening thriller’ An Eye for an Eye’, which is seen on TV, internet and other video sites like Vimeo and Youtube. Also on social networking like facebook and MySpace. Through marketing it attracts bigger audiences which would bring more money. Also through marketing in can widened potential audience around the world because social networking is known worldwide, even if the film is released in a small UK cinema it could still bring money through the internet as people can download the film.

I have learnt a lot about the technologies from the process of constructing this product. First of all the filming process allowed me to experiment with the camera, allowing me to become a lot more creative in the shots I took. I believe good camera shots allow the story to become to come alive as the emotion of the characters is transpired in this way. For example a close shot of the victims face when walking pass the attacker, shows vulnerability and the feeling of insecurity because of her up tight facial expression. Moreover the camera allowed us to test different shots like a low angle shot of the victim walking through the park, a behind the bush shot which a high angle shot, I believe the different angles signify hierarchy, showing who is in control and who isn’t.

Furthermore I learnt how to use the features in the Mac computers like final cut pro and the soundtrack when editing. This widened my knowledge because it allowed us to create a film sequence when using the features in the Mac. Using final pro cut was an amazing experience because it allowed me and the group to become creative with the shots we captured when filming, also allowed us to play and experiment with the sound, and affects which was fun.

Last of all I believe the internet was very helpful because it allowed us to use sites like blog spot to record are days in media, also allowing us to record the filming process. In addition the blog spot was very useful because you could access other members of your group’s blog to see if you’re up to date with everything. In addition the internet also allowed us to release our thriller movies on sites like Vimeo and the blog site, where other media groups could watch your thriller and give feedbacks.