Filming schedule and risk assessment - Miss Georgiou

It is important to have filming schedules with in thrillers because they help organise and structure the co-ordination of the film. As a group we thought that it was important to have a structured plan of what we were going to do.

For example our filming schedule consisted out of different times in which we would shoot each angle. For example at 4pm we were to begin filming the sequence of the girl getting ready and also an establishing shot of the street so that the audience can gather and interpretation of the urban build of the area. Secondly we would record the scene when the audience see her interacting with water, we would all have a understanding of how each sequence would be filmed and also at what times each should be shot. We believed that if a strict filming schedule was implemented in our clip then it would eliminate any possibility for mistakes. Then we would film the short scene when the girl is walking down the street, we planned as a group to stick to our schedule to make sure that we were spending a sufficient amount of time on each scene. After we would film the sequence of the girl walking into the forest towards the lake. Next we would film the remaining scenes left in our clip. After we thought we had completed everything we would go through our recordings to see where we feel needs improving, this would help our thriller clip as there will be less mistakes and will flow more easily.

As a whole I feel as though the filming schedule provided our group with a sense of clarity amongst all of the people involved in the film. Filming schedules make films efficient as they're able to glance at the schedule and see when they need to film each scene of the play. It is also less time consuming as the people involved are working quickly to ensure that the film is completed on time.

Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

1) Write up a DETAILED recount of your narrative/group storyboard
2) Include a summary explaining how and why certain elements (look at a few) will help make your sequence better/more conventional

In this post I will mainly be writing up a detailed recount of my storyline/narrative and write how I believe it will be conventional to the thriller genre. I will also be including a summary explaining how our thriller is conventional to the thriller genre and elements that could make our sequence more conventional.

Our narrative is based around the idea of a girl being possessed, it starts off by the girl putting make up on, we thought of starting with this innocent iconic opening mainly because we thought it would be conventional to the thriller genre as it would be an example of iconography and also the girl would be young and blonde which are also conventional to the thriller genre. The fact that it would start with such an innocent, lonely girl doing an average act (applying make up) would build to the relationship between both the audience and the characters as they would sympathise with the situation. It would also add to the shock when eventually she shows evidence of her possession.

As the scene continues we see glimpses of evidence which would all suggest her overarching possession of water, the fact that the audience see small evidence of water it would remind the audience that the girl is far from normal. It would be conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense amongst the audience as they know that it is building up to a climax. The water will be poured out of the glass onto the floor, it would be poured onto the floor to emphasise the idea of water being destructive and harmful. So the realism of the situation grows with significance because the audience find the idea of a young girl being possessed makes her seem abnormal and creates empathy. When the climax eventually arrives the girl has travelled to the lake through her overpowering water possession.

As the scene progresses we tried to incorporate the idea of typical thriller conventions such as low key lighting we thought to include this idea as it emphasises the iconography of the young girl because the dark lighting, will make the girl seem brighter because what she is wearing. This will make her seem more powerful and therefore will add to the already established relationship between both the audience and the characters because it will make her possession seem more individual and will add to the sympathy.


As we started editing our thriller clip we decided that we would need to re-arrange/alter we decided that there was a few things that we needed to add in order to make it more conventional -

Removal of watch - Initially Robyn came up with the idea of dropping a watch into the lake to lake to resemble the strength of the possession and the fact that its inevitable and time will not cure it.

Planning opening credits - Miss Georgiou

Our thriller film:
Actors- Robyn Tansley
Director- Domenico Martini
Title- The Water Bells
Music- Harry Fagan
Costumes- Robyn Tansley
Editing- Domenico Martini, Harry Fagan, Robyn Tansley
Production- MartiniProductions
Producer- Domenico Martini
Writing- Harry Fagan
Co producer- Robyn Tansley

In films the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They're usually proposed onto a black screen to emphasise the importance of them, often along side music or theme music to give an idea of the plot. The main reason credits are incorporated into films are to include and award credit to the director, production company and the actors. Opening credits are also useful when establishing the genre of the film because they're able to perceive the general ideas of a thriller film.

In our research into planning opening credits we looked at the film 'Se7en'. We wanted to know the order in which the credits appeared so that we could make our sequence realistic and professional. The order was: Production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music, costumes, editing, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writing and the director again.
When watching the opening credits we realised that a lot of low key lighting was used and also basic and easily accociated colours. Such as red for blood and black for mystery and danger. These techniques are conventional to a thriller because they create suspense and tension amongst the audience. The credits are portrayed onto a white background because they can show a clear differentiation between good and evil. There was also hidden identity used within the sequence because it emphasises the mysterious of the film, it also builds a relationship with the audience they're intrigued to who the killer is. The hidden identity also adds to the establishment of the genre, also the jerkiness of the credits adds enigma to the clip as well helps establish the genre to the audience.  These conventions would make our opening sequence more conventional to the thriller genre as it would make the audience immediately associate our thriller with a typical thriller. The fact that dismal colours were used would create both tension and suspense amongst the audience as they can clearly see that there will be a scary storyline. The colours would also make our main character seem more innocent and vulnerable as she is being portrayed as evil but yet looks like a child which are often harmless. The audience feels a stronger bond because they feel empathy for the character meaning that they don't want anything bad to happen to her.


Another film that we analysed the opening credits for was 'The Black Swan', we seemed to notice that music used is particularly relevant and appropriate to the genre of the film. The opening credits are written with charcoal this connects with the music being played as when the tempo increases the speed of the writing the credits. When the writing slows it creates suspense and tension as the audience are anticipating something to happen. We also noticed that the title appeared last this may suggest that its the most important aspect of the credits. Dark colours make up the majority of the clip so when the title is revealed in white, it shows that there is a underlining clarity between good and evil. This is also evident when the credits slowly fade out letter by letter, this would make the audience think that a theme of mystery is portrayed in the film and keep the audience engaged. 

Production Roles - Miss Miller

Production is not a specific department, but a group of people in a series of functional groups that separately work on different aspects of the film. These roles are incorporated into films as they make it easier to organise and make a successful film. The roles include;

• producers - A Film Producer creates the conditions for filming. The Producer initiates, coordinates, supervises, and controls matters such as the money raising, hiring items, and arranging for distributors. The producer is evident throughout the film and holds a key role in the development and completion of the project.
• directors - The director manages the creative aspects of the film, including directing the content and the fluidity of the films plot, directing actors, organising the location of the scenes, and managing technical details such as cameras, lighting etc.
• actors -  These are the people who play specified roles within the play in order to make the whole film make sense. They contribute to the completion of the play because they're making the storyline possible.
• director of photography - The DoP is the leader of the camera and lighting crew of the film. They make decisions on lighting and framing of shots in conjunction with the film's director. The director tells the DoP how he/she desires the shots to look and then the DoP creates the intended effects.
• music producer - The music producer is the head of the sound department, and is responsible for recording all sound in the film. Involves the choice of equipment used such as microphones/speakers etc.
• screenplay writer - Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, developing the narrative, writing the screenplay, and delivering it, in the required format, to Development Executives. Screenwriters therefore have great influence over the creative direction and emotional impact of the screenplay and, arguably, of the finished film.
• mes co-coordinator -  Are responsible for the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, décor, props, costume.
• editor - The Film Editor is the person who assembles the various shots into a coherent film, with the help of the Director. There are usually several Assistant Editors.

Production roles are a pivotal part of any film as they enable the co-ordination of roles within films. Our production roles were as follows:

producers - MartiniProductions

directors - Domenico Martini, Robyn Tansley

actors -  James Simth, Daisy Ridley, Harris Wane

director of photography - Harry Fagan

music producer - Alfred Hernandez

screenplay writer - Domenico Martini, Robyn Tansley

mes co-cordinator -  Harry Fagan

editor - Domenico Martini, Robyn Tansley, Harry Fagan

The main reason for Harry being the director of photography was that he had, had previous experience of filming before so therefore our group believed that he would be best suited for the role as he could convey our group narrative clearly to the audience. Harry was also the mese-en scene coordinator as he could easily link micro elements within our thriller with relevant aspects of mise-en scene.

Secondly we chose Robyn as one of the directors as she has good coordination skills which would enable her to position the actors in relevant positions which would make the thriller more effective and conventional. She also was involved in writing the screenplay for the actors as she had a clear idea of where the narrative should go and what should be done in order to make the thriller film more effective.

Finally I was amongst the directing panel as I was good at ensuring that everything was filmed in according to plan, and also I had a structure of where everything should be filmed. We all also were involved in editing the thriller as we believed that it was important to gather and incorporate everyone's ideas into the editing so that the sequence would be more conventional.

Allocating production roles amongst our group definitely made the production stage much easier as everybody knew what they were in charge of and the responsibilities in which they were assigned. The production roles would have made our thriller more effective as it would enable everybody to have a clear scene of mind towards our thriller, meaning that it was more structured and conventional as the ideas were thoroughly thought through.

Inspirations - Miss Miller

1) Why do we need inspiration before we can create something?
2) What clips have you looked at for what micro-elements and how have you taken inspiration from them?
3) How has looking at various clips helped you create a better sequence?

We need inspirations within films to ensure that certain elements in different films can be incorporated into one. Throughout our planning into our opening clip we viewed various films where certain elements were conveyed. We gathered some of our inspirations from films such as; Halloween, SAW, Se7en, Reservoir dogs as we thought they conveyed elements which were conventional to the thriller genre. We intended for our sequence to perceive themes of suspense and tension as their two typical conventions of thrillers.

When we looked at clips from the film Halloween we were particularly looking at the narrative idea and sound techniques used. As we watched the clip we came across a camera technique that we thought was particularly good, as it gave you the perspective of the killer. A point of view shot was used when we saw the villain approaching the two innocent characters and when he is walking up the stairs. The use of a point of view shot would have been to give the audience the experience of the villain, and feel more sympathy for the victim. This is conventional to a thriller as it creates suspense and shock amongst the audience. We also like this shot as it helps build a relationship between the audience and the characters which would keep them engaged throughout the clip. Another feature of Halloween that we liked was the use of contrapuntal sound when the killer is approaching the victim we hear the gentle sound of her innocent humming, similarly in the clip we watched from Reservoir dogs contrapuntal sound is used; when he is torturing the victim. The use of contrapuntal sound would help create a contradicting atmosphere amongst the audience making the relationship between characters and audience more evident, as the audience feels a sense of sympathy amongst all of the happy music. This feature is conventional to a thriller as it creates suspense, sympathy ans tension within the audience. We choose to try and incorporate these features into our own thriller clip because we believe that they would make it more conventional to the thriller genre and also engage the audience and keep them interested. A final element that we incorporated into our film was the idea of using children as he victims, as in the film Halloween we see the identity of the killer at the end being a child but this juxtaposes the idea that he is also the victim as his body could be demented or haunted. We particularly liked this idea as the our main character (the young girl) would be demented and possessed by water meaning that she is driven by her needs.

Our third clip that we chose to use micro-elements from was the clip from SAW. We saw several variations of lighting throughout the clip, and we analysed ever one to see what specific lighting would match our narrative and make it more conventional to the thriller genre. Low key lighting was used in the clip to create tension, suspense and also to add to the whole narratives idea. We would try to use low key lighting as much as possible as it would help establish the genre of our thriller film, and also build a relationship between characters and the audience. A second micro element that we liked from SAW was the narrative idea, that you had to fight for survival and that not everyone will succeed. Finally I picked up on the establishing shot used of the whole room and the keys. I wanted to involve this shot in our clip at the start to give the audience an idea of the location of the film and help establish the urban area and how significant that idea was. This would be conventional to a thriller as it would add suspense and tension to the narrative as it is dark and not busy which would make the audience sympathise with the situation. Furthermore would add to the relationship between both characters and audience as it would make the audience feel more sympathetic. We would like to use the inspirations to make the possessed girl seem more innocent and the low key lighting will add to the vulnerability of the girl making the audience feel empathy towards her, ultimately this will make our thriller more conventional as it makes the audience more engaged throughout meaning they will follow the narrative.

The final clip that we analysed was from the film 'Se7en', here we saw several examples of different conventions used within thrillers. We specifically looked at the opening credits so that we could gauge elements that we wanted to use in out sequence, for example we liked the way in which the names of directors,actors etc were presented. The almost flicked through the appearance, I liked this as it would immediately convey an idea that the film is not steady and simple, but a film which is full of thrills. Also as the opening scene begins we see un human like hands turning over the page and revealing disturbing pictures. Yet it was never actually revealed who the person was, I liked this aspect of hidden identity used as it created a sense of mystery and would add suspense which is typical to the thriller genre. It would also add to the relationship between the characters and the audience feels suspense and of the edge of their seats (tense). Also within the clip basic primary colours were used such as black,red,brown. The fact that only dark colours were used would suggest danger/blood and things associated with death traditionally. It would also give the audience an idea of the type of genre the film would follow. I like this aspect of the opening scene as from the start of the clip the genre of the film was established, meaning that if our group was to use some of the similar micro elements involved it would make our thriller conventional and the audience would feel a stronger relationship between themselves and the film; as they emphasising with the audience.

From researching a variation of clips, we were able to pick up micro-elements and techniques which are conventional to thrillers used. We thought that these were particularly good as they created suspense and tension within the audience and ultimately an connection between both audience and characters. Inspirations are good to use in our clip as they can help give our clip more than one intended meaning and also make the clip more personal to the audience.

Planning sound - Ms Miller

In thriller films, the music is used to create both tension and suspense amongst the audience, it also makes them feel a sense of fright and makes them scared. The music also contributes towards the build up to the climax because the music will build a relationship with the audience. We plan to make our opening scene contain typical conventions of a thriller such as; eerie music to emphasise the atmosphere. At the start of thrillers the music usually starts at a slow pace whilst through the progression of the play it gradually increases helping build tension and a climax.

We plan to use contrapuntal sound at the beginning when the girl is getting ready mainly because it will create a contradictory mood amongst the audience and help create a diverse atmosphere. The fact that the music will be happy and cheerful when getting ready will help the audience build a relationship with both the audience and the characters because the audience will be feeling sympathetic towards the girl as they can see that she is young. It would also help build a climax towards the end of the play as the audience anticipate what is going to happen next, the music would contradict the whole plot adding an extra sense of mystery to the entire narrative.This is conventional to a thriller because it builds both suspense and tension amongst the audience as they're less expecting bad things to happen, but when they do the audience are more shocked.

At the beginning of the clip where we used a mid shot to represent the TV and a variety of camera shot to get the girl ready. The crackling of the sound over the TV adds to the eerie soundtrack in the background. The crackling affect was used to connect between the image on screen, it would also make the audience jump on occasion which would be a conventional feature of a thriller film. The main reason for using an eerie soundtrack would be to hopefully portray the film as leading to a climax and create suspense as they feel as though it is leading up to something bad.  Furthermore it would make the thriller seem more mystic which would be a motif amongst the thriller genre as its a key element used to create suspense amongst audience. The eerie soundtrack in our thriller will build tension in our thriller clip as the music slowly becomes quiet to louder which would make the overall scene seem more scary and tense. 

Finally we used parallel sound of the television alongside the glass smashing and the girls footsteps. The main reason why we used this specific sound technique was to try and make the audience jump and create a tense atmosphere within the audience. The parallel sound will also help create a relationship between both the audience and characters as the audience start to feel sorry for the girl in the clip as they realise that the girl is vulnerable and alone.

The use of sound made our thriller more successful as it helps build tension, create suspense and add to the narrative. Ultimately would add clarity to the storyline as the audience understand the thriller better due to the effects of sound. So sound is conventional to the thriller because it creates suspense and surprise amongst the audience because it is conventional to the thriller genre.

Planning cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is important because the film wouldn't make sense without the use of different camera angles and the film wouldn't be exciting as camera angles create excitement for the audience.  without cinematography, the film would be very boring for the audience and wouldn't interest them which is important as your film needs to interest the audience to be success.Cinematography is pivotal in all film genres specially in thrillers as,camera angles are important because they create tension for the audience. Without a variety of camera angles within thriller films, the film wouldn't be jumpy or create a tense atmosphere therefore it wouldn't be a successful film. Its important to use different angles in films to keep the audience engaged and to create different emotions amongst audience. Our group needed to plan ahead because we were able to revise different camera angles and incorporate them into our main narrative.  Also it would increase the different emotions and feelings created that are conventional to thrillers.

In our opening scene we are planning to use different camera angles to create different effects on the audience. We planned our angles thoroughly to ensure that they would create feelings conventional to thrillers. We went through each individual scene to see what camera angles were needed. The first shot we used was a close up of the girls face. We used this specicifc shot as we believed that it would set the atmoshpere for the rest of the play and help establish the mood of our thriller, we mainly thought to use a close up at the begining of the sequence to help the girl be percieved to have more power than innitially. A close up is also conventional to the thriller genre as it creates tension and suspense amongst the audience as they can see what she is going through from close up and gain her perspective on things. Furthemore it would provoke the audeince to react in a way which the feel sympathy for the vicitim. This would ultimatley add to the relationship between both the audience and the characters as the feel empathy for the victim meaning that they're more likely to keep engaged with the storyline, as they feel connected with the characters. We will use it repeatedly in the opening scene is a, close up shot mainly to build suspense and tension within the audience. We will use close ups on the girl to emphasise the fact that she is young, this would make the audience feel on the edge of their seats as their anticipating the girls next move. Close ups of the girls face would add tension to the scene as the tranquility and individuality of the girl.Furthermore this would be conventional to the thriller genre as it keeps the audience engaged and interested. Close ups are very important within thrillers as it shows characters facial expressions with clarity, they also show pain in which characters may be experiencing, this would help build a relationship with the audience as the feel sympathetic.


Another used that we used was an establishing shot of the road of where the opening scene is set. We used an establishing shot to show the audience a open view of where the scene is set so they understand the location. We will hope the shot look quite a dark and preserve the road as creepy so the audience are on suspense for the rest of the clip. The shot is conventional to the thriller genre as the establishing shot presents to the audience its set in a mysterious place which is stereotypical place for thrillers to be set in. Its also conventional to thrillers because it makes the audience feel tense because they're seeing the normality of the situation but the imortality of the girl.The establishing shot will also build a relationship between the victims and the audience as its set in a dark place and the victims are children, the audience will sympathise for them as they will put themselves in the given circumstance, and therefore building a relationship between them. This specific camera angle will make our thriller more effective as it will have a direct corollation with typical thrillers.



Another shot that we will use is the high angle shot, we will use high angle shots frequently of the girl so that the audience are aware of who the victim is. We will use a high angle shot when the girl walks through the forest as it would create an image of the girl as powerless and the location of the forest being more significant, and furthermore emphasises the vulnerablilty of the girl. It would make the girl seem younger than she actually is because the highness of the shot makes her seem smaller. It also makes the relationship between the audience and character more evident as the audience feel more compassionate with the victim, resulting in them engaging more with the whole storyline. Another example of where we will use high angle shot would be when the girl is getting ready at the beginning, we mainly decided to use this particular shot because it would make the scene more dramatic as the audience sees the girl from another perspective. By using high angle shots it will make the girl look powerless when in comparison to her surroundings so the audience will become aware that the girl is the main focal point of the scene. Also by using high angles the audience will build a relationship with the killer as they will feel envious towards her.

Our opening sequence will involve a large variation of cinematography, to create  suspense and build tension with the audience which are convectional to thrillers. Our different camera angles will keep the audience engaged and prevent them from losing interest.Cinematography is conventional to thrillers as its the main element which builds tension and suspense in thriller films which has to be a
success otherwise the audience will lose interest.

Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Why is editing important within a thriller film?

What editing styles will you included within your sequence & why? what effect will it create?

How are your editing styles conventional to a thriller film?

How will your editing appeal to the audience?

Editing styles are vital when producing film clips because they create different emotions and feelings amongst the audience. Generally editing is used to provide coherence and excitement to a film. The person who edits the film is called the editor. Editing just like cinematography can be used to create more than one perspective. The film that I analysed was 'The shining' because there is evidence of different editing techniques throughout.

Within our opening sequence we will use a variety of editing effects to help set the narrative and connect to the audience. One main editing style we will use will be timing of shots, the main reason of this editing style is to either make things look faster or slower and to add an emotional impact or to create suspense. This editing is useful because it can be used several times within the same scene, for example we may use a slow edit at the start of the clip when the girl is getting ready this would add an emotional relationship to both the characters and the audience. It will also add to the emotional feel of the clip and make the opening sequence more effective. This specific editing style is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates emotional responses from the audience, for example suspense is a frequently occuring emotion created amongst thriller films.

A jump cut will be used when the camera focus is emphasised on the girl preparing to jump into the lake, a jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit gives the effect of jumping forwards in time. It is a manipulation of temporal space using the duration of a single shot, and fracturing the duration to move the audience ahead.  A jump cut is conventional to a thriller film as it creates a sense of suspense and mystery amongst the audience. It will also help build a relationship between the audience and girl as the editing style will help convey her emotions to the audience making them sympathise with her.

As the clip is closing to an end we will use a dissolve shot to emphasise her fading away and dying, it could also directly draw a connection between both the girl and the water as we desire to use a ripple affect to connect to the water theme. The dissolve shot will be conventional to a thriller film as it creates tension and suspense amongst the audience as they're experiencing an time of death which makes it more dramatic.The dissolve cut is conventional to the thriller genre as it reveals what happened to the victim and answers how she got in that predicament in the first place. A dissolve cut allows the audience to see the disorientation and confusion the victim is experience as if it is answering the audiences question of what happened.


In conclusion editing styles are used in thrillers in order to make them seem more mysterious and add an extra layer of tension to the narrative as they're whole experience is enhanced by the effects that have been incorporated into the thriller.

Planning mise-en-scene - Miss Georgiou

why is mise en scene important within a thriller film?

What is the mise-en-scene of your thriller and why? include images
Include the 5 different elements.

How is the mise-en-scene conventional to a thriller film?

How can your thriller build a relationship with your target audience?

Mise-en-scene is an important factor when making a thriller film because it provides the audience with different perspectives on certain points, and makes them familiar with the thriller genre. We decided accordingly to our narrative idea, the certain aspects of mise-en-scene that will be used. Mise en scene encompasses the most recognisable attributes of a film the setting and the actors; it includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterise the spaces filmed. The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into the scene”.

The mise-en-scene of our thriller film is a combination of 5 elements; Setting  that creates both a sense of place and a mood and it may also reflect a character’s emotional state of mind, lighting which is an arrangement of key, fill, and back light provides even illumination of the scene and, as a result, is the most commonly used lighting scheme in typical narrative cinema. Furthermore lighting is used to create suspense and tension amongst the audience as it can make the whole scene more dramatic. Costume,hair and make up is also a element which falls within the mise-en-scene category, this involves the adjustment of their appearances. Furthermore facial expressions and body language is a typical feature of mise-en-scene because it provides the audience with the typical conventions of a thriller for example it could create suspense because the audience could be informed about an event which has taken place that resulted in a bad ending.  Finally the positioning of objects or people within the frame is an example of mise-en-scene.


In our thriller clip we will use all of the 5 elements of mise-en-scene as we believe it will provide the audience with the best viewing experience. We are going to be using the setting of an haunted house, as we believe it will add to the whole suspense of our clip. The idea of the house being far from ordinary would juxtapose the whole idea of the women being crazy. At the beginning of our thriller clip the two children would be walking down a quiet street, but when they enter the house there will be lead into various different rooms. The fact that there will be many different rooms within the clip would add to the shock and surprise element because the audience will suspect what is within all of the other rooms.

We will also use the lighting element of mise-en-scene in our clip, low key lighting will be used throughout because it creates a lot of tension and suspense because it restricts the line of sight for the audience. Our group came to the conclusion that the dark lighting would add to the idea of the narrative because the whole clip evolves around the idea of mystery so the fact that the lighting will be very vague and dismal will emphasise the narrative well.

Furthermore costume, hair and make up will be used towards the end when the young girl is getting ready to go out she will be applying make up in order to emphasise her innocence and normality. Hair and make up are always evident in thrillers as they create different emotions and tonal effects. We used the evidence of make up being applied to help build a relationship between the audience and the characters as they're gain feeling for the girl and therefore get more attached to the girl as she shows her vulnerable side.

In our thriller we are aiming to use props quite frequently as we believe it will emphasise the narrative. The first prop that we will use is a hair brush mainly because it adds stress to her innocence because the audience are reminded of her young age. It will also help build a relationship between both the characters and the audience as they feel more sorry for her as she has a prospectus life ahead of her. Another prop that will be used is TV, which will be reffered to throughout the play as the flickering sound will be evident as it will add tension and suspense to the narrative. The props we use will be conventional to a thriller as they create suspense amongst the audience.

Finally facial expressions and body language will be used throughout our clip to contradict certain ideas and to amalgamate certain ideas together. We plan for the girl at the start of the scene to look serious and optimistic as she is getting ready to go out, facial expressions play a pivotal role in films because they create different emotions and feelings amongst the audience. The fact that there is a serious atmosphere would add to the typical conventions of a thriller because it creates tension and suspense.

Mise-en-scene is conventional to a thriller film as it provides the audience with a sense of suspense as there being introduced to different characters/objects within the scene, as the different affects of the lighting could add to the emotions that the audience will be experiencing ultimately it will add to the suspense. All of the combined areas of mise-en-scene can help contribute to building a relationship between the characters on screen and the target audience, because they will propose several new ideas to the audience. Our clip will be conventional to a thriller film so therefore will entail all of the typical emotions that an audience would experience when watching a thriller film. In conjunction with relationships the fact that we have chose to use young victims would add to the suspense of the audience as they may get emotionally attached to the characters.

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

The main reason for needed a plan is to ensure that you're organised and have a clear mind set of what to do, it would also prevent any unplanned things from occurring and would ultimately make the thriller more successful. Mainly because it would ensure that our characters were represented how intended and to make our thriller seem more conventional as the characters would look typically conventional to the thriller genre; such as using make up to make the girl appear more pale than she actually is resulting in her looking younger and more vulnerable.

The purpose of characters within film is to engage the audience by telling the story line in a dynamic way. The characters need to be realistic in order to connect and build a sustainable relationship with the audience. The characters need to be in the right environment depending on the issue of the film for it to be a successful film otherwise the audience will not understand the story line. The audience want to be able to put themselves in the characters shoes that's why its important to make sure its realistic and the scene is suitable for the characters. The audience always have sympathy for characters as they relate to the audience, therefore thrillers are highly successful for building bonds between the characters and the audience.

Its important that the characters represent their true qualities so the audience understand why they are part of that film. Its important in the film that the characters have to resolve an issue to fully engage the audience until the end. You can easily do this by having a few characters portrayed in great detail so the audience understand why they are there and build relationships. The film is all focused around the characters so you need to have strong character personalities for it to be successful. If a film doesn't show characters feelings the audience will easily become bored therefore the film will be unsuccessful. Successful thrillers have strong characters in which they need to resolve issues therefore when planning our characters we will make sure we create them in high detail.


The Victim - We will be using one victim in our thriller as we believe it will create the best conventional atmosphere. The victim will be female mainly because we believe that females are the most conventional to a thriller as they're often seen as vulnerable and targets within thrillers. She will dress relatively simple to convey her innocence and the fact that she is just a normal girl. Our thriller will be unique to others as we only have one character, this will allow the audience to fully understand the narrative. It also helps build a relationship between the audience and the characters within the film as they're feel sympathy for the girl as she is being perceived as vulnerable and alone which would be conventional to a thriller as it builds tension and suspense among the audience.

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

In this blog I will be discussing my storyboard and why I added the things I did, also I will be describing the purpose of a storyboard and their effects. Storyboards are graphic organisers that are in the form of illustrations or images, often displayed in a sequence for the purpose of pre-visualising a story.

One purpose of a storyboard to identify any potential problems that later may occur, this in some businesses could save money. For example storyboards are used in the development stage of a film, as once they have created a storyboard they are then able to review it and look over anything that may not work. It also eliminates anything that could potentially go wrong in the future as the film will be planned through, and thought out thoroughly. When produce our thriller clip we must review our storyboards to ensure that everything is correct and all the timing is accurate.

Another purpose of a storyboard is to portray a basic idea of the production, this would mean that they're also used to reinforce an idea and provide a basic plan to the film. When reviewing the storyboard people will often use it to remind them of an idea, also when producing our thriller clip we would be able to use the storyboard as an helpful tool to guide the narrative.

When producing our thriller clip the management of time will be critical because we need to balance our filming time and the time we use editing the piece. Therefore we will be able to use the storyboard as a reference to the time that we will need to allocate to every individual frame.

In conclusion I think that our group will use the storyboards to structure our clip and also to manage the time effectively and efficiently. Furthermore I think that the storyboards will be used as a reminder to our group so that we don't lose focus on the task that we have been set.

 

Preliminary task- Miss Georgiou

In this post I will be discussing the success of our preliminary task and what we have leant for the experience. For the task we were set the challenge of filming a short peice of work, where two or more characters must simply discuss a general topic. The purpose of this task was to familiar ourselves with the equipment that we will be using in the filming of our thriller clip.  Also it would give us a chance to try and incorporate the different camera shots.

The things that I would keep the same when filming my thriller clip would be the time aspect that we used throughout. I think that we kept the time aspect into consideration when we filmed our preliminary task, this would be helpfull when we film our thriller clip becasue it would allow us to film everything nessesary in order for it to work. Also the fact that we managed our time well would suggest that we can film throughly and well, and not have to constatly be affraid of running out of time.

Another thing that we did well in the task was introducing various different camera angles, I think that this was good because when we film our thriller clip it would mean that we are able to provide the audience with a number of different camera perspectives. This would add to the suspense that the audience is feeling as they're given many different views of the victim or the killer.  We would need to add a large variation of camera shots in the thriller clip as it would ensure that we got a better overall grade as it shows a good understanding of camera shots.

Finally another thing that our group did well was keeping composed throughout. This would be good to do when we film our thriller clip as it would ensure that we will not lose any marks for not sticking to the narrative. Also if the characters within the clip are serious it would add to the realism of the narrative and add suspense to the audience as the know that the characters are being realistic.

From doing the preliminary task it has though our group some key things that we will need to do when filming our final thriller clip. For example I think that we would need to incorporate more editing styles in order to achieve higher marks, and make the clip more conventional to the thriller genre. We could introduce some specific cuts, which could add to the suspense and tension that the audience will be feeling, when watching the clip.

Another things that we need to ensure that we will get a good mark is to position the camera angle correctly accordingly to the camera shot. For example if were using a high angle shot we need to ensure that the camera is positioned up high,looking down upon the audience. If we were to try and create different perspectives of some points we would need to use a variety of camera shots, so therefore need to be familiar with various camera shots in media.

In conclusion I think that our group in general performed well and we are able to take some essential pointers from the preliminary task. I think that our group achieved the purpose of the task, because we were by the end familiar with the equipment that we will be using when filming our final thriller clip.

Target audience results - Miss Miller

We interviewed 40 people and concluded their result to forma series of pie charts with the reaults in. Although our questionnaire had a mixture of open and closed questions, we decided to only conduct the closed questions mainly because they are the easiest to make graphs from as they give a specific number of results. The first question that we asked was:
How old are you? The options that were given are 0-10, 11-15 and 16+. The intended idea to group the ages this way ,instead of aking for them to say their exact age would so that it isn't very personal and also will not offend anybody. The pie chart that I made for this question was:

By looking at this pie chart we can interprate that the majority of the people asked were 16 years or older, this ma suggest that we could potentially make our thriller clip and 16 or 18. The 11<15 category comes just under the 16+ and only 10% less that were asked, this is a big factor that we will need to consider when making our thriller clip.

The second question that we aksed is 'Are you male or female?'. The main reason why we asked this question was to see if our results would show the typical thriller audience which is prodomantley male. Our results showed:

The results show that the majority of people asked for this questionnaire are males. This could mean that our results may have a ‘typical’ thriller aspect as men are more likely to enjoy films that belong to the thriller genre, and are therefore more likely to choose the conventional options provided. Furthermore this may give us a different idea for our thriller, something that is very conventional.


Thirdly we asked about a prefered age certificate that the individual would like to see. Initially we thought to ask this question because it would provide us with the content that we would put in our thriller clip. It would provide us with the vital information needed to get our clip done. The results collected were:

This genre will be useful when our group decides on the age certificate of our clip. As we can the majority of people asked would like it to be rated 18 certificate, but it is closely followed by the 15 rating.

The next question that we asked was to see if we should include any sub-genres in our thriller clip. The aim of the question was to help us decide weather we needed to aim our narrative in a certain area.

 

From looking at the results we can see that drama was the most dominant category with 35% closely followed by physiological with 30%. This would mean that we would need to incorporate some elements of both drama and physiological in the clip.

The fifth question that was included within the questionnaire was 'What makes a thriller film effective'  the intended affect of this question was to gather a vague idea of what we should needed to included within our thriller clip.

 

 

The results show that both hidden identity and camera shots were the dominant results, this would suggest to our group should use a combination of both different camera shots and a sense of hidden identity.

Narrative theory - Miss Georgiou

The three theories that were proposed are by three men Vladmir Propp, Tzvetan Todorov and Aristotle. Propp was a Russian critic who was around in the 1920's who published his Morphology of the folk tale. When the soviet cinema was producing many films that were receiving many views Propp was interested in the narrative of folk tales. He believed that every film contains these principal characters:

•The Hero – a character that seeks something

•The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

•The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

•The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

•The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

•The Helper – who aids the hero

•The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

•Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

His theory of narrative seemed to be mainly based in a male orientated environment and some critics would often dismiss the theory when regarding to films. Some critics may argue that Propp's strict and restrictive order of events may be an false representation of the film. They also suggest that their are many more character types than mentioned. Propp's idea would suggest that he thought characters within a film are the most important aspect. 

Tzvetan Todorov theory simplified the idea of narrative theory whilst also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium. A simplified list of his theory is this:

The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything normal, how it should be)

Then it would suffer some disruption (example of disequilibrium)

New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative. 

There are five main stages that the narrative progresses through:

1. A state of equilibrium.

2. A disruption of that order by an event.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

The narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium. However, the equilibrium attained at the end of the story is not identical to the initial equilibrium. Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption.

Finally Aristotle observed that all films have a beginning, middle and an end. He also believed in stages in film and they were:

• Exposition - Setting a scene and introducing characters.
• Development - situation develops, more characters introduced.
• Complication - An event takes place which would disturb the life of the characters.
• Climax - Involves high amounts of suspense and decisive moment reached.
• Resolution - Matters are resolved and satisfactory end is reached.

Our narrative shall follow the theory of Aristotle because there is a sense of hidden identity within our clip which would mean that our thriller clip follows that specific proposed theory. Also it builds inigma amongst the audience as they're unknown about who is behind the camera.
  

Group narrative - Miss Georgiou

My idea - The idea for my opening sequence is to be set in an urban area unlike many other opening scenes mainly because otherwise I think it will just be a stereotypical thriller film and will be boring for the audience. The plot I was thinking of a house in the city at night, they're experiencing a power cut so the lights are out. The parents are asleep and one teenage boy is still awake watching TV on the sofa, he keeps hearing movement that he can't see. He ignores it and tries to sleep on the sofa. He hears a constant peculiar knocking so goes to the back door looks out in the garden and then he sees a young girl dressed in a white gown, then she screams and it ends… The conventions that i would aim to have within my clip would be shock and tension that will continue to build throughout the progression of the clip. The advantages of my idea is that it would keep the audience in 

Harry - My narrative idea is three school children go back up to school (Media class) when the students enter the class and go on the computers all the computers will switch off and start fuzzing - there will be a high angle shot of this to make the students look smaller and vulnerable. When the door shuts I will use a close up shot to show the emotion of one of the student to show they are scared which will make the audience feel sorry for them. I will keep using high angle shots on one of the students more than the others to make him look more vulnerable and suggest to the audience he is in the most danger. I want to include a establishing shot in my thriller film to show the view from the camera to give a perspective of what will follow as there will be a man outside the window wearing a mask creating mystery. When the lights turn off and on it will create tension as you expect something to appear and scare the audience, but i want to add a false sense of security to my thriller film by not having anything appear so when the audience become calm after watching the lights turn off and on and nothing happens then i will scare them by having a hand covered in blood slam against the window. Also i want to include handheld camera movements for chase scenes to create jerky images which will produce a sense of urgency and chaos making the audience know they are in danger and running for their lives.

The students are going to be wearing school clothes and as used in other conventions of a thriller film, i will include girls to be the victims as generally they are to victims in films. The costume will indicate who the bad guy is as he will be wearing a scary clown mask with blood stains on it, the bad guy will also be holding a knife dripping with blood which will show the audience what is about to follow. The colours used will be dark and create distinct shadows which will create tension throughout.

Robyn - My idea of the opening scene is that this young six year old girl gets bullied at school or at home as a result she tries to murder the person therefore she ends up in  a mental home. A month later she escapes and comes back to haunt the family/school and ends up killing the whole year/family. Advantages- Easy to film. Disadvantages- There will be dialogue, Take long to edit, time consuming.


The idea that we have ultimately come up with is a 'Halloween' night and two young children are out trick or treating and then they come across a strange house left unattended and then they get kidnapped and wake up attached to chairs. We plan to do quite a lot of editing because there would need to be low key lighting and a mixture of effects which would make the house seem 'haunted' and derelict. We would also like to use other conventions such as contrapuntal music, which could be used when the small children are knocking on the door and ‘happy’ music is playing this would create an contradictory mood amongst the audience.

Opening scene from halloween

In this post I will be talking about how the opening sequence of 'Halloween' would inform the audience of the conventions of a thriller film. Many different techniques are used to create various different feelings/emotions at the audience.

Within the opening sequence of Halloween we see several conventions that are typical to a thriller which would inform the audience that it is a thriller film. For example we see an example of lighting techniques when ‘low key lighting’ is used at the start when there is an eerie feel surrounding the character looking in on the house. The use of this specific lighting would emphasise the brightness inside of the house and the significance of the characters. The low lighting would add to the suspensions of the narrative as the audience build a sense of suspense as they’re anticipating something to happen, as the lighting would suggest fear and danger. This is a typical convention of a thriller because it would create suspense and shock amongst the audience. It would add to our relationship between the characters as it makes them seem more venerable under the dark lighting.

Another technique used in the opening scene would be hidden identity this is used when we are looking through the window alongside the villain. We see furthermore an example of both point of view shots and hidden identity this is used when we are taken through the house in perspective of the killer. The fact that we are taken through the house only seeing what the killer is would limit the view as the mask restricts the eye of sight. This would create tension as the audience are building with suspense as they’re taken through the route of the killer and therefore can predict/see what is going to happen. The hidden identity would build suspense within the audience as they’re unsure of who eyes they’re following. This would relate to the conventions of a thriller because it builds suspense amongst the audience, making them more engaged.

Thirdly sound techniques are used throughout to create different perspectives of what is going on. Contrapuntal sound technique is used when the killer is walking up the stairs and there is a sense of tension and suspense within the audience, the victim is singing and contradicts the mood/atmosphere. The effect of the good mood that the women has, creates tension within the audience as they’re confused and therefore expect something unexpected to happen. It would also make the audience feel a sense suspense as they're unaware of the dangers involved, which would eventually add to the shock. This would add to the relationship between both the characters and the audience as it would add to the sympathy in which we feel towards the inoccent girl.

From watching this clip it would reinforce the ideas that we had for our own thriller clip, and also introduce some new ideas such as contrapuntal sound because I think it is good when trying to create more than one type of atmosphere.

Research into sound - Ms Miller

In this post I will be talking about sound and how it is used within the thriller genre for different purposes, it is used throughout clips to create a sense of shock, surprise and anticipation amongst the audience. The clip that I have chosen to base my analysis on was ‘Taken 2’ mainly because it had various examples of different sound terminologies.

At the start of the clip we see two characters talking to each other which then get into the car, both of their voices are rose which would create a sense of danger as their voices would convey the emotions and feelings they’re experiencing. As they start the car we see an example of diegetic sound when we hear the sound of the car starting up, the main reason for adding this in particular could be that it reminds the audience of the reality of the situation and also allows the audience to relate to the situation as they have heard that sound before. Another example of diegetic sounds within the clip is when we hear the sound of the wheels spinning as the car is racing round corners. The sound of the wheels spinning would imply that they’re in a hurry as the car is racing to escape. The sound of the wheels would also create suspense as the audience are excited and are expecting something to happen next. This would relate to the typical conventions of a thriller as the clip puts the audience on suspense.

Another sound technique used in the clip is non diegetic this is apparent when they enter the car and the soft consistent music starts to play, it has a regular beat which would suggest that they’re not in danger at all and that all is ok. Then suddenly the music increases to a more dramatic upbeat, intense sound this is non diegetic because it is not natural sounds you would expect from the scene and therefore must have been edited in after. The fact that the music goes more extreme and louder would suggest that there is an chase or sense of danger and would also build a relationship between both the characters and the audiences as the audience begin to feel the desperation and panic of the characters within the film. This is typical feature that you expect in a thriller because it creates a sense of anticipation and suspense. The main reason for its use is to add excitement and suspense within the audience, ultimately it would create suspense as there is a sense of danger and death.

When the chase happening we start seeing more examples of non diegetic sounds and parallel sounds for example when Lee Nelson is firing his gun out of the back window we hear loud shooting noises coming from his gun which would suggest a sense of suspense as a weapon which bestows such great power can create suspense as the audience know what damage it can do. The parallel sound which complements the gun shots are the cracking and crumbling of objects for example at 0.50 of the clip we hear the sound of the window being smashed by the gun this creates shock and surprise amongst the audience as we knew that the guns were firing at each other but when the bullet hits it takes the audience by surprise. It is a parallel sound because the audience would expect to hear the result of the gun shots and therefore the smashing of the window complements the sound of the gun. This would relate to the typical conventions of a thriller as they make the audience feel shock and suspense which occurs within thriller films a lot.

Finally off screen sound is used at the end of the clip when the car if edited in slow motion to make it more dramatic and also a quiet sound is played when the car is about to crash. This would make the whole scene seem more dramatic as they are more shocked when they hear the sound of the car crashing against the ground. The off screen sound can make it more dramatic as the audience also anticipates the storyline more, it also makes sense as the car wouldn't make any noise when in the air so therefore it adds a sense of excitement and anticipation. This once again would relate to a thriller film because it would suspend the audience a they're waiting for something to happen next.

In conclusion I think that the research into sound will help me when I produce my own clip because it can be used to create different emotions and feelings to the audience. A sound technique that wasn't used in the clip which I want to use in my own clip would be 'silence' mainly because I think effective when trying to create tension and suspense amongst the audience.




  

Research into the history of thriller films - Miss Georgiou

A thriller film is genre within films that is designed to create suspense this gives the viewers a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement along with apprehension, anticipation, tension, and anxiety created form a sense of mysterious and suspense. The aim of a thriller film is to keep people on the edge of their seats, and engaged in the film that they are watching. Within the film may be evidence of blood and violence because these are typical characteristics of a thriller film.

During 1920s - 1930s a film which would shape modern day thriller films was produced 'The Lodger' produced by Alfred Hichcock. This film was a Jack the Ripper type film full of suspense and excitement. It uses very simple and basic editing techniques becasue the equipment was very basic. It was a black and white film slient film and was rated a 12 certificate. The 12 certificate may suggest that it is not that scary and thrilling but this may have been due to the lack technological equipment involved. Another film during this era was 'Blackmail' again produced by Alfred Hichcock and was noturiously known for being Hitchcocks and Britians first sound film. This film crosses both the crime category and thriller, but mainly due to the storyline falls under a thriller film.

During the 1940s - Hitchcock produced yet another film which would hit the limelight and achieve great things, it won an oscar for its greatness. The film was produced by David O. Selznick and he won an Academy award for best picture in producing 'Rebecca'. This film was so successful because it mastered suspense and got the audience on the edge of their seats. Secondly George Cukor produced two films during the 40s which were a 'great hit' one being called 'Gaslight' which was a phycological thriller about a husband who plotted to make his own wife go insane in order to inherit her inheritance. The second film that he directed was called 'Noir' which was about a murder investigation.

During the 1950s - In the 1950s a thriller made by other than Hitchcock was 'Niagara' by Henry Hathaway this film stared the legendary Marilyn Monroe. The storyline contains the normal contents of a thriller, such as the plotting of murder who the killer happens to be Marilyn Monroe. Another film produced within this era would be by the dominant film producer at the time Hitchcock. It was
a classic film called 'stranger on a train' about two train passengers that who both staged a battle of wits and traded murderes with each other. During this era Hitchcock was in the peak of his career and has recieved many global awards, editing and camera shots were steadily progressing and getting more complex.

My research will help me with my own narrative because I am able to use some slightly older techniques used in films such as 'Phsyco' to still make the audience feel engaged and on suspense throughout my narrative clip. In the film Phsyco editing styles such as 'Low key lighting' are used to create a sense of suspense amongst the audience and also when something un suspected happened the audience would feel shocked.

Hannibal - Film had a big budget meaning that the people employed could be highly skilled resulting in a better overall film produced. In this film the location was the key filmed in both USA, and Italy where specific needs of the film were catered for. The fact that the film made over 35% of all money made in the first opening would suggest that the trailers and clips must have been affective.