My Thriller Evaluation

From watching the ‘Watching’ Documentary, I’ve learnt what ‘A favourite trick of Film Noir’ is, which is a process where it reveals the opening credits starting from the end of the story therefore becoming more understandable to the audience once the same clip is shown again but near the end of the film this time. Also that a good beginning makes the audience feel that they don’t know enough yet, at the same time as making sure that they don’t know too little so that it creates a suspense towards the audience and keeping them engaged so that they have enough information to help them know what is going on in the film. This influenced our thriller seeing that we created quick flashbacks near the beginning and ending of the film.

The features of both an opening and a thriller that we’ve put into our film were the effective titles sequences to help create a chilling effect towards the thriller, the characters (the victim and the killer), setting and location (in college and in quiet chilling area near a park), the use of camera and editing (matching points, panning, tracking etc) and the ideas of lighting and music. The dim lighting is revealed in the scene where the killer is researching information on the victim near the beginning. The darkness in the room is not only to cover the identity of the killer, but to express the anger that she is feeling through this revenge, contemplating the reason why she is doing this.

The props used were the chair, computer, umbrella (because it was raining during the filming) and the ipod. The non-diagetic sound is used when the victim is listening to music on the ipod. This was used in order to distract not only the character itself but the audience too. We made this shot last long to build tension so that the audience don’t know when the killer scene is about to happen. The diagetic sound takes place when it is raining and when the victim screams.

For the shot types of our thriller we used medium shots to concentrate on the character and their reactions, a close up shot implies after the victim walks past. This shot here focuses on her facial expression at this moment which is anxious as she starts walking slowly. An extreme close up is shown when the killer looks at the audience in the dark, here focusing on one detail. As an audience, this would give me the impression that the killer is looking at me as if I’m her next target. We also have a point of view shot when the victim looks into the camera to experience how the killer views this victim to show that she has got something to do with the main character. Other then that we used long shots to focus on the victims surroundings in this scene where the killer is about to attack. Here the audience know that the killer is following her however the character does not. This is where dramatic irony takes place.

Based on the film making, I’ve learnt how to do a panning shot on the tripod when following the characters movements rotating the camera while its still to reveal what is happening from the characters point of view, I’ve also learnt how to do match-cuts which is when you are shooting or recording the same shot but at different camera angles, plus I’ve learnt how to edit the clips when connecting it to the computer such as trimming excessive clips, deciding on whether the shots are at good quality or not, selecting which clips were effective and suitable for the genre along with the arranging the footage smoothly in with the rest of the shots.

In my film, there are two characters, one is a strong female killer who is 21 years old whilst the other character is a weak woman as a victim who is 30 years old. We thought to make the killer a woman because in normal thriller movies, men are often the killers and so we as a group decided to make it different.

As a group we feel that our thriller movie would be a small independent UK release because the film is good based on the work we have done however not as good if it was going to be big as its not as professional looking as we wanted it to look plus we have a typical storyline as we watch the opening however not so typical as the storyline behind this is about a girl (the killer) who is searching for the person who was responsible for her mother’s death to get revenge. However what this person does not know is that the blameworthy man is in prison, so whilst she’s looking for the killer, she is killing the ones closest to him which starts off with his wife (the victim).

The audience for our thriller would have to be from 15 years and over.

We would market our film by advertising posters outside shopping areas on the walls, phone booths and perhaps on the buses, on the internet and through trailers. The typical shots we might add for our genre is a piece where it mentions whose starring in the film, three seconds of a clip where the victim is crossing the road and looks at the killer before she makes the move, the typing on the computer, zooming in the victims face and showing the killer following the victim through the bushes before the murder.

Based on the process of constructing this product, when it came to editing our thriller, we had to use a program called ‘Final Cut Pro’ I had a good experience in using this program when cutting out unwanted bits from the shots using input and output and fitting it in to another shot to make it flow nicely alongside with including effects using the ‘Soundtrack Pro’ and ‘Live Type Pro’ for the titles. Before, during and after making the film, we had to write everything we did on a blog, to keep track on what we’ve done or are doing so far with our thriller. After we finished, we had release our movie on not only our blogs, but on a website called ‘vimeo’ too. This will most likely widen the amount of audience who would watch the thriller.

Our thriller was very successful because of the positive feedback we had from the class. Most of them liked the variety of shots along with the effects, camera work and editing. They also mentioned that the sound track went exactly with what was happening in the thriller.

In my opinion I liked our thriller and most of the shots were good quality. On the other hand the only problem was that it did not reveal much of the background of the storyline because the narrative of the thriller is about a woman who is getting revenge but set to kill the closest person to her original victim, however watching it from an audiences point of view, looks like a murderer searching to kill for no reason. I think to improve it we should revealed a flashback on what the actual murderer did to her mother near the beginning then show the thriller the way it is now so that the audience would have a better understanding on what is happening in the film. Other then that I am happy with the results.

Eye for an Eye

Last Day of Editing Thriller

Today we were adding beats to our soundtrack for the thriller, to help create tension towards the film. In order for this to happen, we tried to make it sound as chilling as possible by using certain types of sound effects appropriate for our storyline such as percussion, DJ scratching, etc. Instead of repeating the same beat continuously throughout the whole of the sequence, we used different types of sound effects for different clips. At first we started experimenting the sound effects until, we ourselves felt tension. We worked well together and each came up with good ideas to help gain those marks.

As a group, we chose to add tapping sound effects for when the killer blinks twice or when the negative effects appear. We then had to produce a beat suitable for the scene where the victim is listening to music on her ipod. During the soundtrack making, we found out that we were not allowed to use the Columbia Pictures because its film copying, which is not allowed so we decided to add our logo instead. Finally, we managed to complete the soundtrack. It taken us the whole lesson to finish off, but it was worthwhile.

Monday's Lesson

On Monday, we continued editing our film adding more titles and features, plus a Production Company. Out of all of the companies, we preferred the Colombia Pictures one and added it to our film. We then created a logo which looked like a wavy shaped star. Whilst making the logo, we decided to add a production name called J.A.D.S Inc, the first initial of our names because we all wanted to be apart of this logo as a group. So far, our editing is going well so hopefully we will manage to finish off the whole of our opening scene in the next lesson.

Half Term Monday

Today we as a group had to come in to finish off our editing. Shortly after that, we found out that our film lasted 16 seconds. We were so surprised because it looked as if it lasted for 1 minute and a half at least, plus it took us quite a while to get the clips all together. From there we asked what to do as it was such a good clip so Marisa told us to extend it a little by adding a few more of our original shots that we’ve filmed which hasn’t been revealed, onto it.

Luckily after a few hours, we managed to add in the clips in without any problems and made it last from around 2 minutes. This time we added the features suitable for the title to create a chilling effect for the film and decided to leave the rest of the editing for the next lesson.

Last Wednesday's Lesson (11.02.2009)

On last Wednesday's lesson we decided to film the computer scene in the class room but in the dark with dim lighting used and black curtains to help darken up the room. This is called a black out. The props used were the chair and the computer to search valuable information on the victim. For this scene we had made repeated shots four times. One of them was a low angle shot of the killer sitting on the chair, searching the information on the computer. Another was a close up shot of the killer’s eyes looking at the computer.

Shortly after that, we put our clips onto the computer then trimmed a bit of the unwanted parts of the shots and added it to our editing, in between certain clips to create quick flashbacks in the film.

Last Monday's Lesson (09.02.2009)

Last Monday we had to go to the library to film the scene were Aiko's character is searching Dominique's character on the computer. As soon as we arrived we decided to change the environment of the scene as it didn't make sense to what we was filming plus we didn't think it through properly as a group and so we went back to class and finished off our editing from what we filmed in the last lesson, whilst deciding where to film the computer scene for the next lesson.

First Day Back After Snow Attack!!

Today we had to go to the computer room to watch our video in which we took last lesson, when we were filming the killing scene, and then separated the film into clips. We had around twenty clips in total. This was because for most of the clips, we had done five or more takes each, so that we could decide on which clip looks better or which one doesn’t have the noise of a van driving, etc. It was funny to watch.

After that we had to walk all the way to the library that we wanted to go to last time (whilst there was snow on the pavement) and took pictures, since it was closed again. For the next lesson we are planning on filming the library scene so hopefully we will be allowed to film it in there.

Wednesday’s Lesson

On Wednesday’s lesson, The weather was dreadful. We were supposed to go to the library to start filming however, we realised after reaching there, that it was closed. How irritating. So whilst we were outside in the pouring rain, we decided to skip the library scene and shoot the killing scene were the victim is being followed by the killer (the son of the mother).

The shots we had taken went well, even though we had to keep shooting the same shots repetitively to get the filming more accurate as possible. The setting of this scene (outside) looked very disturbing as we walked through a park. The fact that it was raining, created more of a chilling effect, even I was scared of the area. What was even worse was that we had to step into so much mud in order to create a precise shot and generate suspense for the audiences. It had taken us two and a half hours to film, but it was worthwhile plus the shooting went well.

Monday’s Lesson

During throughout the whole of Monday’s lesson we were planning how and when we were going to shoot the thriller, who will be looking out for locations and which ones to recommend, plus who will be the main character in the film. The storyline to our film is about a girl (played by Aiko) whose searching for the person who was responsible for her mother’s death to get revenge. However what this person does not know is that the blameworthy man is in prison, so whilst she’s looking for the killer, she is killing the ones closest to him which includes his wife (played by Dominique).

Last Wednesday’s Lesson - 21.01.2009

On Wednesday’s lesson, we continued planning our thriller from the last lesson then, unexpectedly as groups, we were given five minutes to present our work to the class and judges Mickey, Marisa, Andrew and Tony.

It was our turn. We explained to the judges on how we would shoot our thriller, use the lighting, and what locations we would possibly use, also how we would produce the music to create a chilling effect, etc to see whether we would receive the camera from them or not. The judges commented in what they thought about our presentation and gave us positive feedback. They all agreed and so we were given the camera by them.

Last Monday’s Lesson - 19.01.2009

At the start of Monday’s lesson with Tony, we watched a few examples of thriller clips made by the previous AS’s. As a class, we commented on the differences between the high graded clips and the low graded ones along with why we thought it was interesting and created atmosphere or boring and dull.

After that we were told as a group to do a brainstorm for our real thriller, giving some ideas of what storyline we would create, what title to give, the effects, etc in order to generate atmosphere and did it throughout the rest of the lesson.

Editing the second practice film

The second practice film went well today, we went to the computer room to separate the film clips then collected what clips were suitable for the film and edited it by getting rid of unwanted bits from the shots, adjusting one clip onto another, to make it flow in nicely by the use of effects and adding some major, cheering music to our film to make it more humorous for the audience to watch.

Between the first and second practice films, I’ve learnt how to use the camera and record in different camera angles plus placing it on the tripod. I’ve also learnt how to use input and output when editing clips as well as conforming clips in the order we would like it in and adding effects to it.

I think that we as a group have followed the forms and conventions of real movies because we used matching points mostly throughout our film, the scene was set in the college and the clothes worn by the characters were casual. Also, the props used were the chairs, music was being played at the background and their was a relationship between the two characters.

In my opinion, I am happy with the results we came up with. Based on watching our finished film, I believe that the representation of the film is about having fun and how to enjoy yourself when playing games like these besides other ways of communicating with people.

Wednesday’s Lesson - Matching Points.

On Wednesday’s lesson with Andrew, we had worked on a worksheet in groups of three’s, writing down ways to create shots without recording it. The storyline we were given was ‘A man who is on the computer whilst chain smoking, who then transfers his files from the computer to a CD and posts it in the letter box. Within our groups, we were figuring out ways of how we would shoot this.

Shortly after that, we watched a DVD made by the media teachers, which matched the description of what the character was doing. Our task was to figure out where the matching points were revealed, which is when you are shooting or recording the same shot but at different camera angles. As well as noticing that, we stated whether our ideas were similar to the ideas on the DVD shown, which some were.

After a while, we were told to produce our own shot (for our practice session) in the same groups as last time when performing our thriller. Our task was to perform our version of a character opening the door, sitting opposite another character, making a few dialogues with them.

As a group we tried to make it look as realistic as possible. For our film, the activity we performed for our dialogue was a thumb fighting game played by two competitive players.

In my opinion I think that the filming of the shots went very well.

Film Openings

In today’s lesson Tony was absent and so another media teacher took over instead.

At the start of the lesson, we watched a documentary called 'Watching' which implied different film critics and directors informing how an opening of a film should start. Whilst watching, we were filling out a worksheet related to the topic, as part of our ‘Thriller’ research. These gave me different ideas on how I could shoot my opening. During this documentary, it was revealing different techniques that would be more effective or suitable for thrillers to gain the audiences attention, for example, ‘Films need to seduce their audience..’ But how?. According to the documentary, Jean Jacques Beineix indicated that movies in general should start off steadily in stages, leaving the spectators in suspense and then gradually building up to the stage where the excitement is about to happen for them. However, on the other hand, Thomas Sutcliffe suggested that the film should be receive the audience’s attention immediately, precisely moving straight to the situation.

Another example was the classic opening, which is when the camera steadily exposes the atmosphere of the main character to allow the audience to have a clear idea on what is going on in the movie.

Other then that, we had to explain why a good beginning makes the audience feel that they do not know enough yet, at the same time as making sure that they do not know too little. In my opinion I believe that the reason for this is to keep the audience engaged and hooked on to the movie, giving them enough information to help them know what is going on in the story, creating a suspense towards them.

In my views of the film ‘Seven’. The title sequence is effective as it plays different equipment being rubbed together, therefore giving it a chilling effect towards the audience as well as embracing their attention alongside with the small handwriting and sudden flashes. Judging from the fact that its revealing what the character is doing, gave me the impression that the film may be psychotic or that there is a serial killer involved.

Lastly, the documentary referred on what is meant by ‘A favourite trick of Film Noir’ which is a process where it reveals the opening credits starting from the end of the story therefore becoming more understandable to the audience once the same clip is shown again but near the end of the film this time.

For my opening credits, I want it to have a similar effect, creating tension and suspense towards the audience. The main technique about the opening is that I want it to look as professional as in normal thriller movies to captivate the audiences attention.

Analysing Thriller Clips

On Monday's lesson with Tony, we were watching 2 thriller clips out of five as we didn’t have any spare time left during the lesson. The first clip we analysed was a film called 'Arlington Road'. At first I thought by just reading the title, that the clip wouldn't be that scary since I haven't seen it before, but it turned out that I was wrong. I was so scared, I practically screamed when I saw bits of it but it was even scarier without even having to watch it. It was very disturbing too. Well as a group we were given a task, we each had a to choose what part of the film we wanted to analyse which included the lighting, use of camera, music, editing, setting and location then we had to note it down on the worksheet that was given to us. In my opinion, I think that what made the clip so disturbing were the abnormal noises, the solarized pictures along with the flashing lights and not only the fact that it was set in the suburbs, but the shivering movements of the camera too.

The second clip we analysed was a film called 'Collateral' starring Tom Cruise and Jason Statham. I've seen bits of this film before so thankfully it wasn’t that scary. Surprisingly, the clip wasn’t as long as the first one. What happened was that two men in the airport picked up the wrong suitcases as they bumped into each other. The problem was that because they both have the exact same looking suitcases as each other, they didn’t know that they picked up the wrong one. Here it reveals a dramatic irony, implying that the characters do not know what is happening while the audience do. Just from looking at that clip it gives me the impression that Tom Cruise is one of the bad guys and maybe Jason Statham is an undercover cop or a secret agent who bumped into the man on purpose to collect the other suitcase before he does something dangerous from what’s mysteriously inside of it. I think this because whilst watching it, before Jason Statham dropped his suitcase, he looked at where he placed his first, then after apologizing, he looked to his right and Tom Cruise's one, looking at it as if that was his target, and then took it.

The other clips that we were going to look at were '28 Days Later','The Shining', and 'What Lies Beneath' however, like I had said, we sadly didnt have enough time to.

Thriller Evaluation

For the practice filming session, we were we given a task on making a thriller movie through playing a card game, any card game and we chose to play the game of tarot that can tell the future of the player. This film lasted for 2 minutes. The costumes we wore were casual clothes and the props that we used were, two chairs and a table for the clairvoyant and player of tarot.

Before we began to produce our film for the thriller, we were presented with tripods and camcorders, so the camerawork during the filming was successful. Most of the shots were good quality. There were even times where we had to film the same footage more than once, but with slight little changes to it, so that we as a group can decide on which shot will be suitable to fit in with the rest of the shots smoothly.

The editing went well. After uploading our video to the computer we separated it, renamed it and then put the clips in the order in which we wanted it whilst cutting out unwanted pieces. We had also added some dissolving and sound effects as well as slow motions to it. I think that the film did make sense as it showed flashbacks on what will happen to the person, whilst turning over the cards.

We managed to create suspense throughout making our thriller by the use of slow motion and sound effects plus by starting the event half way through the film, from the moment when the clairvoyant turned over the cards (revealing what was going to happen whilst turning it over). These are in my opinion, one of the conventions in the direction of real thriller movies.

We had positive feedback from not only our teacher Andrew, but our class. I remember that Andrew said he liked one of the shots where the camera angle revealed player (me) and clairvoyant (Dominique) facing towards each other, whilst our bodies look dark, displaying more of the buildings from outside of the window. This was presented from the audiences point of view. The first thing that the class had said was that is was good, then they established that they liked the use of effects such as slow motions and sound effects.

In my opinion I’m happy with the results. I especially like the storyline and the way I dropped down the stairs without having to really drop. I thought that I was going to act that role terribly but I managed to perform it well. I also liked it when there were slow motions of the clairvoyant turning over the cards, which created suspense for me as being part of an audience. I believe that we done well as a group because we had a lot of enthusiasm towards this task and worked well as a team, listening to others opinions and ideas. I think that we could have improved by adding more sound effects for example a chilling noise or music starting off low then gradually getting louder and louder to lead it to the dramatic scene of me falling down the stairs or a loud noise of and instrument that will fright the audience with.

Thriller Day!!!

Today was such a great lesson. We went to the computer room and watched the rest of the groups video which they produced, as a class. After that we had to evaluate everyone’s video, mentioning what we liked/disliked about it and what they could do to improve it to boost up their marks. I thought that everyone's films were really good, I really enjoyed watching it. It was very amusing too, I also liked the fact that everyone had came up with these different ideas which allowed us to see it from another person’s point of view. In my opinion some of the groups video’s could have been better if they added more effects to it and got rid of when the director mentions ‘action’ or ‘cut’.

Straight after that, we had to go back to our class and do a brainstorm on the title of today’s lesson, ‘What is a Thriller?’ and asked each and every one of us, what we thought the definition of a thriller was and what relates to thriller, as well as examples of this genre. Shortly afterwards, we were told that we were going to watch ‘The Shining’, a thriller movie starring Jack Nicholson. I think three people in the class were scared of the movie hahaha that was so funny. While the film was going, we were given a worksheet in which we had to give three examples on when we as an audience, feel suspense about the film and what part of the film that makes us suspense.

Throughout watching the film, I only thought that one clip was scary which I had actually screamed when watching, but I new it was going to happen anyway, I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. It was the part where Jack Nicholson killed the guy who had showed the family around the kitchen (near the beginning). In my opinion, I actually liked watching this film with the class, as there were so many funny parts to it which we enjoyed. On the other hand, I think if I was watching it by myself I wouldn’t like it as much, so I would recommend it for a group of people to watch, rather than just one person.

Editing Day!!!

On Monday's lesson we had to go to the computer room to re-watch our film that we shot from the last lesson, then we had to separate the film into clips and rename them, describing what each character was doing, to remind us what clips were what, so that we could put them back in the order we had it in whilst recording it.

After that we collected all the clips that we wanted, and edited it. This included cutting out unwanted bits from the shots using input and output (for example when the director said ‘action’) and fitting it in to another shot to make it flow nicely (some included added effects ). We basically had done what we did from the last lesson when we were editing the shots from the sample movie, and brought some of our own skills to our film. Because our group were so ahead from other groups and there was a bit more time left, we decided to add some sound effects to our film to create a dramatic and chilling effect to our thriller, to leave our audience wondering what will happen next.

In my opinion, I am really happy with the results. At first, I thought that our group were going to be lost on what storyline to create, but then not only whilst we were planning, but whilst we were videoing too, more and more great ideas were coming to mind which we expressed throughout the video.

Video Time!!!!

Well today was our recording day to make our own 'Thriller' video about playing poker, seeing the future about the bad things that will happen to the player,oooo creepy. Before we had done that, we were taught on how to control and work the camera so that we dont struggle when we are actually trying to produce our piece. I now know how to control the camera...YAAYY!!
After that, we had to plan on how to produce a scene to our film including what camera shots to take e.t.c.

It was time for recording, and I was the main character in the film OH MY GOLLY GOSH.
At first I was like AHHH (because I dont think that I look very nice on camera) but then I got use to it plus, I wanted to be the main character anyway, because I like acting and I was like the only one in the group who has enthusiam when it comes to making REALLY dramatic scenes and I was pleased with my results shockingly. I thought I was going to flop all the performances and that it was going to look horrible but it didn't. WHOOHOOO!! and looking back at it, it actually looks good and quite funny too.