Thriller Evaluation

THRILLER EVAULATION

As part of our AS Media course, we were asked to create a short 2-minute thriller opening. The codes and conventions for a thriller are something that brings about tension and suspense and creates an expectation that something is going to happen but you are not sure when and what. The storyline usually imitates real life circumstances and are more often than not played by everyday characters. While planning for our thriller, we were required to watch a variety of thriller films. One of our focuses was ‘The Shining’ directed by Stanley Kubrick. After watching this film, I discovered many techniques, techniques such as mise en scene, camera angles, editing, sound and cliffhangers. The film had a great influence on my group due to the fact we used flashback in our thriller opening similar to ‘The Shining’. All the films that we watched and from background information on thrillers we made sure we pertained as much information as we got to create a really good thriller opening.
My group consisted of four member two boys and two girls from all different backgrounds, which I think was fair and equal balance because we all played an equal part to help one another. Our thriller opening was called ‘Once upon a kidnapper’ and we had a main character who witnessed her close friend being kidnapped at a young age and then being familiar with the villain years later. Our thriller represents young teenage friendships between 14-17 and ‘youths’ (boys) that are involved in crime and violence. The media portrays that young boys from ethnic origins are more involved in crime and violence than boys from a non-ethic origin. We used this as a stimulus for our thriller opening imitating the stereotype the media depicts for our advantage. Our thriller also represents a working class society because at the beginning of the thriller we are immediately introduced to a young black working class female adult getting on public transport, which suggest her status.
The media institutions that will distribute our thriller opening would be Channel 4. I suggest Channel 4 because they show many urban UK drama films for example, ‘Fall Out’ directed by Ian Rickson. Channel 4 is best known for showing the reality that young teenagers face in everyday life. Due to the fact we will have a low budget, we will use the internet as our source to distribution for our thriller. This would save us money because we will not have to pay distributers to sell our film.
The target audience for our thriller would be young teenagers, male and female aged between 14-19. For example an ideal person that would fit as our target audience would be; Daniel Small, aged 17, a black boy, lives in east London, works part time at schuh and attends college four times a week, loves spending quality time with his friends at the cinema and plays the drums at church. He is a Christian.
I would attract my target audience by posting posters at colleges, school. Youth clubs and having a street team to hand out flyers. I will also use networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Hi5 and Twitter. To catch the attention of my target I will put images of the main characters on the posters and flyers to show the film is about teenagers so that the audience can relate to the characters and gain knowledge of what they should expect. There would also be a trailer on Channel 4 so our audience would be reminded of film and when it is released. A Myspace will be created so people can comment on how they personally feel the film was and if they have any inquires about the DVD; the trailer would be on the Myspace site. This would be effective for our audience who do not regularly watch TV and allowing a wider global audience to recognize our film.
In making any type of film, effectual technology is required to get the best quality possible. We used Cannon video cameras and Apple Mac computers to use final cut and pro to edit. I enjoyed filming in the beginning but as we progressed, it got quite tiring. We tried to be creative by thinking of different shots Editing was one of the easiest tasks, as long as we were taught the basics, we were able to try new things and include them to our editing process. We used effects like fade and match cut to have a fluidity in our thriller. Selecting the sound was quite difficult for our group because there was so many to pick from and individuals in our group were disagreeing on certain types of music so we concluded that the boys should take responsibility to create the music. Non-digetic music was used throughout our thriller. Playful and upbeat music was used to emphasise childhood while on the other hand sharp strings were used to illustrate danger. What I enjoyed most of all was being filmed. I found this part of the process quite fun and intriguing, expect for when we were told to film in the rain even though we were cold, wet and uncomfortable it created a visual mise en scene for our audience during the flashback. We used to internet to blog our progress each lesson. The internet has been very useful and has allowed us to get views and comments from other people. Our video was put on a website called ‘’Vimeo’’ which certified our video to be viewed by others, and allowed us to view other peoples videos. There is also another website called ‘’YouTube’’. This particular website allows any and everyone to view your thriller and lets them to write their comments underneath. Our video was not yet put on this site because none of us had a YouTube account. Watching our thriller in the cinema in angel was an exciting, yet scary experience. It was exciting because we were anxious to hear the view of others and it was scary because we were not sure if it we would be up to standards as the others. Overall, our feedback from out classmates and friends was positive, but we were told that we could have made our camera work shaper.
Looking back at my preliminary task, I believed it helped me a lot to prepare for my thriller opening. These tasks allow us to make mistakes and learn from them. We learnt a lot about ‘match cut’ in depth, which had an effect on our overall finished piece. I learnt that planning is key source to making any film successful but particularly with our thriller opening which we were successful in planning. We had a specific idea of our plot; setting and camera shot sequence, which made it easier for us to film, however during filming our thriller we came up with new ideas, which did not affect our storyline but added more effectively.
On the whole we all worked well together and helped one another out and I now have a insight into what filming is about and how uneasy it can be at times and also how much hard work is put in by the directors and producers not only the ’stars’ and main characters of the film but behind the scenes.

"Once Upon A Kidnapper" Thriller Film Evaluation

“Once Upon A Kidnapper” Thriller Film Evaluation

As part of my task I had to create a two minute opening to a film of thriller genre. I was in a group consisting of four students and we were given a dated deadline to complete the task. Before starting our task we studied related media texts such as openings of thriller films. Our main case study was that of the cult classic “The Shining”. The Shining is a 1980 thriller film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Though not initially successful, the film has had status as a cult film for years. After watching this film I learnt many techniques after watching this film. Techniques such as camera angles and effects that will thrill the audience. I gained many influences from the film as we used flashback effects similar to the film. I believe we as a group benefited from watching this cult classic as it allowed us to discover conventions and themes of thriller films. Techniques such as filming in the rain supported our film. This is because the rain made the film seem more thrilling and signifies the importance of the kidnapping scene.


Source 1 shows an image of actor Jack Nicholson in the film “The Shining”
Source Reference: philzine.wordpress.com/.../
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There are many ways my film represents particular social groups. As the villain is seen wearing what could be described as wearing “ghetto clothing”. This signifies a male from an deprived background may be stereotyped as living in the “slums of London”. The villain is of an Asian background which addresses the stereotype of ethnic minorities being the “hooded criminal”. The two other characters are also other ethnic origins. There are two scenarios of age being represented in the film. Firstly is that of teenagers. During the “past flashback” the characters were in their teenage years. This is presented with the two female characters playing on the swings. Also the villain is wearing “ghetto clothing” which is portrayed in many media texts in the interests of teenagers. Secondly during the “present day scene” the two remaining characters (kidnapper and friend of kidnapped girl) are seen wearing smart clothing or “worklike clothing”. This suggests that they are in the mature stages of their living years. This shows that they have grown and is a sense of “kidulthood to adulthood”.

I believe that “Once upon a Kidnapper” will be distributed via a small UK independent release. This means that it will be shown in a limited amount of screens across the nation. This is because I believe that are film was made for the passion of film making, not the so called “moneymaker hits”. Our film has a hard-hitting thrilling storyline, which will attract a certain number of audiences. If our film is genuinely a success on the screens then plans would be put forward for a DVD release. An example of a small UK independent film is the film “London to Brighton” which critics gave rave reviews.

Source 2 shows an image of the film “London to Brighton”
Source Reference: www.moviecritic.com.au/2008-04/
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I believe the general target audience of the film will be that of the working class origin. This is because the deep-hearted thrilling storyline and genuine locations will appeal more to this audience as it is similar to their real life surroundings. The age I believe will be generally wide, from the age of 15 to the age of economically active people. The youth or teenager will be a strong target audience. This is because of the characters in the film. The behavior and general overall look of the villain can be associated with the youth due to common stereotypes of youths being “ASBOS”. The gender target audience is that of both male and female. This is because there are scenes during the film that will appeal more to the male population and scenes that will appeal more to the female population. The character of “Amy”, the friend kidnapped “Lucy” will appeal more to the female population. This is because females will wish she uncovers the truth behind her disappearance and whether she is still alive. Whereas the male population who are often argued to be more biased will side with the villain. This is because of his gender and they may believe he has reformed. An example of a typical person who fits into my target audience Sameer, a 19 year old student who loves watching films that he can relate to.



I believe our film will attract audiences because of its genuine storyline. Our film does not star any “big stars” which audiences will queue up for the sake of seeing the so-called “star”. However due to the storyline and the natural breathtaking performances by the characters, our film will attract audiences. I believe our film is a typical British film due to its simplicity and honesty. The film will be able to associate with the audience as they may have been through a similar situation. Our main source of advertisement will be the internet. This is because it can reach out to a wide range of people, as the internet is the number one source for publicity. Posters, trailer, information and other forms of advertisement will be displayed on the official film website. A YouTube account has also been created to advertise the film featuring trailers, on shoot interviews and other promotional advertisements.

Source 3 shows an poster, which I created for “Once Upon A Kidnapper”
(Cannot Be Shown On Blogger Due To Technical Dificulties)






















After the creation of “Once upon a Kidnapper”, I believe I have learnt more about technologies during constructing the film. Firstly is the use of camera and filming. When filming I learnt how to change the focus of the camera, how to playback footage etc. Secondly is the use of editing software’s such as Final Cut pro, Livetype and Soundtrack. After filming, we used the software Final Cut pro to edit the film. During the time I used this software I learnt how to “log and capture”, shorten clips, add effects etc. I used the software Livetype to add credits during the duration of the film. Whilst using this software I learnt how to change the font of the text, add effects and changing the colour of the text. I used the software Soundtrack to create a soundtrack for the film. When I was using this software I learnt how to add different, sounds, change the focus on certain sounds etc. as this was the first time I was using these software’s I believe I have learnt considerable which will be beneficial to my future projects. I also used the internet during the creation of my film. I had to blog information on the progress of my film on the blogger website. In addition, I had to upload the actual “Once upon a Kidnapper” film and the preliminary task.

Source 4 shows “Once upon a Kidnapper” on the blogger website.
Source Reference: http://thriller08group17.blogspot.com/
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I believe that the preliminary task was beneficial for the creation of Once upon a Kidnapper. The preliminary task allowed the group to understand the use of match cutting. The preliminary task was a short scenario of a conversation between two characters. During the scenario many match cuts were done and a soundtrack was also added. During the task I learnt basic functions of a camera. During editing in the preliminary task it was at first difficult due to the fact that this was the first time in using the software (Final Cut pro). However when completing this task, i got to grips with the use of this software which allowed me to progress in making my actual film.

Source 5 shows a scene from the preliminary task
(Cannot Be Shown On Blogger Due To Technical Dificulties)

Thriller Evaluation
In this essay, I will be evaluating our filming project. I will examine what went well, which things could have been improved and what the audience thought about our film. The task was to make a thriller movie and we were instructed to go out and do some research on the thriller genre and also we were shown other openings of films so that we could get a good idea of what type of opening we should have to our film.

From watching the openings to thriller films, we found out that in quite a few films they were using little children in the first few minutes of the film. For example in ‘The Shining’ one of the central characters was a boy who is able to ghost were twin girls at first they seemed like normal children but at the end they turned out to be ghosts. The twin girls were aged about 11 and they audience were given clues that the girls where ghosts because most of the characters do not see them when they appear. However, a boy of roughly the same age can see them. When the girls appear, the boy sees bad things like a river of blood also he sees other dead people. The film maker all ways try to make little kids look venerable and that what we tried to do with our film even though we didn’t have kids but the actors tried to dress to look as young as possible.

Our product is aimed at young audience aged 17-26+ males and females. We have males and females in our film so both sexes can relate to our film. Teenagers often get kidnapped or assaulted. Females are often the target for criminals because they are vulnerable and also young females can be rape victims. There wasn’t any particular reason why we had an Asian girl as the victim but we used a girl to get kidnapped because girls are easy targets for a man to abduct. Ethnicity was not one of our criteria when we were casting. We kept to gender conventions by having a male abductor and a young female victim. We tried to make the victim look young by dressing her like a young girl. We did this because we thought that this made her a more likely target. Religion was not a consideration in our casting.

I think that our film has the ability to be distributed around the world because everyone likes thriller films. British films do not have a very large American audience so this makes wide distribution difficult. However, British films have a better European audience. Also, British films do not have a big budget for their films so the quality of the picture is not as good as in American films. For example ‘Donkey Punch’. In its opening weekend it was shown in two screens in the USA and it made $4,744. When it was shown in nine screens in Sweden it made 119,650 Euros and the in UK it was shown in 155 screens and made £144,953. They only had a budget of £500,000 however in Hollywood they have a minimum budget of $20million. If they had had more money for distribution it would have had more viewers. In order to find a buyer for our film, we could put a short trailer on the internet. We need to be careful to avoid losing the opportunity to sell the film. If the whole film were to be launched on the internet audiences would be able to see it without paying for a DVD or cinema ticket.

This film aimed at an audience of young adults of both genders but I think males will find it more interesting. It is for people who enjoy watching horror and thriller movies. Adam is an 18 year old, studying at university, who really loves to watch movies in his spare time. Adam likes horror movies because he says they are really exciting to see especially when the tension is built by the music playing and in some occasions changes the whole mood of the film. We tried to do that with our film. Adam finds it scary when the music goes all quiet and then there is a sudden outburst of music.

Our selling point will be having four very big stars which is a bit of a risk because if the film doesn’t do well we will lose a lot of money paying the actors. One of the actors is Brad Pitt; women love to see him on the big screen. We tried to pick celebrities that would attract women and men. The other two are Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie; they are two of the sexiest women in Hollywood. We had to have one British star and that is Simon Pegg. We tried to get some American actors because we are trying to attract the American audience. Names like this are known around the world so we hope the film does well. Our main method of advertising would be on the internet. We would have some games that would be linked to the film and there would be trailers of the film on the television and internet.

Before our first project we thought that it would be easy to make a two minute film. When we learnt about all the rules of filming we realised that we were wrong. Filming is a complex process. For example we had to do the 180 degree rule and we could not use the zoom function on the camera. This meant that we had to do a long shot and then a medium shot and combine them using match cuts. Using Final Cut Pro was stressful because we had to make sure that all the shots changed smoothly. For example, we had some shots on the stairs and in one shot Shabaze was on the third step and when we tried to film from another angle we had to start it from him moving up to the fourth step. Sound Track was fun to use but it took too long to find the instrument that we wanted but I think that all our music sounded good. I liked the way it is possible to just pick one or more instruments and combine the beats in order to get a tune. Uploading the movie into the internet was easy but it took some time to upload into the blog.
What we did at the beginning of the year was a great help towards our final project because we had some ‘match cut’ practise at the beginning so that in our final piece we were able to use a lot of match cuts. The film making was difficult but it was fun and we found out that to make an effective film you need to make sure that all the little pieces are good; even just a little movement of the camera could make the film look bad. For example, we had a close-up of Precious; I moved the camera a little bit and it made the film look a bit cheap. Also, good music will make people want to continue watching. For example, there was one video that we watched which had one of the worst sounds we had ever heard. It was like a siren and everyone was holding their ears. No one wanted to continue watching the film. There was another video which had a good beat but it was not such a good video. However, people continued watching the film. Our story boards changed as we went along. The planning process was harder than the filming but because we had planned carefully we found the filming easy.

When we showed our film to the class, they liked it. They liked the black and white part of the film because it showed that it was a flash back and that’s what we wanted the audience to think. This was a very effective technique. The ‘bad guy’ of the film was dressed in a black ‘hoodie’ and the audience knew straight away that he was the villain. The change of music changed the mood of the film. For example, when Precious was ‘in present time’ the music is slow. When the film moves to the flash back the speed of the music changes; it became faster because they were in a playground having fun. Then, when the villain was getting close to them, the music became louder and faster. The rain made the film look better because it made it look like a dull day. This emphasised the mood that we wanted to create for a Thriller film.

For our project we wanted a location that is quite with swings a Children’s play area and we would like it if it was raining. We also where looking for a place where has some trees to make the area look dark and like something is going on to make scary. We wanted kid on the film because some thriller films have kids on their films they make you fill some type of attachment to them and something happens to them and you get scared. Also we wanted to edit some clips into black and white to show a flash back.
Aware first day going out filming didn’t go as planned. It started of good we had completed couple of good shots and as planned we had lots of ideas and as we went along more ideas stared to came. We wanted a scary location to start filming and we wanted something that was close to college and we thought of a park near a church the site was what we wanted. That day was raining it fitted with our films theme so we started filming and it came to 4 o’clock and than a park guard cam and he told us that it was closing time so we had to leave.
Second day filming was cold and but it was not raining like last time, we had to hold the umbrella to hide the camera which was hard to two things at once we did not want to use this shots because they were not too good. So we went back to the park and we started filming we shot the same angel more than once. Also we did more than we should off because after we filmed around the whole scene we did 360 degrees and then we remembered the 180 degree rule. We knew that it will be hard to edited the film as they are swinging because they kept changing their speed on the swing. Then we did some tracking and we took some time doing a shot where shabaze and Prassures cross on the road. We leant one thing from our previse filing days and that is you can never redo a shot to many times. So we tried to take 3 shots in every scene we have never did this much filming before every one was happy at the end of the day.
Today we are going to do the bus stop scene every was excited because today will be the last day filming. The day was great what we wanted, all the days that we went out filming went as we wanted. Before we went out filming we had to print a picture of Asia and Prassures so we can do the flash back of the film. We had some trouble with the busses and time we took one shot and the it came out good so wanted to take it again and it took too long for the buss to cam. At the end was relieved that we fished filming but we knew the hard work was still too came.
Today is the first day editing the movie we went to the media office and booked a camera to log and capture our film after we are finished log and capture our film we went through the videos and started to delete some videos that we did not need or don’t look good. Then we started edited the bus stop scene as we went along we were thinking of how to arrange the videos and we decided to put some of the bus stop scene at the begging and at the end in the middle we started to put the park scene.
Wednesday morning we went prepared for editing we had couple of ideas on how to put the order of the clips we started to put the film on order and then we thought that we was almost finished so we asked one of the media teachers to view our film and give us feedback on the film and they said that the villain of the film was hard unidentified and they suggested to go and do two more close up shots one of them was outside the park to show the flash back and the other one on the bus stop. Then we took back the camera back to the media office and decided to finish editing on Monday .

Me and shabaze met and then we went to the media room and took out the camera to log and capture our new shots of that we did the one in the bus stop and the park. We started to log and capture the new clips this made the film better for the audience they would now know how the bad guy is. We could not stay long because we had a lesson so we decide to meet up early in the morning we decide to be there before 9 o’clock I was the first one there so I took a computer and waited for shabaze to come.
Friday was the worst day so much pressure on me and shabaze the room was to hot and the were computer over crowded me and shabaze decide to finish the edit ding the film first. After that we went onto finishing the text that was hard we had to look at all the effects and check what we might go with our film and the other hard part was what to Wright and what to name the film we wanted to change the privies title we thought it was to bate. After this cam the music it was fun but it took us about 2 hours to fish a 2minte worth of music. But the final peace was really good even when we shoud it to the class they liked the music and the match cats also the editing. What made our day that day was writing FINIHED on the wall.

Once Upon A Kidnapper Hits The Vue Screen

On Thursday 17th March, the day was scheduled for our film "Once Upon A Kidnapper" which is a "PAST" production to be screened in Vue Cinema at the N1 Centre in Angel. I was really looking forward to this day as this is the day where we can rejoice at the making of our project. Also this was the chance to see other groups films so the day was to be "thriller packed" with films. I woke up early in the morning as the screening was scheduled at 09.15am. I made my way to the location full of excitement knowing my film will be shown on a cinema screen. We entered the cinema and sat at the front row. Everyone was full of excitement as the atmosphere was electric. I was watching several films from other groups and all films were received with positive responses. Then suddenly a familiar beat came and I realised that "Once Upon A Kidnapper" has hit the screen. This was a very proud moment for me and my group as all our hard work can be appreciated by being shown in such a respected cinema. Our film received rave cheers which immensely pleased. All films were shown and I believe all films were to a high standard. We exited the cinema full of happiness and joy.

Once Upon A Kidnapper Is Created On Deadline Day "Halllelujah"

It was Friday the deadline day. We had to complete the film today or our project would be deemed a failure. As the other two group members had no college and had other commitments me and other group member Tarek took the responsibility to complete the film. Tarek arrived to college before me and got a computer quickly to begin as there was heaps of other students trying to complete their. I arrived to college and both of us began editing. We first completed the storyboard of the film. I decided to change the name of the film from "Taken" to "Once Upon A Kidnapper". This is because the name "Taken" is a common name and many other groups also used this as a film. Also the name was that of a recently released film. The latter name I believe is a very different and edgey name due to the play of words. However we realised that our film was over the 2 minute margin. Due to this we began shortening the film by cutting out shots and shortening the length of clips. Then we used "desaturate" effect to make the clips of the "flashback" scene black and white. After this we were pleased with our storyboard. After this we began creating credits with the software "LiveType". This was a long and difficult task but we continued to create credits. Once we created the credits we added them to the storyboard. We then went for a well deserved break to refresh our self for what would be a challenging day. We returned from break continuing to fix up minor bits which we believed were not useful for the film. After this we had our last but major task of creating a soundtrack for the film. We used the software "Soundtrack Pro" to create the soundtrack. It was really difficult to make a soundtrack and we often had to start from scratch. However we finally completed the soundtrack and added it to our storyboard. We finally done it, we completed our film. We then uploaded our film to blogger as instructed. After this I went to the editing suite and wrote very boldly and large "FINISHED" on the sheet. It was official then our project was completed, "Once Upon A Kidnapper" was finally created. After all the hard work I was pleased that I was apart of creating such an interesting project.

Thursday Lunch Time Workshop>> Deadline Day Looming

On a Thursday me and group member Tarek decided to use the media studies editing suite to continue working on our project. We met each other in the canteen and made our way to the media studies office to collect our video drive. We went to the editing suite and began editing. We first "logged and captured" the new close up shots. We added these shots to the film. This made the film more realistic as the audience and Amy would be able to identify the villain. We finished this and decided to call it a day. We agreed to come the following day (deadline day) to finish our film.

Finally Filming Is Finished (Reposted due to previous post not having my name)

On a Wednesday we had a morning media studies lesson. This was the day of our filming for the "bus stop" scene. I came to college with my attire as I will be starring in the scene. All group members arrived in the classroom. The other character in the scene Amy played by group member Precious also brought her attire as she will also be starring in the film. Before going to our location, we had to print a mini photo of Amy and Lucy to use as an prop. We done this and made our way to our location which as an nearby bus stop. We began filming and everything was going to plan, surprisingly even the weather. All members of the group participated in filming some footage. We finished filming and we were all rejoicing the fact that filming is finished. We returned to college to return the filming equipment. Even though we were happy, we knew that now the real work is about to begin with editing .

Editing Continues And New Close Up Shots

On a Wednesday we had a media studies lesson which we used to carry on with our editing. We got our equipment from the media studies office. We entered the editing suite and began editing. We linked shots together and we were really pleased with our match cutting shots. We showed our media studies teacher our progress. He pointed out the fact that there is no close up shots of the villian which will make it difficult for the audience to recognise the villian and will make it rather unrealisitic that Amy recognises the villian during the "bus stop" scene. After the media studies lesson finished me and my group member Tarek decided to shoot close up shots of the villian played by me. We booked the filming equipment and went to both locations which didn't seem a problem as both location were near each other. We finished both close up shots and returned to college pleased that due to the new shots our film would seem more realistic.

The Hard Work Begins

We returned from our half term break fully aware that the deadline for our project was imminent. On a Monday we came to our usual afternoon media studies lesson. I booked a video camera and took our videotape and video drive to the editing suite. We began to " log and capture" the bus stop scene in to the video drive. We also discussed several ideas in what effects to add and what clips to use. We picked out our best film clips to use in the film. We finished the "log and capture" of the "bus stop" scene. We also done some editing to a a certain extent. Our media studies lesson finished and I returned the equipment back to the media studies office. We would carry on editing in our next media studies lesson with deadline day looming.

Finally Filming Is Finished

On a Wednesday we had a morning media studies lesson. This was the day of our filming for the "bus stop" scene. I came to college with my attire as I will be starring in the scene. All group members arrived in the classroom. The other character in the scene Amy played by group member Precious also brought her attire as she will also be starring in the film. Before going to our location, we had to print a mini photo of Amy and Lucy to use as an prop. We done this and made our way to our location which as an nearby bus stop. We began filming and everything was going to plan, surprisingly even the weather. All members of the group participated in filming some footage. We finished filming and we were all rejoicing the fact that filming is finished. We returned to college to return the filming equipment. Even though we were happy, we knew that now the real work is about to begin with editing .

Postponed Filming To Start Editing

After the snow week fiasco we came to college on Monday 10th February. Instead of filming we decided to begin editing. This was due to the fact that starting to edit would be more practical. This is because it was an afternoon lesson and the setting was to be of daylight. Also as we have a longer media studies lesson on a Wednesday and it starts in the morning, we believed that filming would seem more practical on this day. I booked a video camera and took our videotape to the editing suite. We started to "log and capture" the clips to store them on our video drive. We finished this task and we prepared for the filming lesson by discussing the agenda of that day. We finished discussing and shortly after I returned the video camera and videotape to the media office.

Disruption Due To "Snow Week"

On Monday 2nd February our filming was due to take place. I received a phone call from group member Precious instructing me to bring "business like" attire for the "bus stop" scene. After receiving this call I prepared my attire for the scene. However severe weather conditions caused public transport to close. I later received a text message later in the morning from the college saying that college will be closed due to adverse weather conditions. Another text message was received later in the day saying college will be closed the following day. We returned to college on Wednesday with weather still being a cause for concern. I came to college with my attire. However due to dangerous weather conditions our teacher advised us to postpone filming. We agreed and instead we planned our agenda for when we film.

Rain Works In Our Advantage

On Wednesday 28th January was the day of re-filming the flashback scene from the film. As stated on the previous post, filming received a huge setback as the filming location "church park" was being closed during filming. The weather was really miserable as it was earlier pouring with rain but I believe it worked to our advantage because of the content of the scene. As filming will be done in the morning, there will be no problem with time. I decided to change my costume, rather than wearing tracksuit bottoms, I decided to wear "street style" jeans which I believe will portray the villain more clearly. All members of the group arrived in the media studies classroom. We had a quick discussion about the agenda. I booked the filming equipment using my media studies card. We gathered the equipment and made our way to the location. The two female characters were already in their attire. I was also already in my costume but I received a black leather jacket from my group member Tarek to complete my "villain like" look. We began filming and as filming was progressing, the group was pleased with filming but not the weather. All members of the group done some filming to an extent. We finished filming the flashback scene and packed up our equipment and headed back to college. We were really pleased with our footage and made plans for the next scene of filming.

Setback On First Day Of Filming

On Monday 26th January in a media studies lesson our group were prepared to shoot the flashback scene of our thriller film. We agreed a plan for shooting a week beforehand on a Wednesday media studies lesson. For costume I had to bring tracksuit bottoms and "street style" trainers for use in the film. My group member Precious booked the filming equipment using her media card. Our location was a nearby park known amongst people as the "church park". The two other female characters chose to wear "kiddish costumes" to portray their youthful age. All equipment was gathered and we reached our location. We began filming scenes of the two female characters, Amy and Lucy playing on the swings. As filming was progressing I replayed the shots and believed they were to a high standard. However the unthinkable occurred which shocked the whole group. The park keeper came to tell us the park is being closed. The group had no idea that the park has closure times and I personally believed the park was open 24/7. We were told to pack our filming equipment and leave the park. We accepted the park keepers request and decided to head back to college to return the filming equipment. We returned to college and gave the camera equipment. We decided to start from scratch with the filming as there would be a problem with continuity e.g weather. We would start filming on the next media studies lesson.

Media- Thriller Evaluation

As an AS Media task we were given the opportunity to create a short two minute thriller opening to a film. The brief was that it had to have thriller themes which were fast pacing, frequent action, suspense and cliff-hangers. All of this combined with an appropriate soundtrack self-made to accompany the thriller opening.

In order to get a full understanding of thriller movies we were required to watch parts of thriller films, which had the thriller conventions. These conventions included heart-racing scenes, a build up of tension, a change in atmosphere, turning the audience into investigators, edgy scenes and building up expectations. In addition, in a typical thriller movie there is always that certain character with a dodgy personality that helps it be listed as a thriller. For instance, the father in The Shining, the Joker from The Dark Knight or even the Hutu militants in Hotel Rwanda. All these characters play a vital role of violence, torture and often a mysterious being. All these conventions were considered and applied to our thriller opening scene. For example, the flashback in the thriller was fast pacing and included jumpy scenes, this created tension and anxiety. The part in which one of the characters witnesses the kidnap creates suspense as it is not shown to the audience. The kidnapper takes the role of that stereo-typical character alerting the audience that something bad happens in his presence. The soundtrack in the thriller creates pace, builds up atmosphere and tension and acts as a guide to the audience alerting them when all the peak scenes are screening.

The characters in the film stereo-type reality. To begin with, the two young girls are aged 15 and have woolly hats and scarves to suit the weather. They’ve got bags with them and are dressed casually. When making the film we tried to copy how girls would dress and who’d what they’d carry. We emphasised on their age by placing them in a park by the swings having fun and laughing. Both characters were non-white which helped the audience into thinking that the film was placed in London due to the ethnic diversity. Also, the asian kidnapper aged in his late teens wore a black hooded jacket with a scruffy appearance. This represented youth in society today showing that they are up to no good and always cause trouble. All these characters seemed to have come from a working class family as they are well dressed and appear healthy. Furthermore, the fact that a black woman and asian man are wearing suits indicates that they have a well-paid job highlighting the development in society and class showing that not only white people have well-paid jobs and live wealthy.

As our thriller film doesn’t include any big explosions or stunts, I think that it would be better if it were to be a small independent release showing in UK cinemas then moving onto television. To promote the film, posters and billboards advertising the film would be placed around the UK which would grab the audience’s attention by visually alerting them about this new must watch film. Plus, it would be advertised on socialising websites such as MySpace and Facebook. When being viewed on television, I think that it would be scheduled as an after 9.00pm film on Channel4. This is because the film may include scenes of violence which would not be appropriate for young children to watch. I also think that as Channel4 is widely watched by people of all age, race, class and gender it would be viewed by more viewers than if it was watched on ITV.

Once upon a Kidnap is a film targeted at people of 15+. I think that mainly young people of ethnic backgrounds would watch it predominantly because they would be able to relate to the characters in the film due to race and class. An ideal viewer would be for example, Markus- 18, mixed race, lives in East London, works in a music store, enjoys watches movies, self-admits to buying pirate DVDs, smokes, goes clubbing, casual dress sense, Nike, Adidas and Reebok, in further education. The thing that will specifically appeal to Markus is the urban location, the fact that crime is a major issue already in his neighbour hood and the diverse ethnicity.

Making any film requires good quality filming equipment. In order to create our thriller openings we used Canon cameras for filming and Apple Mac computers with Final Cut Pro to edit the film. I helped with a bit of everything but found myself better at using Final Cut Pro to edit. I found myself being more creative and coming up with good ideas when editing for instance, in the match-cut task when the two actors are exchanging the documents the angles change from an over the shoulder shot to a medium shot. Using the cameras was a slight hassle for me as I had problems with panning because I seemed to always go too slow or too fast cropping out the actor in the scene. I dealt with this issue by having practice panning people walking on the street. I then got the hang of it and produced some good panning shots like when one of the actors exits the park. As part of the course work, we were required to frequently blog on our individual group blogging accounts. We had to write about each task we were given for instance, the newspaper task (filming and editing), analysing thriller clips, the preliminary task (filming and editing) and planning and pitching our final thriller. We also had to upload each practical task we were given onto our blogging accounts which made it possible to be viewed by fellow class members. By doing this, the internet widened the potential audience for our product.

Before making the final thriller opening, we were given two tasks to complete. This included the news paper task and the preliminary task. These tasks allowed us to get a hang of the technical equipment and make mistakes only to improve them. By doing these tasks, I learnt that it is vital to plan and prepare your self before filming. I learnt that storyboards are important as a guide when filming because they help keep a track of what to film. On Final Cut Pro I leant how to input in and out points from a scene then drag it along the timeline to add any effects, text or music. I also leant how to change the colour of the film making it black and white. I realized that when filming things may not go to plan but we have to make use of what we get and make the most of it. I discovered whilst filming for the newspaper task footage may not be recorded due to faulty tapes however, making the most of what you’ve got is better than nothing. Both practice tasks helped the group a lot with creating the final thriller film. Everyone’s experiences and hard work put together produced a well-made thriller.

Monday after the deadline

The Monday after the deadline I saw two of the group members who were meant to add the final touches on Friday and asked them whether they had completed it. They said that everything was finished from soundtrack to credits and that they had changed the title to ‘Once upon a Kidnapper’. I was happy with everyone’s hard work and input and couldn’t wait to see our thriller finally finished.

Thurday afternoon- final touches

Thursday afternoon in my photography lesson the internet on the computers wasn’t working so I asked my teacher if I could go and do my media coursework as the dead line was TOMORROW! He said that was fine so I took off for the Mac computer room and again discovered the room filled with media students working on their films. I stuck around for a bit and saw that the teacher instructed some students to leave as they had been using the computers for a long period time and that it was not fair on others. I jumped for the chance to use the computer and called up my group member and asked her to meet me in the media computer room. I started without her and began to add text and add some transitions. When she had arrived we came up with a title for the film which was ‘Taken’. We did some more editing and decided that the other group members would have to finish it off as we had no college on Fridays. The other members said that this was fine so we left as the day was ending.

Lunch time Workshop

At lunch time, workshop was completely cramped with media groups editing their films and groups waiting to use the Mac computers. I felt as there was no hope to access a computer and left. Later on that day I saw a member of my group who told me that he and another member had been able to access a Mac computer and did as much editing as possible. Hearing this took a load off my shoulders making me sigh in relief.

Editing the lesson after the second half of the filming

The lesson after the second half of the filming involved me and my group uploading all the footage and sorting them out into the flashback scenes and the present scenes. We also renamed them so it was easier for us to identify and locate. We began to put footage together deciding which shots we were to use and how the shots will blend together for instance, using a dissolve transition. As the time grew closer to the end of the lesson we panicked knowing that the deadline was a few days away and said we were to meet up at workshop to continue with editing.

Second half of the filming

9.00am: We all meet up and leave to do the second half of the filming. We already knew what bus stop we were going to use and decided when arriving to our location that we would use a near by building from which the actor would leave out of. This scene was fairly simple and straight forward but required patience as the roads were busy because people were making their way to work which made us have to repeatedly take shots making sure that it was what we pictured it to be like. The part when one of the actors gets on bus was a slight issue as the busses kept stopping too far from the bus stop or too close to the camera. We constantly took re-takes of the scene and settled on the last take. The weather was great which allowed us to take many shots from different angles in one go, without having to worry about whether it was going to rain. Once again after all our hard work, we headed back to college.

Filming for the final Thriller Opening (AGAIN!)

Once again, first thing in the morning we set out to film with all the equipment making sure that the park wouldn’t let us down. The weather was appalling and we all felt grumpy and down. There was a change of costume however, the hats and scarves remained. It was much more difficult to film in such poor conditions as we had to prevent the equipment from getting wet as well as keeping the camera steady and levelled. All four of us couldn’t stop thinking about warming ourselves up with central heating and eating hot food. With our bodies stiff and cold, we did all the filming we possible could need. All four of us made our way back to the college to return the equipment and treasure the recording tape.

We had a quick discussion before parting that we would do the second half of the scene next lesson. We sorted out costumes and location once again then took off.

Filming for the final Thriller Opening

We all met up in our media class room knowing that we were going to start filming. The other actor and I had previously spoken the night before on the phone, coming to a conclusion of what to wear since other class mates could not fulfil their promise in lending us costumes for the thriller due to them not having parts of the costume. We settled on ‘kiddish’ clothing with hats and scarves.

We gathered all the equipment and not forgetting the story board, we made our way to the Church Park. We began to film. The weather was great and the filming was getting along quite well. We collected lots of footage from all different angles knowing that it may come in use. We thought to ourselves, everything is running smoothly.

Disaster struck!

A man dressed in a light reflective jacket had arrived on his scooter instructing us and fellow publicans that we had to leave the park as it was time for it to be closed. AT 4.00pm! We were all furious and worked up a sweat complaining. After a good 10mintues of protesting, we packed the equipment away and made our way back to college. On our way back, we had decided we would start from scratch as the weather was unpredictable.

Planning and Pitching final thriller task

In our next lesson we were given the opportunity to start planning for our two minute opening clip for a thriller film. We were also told that we would have to pitch our idea in front of the class and teachers as we wanted to get into the spirit of professionalism, like writers for a film would do in front of producers.

Pitching wasn’t our main concern but the content of the pitch was. We decided to break down every detail so the audience could get a clear understanding of the storyline while at the same time we decided to leave them in suspense. We did the pitch along with a PowerPoint presentation as it gave the audience something visual to follow. We added pictures, a list of all the angle shots, a brief out line of the story and characters and the name of the film. The name of the film was not to our satisfaction so, it is still being developed on.

After creating the pitch, the following lesson we were the first to present our idea in front of the class. This was easy as our group were confident and had a well spoken member in our group. We got some positive feed back from the class and offers in lending us costumes.

Our final idea includes:
Characters: Lucy and Amy
Location: Church Park, Bus stop
Mise en scene: Swings
Sound: Lucy and Amy’s voice of laughter, creek of swings, self made soundtrack

We also had to create a storyboard that would help us keep up with what to film.

Editing for the Preliminary task

Once again we transferred our footage onto final cut pro so we could edit and begin to put the preliminary task together. I think this went quite fluently because we were all use to the software. We started by logging and capturing the footage which basically broke down each scene into sequences. We then had to rename them which made it easier for us to find specific scenes. We yet again noticed that footage was missing but had decided not to go back and film due to time and costume so we once again had to work with what we had. The footage that was missing was of the actor pressing the code on the door before entering to get inside. This shot was an over the shoulder shot but was soon resolved as we decided to use the full footage of the actor walking into the room from a medium shot. We also had to sort out what order the conversation went in as it was done in a shot/reverse shot and from a medium shot. This was easy to do however, matching the dialogue was slightly frustrating as the conversation had to flow. We also did the match cut which I am personally proud of because it flows fluently and works well with the scene.

As we had finished our editing early, we were given the choice to either add credits of to add a sound track. We decided sound track. Mickey quickly gave us a demonstration on how to use sound track pro. He showed us all the different instruments and how to speed up the tempo. Playing around with the instruments on sound track pro was fun as it gave us a chance to express ourselves. We used the drums and piano as they were the only instruments that truly fitted in with the storyline.

In another lesson we learnt how to lower the music for the dialogue to be heard. We decided to keep the sound of the door closing as it sort of introduced another character by alerting them that someone had walked in.

By the end of this task my group and I were all confident about our next final thriller task.

Filming for the Preliminary task

We began to film for our Preliminary task. We started our task by collecting the necessary tools such as the camera and tripod. We then went to our first chosen location and set up the equipment, which we decided on from our previous lesson. Everything went smoothly apart from the fact that people were using the staircase which meant that we had to wait for them to pass by then start again. We also had to make sure the actor was walking up the stairs at a steady and continuous paste. We then moved on to filming in the corridor which was much busier than the staircase which was slightly frustrating as we had to start over and over again however, we got the final footage. We then began to film the actor walking into the room but pressing a code to get into the room to make it seem more ‘top secret’. This was an issue as the teachers refused to give us the code due to certain reasons. We then came to a solution, as always, and put the door on the latch. However, even this was an issue as when pressing the buttons the door would open. This was soon resolved. Filming in the room was much easier as everyone was out of our way and it could be done to our satisfaction. After capturing our footage we watched it over on the camera to make sure we had got the shot/reverse shot and match cut.

Our filming was successful because everyone was focused and much more confident with how to use the equipment. We knew the shot types and angles that we had to do because of our very detailed storyboard which was kept on us at all times. I’ve learnt that planning is highly important as it is that which decides how well the task will turn out.

This film was very fun for the whole group as it allowed us to think out of the box. After this task I was eager to start our final thriller task.

Match cut tutorial and planning for the Preliminary task

After sharing our videos with the class we then settled down in our groups for a tutorial in match cutting. Match cutting is the term used when the same action is filmed from more than one angle. For instance, you could film a man walking on a long road from different angles and then when put together, the clip will smoothly run with nothing out of place.

To get us use to the idea of match cutting we were given a synopsis which was: East London. 3pm. A man chain smokes as he sits in his home on his PC. He copies confidential computer files and plans to a CD. He packages them and is seen posting them. What we basically had to do was break down the situation into twenty shots incorporating the theme of match cutting. At first glance I thought that twenty shots was too much however, as I got into it I found myself going over the twenty shot limit. When all groups were done attempting to match cut the synopsis we were then given the chance to watch Mickey’s version of the synopsis which included all relevant match cuts. Whilst watching his version on screen I noticed that I had also got some of the same shots which made me feel good because I then new what match cut was and how it worked.

When watching Mickey’s version I noticed he used text to state the time and location to which instantly sets the scene and eliminates the need for an establishing shot of the location.

Finally, we were given our preliminary filming task. The brief was to film the action of a character opening a door, walking into a room, sitting opposite another character and sharing a few lines of dialogue. We had to include at least one match cut and one shot /reverse shot and showing our understanding of the 180 degree rule which is only filming on one side of the characters so that when transferred onto a screen the characters will constantly appear on the same sides. As soon as the brief was set, my group and I sat down and put our ideas together, once again. We decided to film the journey of one of the actors going up the stairs, walking along the corridor and then into an office where the actor would meet another actor and exchange dialogue. We based the story around the handover of important files and decided to do the filming on the college staircase, second floor corridor and the media staff room.

After we had sorted out the location and completed a story board, we was then ready to film next lesson.

Editing tutorial and Editing of The Newspaper thriller task

The lesson after our filming for the Newspaper thriller task we began editing all the filming we had captured on tape by transferring our recordings into software called final cut pro which was specifically used for film making. We learnt to do this in our editing tutorial which took place before filming. During the tutorial we used clips from a film and stuck the clips together in different ways as long as it made visual sense. By the end of the editing tutorial, I felt as if I had enough practice from cutting clips or making them slightly longer to be able to work with my group on our Newspaper thriller task. Whilst editing I often became confused with what icons to click as many looked the same. We also had a go of adding dissolving techniques which basically introduced another scene however, came to a decision that it did not suit the filming. Whilst editing we also realised that we had some footage missing that would have made the task look better however, with the brains of Mickey (media technician) we came to a solution which was to do a reverse clip of the automatic doors closing so it would look as though it was opening and closing.

In my opinion, the most difficult part of editing is making the clips run smoothly and effortlessly. I think that if all footage was recorded properly and knowingly, the clip would have looked better. Overall, I think that it was a really good first attempt and I am looking forward to our final thriller task.

Analysing Thriller Clips

All through one of our lessons we had to analyse thriller clips from films. We did this so we could learn what it was that made them give the audience a thrilling sensation. I think that it is the build up of tension, mysterious atmosphere and suspense which leads to the unknowing of when and what is going to happen. The clips that we analysed were from the films: 28 Days Later, The Shining, Arlington Road, Collateral and What Lies Beneath. We had to analyse the lighting, the use of camera, music, editing, setting and characters. My favourite out of the films was What Lies Beneath because I truly felt the suspenseful moments when the reflection was seen through the bath water. Within the clip from What Lies Beneath, the camera follows the foot steps of a woman in a bathrobe approaching the bathroom door and when she opens the door hot steam come gushing out. From this we can instantly assume that something bad is going to happen due to the mise en scene. Also, to add tension, the sounds during the clip range from diagetic sounds of the bath water running which adds reality to the situation and then non-diagetic sounds of the sudden change of mood when the woman sees the reflection of someone else in the bath water. The tension builds up from the over the shoulder shot of the woman turning the tap off then looking away from the tap where she discovers the reflection.
I think that the steam also added to the creation of tension as it blurred the vision of the audience making them want to focus more and more until they notice a figure which makes them want to jump.

The Newspaper thriller task

The class was given a task to create a thriller scene as a practice filming session. We had to capture a person reading a newspaper in a thrilling way using all camera techniques in the correct way, including: an over the shoulder shot, an extreme close up and a P.O.V shot. After receiving the requirements, we all had to attend a camera tutorial where we learning about adjusting the tri-pod, attaching and de-attaching the camera from the tri-pod, blurring and focusing on objects etc…

As soon as the tutorial was over, we all sat down beginning to plan. We all had input on the story, coming up with ideas and improving on each others ideas. We also had to decide who would be in the shot and who would be better at filming certain shots. For instance, Shabaz would be in the scene and Tareek would film his feet by tracking alongside him. Our basic storyboard idea was a person reading the newspaper and someone coming from behind and grabbing their shoulder. We decided to keep the person coming from behind anonymous as it would create tension and builds up atmosphere whilst leaving the audience eager to identify the anonymous person.

When looking at the footage we had captured I was pleased with it as it was our first attempt and thought we had done well. I was particularly pleased will the shot of the doors opening and closing as it was from a low angle and captured height. I feel that all the shots were well taken as a whole however, I think that the shot of the anonymous feet walking could have been taken steadier.

Whilst editing I felt that it was going well as all the shots made sense put together. In spite of some of our main shots going missing, we made the most of what we had and made it work. For instance, we had filmed the doors opening and closing. But when we uploaded the footage we had discovered that only the doors opening was filmed. We then decided to reverse the doors opening so it looked as though they were closing.

I learnt that mise en scene is vital in film making as it plays a major role in creating atmosphere and revealing the setting. I also learnt that if the first shot doesn’t meet standards due to interruption of people walking by, that it should be done again and again till its worth screening.

I think that we managed to create an element of suspense through keeping one character anonymous as this draws in the audience’s attention and makes them want to identify with the character. When starting to film we all made sure that it was vital to add the 5seconds of free filming before and after. We made sure that we filmed with the characters head at the top of the screen.

Over all I think that our first attempt went quite well as nothing major went wrong. I think that there is room for improvement and all these things will be considered whilst filming again. Next time, I will personally double check if the camera is recording so that when the time comes to edit, we will have all the takes we need.

Thriller Task

As part of my task i have been placed into a group to complete a opening to a film of thriller genre. Before starting the thriller task i was taught in lessons about film and technical work. I had to watch and analyse the thriller film "The Shining". Also I watched opening scenes of films. These were films such as 28 Days Later, Arlington Road etc. After completing these introductory lessons we started our thriller task.

On the first lesson I was placed into a group consisting of four people. I was pleased with the group i was given because I believe my partners are hard working individuals. Our first task was to create thriller film scene. We were given a scenario by our teacher which is a individual reading a newspaper. We had to make this scenario thrilling which will interest the audience. After discussing with the group, we decided on how to make the scene thrilling. We also discussed on what camera shots will be used in our scene. Our last discussion was based on what costume should be used. The following lesson we created our scene and we used the college as the location for the scene.

The match-cut task (two people in a conversation)