Research for our music

The first piece of music really highlights on using piano to create an eerie atmosphere, the building of the music allows the audience to be captivated and drawn into what could happen in the film. This would be good to use in our thriller opening as it reminds you of young children and almost seems calming to hear but also quite spooky and it would entice the audience. The second piece of music again uses a piano but also very quietly uses drums to create a crashing sound, this crashing sound, sounds like something is breaking down and if you listen very closely it sounds like the keys of the piano aren't in tune and that immediately sounds if something bad is going to happen. This would be really good to use in our thriller opening because it sounds childlike but has more of this suspense feel that we are looking for, I really like how the piano would accompany out thriller because it sounds like a jewellery box and that is usually associated with young children. On this Youtube account they apologise for the bad quality but I really like how it sounds over the high pitch piano. at the start of this piece it has a high picture repetitive piano noise and this immediately makes me think of a music box, during the course of the music it changes and it gets quite low in pitch and reminds me of a storm as it uses drums to create the sound of thunder, but stills keeps the theme of this jewellery box. this would be great to use in our thriller opening because the rapid change in music will show this deep dark message that we have hidden in our thriller opening and would be able to help us uncover it quickly through the change in music.

Production Logo Research

My media group are edging ever closer too making our production logo. We have decided that it would be good if we looked at others production logos to gain inspiration from it and too see what their effect has on their audience members.

Whenever you see the Universal logo it is instantly recognisable and automatically associated with big name films. This would be good to use in a film that has the genre of sci-fi because of the globe in the middle. This type of  production logo wouldn't work for our media production because we are wanting to base ours on our thriller if its possible and this production logo is a bit too generic.

 

 

This production logo would really fit with our thriller film and we could definitely use this as inspiration when making ours. The dark background that looks like it has scratches on the background make it feel like it has an eerie feel about it and the plant pot could distract the audience into a false sense of security. I will definitely be keeping this production logo in mind when we make ours.

 

 

 

 

The Strada Film production logo is very simplistic but could have an impact on their audience, the logo looks like its a dark road and the blue and white colours are instantly recognisable with thriller films and I would associate this logo with the thriller genre. I really like how this logo is very simple but really set their audience up for knowing what the film could be about.

 

 

From the  research I have done on production logos I will be keeping in mind  Strada Films production logo and Grow Production because they really relate to what my thriller is about and give the genres of the films they produce to the audience and this makes them recognisable in certain  fields of media.

 

 

 

 

 

Animatic

This is our animatic storyboard, each shot we have adapted when we were filming due to lighting restrictions.
 

First look at our old filming.

Before we came up with our final idea for our thriller opening we didn't have a complete different storyline and a different approach on how to film it. We thought an abstract idea based around the hit show "Dexter" would be a really good way to approach this type of thriller. However it became very difficult because we didn't have any narrative and our storyboard wasn't really helping with what we were wanting to achieve, in the end we decided it would be best if we filmed a whole new thriller opening that took and naturalistic approach. In the clip below this is the beginning to the old thriller we were shooting, the editing for this thriller was a lot easier because we knew the direct effect we wanted it to have on our audience. This old thriller had a specific target audience of those who liked violence and crime and wouldn't appeal to our target audience of 16+

Thriller Questionnaire

As a group we decided to ask the following questions to get inspiration and feedback for our thriller opening.

1) What things would you have in a thriller opening? 

2) What stands out to you when watching thriller openings?

3) What would be the plot in your thriller film? 

4) What type of lighting would you use? 

5) What props and costume would you use? 

This also allows us to gain information on our target audience but we could ask further questions to lead us to more direct answers on our target audience.

Location analysis

Filming for our thriller has allowed us to use a variety of outside locations. The first place we used to start our filming was Kelsey Park, the issue we found with Kelsey Park was that it had very restricted lighting, because it is surrounded by trees but that is what we wanted, so we faced a major issue straight away. The good thing about using Kelsey Park one of the locations is we can use the facilities they have in our thriller opening. The bridge used in one shot was filmed in Kelsey Park, and we also managed to get enough light to shine on the trees around, which allowed us to create the perfect shot.

The other location we have used is Crystal Palace Park; we found that there is a remote area which resembles a woodland area.  As a group we thought that this would be good location to use, because it makes it look mysterious and empathises way would she go in there. We thought that this could link to her naïve behaviour thinking she is superior to everyone else.  The hardest part about filming in Crystal Palace Park was the filming inside the woodland area, which made it difficult for the tripod to stand, leaving us with shot that weren’t focussed.

As a group we wanted our thriller to be based outside because, it would be quite different to stereotypical thrillers that are usually set in the city.  However we couldn’t film in the countryside so we wanted our location to represent the countryside, to have a different take on thrillers. The best part about filming outside is we can create shadows from the lighting, so it looks like more than one person. However the lighting is the hardest part for us to cater to because there are limited times that we can film in, before it becomes too dark.

Rough Cut Feedback questionnaire

Things that have inspired my thriller film

When looking for inspiration for our thriller film, we have looked at many other AS thriller openings to help us get an idea for what thriller we want. We looked at the opening for a BBC drama called The Missing. we liked the idea that everything went in one continuous direction and all the clips you saw relates to the programme itself. As a group we decided that it would be best if we kept everything going to the left. The other inspiration was Mayday we liked the idea of basing it around a girl who seemed dazed and confused and was being tracked or stalked by someone who is unknown.

Target Audience Questionnaire Feedback

We used the feedback we received and this decided our final target audience for the final thriller opening.

Storyboard

This is the final storyboard for our thriller opening. Shots will be changed to fit with the filming taking place and we will extend every shot, to make it the best possible film it can be. 

Target Audience

demographics :

Age : 16+
Gender: both 

Relationships: for couples and friends 

Education: sixth form and college students

Psychographics:

Interests: watching thriller films and likes socially with others

Wanting to go see the films as it interests them. 

A good to watch the film with a friend or partner because I want people to talk about what they have just seen and then go on to tell others about it as well and this will help with the technology we have today to let people communicate and talk about the film.

We have chosen to have the age group like this because from prior research I have found that this is the most common age group for people to watch thriller films and go to the cinema to see films, making it quite clear that we should target that age group of people.
The only issue with it being 16+ is that it goes to anyone who is over the age of 16 and people being over 30 may not like our thriller films or going to the film in general.

They are young teenagers that go to school and look sociable as they are around everyone else and then they probably go out on weekends to the cinema as a big group, so our film will be good for them to watch.

 

Mood Board

Mood board from Shan3009

Changing our idea

Unfortunately we have had to change our idea, as the thriller before hand was becoming very difficult to film and edit. The idea we had was based around Dexter however we took the storyline of the title sequence from Dexter to literally, meaning our opening became too abstract to the sense that it no longer made any sense. A clip of our old footage will be released onto here so you will be able to see the basic outline of what we wanted to achieve.

Target Audience Questionnaire

This is the research questionnaire my group and I have put out in order to decide our new target audience.

Meeting Minutes

What we discussed in the meeting:

1. Characters
2. Costumes
3. Location
4. Editing and Music Software
5. Storyline
6. Storyboard
7. Casting
8. Responsibilities within the group

Characters
 As a group we decided on their being only two characters in the clip. The main character being a young girl(teenager) and a villian who we only see small parts off. We also decided that Kirsty(who is part of our group) will be our main character because we don't want to have to relie on others to turn up for filming.

Costumes
The main character will be wearing a red/pink dress with a pink headband. We decided this in the meeting because we want the colours to represent youth and danger. The villian will be wearing black trainers, blue/black hoodie and black trousers. We thought we would go very streotypical of a villian because their is no speech in our thriller we thought it wouldn't of been able to be shown he is dangerous if he wasnt in these clothes.

Location
We have based our thriller around nature as it represents innocence and also the loss of innocence through the way of damage nature. It is set in three different places but is meant to look like one place. The first place is a field and forest, we decided this would be a good place to film because we can show contrasting atmospheres.

Editing and Music software
We decided that we would just use the MAC's software which is Final Cut Pro for our editing of the thriller film and Garage Band for making our own music for our thriller film.

Storyline
This was the hardest point to discuss in the meeting because we really wanted to put together something that it going to engage the audience into watching. In the end we decided that the stroyline is, that we are going back in time to a month before this girl is found dead and all the decisions and paths she takes to end up where she is, by being followed be her so called "killer". Although our storyline sounds like we are giving too much away we have decided only to use half of this storyline in the opening to our thriller film.

Responsibilities
There are four of us in our group so we need to distribute the amount of roles equally. Myself and Oliver, have filmed the majority of the opening with the help of Kirsty and Josh. We all decided that we want to have a role in editing the film but Josh has got the overall judgement in what stays and go's. Oliver is in charge of music and making it fit with our thriller film. Kirsty's job is executive producer and I myself is the director of everything that goes on in our group.

Character Profile : Girl

For our main character of the girl we decided that we wanted her wearing an off red colour dress instead of the stereotypical colour of white, to represent her innocence and the danger that she is in. The dress is to symbolise her being this young girl also the dress is quite old fashioned as we want her to be as unique as possible. The colour red is to symbolise the danger and the loss of innocence that this girl encounters during the film opening. The girl also wears a pink bow headband as this is really used to emphasise her childlike features and it later becomes quite an important prop to our thriller, we used pink as the headband because it shows she is this young girl. We decided we would unconventional colours to portray an innocent girl because we don't want our thriller opening to be stereotypical and predictable.

Using the tripod

This is the specific outline of the tripod we will being using to shoot our thriller opening with. This is a sturdy tripod that had a spirit level to no whether the camera would focus or not. 

This is how the plate to attaches to the camera and then to the tripod to securely place the camera on the tripod, to remove the plate from the camera you have to twist the screw underneath the plate which will release the camera. 

This is another picture of the plate and how those two screws attach to the bottom of the camera. 

Teacher Tutorial on Garage Band

Before we start making our music for our thriller, we were taught how to use garage band. We were taught how to make new tracks and to change the instruments. This really helped because I have never used Garage Band and I knew how to do the basics on it now, thanks to the teacher that helped us and we are lucky as someone in our group has a really good understanding of Garage Band, so we are now making our music completely without any help or without any other music that has already been used. This helped us know what instruments we want to use as well because we now know how they will sound.

Storyboard for our old thriller

This is a quick summary of the thriller storyboard, the ideas will be adapted according to the day of filming. For example the kiwi cutting will be edited to fit with other examples. 

Difference between a horror and Thriller

There are many differences between a horror and a thriller and most people get them confused as some films are very hard to distinguish between. The main difference is that a thriller is a psychological film and doesn't really involve many deaths/killings, whereas a horror is mostly based upon gore, blood and guts!

Four things that make a good horror are:

• It needs good music- with out with sounding like a thriller film
• A remorseless killer- someone who doesn't feel bad for what they have done and constantly goes around killing people
• Blood- it is vital for making a horror that blood is used as this is the element to make a key horror film
• a fear- there needs to be a fear that is relatable to the audience and must be fearful for what is happening

Four things that make a good Thriller film are:

• a good storyline- the storyline needs to be gripping otherwise it will not be able to grip the audience into watching the film
• multiple points of view- don't have it based on one person throughout the entire film make sure it is for a variety of people views
• Don't give it all away- do not reveal the entire storyline straight away, make sure things are hidden through the film
• it needs to be fast past- if you drag the film out it starts to become boring and not interesting but if it is fast pace you will be able to make it more thriller like.

An example of a horror film

An example of a thriller film