Thriller Opening - Evaluation

I feel that this piece is a very succesful effort. The music fits perfectly with the action and the storyline is much better than our previous effort. I feel that the use of locations outside of school really added to the realism evoked in the film making it an enjoyable watch. I think the change from the last scene initially recored in the storyline featuring the policeman alongside the victim and killer to just the victim and killer was a good one as it would have been too coincidental otherwise. The added flashback outside the cafe was also a good addition as it added to the audiences understanding of the piece.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film conforms to the real thriller genre in a number of ways. Firstly the protagonists (and the antagonist) are all male - a common convention of thrillers. Thrillers often show the identity of the antagonist from the start - this is true of our product and we also attempted to confrom to the genre by making heavy use of tension, which I think we acheived. It also widely conforms to the sub-genre we targeted - crime thrillers - focusing on both law enforcement and criminals and the film being based on the account of a series of crimes. There is little evidence within our piece which does not conform to typical forms and conventions of media products.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our product represents two social groups - law enforcement and the mentally ill. I feel we have represented the police officer in a rather sterotypical manner - we presented them as hard-working, commited and clever - as is commonly seen in the media. We tried to deal with the mentally ill social group in a sensitive manner, given the complex nature of what we were dealing with. Schizophrenia is a commonly used illness used in the media and so we tried to focus on something about which more is known.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Given the popularity of the thriller genre, I would imagine that many media institutions would be happy to distribute our media product. The thriller is a tried and tested genre which will always attract certain audiences - perhaps more-so with a more well known cast. With a more well known case I believe the film would be primed for cinema release given the popularity of the genre.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

We felt as a group that the thriller genre is only really popular with people over the age of 15 given the complexity of issues such as mental illness tackled within it. After looking at the bbfc classifications, we felt that 15 was indeed an appropriate age rating for our product. While alienating some audiences, this would leave a still huge audience who would appreciate to a larger extent the complexity of the film.

5. How did you attract/adress your audience?

We felt that the thriller genre already draws the attention of the audience but we included many questions to be asked while leaving subtle clues throughout, meaning the audience is able to begin to form their own opinions without knowing the answers for sure. For example the audience does not immediatly know who the people on the polaroids are but the writing upon them and the flashback during the coffee scene provides them with some clues to their identities.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I mainly grasped an understanding of the use of cameras and editing software. By sharing responsibilities we all had a chance to try out the equipment and also to observe others meaning that we were always aware of how to use different techniques. I feel I gained an especially good knowledge of camera shots - framing, angles and movement.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product?

The preliminary task mainly provided us with experience. We knew better which camera shots work better in different situations, which editing methods to use and how to capture the audiences attention. Our knowledge of the equipment gained during the continuity task also allowed us to make the film to a high standard without wasting time working out how to do certain things.

Thriller Opening - Feedback

Before finalising the editing of our final piece we sought the feedback of a number of people, some taking media studies, some not. We met a lot of praise such as:

"The camera shots you've chosen are good, especially how its framed in the coffee shop scene."
"The music works really well. It really fits with the storyline."
"I really liked it. The sound was good and the editing was really clever. I think the story is good and I would want to see the rest of it if it was a real film."
"I like it. The endings remniscient of the Silence of the Lambs."

We did recieve a small amount of constructive critiscim and advice:

"I think the police scene is too long. The start and end is good but the middle drags on a bit."

After discussing this is a group, we decided the person was right and removed the section of the scene when the the third detective is introduced. After seeking feedback from the same person the response was vastly different:

"It's much better now you've cut it down. I'd want to see the rest of it."

Thriller Opening - Final Piece

Thriller Opening - On Set Photographs

Below is a series of photographs taken while filming the police investigation room and bathroom scenes.

Thriller Opening - Storyboard

Our first shot, a close-up, shows two sets of polaroids featuring the faces of numerous people. Although both sets of photographs feature the same people, one set has green writing and the other red. The green writing will be revealed to the polaroids belonging to the police and the red writing belonging to the killer. We will have several cuts panning over the photographs forming the beginning to our film and also allowing us the opportunity to add the title credits.

From the set with green writing we move the camera in an upwards motion to reveal a whiteboard featuring the faces of subjects. This establishing scene of sorts should make it clear to the audience that the location of the green writing polaroids is a police investigation room.

This shot is used as a link between the shot between this scene and the next. We zoom into one of the suspects photos and fade out ending the scene before fading into the next scene.

We fade in from the photograph in the last scene to reveal the subject of the photograph in real life - the killer. We see him talking to the voices in his head for the first time in a close-up shot allowing us to portray his facial expressions as he struggles with the voices.

Here we see the antagonist talking to the voice in the mirror, using the mirror to reflect the two sides of his personality i.e. good side shot in the flesh, bad side shot reflected in the mirror. This will begin as a medium shot before changing to a close shot showing the killer washing his hands - revealing his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Here we will have a series of cuts ranging from long shots to close ups as the killer walks down to the stairs. The front door should also be in frame to ensure continuity.

We will then use a mid shot as he exits through the front door, the scene ending as the door slams. The voices will continue right up until the front door closes symbolising that he has made his decision.

Here we are introduced to the two detectives for the first time, cutting between their faces as they discuss the case. We will cut between close-ups of their faces and medium two-shots. This dialogue will provide us with a great chance to give the audience more insight into certain aspects of the case such as them being in the same year at school etc.

This shot shows the third detective entering the room and the two detectives explaining to him the case so far. In this case, the third detective acts as the audience as he is brought up to speed with the case much like Watson in the Sherlock Holmes novels whose questions help the audience to understand Holmes.





Here we see the initial two initial police officers discussing the third detective outside the police station. This shot was later cut out of the final edit.

We now see one of the faces of the polaroids walking past, the police officers unaware of him. We later added a quick cut of the polaroid on which the man is featured acting as a flash back of sorts and helping the audience to remember.

We see the man from the polaroids walk past the window of a coffee shop with the killer sitting inside. The killer gets up to follow him outside. This will be a long shot to show not only the location but also both characters.






The film ends with the camera framing the now empty seat in which the killer was sitting.

Thriller Opening - The Script

The film begins with the killer alone in his room, talking to voices in his head revealing at once that not only has he commited murders and is likely to do so again, but also that he is schizoprenic.

The next scene takes place in a police investigation room. We discover that a series of murders have taken place and all the victims were in the same year at school. The police have narrowed it down to suspects, all of whom are on the board behind them, and have just discovered that one of the suspects was in the same year as the victims.

We then had a third police officer being introduced to the initial two by a secretary but this was later removed to decrease the longevity of the scene.

The third and final scene is the killer sitting outside a coffee shop when he notices a prospective victim. The scene ends with the killer standing up and following the victim out of site. Orginally this scene also featured the police officers as seen in the script although this was later changed to just the killer and victim.

Thriller Opening - Planning

As a group, we discussed initial ideas for our thriller opening based on our genre research. We began to string together possible genres, actors and locations which would for the basis for our final desicion regarding our final piece.






































After much discussion we settled on the crime thriller genre. As one of the most popularised thriller genres we felt it was the one we were all most accustomed to and therefore one of the simplest for us to do succesfully. We quickly ruled out the idea of psychological thriller due to the complexity required for its storylines which would have been difficult to convey in the short time period given. We later ruled out horror and action due to the costumes and special effects etc. which would probably be required.

We decided upon using a member of our groups bathroom for the bathroom idea after toying with the idea of using a real hotel. However, that was ruled out due to the costs involved. For the police investigation room scene we used a room in our school due to the bare white walls and multiple tables in it - perfect for the investigation room. We used an actual coffee shop in town for the scene in which the killer observes his next victim, after gaining permission from the manager.

We decided upon three members of our group (although two were later cut out to reduce the longevity of a scene) and three friends from outside our class - Ellis, Joe and Sam.

Genre Research

Given the subject of our second task, I though it was wise to research more widely into the thriller genre.

"Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains... Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively." (Wikipedia)

As mentioned above there are numerous sub-genres of thriller, many of which are combined when making films. The most common sub-genres are noted below:

• Action thriller - Large amounts of special effects and violence; obvious antagonist.
• Conspiracy thriller - Large, powerful group of enemies whose evil is commonly only known to the protagonist.
• Crime thriller - Suspenseful account of crimes; can focus on law enforcement or criminals.
• Disaster thriller - Main conflict is artificial or natural disaster
• Drama thriller - Slow paced; character development; plot twists
• Science-fiction thriller - Sci-fi film with thriller elements
• Horror thriller - Character in danger; must destroy antagonists
• Erotic thriller - Consists of erotica and thriller elements
• Legal thriller - Protagonists confront enemies in and out of the courtroom; life may be in danger
• Medical thriller - Protagonists are doctors fighting a medical problem
• Political thriller - Political power struggles
• Psychological thriller - Conflict is mental and emotional
• Spy thriller - Protagonist is a government agent
• Techno-thriller - Technology described in detail; paramount to audiences understanding
• Religious thriller - Plot is connected to religious elements 

Thrillers usually contain the following forms and conventions:

• Typically a male protagonist although females are becoming much more widely used. They are usually presented as a normal person who the audience can relate to due to their insecurities and flaws which are often present, despite there obvious heroism.
• The antagonist is often known from the start of the film.
• Heavy use of suspense and tension

Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense

Given the genre we were working in I saw it as sensible to research the most widely known Thriller director - Alfred Hitchcock. By researching not only the man but also his revolutionary techniques, we may be able to draw tried and tested methods improving the overall quality of our film.

Perhaps one of the most famous film directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock was an English filmmaker who revolutionised many techniques used in the thriller genre. Nicknamed the Master of Suspense, it was films such as Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963) which forged Hitchcock's long-lasting reputation.

Hitchcock attributed many of the techniques used in the aforementioned films as being down to his early career in Silent Film industry. The limitations of the silent form led filmmakers to develop a visual language to enable them to say with images what they could not using dialogue or sound - indeed Hitchcock felt that the arrival of sound in 1927 meant that something was lost to cinema. However, Hitchcock's visual storytelling flair was already in place. Throughout his career, Hitchcock continued to believe in cinema as a visual medium. For him, dialogue and sound should remain secondary to the image in telling the story - the popularised shower scene in Psycho exemplifying this.

Hitchcock was noted for his ability to engage the audience - knowing exactly how to build suspense and when and how to terrify them. He used basic storylines but turned them into classic through his extraordinary techniques - getting into the minds of the audience, framing for emotion, roaming cameras, less importance placed on dialogue, point-of-view editing, montages of close ups in quick succesion, characters that break away from cliches, humour, two things happening at once, suspense, surprise and twists.

"His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." (Daily Telegraph)