Monday 30 March 2009

Storyboard: By Dominic Esty- Wilkinson

Genre Research - Shiraz Zafar

The genre of thriller is extremely broad which also has many sub genres within the genre. These sub genres include, for example, Physiological Thrillers, Action thrillers and even romantic comedy thrillers.
A thriller contains certain characteristic. The pace must be quick with lot of action, and there should be suspense where the plot twists. Thrillers should have the audience sitting on the edge of their seats , wondering if the protagonist wont get killed.
Thrillers are often set in mysterious locations, although this isn’t essential as certain sub genres, like Crime Thrillers do not have these characteristics. The main characters are usually male, who usually get dragged into the plot to save the day. These men are usually spies, armed forces or working for the government. Sometimes you could get a ordinary person to be the protagonist who gets drawn in to the plot, but they always are cut out for the job and ready for any danger coming their way. Woman are often the protagonists to, but are used to a limited extent, but its still more of a male dominated genre,
It has been suggested that thrillers mostly require the protagonist to solve a current problem to prevent it happening. Usually the antagonist are on a grand scale of skill as well which builds the plot with several enigmas and suspense.

2 minute sequence Storyboard

Codes and Conventions within a thriller: By Dominic Esty- Wilkinson

The conventions of the thriller genre are to do with sound and editing. eg quick cuts , fast pace and camera angle changes, music that gives tension and is passy when appropriate. it can be to do with lighting, especially the use of shadow. mirrors and stairs are also conventions of thriller movies.
The codes and conventions are mainly what the audiences expect to see within a thriller this includes all types of thrillers, such as cross genres such as action, adventure, sci- fi etc. What audiences expect to see is what producers need to include in attracting their audience. The codes and conventions within a thriller mainly allows a female protagonist to be a victim of a dominant male character, this enables the audiences to familiar themselves with the stereotypes as females are always vulnerable dependent victims, and the dominant male figures as being dominant. psychological thriller which are sub genres play with audiences minds by manipulating a character or a plot to keep audiences guessing. However cross thriller genres involve action, adventure, sic- fi, these use a slightly different way of using codes and conventions as they are not many things it must include to engage audiences. For example within a thriller in a scene where it is scary and engaging, it will be more likely to see dark colour's so the scene can be represented in a way that audiences expect to see it, also the sound what be loud intense heart beating score music, the contrast would different in a way it reflects the scene. All these are key conventions within a thriller. Another example is a dominant male chasing and vulnerable female protagonist, this will include fast pace intense score music the codes and conventions audiences expect to see. Getting exactly what audiences want will make any film a success.

Thursday 19 March 2009

The Missing Suspects Score Music

To create suspense in our thriller production we added score music from a software called VideoCoPilot which changed we use to change the atmosphere of shots. We did this by experimenting with non-deigetic sounds using FinalCutPro by adjusting the length, volume and transitions between them. The tracks we included are called Survival, Mystery, Greeble and Airplane Cabin. We chose these sounds in particular because they sounded similar to score music we had seen in films of the thriller genre; high pitched, fast pace building tension and heavy base sounding like a heartbeat. We used these sounds wisely, for example, at the beginning of the Missing Suspects thriller, we used the Mystery sound. However, we had to low the volume down as it is heard in the background as the Sergeant delivers important information to the audience. If the volume was to high, the important information wouldn't have been heard, confusing the audience later in the film. Greeble is a heavy base and has a racing tempo which we chose to include as the audience see the mysterious character dragging a body. As there is no dialogue in this part, we added this type of music to build the suspense as well as making it clear to the audience who the antagonist is.

(Alex Christian)

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Shot list of final piece By Dominic Esty- wilkinson

SHOT NO: DESCRIPTION OF SHOT TYPE:
SHOT:

1. Name of Romford - Close up
police station

2. Behind the officers - Mid- Shot

3. Extreme close up on - Extreme close up
police Sergent

4. Close up on female - Close up
officer

5. Victim 1 shown on - Close up
investigation board

6. close up on information - Close up
of the murder of victim 1

7. back to Behind the officers - Mid shot

8. Victim 2 shown on Extreme close up
investigation board-

9. close up on information - Close up
of the murder of victim 2

10. male officer looking - Close up

11. sergeant pointing to board - Establishing shot

12. foot shown with large bag - Low angle close up

13. man dragging bag aggressively Mid- shot

14. large bag being dragged - Low angle close up

15. man dragging bag - Long shot

16. question mark on board - Close up

17. question mark on board - Close up

18. missing Victim Rachel - Close up
Brooke shown on
investigation board

19. bag lying down flat along - Close up
with feet

20. man opening boot - Mid close up

21. man opening boot - Extreme close up

22. boot opening - Mid- shot

23. man grabbing bag - low angle close up

24. man lifting bag up - Mid shot

25. man putting bag in boot - Mid- shot

26. man leaving boot open - Mid- shot

27. man with flowers - long shot

28. man looking down at - high angle shot

29. man grinning at dead - close up
victim

30. man placing flowers on - long shot
victim

31. man placing flowers on - high angle shot
victim

32. man walking towards button - long shot

33. man pushing button - close up

34. man looking towards door - close up

35. man releasing button - close up

36. man looking at door - close up

37. man walking away - Mid- shot

38. man's car - mid- shot

39. man's hand opening car - close up

40. man getting in cat - Mid- shot

41. man dialing number - mid shot

42. man putting phone towards ear - extreme close up

43. man throwing phone down - Mid- shot

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Final Opening Sequence: The Missing Suspects

Finally, here is the finished product after all the planning of the narrative outline, locations, mise en scene and cast. After analyzing other thrillers, the way in which they create suspense is through the effects the use on the footage. Therefore we included effects such as manipulating colour as well as being selective with editing techniques such as cross cutting and variations of close ups and extreme close ups. The type of score music you chose is also important when representing a particular genre, so with the genre being thriller, we included high pitched along with a fast paced score similar to a racing heart beat as the tension builds.

Tuesday 10 March 2009

Almost There

Were almost at the finish line sorry about the wait, please bare with us were adding effects and sound to our final 2 minute sequence, and then it would be up loaded .

The Departed Elevator Scene



We added the departed the our blog because it created a lot of suspense in a creative why, it revealed enigma in a unique way by making it un expected we really like the departed, although it is an action thriller it still created suspense, i chosen the last seen which was the elevator seen because it created a lot of mysteries and revealed answers as several people had been shot.

Monday 9 March 2009

Evaluation Outlines

These are the requirements of the final stage of our as media course,, in the evaluation the following questions will be answered and filmed, we need to complete this by April in order for our group to go back and fix any little errors that we encountered as we film. OCR has guided us to what we need to include and complete.

In the evaluation the following questions must be answered:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
• How did you attract/address your audience?
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?

Saturday 7 March 2009

Questionnaire Results

When producing a film, creators need to know what interests their viewers as the target audience which they deliver a product to, are the real critics and are who make a film successful. With this in mind, a method which we chose in order to find the interests of the public was the handing out of thriller questionnaires. With the results of the questionnaire, we are able to see who our specific target audience is as well as know what elements are needed to attract them. Comparisons between results are easily displayed through the use of diagrams therefore we have presented our findings in pie charts with percentage values.

To begin with, personal questions such as age, gender and ethnic background are the opening questions to the questionnaire. These are high priority questions as the results are important in the process of distribution for the statistics give the producers an idea in which location their product will be accepted. The first question was: What age group do you fit in to? This showed some expected results with just over half of the individuals aged from 15-17. With the other categories of 18-25 and 25+ sharing this opposing value slightly, it shows that when promoting and advertising this product, items should be distributed in places with a high population of teenagers for example, shopping centres or around a college campus.

As part of the process of distribution, we will post our opening thriller sequence on YouTube.com. Statistics on a website called Social Media Statistics from July 2007 states YouTube.com has 258 million users, 50% visit weekly or more; more than 100 million videos a day are being watched.
Location choices when distributing can be narrowed down with the second question of: What gender are you? Again with the results showing just over half of the individuals being females. As they are the majority, depending on what elements teenage females answer to be particular enjoyable in a thriller, gives advertisers an advantage in knowing what aspects should be emphasised when targeting this group. This therefore suggests that advertisements should be distributed in places which young females are likely to attend. For example, in a woman’s magazine or even near places such as hair salons. This may be considered stereotypical; however, if successful it can also attract new viewers.

Question three explores the nationality of the person. We asked about ethnicity to see if preference in genres was affected by cultural background as well as seeing if any ethnicity enjoyed thrillers in particular.

Results show that cultural background has no effect as the results of the following question support this. How often do you watch Thriller films? The overall often viewing of thrillers shows nearly three quarters of the participants having particular interests in this genre. As we live in a multicultural society, this is an advantage as we now know we have a vast target audience.

With further investigation in order to find out what particular elements engage the thrill seeking viewers, we researched recently released thriller movies that have said to have a lasting effect on the audience. With our personal opinions on the recent films selected, we received some expected results from the contributors. In 2008, The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan won two Oscars, fifty-nine awards including Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film and received another fifty-eight nominations.

The greater part of the chart shows that The Dark Knight was the audience’s favourite choice. In seeing this film myself, above all the other options, it would be my favourite also. My reason for this is that the codes and conventions were used in a dramatic and selective way. For example, as the film reaches the climactic point of action, the score music gets heavier, character movements become faster filling the audience with panic and close ups of subsidiary character’s expression’s as they fear the situation. Other codes such as sparks spraying off tyres as Batman drives upside a building and the powerful blast of a shot gun, all have an impact on the audience as they’re guaranteed to remember the vibrant visual effects against the dark background as well as the thunderous sound effects. To explore this area with more detail, we then asked the public what conventions they enjoyed seeing when watching a thriller movie.

This chart displays the results showing the favoured conventions with nearly 30% votes of suspense and action. This is useful to our group; however as we only have a two minute time frame, these conventions may have to be connoted instead of denoted. This is an advantage for us as the choice of location in a garage, I think, suggests action later on in the film which appeals to the 27% enjoying this convention. To attract the 29% that enjoy the suspense in thriller films on the other hand, we will use the effects offered on editing software called Final Cut Pro. This gives us an opportunity to create suspense through the low key lighting, use of colour and adjustment of score music. To find out the audience’s opinions of if their favourite conventions were presented in the recent films they had seen, we would then have the overview of what a successful thriller contains.

Results received in this chart show that the public’s favoured conventions are featured mostly in The Bourne Ultimatum and The Dark Knight which my personal opinion agrees with the audience. The Bourne Ultimatum features Matt Damon as the protagonist who is searching to solve the consistent enigma of: Who is Bourne? The fast pace and quick shots release energy from the character whilst effects such as explosions, gunfights and sprinting from one rooftop to the next create the genre amazing the audience with these attention grabbing techniques. The Dark Knight however conquers all when startling the audience as the mysterious visual style and theme impress the audience and sets the standards for films of the thriller genre.

As the chart shows 53% supporting single-strand narratives against the 47% which voted for multi-strand narratives, the insignificant difference between preferences left our judgement open to the decision of what type of narrative route to take. We finally agreed that The Missing Suspects would be a multi-strand narrative with the laws perspective on the investigation and the killer’s behaviour. To confirm that The Missing Suspects narrative outline was understood, we then asked the public their views on the script and synopsis.


On the whole, nearly three quarters of each pie chart shows that the narrative outline was understood and accepted in delivering an effective storyline. After researching the ways in which successful films have been categorised to the thriller genre, we wanted feedback on whether our product showed presented the codes and conventions of a thriller.

As 80% of the public confirmed that our narrative contained the conventions and themes linking to the thriller genre, The Missing Suspects has proven to be on the right track for producing a successful thriller. However, all films have to respect the restrictions created by the British Board of Film Classification. Therefore we asked the public what classification they thought The Missing Suspects should have.

This shows that the narrative storyline of the thriller was seen best suited to be certified an 18. This means whilst abiding to the guidelines of legal, protective and societal material represented, our thriller is viewed as suitable for adults only and may not be seen by anyone younger than this age. Consequences of violating these policies include disallowing younger viewer’s access and banning of the film from release in the area.

By distributing these questionnaires, our group have collected information on the ways in which codes and conventions are perceived as well as gaining feedback on The Missing Suspects narrative themes. We will take these results into consideration as we develop our thriller in order to produce a successful opening sequence and attract our target audience.

Alex Christian

Friday 6 March 2009

Cast



Here are the photos of the antagonist and protagonist actors in The Missing Suspects thriller opening. Ben Bullhorn, the killer and unidentified suspect, is acted by Ben Kitto whilst the victim, Rachel Brooke is acted by Alex Christian. Our first choice in casting was to have our director take on the role of the killer. However as he wanted to make sure the steps of the story board were followed through, we came to a decision of casting someone else. The decision of me taking on the role, the editor of The Missing Suspects thriller, of the victim was convenient as I already knew the narrative structure and character positioning planned.

To make our thriller a multi-strand narrative, we wanted to show the involvement of police action. Therefore, we asked three trainee police officers at Havering College to take on the roles of Sergeant Smith and subsidiary characters of a male and female trainee officer. The names of the law inforcing actors are Steve Browne, Andy Peters and Nichola Flint.




(Alex Christian)

Wednesday 4 March 2009

The Missing Suspects Location Shots



Here are the locations in which we plan to film the opening sequence to The Missing Suspects. We have chosen to transform this photography room into a police officer's head office. By using this room, we are able to use the high key lighting that reflects off the characters making them easy to film without constantly re-positioning the camera. The spaciousness also makes voices echo slightly which is an advantage for us as the only dialogue in this scene is valid information to the narrative that the audience need to hear. The second location is a garage that sets a grimey atmosphere which supports the evil characters of Ben Bullhorn.

(Alex Christian)

Monday 2 March 2009

The Missing Suspects Script: By Alex & Dominic

INT – Police office - Night

It’s late at night and a group of police officers are taking notes on a presentation they’re being shown on the investigation of the two victims found dead in their local area. As the presentation shows two of the girls with ‘MURDERED’ written beneath their photos, one girl’s photo shows that she has been reported missing as her body hasn’t been found.

Sergeant
(Pointing at the first victim)
Okay, here we have victim one, Vanessa Wentworth who was murdered January 2nd 2009;
she was stabbed in the chest.
(Pointing at the second victim)
Victim two, Chung Fu was murdered January 13th 2009, stabbed in the neck seven times.

EXT – Garage – Night

The garage is dark and only a tall dark figure can be seen wearing a dark boiler suit and white gloves dragging a black bag into the garage.

INT – Police office – Night

The police officers continue to listen as the presentation shows evidence found at the crime scenes such as a white glove and images of potential suspects.

Sergeant
em>(Standing aside the photo’s of the potential suspects)

We have four potential suspects.
(Pointing at suspect one)
Suspect one, Darren Miller who has committed seven murders and whose whereabouts we
are unaware of.
(Pointing at suspect two)
Suspect two, Richard Zaarak and with five murders, he’s still on the lose.
(Pointing at the images of blank images with question marks)
We currently have two unidentified suspects
(Pointing at an image of informant)
We have now been notified that our informant, Bob Jones, has gone missing.

EXT – Garage – Night

The suspicious character then lifts the black bag placing it in the boot of his car. As he admires his kill, he walks away for the boot of the car to get an arrangement of lilies he has saved for this occasion.

INT – Police office – Night

The police officers pack their belongings away, smarten their uniform and get ready to start the investigation.

Sergeant
(Returning back to the images of victim pointing at a third victim)
A third victim, Rachel Brooke, has been missing since February 20th 2009.

EXT - Garage – Night

The mysterious character walks back to the boot of the car and unzips the head of the bag revealing the third missing victim, Rachel Brooke. Whilst admiring his kill he exhibits an evil grin, zips up the bag, places the lilies on top of it and he calmly closes the boot. Subsequently, he walks over to the shutters, pushes the button opening them completing his deed with a well planned escape.

INT – Car – Night

As the unknown person approaches the car, he gets in and sits in the driver’s seat of the and dials a number on his mobile phone titles, ‘Boss’

Mysterious character
It’s done.

INT – Car – Night

The mysterious character hangs up the phone and puts it on the dashboard following the sound of the engine starting ready to leave the scene of the crime.