Editing

We all met up throughout the half term to edit out Thriller opening. Below is the time plan we stuck to when we edited our video:

Tuesday 3rd April 12pm-4pm
Create sound FX and soundtrack

Wednesday 4th April 2pm-4pm

Create chopping sound FX

Friday 6th April 12pm-3pm

Convert, upload, and crop video files

Monday 9th April 12pm-3pm

Create titles and add transitions

Wednesday 11th April 12pm-3pm

Add sounds to project and alter their volumes

Thursday 12th April 12pm-3pm

Adjust the size ratio of the clips, save final project and export as AVI

In total we edited for roughly 18 hours. We used Audacity to record the sound, then edited our project in the film editing programme Pinnacle Studios 10.

Below is a short video of us walking through how we edited:

Evaluation

Our Thriller Opening was created and based on the work of Alfred Hitchcock; we related our work to that of Hitchcock by the use of the characters, we included a ‘Damsel in Distress’ which occurs in the majority of Hitchcock’s existing productions (e.g. Phsyco) along with a mysterious male protagonist. Although, instead of following in the typical conventions of Hitchcock’s productions, we has the ‘tables turned’ as the Damsel in Distress is uncovered to be the possible protagonist, creating tension, mystery and contrasts the typical conventions of a Thriller.

We also followed in Hitchcock’s convention of being included and ‘showing his face’ by using photographs of ourselves as props (near end, when girl polishes frame) which again, contrasts the convention of Hitchcock and mysteriously twists it to our advantage. Hitchcock also tends to use ‘red herring’s’ to miss lead the audience to unnecessary story lines and importance, we interpreted this convention by using a key. This is highlighted to symbolise the storyline of the female character being ‘locked up’ but is of no importance to the narrative and therefore acts as a red herring due to the highlighting throughout the opening.

To keep the Opening a typical Thriller, we decided to keep the innocent vs. dark, mysterious trait that often occurs in Thrillers. We obtained this by the use of costume, lighting and make-up. For example, we had the Teen girl dressed in a bright dress, with pale, young make-up that has her represented as light, happy, young and innocent and we contrasted this by the Protagonist dressed in a deep trench coat, muddy hiking boots and dark clothing along with greased, combed hair, pale make-up and dark, dark eye rings to connote a sly, devious character that would appear as an obvious threat. We also used the lighting to have the young girl appear in the lightened areas the majority of the time to have her represented to the audience as innocent and vulnerable leaving the mysterious protagonist hidden away in the darkened shadows.

We took consideration when finalising our character choices. We chose to have a vulnerable teen girl to act as our Damsel in Distress and a mysterious male to act as our protagonist as this is a typical convention of a thriller and also represents a wide range of social groups and therefore appealing to a widened audience. As already mentioned, this character choice is typical for a thriller and therefore fits the codes and conventions, connoting a successful thriller opening. This convention will also appeal to a typical thriller audience of young-middle aged males as they can be enticed by the young fem-fatal’s dark and twisting narrative and also relate to the similar aged protagonists antics.

Due to us following the typical, dark, eary atmosphere, the opening will also entice typical thriller audiences as the tension is straight away being built as a mystery is brought the screen with the dark establishing close up of the gory cuts of the girl. But due to the character choices, we may also attract a secondary audience of young females as they may be able to relate to this complex character and her eary narrative, as well as the young, eary soundtrack of the twisted nursery rhyme as the edited edition used is new and fresh.

During the creation of Twenty Days, I think that we will all agree that we learnt a great deal, not only of the codes and conventions of Thrillers, but also the studies of other producers that are incredibly inspirational and therefore developing great understanding of the industry and the individual styles and techniques within. For example we developed understanding of The Coen Brother’s technique of empty establishing shots used to create eary atmospheres. To Alfred Hitchcock’s known technique of Red Herrings to grab the attention of the audience along with adding the mysterious tension and feeling of not knowing. And is why we chose to use these contrasting techniques as inspiration when creating our Preliminary task production and Twenty Days opening.

We also developed a full understanding of soundtracks, sound effects and Diegetic features. We used a number of experimentations to show a full understanding. For example, we tried to create our own Sound effects that were used (e.g. camera shutter, soundtrack lyrics, and chopping noises) and also use as many volume variations as we could to show our understanding of the sound on par with the visual aspects (e.g. we faded in, out, suddenly dropped and varied timings and speed to create tension throughout).

We also attempted to use as many relevant camera angles, shots and movements to show our understanding of this as we earlier regained knowledge of this (as in our Early Preliminary Task we actually ‘broke’ the ‘180 degree’ rule that we were unaware of so hesitantly went back and studied this, along with the understanding of other rules and shot-types that we were unaware/unsure about (e.g. spinning and low, 2 shots and different depths and varied focussing)that we attempted  to showcase throughout our opening production).

Looking back, we all agree that our final production is on a whole new level from our Preliminary Task as just by the use of Sound and Camera angles, it is clear that our knowledge and understanding has significantly developed (e.g. before we used camera shots that were simplistic and of no purpose (e.g. simple 2 shots) whereas in our final opening production we used angles to show the relationships, and relevant shot types to add and release tension in relevant situations (e.g. P.O.V shot when tracking the movement of female to explore into her emotions –help audience to relate, and also to add the tension by exadurating the tensing moment.)

Overall, I am very happy with the outcome and, looking back, I feel that our development is clear and appropriate.


By Nadine Parker

Evaluation: Thriller Opening Final Product

We based our final product on techniques used by Alfred Hitchcock. One of which is the McGuffin, in our example the key used could symbolise an ability to escape which the protagonist doesn’t chose to take, but later they key is of no importance at all. Another inspiration which we drew from Hitchcock is the choice to have himself in his films. We couldn’t have any more characters in our performance, but to combat this we placed photos of all the cast on the desk during the window scene.

We kept the typical characters of a general thriller with the concept of a main male protagonist and a young victim. But in our case we created the victim as also the protagonist of the cause, which challenges the typical media narrative.

After a suggestion we changed the ending of product so it is left on a cliff-hanger, with the audience naive to what happened after the protagonist escaped. This allowed us to keep the audience guessing the outcome, which in our case wouldn’t be shown until the end of the film if it carried on.

In many ways we kept to the codes and conventions of Thrillers, especially through the use of costume and makeup. We dressed the antagonist in black and browns, which is typical of a villain as it makes them seem dark and threatening. While the female protagonist is dressed in an airy pink dress which keeps her reserved and gives the impression of innocence. This is typical of thriller due to the general dark versus light illusion.

We based our thriller very much on the more psychological thriller genre to create a very uncomfortable and distasteful nature. We stuck to this genre through the lighting as we used it to create a distorted and confusing effect which is typical of psychological thrillers.

To contradict the usual spooky aspect to psychological thrillers, the setting we chose was an empty room in a normal house, which was used to make the audience uneasy as it is a typical scene in which the frightening acts are happening. At first we wanted to stick to the genre by setting the scene in a rundown building to connote a broken nature of the narrative. 

Our protagonist is portrayed as a young, teenage girl who we tried to make as normal as possible while also presenting her as innocent. The dress and makeup selected was specifically chosen to make her seem as harmless as possible. The pink dress connoted that she could have been from a middle-class and loving background due to the cut and design. This aspect allowed us to keep to the general stereotype of the middle-class, white, female of humble background is perceived as the polar opposite of villainous.

The antagonist on the other hand is shown to use an old disposable camera and the costume used suggests that he is from a rural community which could also suggests that he lives alone and has no social awareness of how to act around ‘normal’ people. Therefor we had the character wear hiking boots and beige. This also suggests that he is a bit nerdy, which would connote insecurity, anti-social behaviour and bizarre actions which aren’t seen as the norm.

We used a lot of low-angle shots while the antagonist is on camera, and high-angle shots while the protagonist is. We chose to use this as it clearly represents the general stereotype of the male control and power over females. The audience is seen to look up at the male and see him as threatening while the female is looked down upon and looks weak and sheepish.

After doing some research into some of the big film distribution companies and we concluded that the company Lionsgate would be the most suitable. This is due to the fact that it is known for disturbing psychological horror/Thrillers such as the Saw films. Most recently they have produced and/or distributed films such as The Cabin in The Woods and The Hunger Games, some of the best sellers of 2012. The fact that it is such a large and well known company would create a lot of advertisement, as trailers would be shown during other similar films produced by the same company. The use of advertisement is extremely important in selling out a film, so the use of such a label would help create interest for the film as it could afford to create posters and sell on its own site which would draw in keen followers. This also means that it could be advertised world-wide and not just in one or two select countries. The concept for our Thriller overall could be shown on television but would be more suited to the big-screen as it could be rated to allow those who wish to watch it to decide whether they are comfortable to watch it or not. This choice could be made through watching trailers on sites such as youtube, twitter and facebook which have links with many of the big production companies who have the funds to pay to advertise. This company could also use web 3.0 to sell as trailers could be advertised to those browsing the internet through Google who had already shown an interest in current films or the company itself.

The audience could be attracted by the dark and uneasy narrative. The story itself can make the audience feel uncomfortable and frightened – typical of a thriller. To create this effect we used many techniques to increase and then decrease the tension to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. We have a soundtrack playing through much of the main action scene, which eventually drowns out to nothing with heavy breathing – at this point we made a loud banging of a door closing. We used this to make the audience jump and keep them anxious for anything else which could alarm them. A technique used through the soundtrack is the contrast between the eerie and childish nursery rhyme and the sinister quick paced music creates an atmosphere which shifts between spine-chilling and thrilling. This could attract the audience as they could be constantly waiting between the change for action and more emotional scenes.

Our target audience for our final product is mature teenagers to young adults, between the ages of 15-25. We think this because the characters in the Thriller are between these ages allowing the audience to relate. While most Thrillers are stereotypically watched by a male audience we believe that our Thriller could be aimed at both genders.  This is because we have a female protagonist as our main character which could contrast with the ‘norm’ of the narrative of a thriller in which the protagonist is a strong male figure. We did not portray the main female as a femme fatal, which could suggest that the Thriller is not aimed at a male audience but that of a young female audience as they can connect and sympathise with her innocence.  But on the other hand the strong male antagonist could allow the male audience to want to protect the younger, delicate protagonist.

I think we have learned a lot about technologies while making this task. Before creating this I knew very little about the effort of creating and then editing a short film which allows me to appreciate the technology given. We used both an HD camera and a SD camera and we were able to contrast how good the quality of the picture appeared, and we could decide which was the most effective. We chose to use the HD camera to film as we could use such big files on the editing software Pinnacle Studios, and the quality was far stronger which allowed us to film smaller details which could otherwise go unnoticed, it also made our final product seem far more professional.

The editing software which we used to create our final product was Pinnacle Studios and we also used Final Cut Express. We found that the HD camera wasn’t compatible with Final Cut Express but was with Pinnacle studios, so we decided to use this instead, though the software wasn’t any stronger or weaker than the Mac’s. Though the software’s were difficult to use at first I found that we became much stronger at using them through practice and are much more confident now then we were before.

To create our soundtrack we used the software Audacity and we used the same software to create the sound effects such as the camera shutter and the ‘chopping’ noise. We used a microphone to get the best results in all these aspects. We found that this was much like the system Garageband which we have used before so it wasn’t hard to get our head around. It was an extremely helpful and simple system to use which had great results, especially while creating the ‘Oranges and Lemons’ soundtrack in which we had to sing for.

After creating our preliminary task during the first months of the year we found and were advised a few improvements to consider when creating our final product. Something which we learned from our preliminary task was the 180 degree rule. In our preliminary task we broke this rule many times and we thought that it affected the flow in our finished product. We made sure not to beak this rule in our full product by storyboarding exactly what we wanted the outcome to look like and thinking of ways to work around the shift if the setting didn’t allow us to film in this way at first glance.

We also found that we needed to work on our technique while building tension; we thought that the Preliminary task didn’t use any techniques to build tension and the results were quite snappy. We took this into account for the final product and used an increase of music, sharp sounds from silence (eg. The door slamming), and increase then decrease of pace and by fooling the audience into believing a character is there. On our first cut of our final product we found that we needed to add more tension by adding appropriate music while would speed up the pace.

We also used the storyboard to keep track of how long our final task was. We found that while filming our Preliminary Task we went over the expected time a lot. And it was till overtime after we had finished by thirty seconds.  To combat this we kept strict measure on how long each scene should be, and with only a slight bit of narrative which we found took up most of the time in our preliminary task we managed to keep each shot as short as possible. The addition of quicker paced scenes also helped combat this.

Though we found that the lighting was very good in our Preliminary task we wanted to make it as strong as possible, this time using a stronger lamp, instead of a torch on a phone. We found that this also lit up the room more so the shadows weren’t as distorting as the first time, but still created shadows and the desired effect.

By Rebecca Gatfield

Evaluation: Thriller Opening

Our thiller opening was inspired by the work of hitchcock so there are a lot of elements that are similar to his work. For example the point of view shots as the protagonist and antagonist, the narrative being based around feelings of being trapped and of course the fact that the whole group show up in the thriller (photos in the frame).With our costumes, makeup, lighting and props we followed common codes and conventions of thrillers. For example, with the costumes, our protagonist was placed in a pale pink dress showing her as feminine, sweet and innocent where as our antagonist was put into dark shirts and dark coats highlighting him as the evil. I think what differed between our thriller and other thrillers was the setting. At first the group and i had discussed setting the narrative in an abandoned building, to give our thriller a darker and more sinister appearance. However we decided a house would be better because in houses we are meant to feel safe and by making a house seem like a prison, we have played with the audiences mind, just like hitchcock. Also we did something unexpected with our protagonist, like what Hitchcock did in his film 'Psycho'. His protagonist was killed off half way through the film and although our main character doesnt die, she ends up going mad which will shock our audience.

Our protagonist is played by Becky and we made sure her character was as normal as possible. We wanted her to represent all teenage girls so we put her in a light, floaty dress and did her makeup so it was dark but not overdone. By doing this we made sure all girls would be able to relate to her and find it easier to be scared for her as she runs from the antagonist. Also we made her seem very plain and very normal, adding to her innocents. Also through our camera angles we put our antagonist in a position of power through low angle shots. This followed certain stereotypes like men are above women and there are men who would relate to that, represtenting men in the film.

After a little research we decided that the film production company Lionsgate would be the institute we choose to produce our thriller because it is famous for a lot of thriller and horror movies, some of them very twisted for example 'Saw'. Since our Thriller is quite psychological and eerie i think it will fit into the Lionsgate films very easily. Also like any other film that is produced we would have movie posters and a website which would allow us to promote our thriller and encourage people to see it. Advertisment is important in the film industry and so i think a website for our thriller is very important since it can be accessed world wide that way. Also have pages on socail networking sites like facebook, twitter, tumbler etc so that we can build up an audience through people telling their friends about it. Also web based advertisment is easy to access and accessable anywhere so by making a website we have the most chance of people seeing our thriller.

Teenagers and young adults, aged 15 to 25, were are target audience for our thriller. Also I think its targeted a lot more at girls than boys because the main character is female and she's not a sexy femme fatale but more of a damsel in distress which wont appeal as much to boys. However the fact that it is a thriller and the narrative is very dark and plays with your mind, i think young men would appriecate it. Also the girl is wearing pretty revealing clothes and shes attractive so they might be enticed by that.

Our thriller meets the audiences want and needs through the point of view shots in some of the scenes. This puts the audience in the characters position and allows them to feel part of the story. Since our narrative is very thrilling and dark it will make the audience feel nervous and a little scared which is what thrillers are known for. Also we build up a lot of tension through our cuts. For example when our protagonist is running and hiding from our antagonist the cuts are very quick and flicker from point of view shots, close ups and angled shots, building up the tension. This would put the audience on the endge of their seat and be more exciting for them. Since we made a thriller one of our improvments we did was with the sound. We added a more faster, sinister soundtrack along with our oranges and lemons song that we made and we alternated between the two for appropraite scenes. Also in the scene where our protagonist is under the bed we turn off the music completely, and only hear her breathing. Suddenly a door slams, making the audience jump. This will attract our audience since the jumps are thrilling and they will make your heart race.

Whilst making the thriller i learnt a lot about camera's through filming and a lot about editing softwares. We used a HD and SD cameras to make sure we got the best shots so i leanrt about both types of cameras and what camera shots work well and which ones dont. Then there was the editing which we did on pinnical studios for our final product. We had aslo used final cut which was very similair to Pinnacle but in the end we found the end result better when using pinnacle. Also we had to make our own soundtrack. So the group and i sang to the tune of oranges and lemons which then had to be recorded using audacity. So not only did i learn about the editing process, i also learnt about recording sounds and music. Also we looked at garage band and used some of the existing music in our thriller called 'dogma'. This music suited our thriller well and it built tension better than the oranges and lemons soundtrack because it was fast paced.

Since doing the preliminary task, we have incorperated a lot of the improvments that i mentioned in my evaluation of our preliminary task. We definitly made a conscious effort not to break the 180 degree rule and in our thriller we havent broken it. Also in our preliminary task the lighting wasnt very good as it didnt create enough shadows. In our thriller we put a lot more focus onto the lighting. We made the spotlight brighter and the setting darker so that the only light would be ours, this way we could position it in any way we wanted to get the desired shadows and to give our film a more overall sinister feel. Also because the lighting was more low key, especially in the bedroom scene and the under the bed scene. This is following common conventions of thrillers and making our film fit more into the thriller genre. We also did more improvments from the first 'draft' of the thriller opening we created. At first the music and sounds didnt fit well enough with the narrative so in order to build more tension we added more fast paced music and sudden cuts and fade outs to make our thriller more jumpy and to add more tension and suspense. Also we added a few ambient sounds like birds singing in the outside scenes to make it seem more realistic.

Feedback
These are a few comments from people who watched out opening...

'I liked the oranges and lemons music in the beggining and end because i thought it fit the story well and the lyrics match up to the scenes. The other music was good too for the running scenes.'

'Loved the cuts at the beggining, they looked really realistic and gruesome and its quite shocking when you first see it. I liked the bit where the girl drags the shovel too as the sound it makes is really loud and scary.'

'I wasnt expecting it to be so jumpy but when the door slammed when the girls under the bed, my heart skipped a beat. It worked well with the creepy music and all the running and hiding from the bad guy makes you very nervous. I love it'

'The camera angles are good but the camera is pretty shaky. Next time you should use a tripod.'

by Bethany Smith

Improvements

We felt that out thriller opening lacked suspense and tension which, a primary aspect of thrillers, and therefore storyboarded a new scene (below) to switch for a previous clip. We used POV shots to position the audience in direct danger, sudden pauses in the soundtrack to create an uncomfortable atmosphere, and to edit one clip to be in slow motion to drag out the suspense.

By Everyone

Makeup: Protagonist

For the Thriller we had to do makeup for our protagonist to make her look like before hand she had been done up and pretty but now looked rough from being in confinement. In the end the makeup looked like this...

In the planning we had wanted to use white eyeliner in the eyes however we decided against it as it didnt show up much on camera. Instead we used brown eye shadows to give our protagonists eyes more depth and we used brown tones to show her as very plain and ordinary in character.

We also did some bruising on the face as planned, using eyeshadows. This turned out to look very realistic and showed up well in the camera. To add a bit more believability we ran some water under the eyes and smeared the mascara to make it look like she had been crying. We kept with the plan of having her with pale lips which made her look very pale and sickly. Also it highlighted her eyes more which had to be the centre of attention when she was looking scared.

by Bethany Smith

Sound Test

We spent an afternoon testing various sound FX to include within our thriller opening. The most important of these was to decide upon the best substance to use to create a chopping sound. We attempted to create the necessary sound using a honeydew melon, butternut squash, lettuce and chicken thighs as we felt that using a dense object would create the most similar sound to a human being whacked in the head by a spade. Below is our findings.

By Everyone

Final Thriller Opening Evaluation

Over the past several weeks we have planned, filmed, and edited an opening of roughly two minutes for a Hitchcock inspired thriller. The foundation of our Thriller was to consist of a storyline exploring the kidnapping of a young girl and her escape from her paedophilic abductor. Using techniques famously linked to and used by the auteur Alfred Hitchcock; these consisted primarily of extreme high and low angle shots, misleading information, voyeurism and dramatic irony.

I feel that our overall thriller opening creates tension, builds suspense and has moments of shock, all due to the placement of the audience through camera shots. Firstly, the use of a low angle shot through banisters whilst the antagonist is crossing the hall positions the audience to feel vulnerable as the position of the antagonist above the audience gives him authority and power. Secondly, a high angle shot of the protagonist running down the stairs makes her appear defenceless and weak, adding to the tension as the audience fear for her well-being as she appears so helpless. This angle also positions the audience as a voyeur, looking down and watching the protagonist, reflecting another of Hitchcock’s techniques. As well, the use of an over the shoulder shot whilst the antagonist is searching for the protagonist positions the audience as this character, making them feel uncomfortable, a common Hitchcock technique in building suspense. After this, an eye level shot of the protagonist hiding under the bed places the audience in the risky position of the protagonist, adding to the tension. An effective use of camera movement is when the camera pans around the antagonist whilst they rotate on the spot in the opposing direction, creating a distorting effect, which in turn confuses the audience and builds on tension as the audience is positioned to be unsure of the events occurring.

Mise en scene has been carefully selected and used in order to create a well thought out thriller opening which I believe effectively creates tension through realism. The antagonist’s costume works well as the trench coat conceals the majority of his body, suggesting him to be a shady suspicious character, creating tension in the audience’s mind. The tears, blood stains and mud on the protagonist’s dress show up well in shots of the protagonist, inviting the audience to become intrigued as to what the protagonist has experienced. The lighting in our thriller opening is very effective, especially through the use of shadows. Whilst the protagonist is rocking in the opening scene a shadow is cast behind her, suggesting a dark event is to occur and is looming close behind. Again, when the protagonist has her back against the wall when hiding, her shadow is cast behind, also suggesting a sinister event is nigh. When the protagonist is hiding under the bed from the antagonist, only her face is lit, this suggests that she is being engulfed and trapped within the darkness. All of these pre-mentioned lighting features create suspense as the audience is expecting something sinister to happen to the protagonist, and are therefore left threating for her well-being. Also, lighting has been used to place shadows on the ceiling above the antagonist which suggests that evil dominates him and that he is subject to the power of darkness. This also builds on the tension as the audience fear for what the antagonist will do under this influence of evil. Another aspect of mise en scene which we focussed on was the make-up; it was key to create bruises and cuts on our protagonist so to influence the audience into sympathising for her as well as assuming her being captive for a long period of time. I feel we portrayed this element of pain and wounds well as the close-up of the cuts on the protagonist’s arms look realistic and shocking to the audience. As well, the make-up on the antagonist was also important as the dark circles under his eyes and defined jaw bone aged him further so to add to the creepy paedophilic atmosphere. An aspect we used to refer to the techniques of Hitchcock was with the props. The focus of the key throughout the film suggested it to have importance yet actually the key was of little relevance to the plot, a misleading factor much like in the Hitchcock film ‘Psycho’ with the use of the money. Another prop used to match that of Hitchcock’s methods were the photos of each of the members of our media group. This is as Hitchcock made a cameo appearance in each of our films, so we did the same. Therefore I feel our use of props help to introduce the Hitchcock theme successfully. The final aspect of mise en scene we took into consideration was the setting. I believe our choice of setting was well decided as the red walls in the running scenes induce panic of danger in the audience’s mind.

We attempted to incorporate each aspect of sounds found in the sound tree diagram: sound FX, voiceover, ambience, soundtrack and dialogue. Firstly, we used many sound FW such as doors opening and closing, heavy breathing, footsteps and a camera shutter. I feel we used suitable sound FX at reasonable volumes so to create realism and not be interpreted as too obvious or exaggerated. The voice over we used also worked well, originally we had the speech end with “I killed him” as an answer to the final question, however we rightfully cut this so to build the tension further. The ambience sound used were birds during the final scene, their cheerful bird song contrasts with the action therefore giving the audience a false sense of security, thus creating shock when the events are realised to be dark and sinister. In my opinion the most effective use of sound is the soundtrack. The opening and closing soundtrack, oranges and lemons, create a creepy atmosphere due to the slow tempo. Then by introducing an upbeat and tense soundtrack during the highest tension moments adds to the suspense. Finally, the dialogue, I feel, was effective as it remained short and didn’t lead astray from the current events, adding to the tension. Overall the sound works well combined and is constantly adding to the tension and suspense.

On the other hand there are some aspects of our production which didn’t work so well. Often the camera shots are shaky due to a lack of a tripod, although this sometimes works to add confusion to the scene, the majority of the time it would be more practical to have a still shot. This could easily be improved for next time by the use of a tripod. As well, the lighting also affected our shots negatively as without the use of filler lights the camera struggled to focus, resulting in blurred images. Next time we would consider using two filler lights as well as our key light so to ensure the shot is always focussed. Another issue with individual shots the angle in which the opening scene is shot. Due to facing the antagonist and protagonist the camera doesn’t see what Anna stabs Mark Radcliff with, therefore this could be interpreted as her merely hitting him which would not cause him to collapse. Next time we would contemplate the camera shots in detail, perhaps adding a close-up of the protagonist stabbing the antagonist so to ensure the audience is not confused by the events. Another negative issue with the production is during the scene in which Anna is hid under the bed. As the camera tracks the antagonist entering the room, glimpses of my own belongings come into shot. This could easily be fixed if we were to re-create our film once more by simply moving these objects. I feel that they impact negatively as they remove the sense of isolation as they are clearly a teenaged girls possessions, and therefore the realism of the film is lost slightly.

I feel that our thriller has conformed to the typical codes and conventions of thrillers by including: a damsel in distress; tension and suspense; dark ominous shadows; quick cuts during the chase scene. However there are aspects of our thriller which successfully challenge some thriller conventions, such as how the audience is made to fear the protagonist and her insanity during the closing scene. This is effective as the audience feels they cannot sympathise or trust either character, causing the audience to feel isolated and scared.

Our project represents two social groups: vulnerable girls, and masculine men. The female protagonist wears a floaty, pink dress which represents youth, as well as having pale skin connoting innocence, both which portray her as a young, naive child. The male antagonist, on the other hand, has a dark defined bone facial bone structure, unshaven face, and a long baggy costume; these cumulate to form a mysterious rugged man, presenting him with a raw masculine authority. However, this stereotype of genders reverses when the female protagonist becomes the dominant character when she carries the shovel. This one prop allows us to convey power onto the protagonist, confusing the audience as to who they should sympathise for and who to fear.

I believe that Lionsgate would be the best production company for our thriller as they often produce horrors and thrillers such as 'American Psycho' and 'Saw'. As well their target audience is similar to that of our thriller, 15-25 year old males, and a secondary audience of females within this same age bracket- often the girlfriends of the primary audience. I feel our thriller addresses our audience by positioning them as the vulnerable protagonist using point of view shots; as well a tense chase sequence when he protagonist just escapes the antagonist.

From creating this thriller I have learnt how to properly operate a camera; to angle, pan, zoom and focus using various settings and techniques. As well I know understand how to use editing software such as Final Cut and Pinnacle Studios. I can now edit film clips by: cutting their length; overlaying sound and adjusting the volume of all sounds- including that picked up by the camera; incorporate title screens; change the size of films shots, and use effective transitions. Finally, I also learnt to use sound software such as Audacity and Garage Band. Audacity allowed us to record and edit sounds, using amplification, echoing and speed tools; whereas on Garage Band we were able to compile vaious pre-recorded sounds to create our soundtrack.

By gathering feedback from those who have viewed our thriller opening I am able to draw a conclusive impression of the film. The majority of those asked, the use of lighting creates a strong impact on the thriller by introducing the suggestion of evil lurking near. As well, the shot looking up at the male antagonist while he searches for the protagonist (who is currently hid under the bed) was the favourite of many of those questioned as the camera angle, make-up and lighting here creates a creepy atmosphere.

Compared to our preliminary task this final thriller opening is far better; we learnt not to break the 180 degree rule, as well as which camera angles worked and those which were too extreme. To conclude I am very proud and pleased with our final thriller opening as we successfully included all aspect of mise en scene, a multitude of camera angles as well as movements, various sounds, and an effective through narrative. All of which compile to create the building of tension and moments of shock. Though there are mistakes and improvements possible to be made I feel our production was to our highest standard with numerous hours spent planning, filming and editing to ensure just so.

By Elli Smart

Possible Setting: Prison/Bedroom

For the first three sheets of our storyboard we planned to have the main protagonist in an empty prison-like room. We decided that this room should be empty, dusty and diminutive. The room would also have to offer many chances to experiment with camera angles which can reflect Hitchcock’s style of film.

We thought that this room would be a good choice as it is confined and almost completely empty. Though the size of the room could cause some issues while filming, for example would be far too small to fit a tripod in from certain angles. 

A good point about the room is that the walls are completely bare and are a very pale cream colour. This emphasises just how empty the room is, leaving the protagonist secluded and giving an abandoned feel. The white walls also connote hospitals and perhaps psychiatric hospitals which could reflect on her mental well-being at the time. 

There is also a matching bed and black desk in the room, which could imply that while the room is empty there are still the general luxuries. This would help emphasise that while the protagonist has kidnapped her, he believes that he is protecting her. 

There are also thick red curtains in the room which are good for keeping the light out of the room effectively, allowing us a chance to experiment with different lighting techniques which could help make the scene more ominous. The colour could also symbolise dark and carnal intentions, red being the colour of love and also lust. But the curtains could also lessen the confined ambience as it means there is a window behind it, and then a connection to the outside world. But we could easily position the camera so this isn’t in shot.

By, Rebecca Gatfield.

Female Protagonist Costume

By Rebecca Gatfield

Making the Female Protagonist's Costume

By Everyone

Oranges and Lemons Soundtrack

Firstly is the unedited soundtrack. We overlaid our voices so to create a thickening texture and add volume throughout the soundtrack, this creates tension and suspense.

Below is an edited version where echoing has been used on our voices to add to the eerie atmosphere.

By Everyone

Special FX makeup

For our thriller, the group and i decided we wanted to have a scene where we see our protagonist cut her arm with a key, dashing in cuts to count the number of days she has been captive. I was given the task of doing the special fx makeup. Here is what it looked like...

And here is what i did to make them...

1. I took eyelash glue and made 13 long blobs along Becky's (playing our protagonist) along the inside of her arm.
2. I took the end of a makeup brush and blended out the edges of eath blob so it blended into the skin.
3. I waited for it to become semi dry and then using pair of tweezers, I cut through each blob to make it look like cut skin.
4. Then, when the glue was completely dry I covered it with foundation that matched Becky's skin tone so it looked more like her skin.
5. Next, taking red eyeshadow I brushed is roughly over each fake cut to make them look more sore and fresh.
6. I took deep red lipstick and using a small brush i filled in each cut with red lipstick to look like drying blood.
7. Finally i wanted to make some of the cuts nearer her elbow look older so I used a little black eyeshadow a roughly dotted some within the cuts, making them look scabby and old.

We wanted to portagonist to have the cuts not just to show how long she has been captive but also to show she is slowly losing her mind because she is self harming.

by Bethany smith

Setting Vlog

We have decided to shoot three of our Thriller's scenes in my house. It took some deliberation to decide where would be best to set each scene; this vlog explains why we chose each settings that we did.

As our thriller is going to reflect the methods commonly used by Hitchcock, many of the aspects I discuss in the vlog relate to Hitchcock's thrillers; such as the theme of entrapment, and extreme high and low angle shots.

By Elli Smart

Preliminary Task

By Everyone

Male Antagonist's Costume

We have three possible ideas for how our Male Antagonist’s hair will be styled.

Firstly: to have his hair shaggy and concealing his face, this will give the impression of mystery and hidden motives. As well this adds an animalistic feel to his appearance, giving the audience the impression that he is a rugged and aggressive character.

  

Secondly: to have his hair tied back in a ponytail as this implies order amongst the chaos of the knots and tangles in his hair, a paradox to conceal the character’s true motives. 

Thirdly: we are considering using gel to create a greasy look for the antagonist’s hair. This will suggest he doesn’t keep himself well-groomed. As well the greasy hair creates a creepy, dirty impression of the character.

The make-up we will be using will be subtle: purple eye shadow around the lower eyelids to give the impression of a lack of sleep; pallid foundation on the cheeks and grey shaded cheek bones to create a pale skeletal face, connoting death and evil. Under make-up also comes facial hair; our male antagonist will have a messy unshaven face to add to the impression of his rugged, animalistic masculinity. 

We wanted the costume to suggest that the antagonist lives in a very rural area to emphasise how the two characters' are isolated and alone. This is a method often used by Hitchcock so to present the theme of entrapment, and we have carried this theme through various mise en scene aspects. Therefore we have decided to use baggy beige trousers, hiking boots and a green/brown trench coat as these connote the outdoors, poverty and the rural countryside. We chose to incorporate a black shirt as black is often associated with evil and death, suggesting the character has sinister intentions.

By Elli Smart

Preliminary Task Bloopers

By Everyone

Film Plan: Dates and Times

By Everyone

Storyboard

By Everyone

Possible Setting: Living Room

In our thriller, the group and i decided to have a few scenes at the end to show our protagonist before she was kidnapped, safe in her own home. We all decided that my living room would be the best place to be the setting for our protagonists home scenes.
The part of the storyboard that will be set here is...

To show the setting i have taken pictures of my front room at different angles...

picture 1

 picture 2

 picture 3

 picture 4

Good points
As seen in picture 2 there is a large front window overlooking the street. This front window look directly into the room and is big enough that you can see everything that happens inside. This will be perfect when doing the point of view shots from the stalkers perspective. This shot will make the audience feel uncomfortable as they feel that they are spying on a young girl.
The living room's colour scheme is also very important. The walls and sofas are all white which connotes purity and innocence. This will highlight our protaginists good nature as she is a reflection of her house. Also their are hints of purple in the room which symbolise her feminine side.
The room is aslo quite spacious so we will have enough room to manoeuvre the camera and the tripod.

Bad points
The living space is quite cluttered so before filming some furniture will need to be repositioned in order to allow the camera angles we want in the scenes.
Also outside their are no bushes or hiding places that the stalker could hide. Without a sense of hiding within the shot (peeking out behind a bush) the shot will lose some of its realism.

By Bethany Smith

Hair and Make-up Ideas: Female Protagonist

Since the female protagonist is an innocent young girl, we want to capture that in the hair and makeup. By following certian codes and connventions we can portray the protagonist as vulnerable and innocent.

Hair

• For the protagonists hair we want to keep it simple and sweet looking. Following certian stereotypes and conventions we are planning on having simple straight hair with a simple hair accessories like a head band or a ribbon. This will give her a certain innocence as she is highlighted as normal almost plain young girl.
• The hair accessory we planned on will hopefully be in either the colour red or black. This will hint to the audience that their is something more sinister and dark about the protagonist under all of her innocence.
• Since out protagonist has been in confinement for some time in our thriller, we decided to make the girls hair look dirty and straggely, giving the illusion that she hasn't washed in weeks. We will use hair oil to achive this and this will make the kidnap situation seem more realistic.  

makeup

• Since our protagonist is an innocent young girl, we are planning to highlight that with light and pretty eye makeup. We will be using white eye pencil to extend the whites of her eyes and give her bigger, more doll like eyes. Also we will be using pale, slightly shimmery eye shadow to make her fightened eyes stand out more.
• We our planning on contouring the face slightly in order to give the character a more sculpted and beautiful face on camera. This is done a lot in thriller films to give the characters face more depth and dimention on film.
• The lips will be understated. We wont use red or she may end up looking more like a femme fetale than a damsel in distress. Since the girl has been kidnapped for a while, we will make the lips look bloodless and pale, giving her a sickly look.
• Along with face makeup we will also be doing some special effects makeup. Using black and purple eyeshadows to create bruising and dirt smudges on our protagonist. This will highlight to the audience how long she had been captured for and make the whole kidnap seem more realistic. Also we will be making some realistic looking cuts and scrapes using red lipstick, fake blood and eyelash glue.

By Bethany Smith

Thriller planning: Oranges and Lemons

During the planning of a thriller, the group and I decided to incorporate a nursery rhyme into our idea.  We liked the idea of turning something innocent and childish into something dark and sinister.  A lot of other thrillers use this technique also so we thought it would be a good idea.

First we looked up several nursery rhymes and picked out the ones we felt went well with our idea.  Next we chose which nursery rhymes had a more sinister meaning to them and which sounded creepy when they were sung.  In the end we were left with one song, oranges and lemons.

Lyrics

"Oranges and lemons" say the bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings" say the bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich" say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know" say the great bells of Bow
"Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head
Chip chop chip chop - the last man's dead."

We decided on oranges and lemons because of the story behind the words.  The song is about someone owing someone money and because they cannot pay it they are executed by beheading. Even though the tune is happy and bright the words are not which gives this nursery rhyme a mysterious and dark feeling to it. Perfect for a thriller.

By Bethany Smith.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

Here is my evaluation of my groups preliminary task...
Things we did well...

Things we need to improve on...

Thanks for watching!
By Bethany Smith.

Preliminary Evaluation

What We Did

We created our Preliminary Thriller opening following the style the Coen Brothers.

Our Preliminary storyline featured two women whose heist had failed, landing one of them, Nina (played by myself), in prison for seven years. The clip opens with establishing shots of the setting, a school, then zooms in on our supposed female protagonist (characterised by Bethany), who later becomes apparent as merely a red herring. The camera follows our supposed protagonist into an office where she is confronted by Nina, the antagonist as well as her old partner in crime. During these scenes an upbeat soundtrack plays, the use of music against the grain creates the shock when Nina appears; as well a voiceover by Nina plays over the top of this soundtrack, ending just before our protagonist enters the office. After an awkward reunion between the ladies, our antagonist becomes violent, throwing the other against the wall. As Nina approaches the supposed protagonist an eerie soundtrack plays along with another voiceover by Nina, this time explaining what went wrong in their heist, trust. Nina then strangles the other to death, leaving her flumped against the wall as she leaves the room, the camera drifting from the antagonist to the dead body, gradually fading to a blackout.

Which Aspects Worked Well and Which Were Unsuccessful

All the above choices and shots create our Preliminary Thriller opening, with some working and others not. The use of Mise en Scene, sound, camera shots and angles are all important; we discovered a few useful techniques and rules best not to be broken during the planning, filming and editing of our clip.

Firstly, the opening establishing shots can be viewed as both successful and a failure. In the storyboard for our Preliminary Thriller we presented our intentions of using several establishing, panning, shots of the school, including a cross dissolve transition to give the appearance of people disappearing to highlight the aspect of isolation. We originally decided to use extreme long shots as they are often incorporated at the start of Coen Brothers’ films to exaggerate the impression of being alone, which we attempted to replicate. However, due to a lack of time, we had to cut several of these establishing panning shots and double the speed of the ones we kept, so to keep our clip under one minute long. I feel this has drawn attention away from these opening shots which are usually a strong focus of Coen Brothers’ film openings.

On the other hand, we decided to still use the cross dissolve transition, which worked effectively. Unlike in our storyboard this transition was used to link the shot of a zoom in on the School’s windowed door, and the extreme close-up shot of the supposed female protagonist grabbing the paper from a desk. The impression of a continuous shot through the door allows the audience to feel as though they are intruding; a similar technique has been used in Coen Brothers’ films such as ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’ when the camera zooms in on a particular window, yet does not enter through it, which also presents our intentions to create a similar production to that of the Coen Brothers.

The blank sheet of paper, its presence exaggerated by the close-up of the prop, is to subtly enhance the theme of isolation, as the page is empty. This theme relates to the isolation present in most Coen Brothers’ films; however, I feel that this prop is not used as effectively as it could be as its purpose is unlikely to be recognised by the audience

We used a mid-shot of the lower half of the supposed female protagonist to highlight her femininity. This is done by the use of a tight, tailored skirt and seductive black heels, which together give the impression of a strong business woman. This shot worked well as her costume is used to strengthen the intended viewer response, for them to feel seduced by this woman as well as intimidated

Throughout these shots an upbeat soundtrack is played as this relates to the type of soundtrack often used in Coen Brothers’ films. The cheery tempo suggests a false security and leads the audience to feel more shocked when the events become more sinister. Along with the soundtrack is a voiceover by the character Nina. This sets the scene well as it discusses a heist, hinting at the storyline to create suspense and tension yet not revealing too much so to decrease the later shock. The voiceover ends seconds prior to the soundtrack which suddenly stops, without fading out, as the door is slammed shut. This emphasises the atmosphere of tension and theme of entrapment, as well as creating shock. Shocking turn of events are often used in Coen Brothers’ films, such as when in ‘The Big Lebowski’ the protagonist, Lebowski, is attacked in his home and his head is shoved down the toilet; therefore our use of a sudden shock presents similar aspects to Coen Brothers’ films.

The scene within the office presents both the negative and positive aspects of our overall film. The unsuccessful features were mainly due to the setting we chose as it had little room for manoeuvring, especially when it came to camera shots and movements. This resulted in us breaking the 180° rule thus disturbing the flow of shots; on top of this the desk prop suddenly vanished from shot due to the rotation of characters, so to have enough room for the action. As well the lighting was difficult to alter as the blinds concealing the windows were ineffective and disallowed us to create the harsh shadows we had originally intended for. On the other hand some of the sequence of shots worked very effectively, especially the consecutive shots of Nina approaching the supposed protagonist and then the shot of Nina’s hand reaching up around the other’s neck. As well, during this sequence of shots, the intended shadow of Nina’s figure engulfing the victim foreshadows her soon overpowering of her, as well as suggesting Nina is to bring death and evil, as these are both connotations of darkness. This use of lighting is very effective and stands out in our production to me as it is a strong use of mise en scene used to create tension and suspense.

The reason why some of the shots during the confrontation between Nina and the supposed protagonist do not work as consecutive shots is due to several shots having been cut. Originally our film would have exceeded far beyond the maximum time limit and therefore, so to ensure the dialogue is damaged and makes sense, we had to cut several shots of unnecessary dialogue. However, the shots used for these cut sections would have allowed the sequence to flow more so without sudden changes in angles and camera directions, leading to the breaking of the 180° rule. This definitely had a negative effect on the overall production as the scene suffered due to this time limit and no longer appears as it should do.

We used an extreme close-up of the antagonist’s hand locking the door, along with a sound effect to register this action. The close-up, however, does not fit in the sequence of shots and appears out of place; even so, its appearance is effective as it highlights how they are trapped. The sound effect we used was created by morphing two other sound effects together, this posed difficulty when editing as there we had no actual sound of a door locking and therefore had to improvise.

Toward the end of the office scene, as the antagonist casts the dramatic shadow across the victim, another soundtrack and voiceover are simultaneously played. This time the soundtrack is of a much slower pace; the use of this tense string instrumental creates a daunting atmosphere and foreshadows the sinister approaching events. As well, the voiceover, though still voiced by the same character (and actor), is spoken slower and deeper to also add to the suspense. By using the line “people will die” in our voiceover this suggests that numerous deaths will occur, adding to the suspense and shock of the scene. This is very effective as it allows our short clip to interest the audience in what else is to come.

Both of the characters wore red lipstick so to represent the colour’s connotations of passion, danger, and blood. This worked well, especially during the mid-shot of the supposed protagonist’s head and shoulders. The make-up used implied to the audience the danger of this character, suggesting she may not be all she appears, perhaps even as far as swaying her to be more of an antagonist in the audience’s minds. This is effective as it causes the audience to question the good will of the character, often an aspect that appears in Coen Brothers’ films, thus further creating an obvious link between our clip and these auteurs.

I feel that the costume choices worked well as the antagonist is in all black, as opposed to the assumed protagonist who wears a white blouse. These colours, especially when used in Wild West films which the Coen Brothers have created many productions in the style of, represent good and evil, suggesting to the audience which of the characters they should believe to prevail. I believe our twist, in that the ‘good guy’ dies works effectively as it puts the audience on edge and continues them to question which characters they can trust.

The actors chosen for the production were myself and Bethany, however as Bethany is dramatically taller than myself, especially when in heels, her height gives the impression of her character to have authority and power over mine, Nina. With Nina having to overpower the supposed protagonist I feel she should appear more superior, with height being the object of doing so, and therefore I feel the actors chosen for the specific roles did not work effectively, possibly even having a negative effect on the appearance of the film.

Areas for Improvements Next Time

· Next time I feel we should attempt to create our own sound effects so that we are not restricted by the limited sound FX on the editing software used.

· I don’t feel that the high and low angle shots worked well as they appear too exaggerated and unnatural; next time I feel more subtle camera angles should be used so to keep the realism of the production.

· Having learnt of the 180° rule, next time we can ensure it is not broken which will enable toe smooth sequence of shots.

· Now that we are more understanding of time limitations we should be able to create a production of a suitable length without having to cut and speed scenes as this does damage the overall production.

· Knowing the importance of which actors are selected, I believe we should be specific to the characters and how they should appear, when casting for our final production.

· If props are to be used we should make clearer their purpose to allow the audience to understand their use and what they symbolise.

· With more time and access to better equipment, next time we should ensure better lighting instruments are used so to create the effect we desire as in our Preliminary Task we resorted to camera flashes in already bright rooms.

Throughout the film we managed to incorporate costume choices, props, effective lighting, make-up, two soundtracks, diegetic dialogue, sound FX, two voiceovers, low and high angle shots, two-shots, mid shots, establishing shots, extreme close-ups, over the shoulder shots, long shots and close-ups. Together these compile an overall successful Preliminary One Minute Thriller.

By Elli Smart