Foundation Portfolio Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

In our film opening we only have one actor who multi roles to play both the protagonist and antagonist. A few films have done this, like Buried, but it's quite rare, most have a character list of between 3 - 10, like 28 Days Later.





Both character A and B in our film opening represent the female gender; there are no men in the opening of Apparition, however both of these roles could have been played by a man. I think that by having a woman play these roles, we break away from the stereotypical convention of men getting the better roles compared to women. In thrillers, it's also more common for men to play either if not both the antagonist and protagonist. The antagonist is usually far more stronger than the protagonist and therefore is the main reason why males are usually chosen for this role; however by using a woman it shows that not only are females capable of playing the villain but they also don't have to rely on their own physical strength and violence to create suspense and tension for the audience to remain interested.

It's not made abundantly clear what class both character A and B are; we filmed in a fairly middle/working class area, where people aren't struggling to make ends meet, but also can't afford to live frivolously. This represents the status of most people in the UK, which also sticks to the conventions seen in most thriller films as they're supposed to be realistic and relatable for the audience. The costumes aren't ostentatious and are similar to the attire most people would wear on a daily basis. The neighbourhood is similar to one that most people are familiar with and so therefore the target audience feel more at ease as the mise en scene is something they can identify with. 

Race is another stereotype seen in a majority of films; whilst it's not strange or unfamiliar to see an all black cast, it's not something that happens often in the film industry. Most films that attempt this, either flop at the box office, are independently made so aren't as well known or only have a few main black characters. 

If we were able to continue this film, we probably wouldn't cast it as all black characters, because we could want racial diversity to be seen. However by having the first two minutes of the film just showing a black actress, it breaks the stereotype of seeing mainly an all white cast. 

Foundation Portfolio Evaluation: Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products, i.e of film openings? 

To me the definition of a thriller film usually consists of a battle between the protagonist and the antagonist. The story will progress to show a chain of bad events that create continuous tension and suspense that collectively build to the climax of the film.  Using plot twists, cliffhangers, peaks and lulls; thrillers are created to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, with eventually the protagonist winning the battle between good and evil and fixing the disruption of the equilibrium.   

In order to adhere to this definition, a thriller film must stick to some conventions. Quick cuts; an editing technique we used during our film opening - this created tension as it kept the audience alert by forcing them to keep up with the fast paced action. It also helps fit a lot of information into a short amount of time, which is crucial during a two minute opening; you can see this during the voice over in Apparition as the shots help show the setting and establish the scene. 

 

Changes in the angle of shots; is a convention we stuck to as we used a variety of shots in our film opening as they make a scene more interesting for the audience watching it. My favourite angle used was a high angle shot, as it made character B a lot more frightening as they looked more powerful. This angle forces the audience to feel inferior as they are positioned at a lower angle. 
 

We challenged the conventions of thriller films for example costume. Often the antagonist wears dark clothing to blend into their surroundings; however we didn't, because we wanted to draw attention to the jeans of both the protagonist and antagonist - they're the same. This created suspense as the audience would realise that something unnatural is happening as they pay more attention and realise that there could be more to this antagonist that what they might think.

The range of main characters is another convention we didn't stick to, in most thriller films - the protagonists are a normally a large number of people. Having a larger group of people makes the audience feel at ease, they can relate to the group and find themselves identifying with different members of the group.


Inception is an example of a psychological thriller film with a group of more than one protagonist; the main characters include Dom, Arthur, Ariadne, Eames, Mr. Saito, Yusef and Robert Fischer.







We had only one protagonist and had the same person playing the antagonist. We decided to do this because introducing too many people in two minutes could become very confusing for the audience and we wanted to focus on the suspense. By taking this away and having only one person, the audience instantly feels more vulnerable and aware of their surroundings as they too feel alone.  

However, like our film opening; Buried - a thriller film with Ryan Reynolds; contains only himself as the main protagonist, the rest of the characters are just voices.

 

 

Editing: Non - Diegetic Music

Garageband

When editing our film opening; we had the option of using Garageband, however we hadn't
been taught how to use this software and we had tried as a group to teach ourselves numerous times with no success. 

Copyright Free Music
It was after this that we decided to use copyright free sounds, as this means we can use this music, because it's not copyrighted by anyone. We eventually found one by Kevin MacLeod called 'Classic Horror 3' - we chose this, because we thought it wasn't too overly dramatic. The non diegetic sound was quite subtle, but progressively built up throughout the film opening. 

We edited the sound to suit Apparition, we cut parts and put it in different places to create more of an effect at various points. Towards the end, to add a climax of sorts without coming across as too cliché; we quitened the pinnacle moment so that it didn't come across as over done and almost disappointing.  

Editing Apparition Film Opening

Editing our film opening was a long process as it involved editing cuts together to make the entire thing smooth. We also had to crop some shots, slow down shots and change the colouring of others. 

In this picture, you can see us cropping the frame so that you can't see the antagonists' upper body. We wanted to keep their identity a secret and when we filmed this at my house, we forgot that this is what we planned to do. Luckily, the crop feature worked quite well and the shot still looked like it had been filmed that way rather than edited. By cropping this, it meant that you can only see the antagonists' legs as they walk up the stairs, a contrast to the protagonist - who when they walked up the stairs, the audience saw their upper body. This creates suspense, because you still can't see the identity of the antagonist, but you know they're getting closer to the protagonist, the character in which the audience identifies with.

In this picture, you can see we have changed the colouring. Often in thriller films, the colour has some sort of wash over it; whether that be sepia, graywash or any other colour - this is done for effect and we wanted to create the same sort of look. By doing this, it also helped the red eyes of the antagonist (character B) stand out, which is a crucial element to our story opening. This colour change also makes the antagonists eyes look darker and more gaunt adding to the sinister feel of the character, which adds to the suspense. 

In this picture, we used slow motion. This was because we wanted to draw the audiences attention to the fact that the protagonist (character A) is taking the radio upstairs, which must mean whatever she is listening to is important. Using slow motion also gave us a chance to give the audience more information about the storyline so that they wouldn't be confused at the end. Slowing down scenes or action during a film allows the audience to focus on the smaller details that they might have missed. This creates suspense as slowing down the footage means that if something bad was to happen, the audience are helpless to stop it from happening.

Script Writing

I wrote the script for the radio bulletin voice over that Leah and Zeyna would be reading out. The reason this needed to be included in the film opening was in order to provide the audience with a brief understanding of what was happening so that they wouldn't be left confused after they watched our film opening. 

This voice over happens when the protagonist (character A) carries the radio up to her room, this will create suspense as the scene will cut to someone else watching her from outside the house; someone who matches the description of what is heard on the radio.

I researched many breaking news bulletins - both real and fictional - in order to make the script sound as realistic as possible. News reports are short, concise, and provide as much information that is needed. Here is one that I watched for inspiration and research purposes: 

Radio news reports are a way to deliver information to the audience that they can trust without it being biased. News reports give a third person point of view and continue to enforce the belief that - especially in a thriller film - this is very close to reality.  

Camera Shots & Angles

When filming, there was a variety of camera angles and shots that we wanted to use in order to make our film opening as dynamic as possible. Milly and I found that when filming; shooting the same scene but from many different angles gave us a lot of different shots to use to make the action seen visually appealing. 

An example of this is when the protagonist (character A) stands up, we used a close up, a long shot from behind a door and a mid shot; so that when we edited this, we created a match on action shot and therefore made a simple movement more interesting for the audience to watch. This will improve our work, because often match on action is used to show someone walking through a door etc, for example; the way we showed it in our preliminary task, however this match on action shows the protagonist doing something simple - just standing up from the floor. The long shot from behind a door creates suspense, because it gives the impression that someone is watching the protagonist, and because the audience are viewing the scene from this angle; they too feel like they're spying which can not only add to the tension but make them feel uncomfortable. 

We used a point of view shot when the antagonist is entering the home of the protagonist. This angle is usually seen in films that are filmed in a 'found footage' way, with one character always holding the camera for the audience to see. We didn't film our film opening in this way, however we wanted to use this camera angle, so that the audience could feel the disjointed suspense that comes with seeing things from the antagonists' point of view. This will improve our work because, this camera angle is unusual to be seen and used in films that aren't classed as 'found footage', so we've broken the convention of this. Usually in film, the audience view the action from the protagonists viewpoint and therefore automatically side with them; however by forcing them to almost become the antagonist, it creates suspense and uncertainty. 

We also used a low angle shot of the antagonist (character B) as they stood outside of the bedroom of character A. We used this camera angle to make them seem more powerful and intimidating as conventionally the antagonist has more power and strength compared to the protagonist. This will improve our work because it's not often that high and low angle shots are seen and used, so this adds variety to our film opening and gives the audience a new viewpoint. This creates suspense, because the audience are placed at a lower angle compared to character B, which in turn makes them feel inferior and therefore weaker.  

Filming Apparition Film Opening

Milly and I filmed round my house on Sunday 30th November; we battled a lot of issues - the main two being the lack of quality that the camera we had been given had and the amount of daytime hours that we had due to the fact it's winter. 

We didn't initially follow a plan as such and decided to film in order that the storyboard follows so that we wouldn't confuse ourselves. I came up with the idea to film the same thing but from a variety of different angles so that when we came to editing it all together, we could create match on action at different points during the film opening. 

A problem we kept facing was the camera going out of focus when we was filming. When watching other AS Media students' work, I noticed one of them has used a focus pull which was a really clever technique I wanted to include; however we was told due to the low quality of the camera we had to use, this wasn't possible.

Due to it becoming dark rather quickly, this caused the camera to shift in and out of focus a lot especially whilst filming, which meant we wasted a lot of time trying to shift it back into focus manually. 

When filming, in hindsight, we should have started earlier or planned what to film and when, because we started loosing daylight, which meant part of our film opening could lack continuity. Hopefully, this won't be picked up on camera or maybe it's something we can edit and fix. 

When filming, I also had to put on a pair of red cat eye contacts, which didn't take as long as I thought it would. It was quite dark outside however, when it came to filming this scene and so I was worried they wouldn't be seen as vividly on the camera; if this is so hopefully we can edit the colour of the frame. 

Institutional Research

There are many film production companies and distributors that create and distribute films.

Whilst some are UK based, others are US based; there's different pros and cons to each of these. A UK based film production company and distributor such as Hammer Film Productions is an example. 

Founded in the 1930's, this film company is best known for the variety of horror films that is has made during the 1950's to 1970's such as The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula. These incredibly popular horror/thriller films gained a major success in both the box office and reviews; Hammer Film Productions eventually went on to create many sequels. During the last decade, they have begun to make well known revival films such as The Woman in Black and its sequel - The Woman in Black: Angel of Death. The company has also made thriller films, one in 2011 called The Resident, which has similar plot lines of our own film opening - a stalker pursing the main character. 

Using a UK based film production company would help keep costs low and ensure that members of the British public would be attracted to our film and pay to watch it. Often small, independent films made and produced in their own country gain the interest and support of people who live in that region and through word of mouth and reviews cause the film to then gain media attention, praise and box office success in other larger, more commercial countries such as the USA.

US based film production companies often tend to have far more money and therefore a larger budget to use on a film. These means that unlike smaller UK based companies, these larger businesses are able to spend more money on production, marketing and advertising. Paramount Pictures Corporation is a US film studio production company and has a revenue of $1.2 billion in 2011.

Working worldwide since the early 1900's, they've produced a range of famous films such as Transformers (and it's sequels); having a major film company such as this to produce our film would ensure its success. They'd have the money to promote it effectively and also have enough to cover any post production costs such as CGI and sound effects. Paranormal Activity is a franchise of films that whilst might not be a thriller film, it uses suspense to gain and heighten audience interest without the use of major post production. Techniques such as non diegetic music that can be heard throughout the film has its' expenses which is something Paramount Pictures would have helped contribute for.

When choosing film production companies to work on our film, I decided to choose a mixture of both UK and US businesses. 

Lionsgate Films is a Canadian-American production and distribution company founded in the 1960's. 

It focuses on small, independent films - which is what Apparition is - and distributes them worldwide turning them into a commercial success. It's a well known company with many other smaller distributor companies working for them such as Alliance Films and Momentum Pictures.

 

This company will help turn Apparition from a small, relatively unknown film to a hopefully major leading film across the U.S. Lionsgate's main goal is to help produce and then distribute the film worldwide, focusing on Canada and America. 

Vertigo Films is a British film and production company founded in London in 2002.

They also focus on small, unknown British films which have a mediocre to minimal funding budget; this fits with our film, Apparition. They have their own personal goal to produce and distribute four films a year with the help of Entertainment One - an international entertainment corporation. 

Blumhouse Productions is an American production company that produces micro and low budget films, the majority of them being horrors and thrillers; such as The Paranormal Activity series, Sinister, Dark Skies, The Purge and the Insidious series. They focus on producing the film independently and then release them to a large market, which helps reduce costs but also promote the film.

They also have a first look deal with Universal Companies, which means any new or upcoming film, Blumhouse Productions get to refuse it or accept it first before any other production company. This helps our film Apparition, because if was going to work with Blumhouse, it means there's a high chance our film could also get noticed by Universal; due to that deal and how closely they work together. 

Titles and Font Research

When thinking of our title font, we wanted to make sure it fit in with the thriller theme, however we didn't want it to be stereotypical. We looked at a variety of different fonts, on dafont.com as well as professional fonts used on thriller films, before making our decision.  

This first one I like, because the font looked smeared in some places similar to blood being spread across walls etc. It instantly gives a sinister feel and creates suspense. 

This font looks as if someone has clawed or scratched the words into a wall perhaps. Maybe someone or something was trying to get in or out of a building? It creates suspense by making the audience what could have created those markings and why they did so in the first place. 

28 Days Later has a font that looks as if it's been there awhile and is now fading due to natural wear and tear. This fits the storyline of the film as it's about the world coping after a deadly virus wipes out most of human civilisation. 

Gone Girl's font is kept rather simple; however it fits in with the theme of the film as part of the title is hidden behind the clouds. Part of the title is 'gone', similar to the main character who mysteriously disappears. 

In the end, we chose this for our font. We kept it white as against a black background, it stands out and the font itself looks a if it's been spray painted on. Graffiti is a form of rebellion as well as an outlet, a voice for freedom, this fits well with our film as due to the fact that there was twin copies of everyone destroying the Earth; perhaps graffiti is the only way the original copies can express themselves.  

Production Schedule

The majority of our film opening is being filmed at my house, and because there's only one character - played by the same person, me - there wasn't any need for the whole group to film. We decided that Milly would film with me at my house on Sunday and then the whole group, Milly, Leah, Zeyna and I would edit and create the non - diegetic music together, during the following weeks.

Filming date: Sunday 30th November 2:30 - 5:30
Filming Location: My house
Camerawork: Milly
Actor(s): Lia

We didn't need a variety of props; as the mise - en - scene was the stereotypical items you would find in a normal household. The only extra props needed was red contacts for the shocking end of the film opening.

Props: Red contact lenses

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Milly and I managed to film the entire film opening on Sunday, which took around three to four hours to do. Due to the winter season, the sunset at around 3:30, which meant that we had to make sure that when we filmed, the scenes matched up with the lighting change to show continuity. We think we did this successfully, as it flowed nicely when we uploaded the footage ready for editing.

Target Audience Research

In order to see what people thought about thriller films and our film opening, we decided to create a questionnaire with ten questions that we asked to ten different people. We decided that our target audience would be young adults so those of around late teens to late twenties. As those were the people that tended to watch and enjoy thrillers more.

The results we got back showed that most people enjoyed cliffhangers at the end of films and openings, as it makes them more eager to watch the sequel or the rest of the film; this was good feedback for us as this is a technique we were planning on using. This will create suspense during our film opening as people will want to know what happens next.

Another good piece of feedback we got was that people preferred when little of the plot line is revealed during the opening, which is something we listened to; only giving small pieces of information to the audience when it's needed for them to understand. Including little of the plot line adds to the suspense as the audience are left in the dark and have little to no idea what will happen next. 

A lot of people said they preferred when film openings started at the end and worked their way up to present day; when planning our Apparition we tried to keep it quite vague. This way if we was to develop it further or make it into a full film, it could follow this idea starting from the end and finishing at the beginning. This could still create suspense as the audience would have seen the ending but not the events that led up to it happening. 

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is a independent government organisation that has been classifying films in the UK since 1912. 

When thinking about our film opening, we had to think about classification and what we were aiming for and whether or not our content would be suitable for that particular rating. 

Most thriller films range between an 12 rating to an 18 rating, because many thrillers can range in the amount of blood, gore, violence, swearing, graphic and sexual scenes that they choose to include; all of these elements affect the rating of a film and can cause it to increase. 

I think Apparition would be a 15 rating, as whilst it most likely contain frequent strong language and violence; it wouldn't need to heavily rely on this which is something that films rated 18 do. Rated 18's might also contain sexual violence, graphic sex scenes and discriminatory language/behaviour, which most likely won't be needed in our film. 

By having a slightly lower film rating, it also means that we can attract viewers of a slightly younger age bracket and gain more revenue. If Apparition was an 18, then we'd lose audience members who are between the ages of sixteen and seventeen, who are part of the target audience. 

Props and Costume List

 Our film opening will show a teenage girl (Character A) awakening mysteriously in a house. As she progresses through the house, jump cuts will show that someone (Character B) is following her and approaching the home she's in; the audience don't know who this person is. A radio report reveals that people have been discovering demonic twin versions of themselves walking around; it's unknown where they came from or why they're here - but already there has been riots, death and destruction caused. As the girl sits in her room, she hears something, turns around and realises that it's herself staring back at her. 

 

The props we have devised are:

• Contact lenses

We need contact lenses because one of the main thriller devices of our thriller opening is the red eyes, signifiying the danger and impact of the alien situation that has occurred. Character A is incredibly confused over how she has awoken in her home without any prior knowledge, she hears frightening news but decides to ignore it and tries to relax. She hears something and turns around to discover herself with red eyes, which impacts her psychologically, this is always a good plot device: a protagonist losing their sanity. 

Location Research & Analyse

 Our film opening will show a teenage girl awakening mysteriously in a house. As she progresses through the house, jump cuts will show that someone is following her and approaching the home she's in; the audience don't know who this person is. A radio report reveals that people have been discovering demonic twin versions of themselves walking around; it's unknown where they came from or why they're here - but already there has been riots, death and destruction caused. As the girl sits in her room, she hears something, turns around and realises that it's herself staring back at her.

We decided to film in and around the outside of my house, as it's a familiar setting that the audience can relate to which in turn makes the film opening frightening. I have included some screenshots of my house from Google Maps.

Using a variety of close ups of the mise - en - scene helps introduce the setting without the use of a establishing shot; this is something we've seen done in many thriller film openings - as the audience are initially unaware of the characters surroundings and therefore so are they. Filming the main character from a variety of different angles will create a continuous match on action shot which will allow the audience to see more of the location; the mise - en - scene will subconsciously tell the audience where the location is set. This fits with the typical thriller convention as the location, is often set in a house; the camera shots and angles also stay within the thrill conventions as short shots are often cut very quickly together in order to speed up the action and increase the suspense. 

The mise - en - scene in my house helps makes the audience feel at ease due to the familiar location, with objects they're used to. A house is a good place to set a thriller, because it makes the ordinary setting, unordinary which can heighten the experience; as the audience can relate the situations to their own.  Using jump cuts to briefly show sinister scenes inside a house can unhinge the audience, because it takes place in a setting the majority of people live in and find relaxation in.
  During the film opening when someone is approaching the house; this is filmed just outside my house, this creates tension; because makes the audience feel on edge due to the fact that a victim can be preyed on in a place of safety.

Just outside my house, there is a large greenery, trees and a road; this makes it an effective place to film as the trees provide a barrier between the camera and the character. Using shots from behind the tree or where a character disappears for a short amount of time adds to the suspense; especially when it's paired with non diegetic music to create an atmosphere.

The mise - en - scene really adds to the shots as the natural surroundings provides a wall of secrecy; which means that the audience are unaware of the action. When filming in the winter, the light of day disappears very quickly which means we'll have to be quick when filming however filming during dusk into twilight is a good time period as the darkness once again heightens the thriller aspect. When filming in the dark; the audience's view is hindered and therefore with the use of camera angles; you can intentionally make the audience see less.

Pitches

Today, we did our pitches in front of the class and Miss Greene.

Unfortunately, Zeyna wasn't in and she hadn't completed the powerpoint she was supposed to create; which meant that Milly and I were left to give our pitch without a powerpoint, on our own with just a storyboard. 

As we did our pitch, it was clear our original idea was too complex for a two minute film opening so we changed some details, keeping it as simple as possible. 

I think we presented our idea very clearly, despite the idea being very detailed; the route we wanted to go down was very well explained. A positive piece of feedback we got was that our idea was very original and unlike most film pitches that had been heard that day.

I think we could improve our film opening by making it simpler, as quite a few people said that it'd be difficult for us to fit everything we had planned into two minutes. We took this feedback into consideration and changed our film opening slightly, opting to keep it simple so that later when editing we can make it much more complex.

At the end, when asked who gave the best pitch/who had the best film opening idea; our class voted for our group - which was a pleasant surprise as I didn't think they'd vote for us. We had to think on our feet when giving our pitch, because we didn't have a powerpoint, or at the time a title, and so for something that we wanted to make sure didn't come off as rushed; I think we succeeded.  

Thriller Storyboards

After finalising a story opening, we managed to write up our idea into a storyboard and plan our pitch.


We kept our storyboard quite simple, because we felt doing it this way meant that we had more chance to change our minds about certain frames, camera angles and shots. 

We felt that we worked best an almost blank canvas and then we could develop the ideas as we went on both when planning and when we eventually begin to film. 




When we begin to film, the storyboards will help us immensely as we can refer back to it when we work out the filming schedule and camera angles. Having a storyboard will also help us stay focused and on task.  

Also, by creating this storyboard it means that when the new member of our group, Leah, eventually joins she can refer back to this so that she isn't confused.




As we prepare for our pitch, having a storyboard will ensure that everyone we pitch to can understand our idea and film opening so that they can give their honest review and opinion. 

Zeyna offered to create the powerpoint for our pitch, as she didn't want to talk and so Milly and I decided to doing the speaking parts. I decided to explain the storyboard as I drew it and Milly is going through the powerpoint. 

Reviewing Other Students' AS Thriller Openings

To help gain inspiration, I decided to watch a variety of other thriller film openings made by other students across the UK. Being able to pinpoint both positives and negatives about their final piece will in turn help my group when we come to make ours so that we won't make the same mistakes.

Exemption

The first thriller film opening I watched is called Exemption, which was made in December 2013. The opening is about two boys who seem to be kidnapped and after trying to escape, one of them are recaptured and the last one remaining is faced with a decision; should he run and leave his friend to die? Or should he save his friend and risk getting captured once again?

The initial thing I noticed about this film opening was the cinematography; the attention to detail was clear to see - small elements such as close ups of the scenery help add to the climaxing tension, as it directs the audience attention away from the main ongoing action and forces them to pay attention to the smaller details. This is seen clearly from 0.20 - 0.40, as it helps not only establish the scene without giving the surroundings away, but helps enforce the idea to the audience that this choice of setting isn't normal by showing objects such as bloody, broken glass etc. This is something we'll be using in our thriller opening as it introduces the setting as well as showcase the mise-en-scene without obviously broadcasting the location; this is a good technique to use if you want to keep the surroundings a secret which increases the mystery element and overall escalates the eeriness.

I also liked the subtle editing techniques used; my favourite being the focal pull seen at 2:00 - 2:05 as it draws the audience's attention to something that they might not have seen or noticed yet. It's a way of making sure that small details that add suspense are picked up by the audience. This is something we were interested in creating in our film opening but due to the basic camcorders' that we were given by the school, they don't come equipped with a camera focus lens.

A successful technique to use is to verbally explain as little as much in a thriller opening, using actions rather than words builds suspense as the audience don't know what's going to happen next and when they do, it'll be visual and impacting. Leaving the audience in the dark forces them to be unknowing and therefore vulnerable, this puts people on edge and instantly creates atmosphere. The majority of professional thriller films seem to do the same thing, have very little dialogue during the opening and when it is used, it's short, direct statements or questions; rather than speeches to inform/educate the audience - as you want to create interest.

The use of silence is something I'm keen to use as silence forces the audience to either strain to try and detect sound and/or focus the rest of their attention on the action taking place during the film opening. Silence at a crucial moment, either just before or after a climatic moment heightens hostility, and alters the mood of the opening; it can give the audience a moment to process whatever they've seen or for them to sit wondering what will happen next. From 1:00 - 1:15, the audience are at the edge of their seats waiting with anticipation wondering what will happen and what the main two characters will do. This instantly achieves the main criteria of the film opening, 'to create suspense', and proves that it can be achieved simply and yet extremely effectively.

Creating Thriller Ideas

Today we came up with ideas of possible thriller film openings; we worked together as a class in order to generate and stimulate initial ideas after watching a few film openings by previous AS Media students, afterwards we split up into smaller groups.

After deciding our groups, I'm with Milly and Zeyna, we thought about possible ideas; in order to help us we watched some new and upcoming thriller trailers. After writing up a variety of ideas we decided on one idea which linked closely with the current paranoia over the disease, Ebola, which has many people panicking over. Miss Sills said our idea shared some similarities with the film '28 Days Later' so we watched the opening to that to help us also.

This idea is one of favourites as there's a variety of things that we can include in the story opening; it's a theme that's very versatile, which means as a group we're free to explore different storylines etc. We could go down the route of (similar to most post apocalyptic films, such as 28 Days Later or I Am Legend) where a deadly virus/disease as wiped out the majority of the human race and only a few people left, the films protagonists, can survive. Or we could go down a different pathway entirely where perhaps the deadly virus has caused some sort of malfunction or unexpected plot twist where something out the ordinary as sinisterly happened. 

I would like to include at least one high or low angle shots, as I think they are extremely effective and they're not seen/used that often and so therefore it makes a scene much more visually pleasing and interesting to view. 

When planning a thriller plot it's important to think of the camera angles as these help tell the story. In the majority of thriller films, the antagonist is hidden from view of the audience, their identity kept a secret, and so the camera angles used will effect this. If we decide to stick to this convention, our camera angles will be limited as close ups to show facial expressions can't be used for the antagonist; however camera angles such as over the shoulder and point of view shots will be extremely useful to help build suspense - as the audience will see things for the villains point of view and yet won't know who they are. 

Thriller Poster Conventions

Today I looked at a variety of thriller promotional posters in order to identify and analyse the different conventions that they have in common; whilst we're not creating a film poster, it helps when creating a film opening to be aware of the conventions and what the audience expect to see when going to see a thriller film.

The film opening is the most important part, as not only does it introduce the film, but it has to be exciting enough to keep the audience's attention without giving away too much information. 

This poster for 28 Days Later is very simple with a simple red background which could symbolise blood, danger, panic, but also love. It shows a lone figure walking near Big Ben, which instantly tells the audience that the film is set in London, one of the most busiest cities in the world. Behind the title, a there's a biohazard symbol, which could suggest quarantine or an imminent health danger. Above all of this, there is the tagline which reads 'Day 1: Exposure. Day 3: Infection. Day 8: Epidemic. Day 15: Evacuation. Day 20: Devastation.' This tells the audience a series of steps that has occurred in the film, which is a direct link to the film title '28 Days Later', meaning that what the audience witnesses takes place 8 days after the final step; devastation. 

The poster for Buried was kept incredibly simple, with just a simple black background which could symbolise darkness, evilness, death, fear and mystery. The title is placed at the very top in white, which once you look down, the placement makes it seem as if the title is sitting at ground level and Ryan Reynolds is in fact buried several feet underneath. At the very bottom, you can see a small box illuminated by the light from a torch and you can see the actor, Ryan Reynolds inside. Just above him is the film's tagline; 'Your fate is never sealed', which is a direct link to that fact that perhaps the coffin isn't sealed and perhaps there is a way out. This film poster instantly draws attention, because it doesn't give you as much information as other posters do, e.g; 28 Days Later. 

Limitless is classed as a thriller film, however the poster breaks the majority of conventions seen and used for thriller film posters. It looks like an action film or maybe a science fiction with the unusual variation of bright, blurred colours that dominate the poster. The poster is divided into three sections, perhaps to in an effort to show three different viewpoints or three different stages. The top third shows the main character, played by Bradley Cooper, seeming to be living the life of luxury with his own private jet, a girlfriend and poker chips; all things that indicate he has enough money to gamble. The second third shows just him alone with the tall buildings and blinding lights, most likely a major city such as New York City, in the background. The last third shows him standing on the edge of a balcony in an apartment looking down to the ground below, perhaps contemplating whether or not he'll jump. Each section shows something completely different. The title is a simple white font with the tagline below which reads 'What if a pill could make you rich and powerful?'. This poster relies heavily on the tagline to draw audience attention in; by using an open question that is written in a way to be as vague as possible, but also in order to gain attention; as the images are quite generic.

Thriller Film Conventions

There are many conventions seen and used in thriller films that help convey the meaning of thriller film, all of these elements help add suspense and tension to the film. Some of these codes and conventions include: 

Non Diegetic music is a common convention seen in all films, however in thrillers; it can change a scene entirely and alter the mood felt for the audience. 

The non diegetic sound heard in the opening of the film Annabelle is a prime example of how non diegetic music is used in films. It starts of extremely quiet using a mixture of string and wood instruments to create a sinister feeling; they start and stop and various times causing the audience to feel on edge, because just as they think it has stopped, it starts up again. This sound begins to build from around 0:40, getting louder and far more intense than before. This alerts the audience informing them that something is approaching as we often associate sound getting louder to something coming closer. Around a minute later, the non diegetic sound reaches it climax with the instruments almost sounding as if they're screaming as they all come together, before suddenly halting all at once. This technique forces the audience to not let their guard down as just as they think the worst is about to come, all danger is eliminated and they're left in silence. Silence is a powerful thing to use in thriller films, as means the audience's attention is focused on the action and also makes them conscious of any other wary noises. After this, a child's musical box plays followed by a sinister sound growing louder in the background before it all cuts off.  

Character conventions of a thriller usually star a group or a family as the protagonists; it's rarely one person - however sometimes this is seen in films.  This is because the audience tend to feel at ease when there is a large number of people; however this is also an advantage for film makers as it gives them more chance to kill off characters without the audience knowing. For example; the group of 'Purgers' from The Purge.

When they do realise the number is dwindling, this increases the tension felt during the film. For Apparition, we decided not to stick to this convention as we felt that introducing a variety of characters in the opening wouldn't be as effective and would take the attention away from the suspense element. 

The antagonist is a villain who usually keeps their true identity hidden throughout the film to increase tension and fear, for example the masked killer from Scream. If the audience and the protagonist(s), don't know who they're afraid of; it makes the atmosphere a lot more intense and frightening. We decided to stick to this convention, keeping the identity of the antagonist a secret until the end of the opening. Using subtle hints throughout increased the suspense of the film and built up to the climax, the reveal of the antagonist.
 

Theme; stereotypically, the theme of thriller is something realistic which heightens the fear factor as the audience are forced to believe that this scenario could happen to them. This is why thrillers usually include being set in houses, neighbourhoods and happen to ordinary people like the majority of their target audience. We stuck to this convention for our film opening as it's set in a home with the protagonist being a young girl. The time period is somewhere in the future and it's not unlikely that something possibly a virus or disease could cause apparitions of ourselves to walk among us.  

Cinematography conventions include the type of camera shots. When filming the protagonist, extreme close ups and close ups are used to show their facial expressions when certain things happen. This is so that the audience can see and often subconsciously mimic these expressions seen. Reactions shots are used during dialogue as well as shot reverse shot for the same reason. In our film opening we decided we wasn't going to use much of these as there isn't much dialogue used, as we feel it's better and much more effective for a film opening to have little to no dialogue. This heightens the suspense and forces the audience to pay attention to detail. 

For the antagonist, low angle shots and an over the shoulder shot is usually seen as it's an effective way to show the villain without revealing their identity. Keeping an identity a secret is also an effective way to increase tension and these camera shots and angle allow the antagonist to be viewed in a fearful way. We stuck to this convention as we wanted to keep character b's identity a secret and this was the best way to do so. 

EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.

Editing is another convention seen as jump cuts and cross cutting is relied on heavily to not only confuse the audience further fuelling the tension but also to give the audience more information that would have been too dull to show using continuous editing. This type of editing often reflects reality as it's far more common for people to view and remember traumatic events in a series of unrelated flashbacks that don't happen in a chronological order.

When creating Apparition, we used cross cutting to show that something sinister was going to happen (character B outsider the house) which adds to the suspense. During the voice over, we also used jump cuts to show smaller details of the house in order to subconsciously remind the audience that the setting is a natural, realistic one which once again enforces that this could happen to anybody in real life and therefore increases the fear element.  

EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.

Mise en scene is an important convention for thriller films. The location of many thrillers take place in a realistic setting such as a house or local building (eg; a school, hospital etc) as this makes the action that takes place more surreal, in the sense that the audience could believe that this scenario could happen to themselves; which is why we stuck to this convention and set our film opening in a house. 

EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.

The costumes we thought about, often in thrillers the protagonist wears everyday clothing in order to remain similar and relate back to the audience whilst the antagonist wears darker clothing to symbolise evilness. However, we decided to break this convention by making the protagonist (character A) wear dark red, this colour has connotations of danger and bloodshed which are subconscious triggers and warnings for the audience that something bad will happen to this character.



EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.

The antagonist (character B)  we decided would wear grey to symbolise death and ashes hinting that this is what character B would create; death and peril. Both characters we made them wear the same clothing, this way the audience could (if they were paying close enough attention) realise that they could be the same person.

EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.