Friday 8 April 2016
Sound Planning:
https://www.freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/181805/- Heart beat sound, possible for alleyway scene as it builds tension in the most intense part of the thriller, confusing the audience as they would have become used to the slower pace of the characters actions and music, and become intrigued as to whats to happen next and why tension is being built.
- Use of ambient sound during the beginning (walking scene) along with natural sounds of the the outdoors area/street to let the audience hear the setting/suburban area the plot takes place in. Also used this sound with a black screen at the start to emphasise the importance of the music.
Thursday 7 April 2016
Fonts Reseach and Analysis:
For the Fonts in our thriller, it was important to research fonts used in other thrillers (such as in Se7en as this is most similar to our own thriller) and to choose a font that fit the genre, atomosphere and themes of the film, as well as giving the film its own unique font to make it recognisable and iconic.
Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
For our thriller, we used many techniques to attract/address our audience, such as creating enigma and darker themes to intice the audience into watching.
We did this to grab the audiences attention and hook them. The enigma we created was created through many parts of the thriller, making the audience ask questions of the thriller and want to find out more, such as; the bag that the main character drops at the beginning as to why it is there and what is inside it, whats the wall in the upstairs room for and whats it about (asks more questions about his position in life/job etc.), why he takes a pill (which is also unknown as to what the pill actually is) and finally what the non-diegetic sounds are building up to and creating tension for. This attracts our audience as they want to be challanged by what they are watching in terms of figuring out the story, and the enigma we create in the thriller does this.
Our thriller also attracts our audience through the Sudden twist we added at the end of the thriller, as it comes as an unexpected surprise, which would again confuse the audience and keep them on the edge of their seat, as they now realise that anything could happen throughout the thriller and so want to keep watching.
These ways of hooking the audience is how we attracted our audience, as we knew that these are the things they would want to watch in a thriller according to our target audience and research.
The thriller idetntifies with the audience, as the main character is of a similar age and has similar traits/interests to the target audience we have in mind, which therefore means the audience can relate to our main character and identify with him.
The thriller may also identify with the audience due to the sudden outburst the main character has, as he is psychologically damaged, which may be similar to some of the audience and therefore could feel and understand/indentify the same pains that he goes through in the thriller.
However, the audience won't be able to identify with the events of the situatuin that occurs as they won't understand what the situation is or whats going on, due to the amount of enigma and unanswere questions that the thriller asks throughout. This attracts the audience though rather than acting as a deterent, as they then want to find out more about the situation and try to figure out whats happening, as then they either may be able to relate to it, or just becomes intruiging to the audience and so what to watch on for that reason.
The positioning of our audience during the thriller isn't with the main character, nor is it against him. This is because the audience is positioned in a mutual position from the beginning of the thriller, as they don't know enough about the character or anything else to be positioned with the character. However, the audience is positioned in the same room as the main character, and so therefore become positioned slightly with the main character, however they do not feel the emotions the character feels. The audience are intended to be positioned in the same room as the main character, watching what he does and what happens, but are not on his side, and they do not feel the same emotions that he feels,
due to the enigma surrounding him. This also makes the audience confused as they have certain exspectations and theories about the character, which however become twisted at the end of the opening due to the sudden outburst, meaning the audience cannot side with him nor can they be positioned with him.
We did this to grab the audiences attention and hook them. The enigma we created was created through many parts of the thriller, making the audience ask questions of the thriller and want to find out more, such as; the bag that the main character drops at the beginning as to why it is there and what is inside it, whats the wall in the upstairs room for and whats it about (asks more questions about his position in life/job etc.), why he takes a pill (which is also unknown as to what the pill actually is) and finally what the non-diegetic sounds are building up to and creating tension for. This attracts our audience as they want to be challanged by what they are watching in terms of figuring out the story, and the enigma we create in the thriller does this.
Our thriller also attracts our audience through the Sudden twist we added at the end of the thriller, as it comes as an unexpected surprise, which would again confuse the audience and keep them on the edge of their seat, as they now realise that anything could happen throughout the thriller and so want to keep watching.
These ways of hooking the audience is how we attracted our audience, as we knew that these are the things they would want to watch in a thriller according to our target audience and research.
The thriller idetntifies with the audience, as the main character is of a similar age and has similar traits/interests to the target audience we have in mind, which therefore means the audience can relate to our main character and identify with him.
The thriller may also identify with the audience due to the sudden outburst the main character has, as he is psychologically damaged, which may be similar to some of the audience and therefore could feel and understand/indentify the same pains that he goes through in the thriller.
However, the audience won't be able to identify with the events of the situatuin that occurs as they won't understand what the situation is or whats going on, due to the amount of enigma and unanswere questions that the thriller asks throughout. This attracts the audience though rather than acting as a deterent, as they then want to find out more about the situation and try to figure out whats happening, as then they either may be able to relate to it, or just becomes intruiging to the audience and so what to watch on for that reason.
The positioning of our audience during the thriller isn't with the main character, nor is it against him. This is because the audience is positioned in a mutual position from the beginning of the thriller, as they don't know enough about the character or anything else to be positioned with the character. However, the audience is positioned in the same room as the main character, and so therefore become positioned slightly with the main character, however they do not feel the emotions the character feels. The audience are intended to be positioned in the same room as the main character, watching what he does and what happens, but are not on his side, and they do not feel the same emotions that he feels,
due to the enigma surrounding him. This also makes the audience confused as they have certain exspectations and theories about the character, which however become twisted at the end of the opening due to the sudden outburst, meaning the audience cannot side with him nor can they be positioned with him.
Tuesday 5 April 2016
Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the construction of this media thriller I learnt a lot about technologies involved in the process, from pre-production through to editing.
Pre-Production:
Pre-Production:
During pre-production, I learnt how to use technologies and websites for research, such as Blogspot, Freesound, and YouTube/Netflix, which were all very useful in the research section of the process, as it allowed me to figure out how to create our thriller. I learnt how useful technologies are for research and pre-p
For example, YouTube became useful in pre-production due to it providing the ability to watch other thrillers/crime thrillers similar to the idea of our own thriller, and could gather aspects of those thrillers and incorporate them into our own thriller. An example of this is from Kill Bill, with the walking scene which I watched multiple times on YouTube, after watching it in class. We then took ideas of how to shoot our own walking parts from this clip and used them in our thriller.
For Blogspot, this became useful as it would allow me to look at other peoples ideas and inspirations and incorporate these ideas into my own thriller, or try to develop them further. Blogspot was also useful as I could get feedback from my teacher and other classmates on the ideas for the thriller, along with the ease of access for my group so we could easily share and look at eachothers ideas.
Freesound was useful for pre-production due to being able to gather sounds that were copyright free, that we could use for our thriller. The site also includes an extremely large amount of sounds, which became very useful as we could find and use sounds such as heartbeats and ambient music which we otherwise may not have found, especially as they were copyright free.
Production:
Throughout the production process of our thriller, I learnt a lot about technologies and how they have developed in the last 50 odd years, such as the use of digital cameras and how much easier they are to use than older cameras, which would have naturally been heavier, more complicated to use and less convienent in general.
The fact that new technologies have evolved and developed drastically (and still are) means that filming and producing film of a high and proffessional standard can be created by anyone, for a reasonable amount of money. The advancements in new technologies such as digital cameras like the one we used (with the make of Canon) means that anyone can make a proffessional looking film, which the high quality HD video cameras. To use them, you don't even have to be particulaly skilled in filming, as they are now extremely simple and practical to use. The fact that cameras now days are small and portable is a massive change in filming from 50 years ago, along with the way in which the footage is captured and saved.
The digital cameras we used in the filming of our thriller had an SD card in it rather than video tape which could only be looked at afterwards and you'd only be able to use so much of it, whereas with a SD card we can look back at and delete any footage we have taken instantly after it has been filmed, meaning that we could easily save the footage we had collected and re-watch it on the camera to check if the shots we had were good enough, instead of having to wait till post-production to see if the shots were any good which we may have had to do if we didn't have access to such developed cameras. The SD card also allowed us to capture a lot of footage and take it out of the camera whenever we needed to, either for post-production and editing, saving footage onto our own laptops/computors to rewatch and keep spare copys and saves on, or in case another student needed to take the camera to use for there own thrillers so they wouldn't have mixed footage, and we could use the SD card with any other camera and keep all the footage in one place.
Another advance in technology is tripods that were again provided by the school, which were very easy to use, professional and light so they were easy to carry around and not put a strain on us when we had to move locations etc. They were also easy to carry around as they could become compact and small, due to being able to extend ad retract the legs. The tripod was also very professional and was never off balance, due to the fact it even had a small balance on it so we could see it it was going to be a straight shot and not tilted at all.
Post-Preduction:
During Post-Produciton, I learnt a lot about the changes in technologies when it comes to editing, from adding sound, editing certain clips to have effects, titles/credits or changing them to make them look better if they were orginally filmed badly. For example if a shot was slightly tilted we could use the editing software to move and tilt it back into a straight shot.
Editing wise, this has become much easier due to new technologies such as editing softwares on computors and other devices. When people had to film with video tape, the editing process would be physically cutting the tape were you wanted a shot to end, which clearly would give many problems especially if you cut it wrong. Since new technological advances were invented, these issues are no longer a problem because you can edit clips, cut them and redo mistakes with ease by moving them and using the software.
I also learnt about how editing can change the way a shot was orignally taken, such as during our editing phase of our thriller, we noticed how some shots were not aligned properly and weren't straight (unintentionally tilted) and through the editing software we were able to change and rotate the clip, then zoom in a little to make it look like the clip is straight and how it shoud be.
You can also use the editing to remove things that went wrong in the filming, such as cutting out things that shouldn't be in the shot or ading things such as overlays and sounds, which means we didn't have to worry too much about sounds during the filming, as we could make it louder, quieter, add non-diegetic music or get rid of the sounds all together.
So, from the process of the thriller i have learnt about how new technologies have affected and advanced editing in media and in constructing things such as our thriller.
I have learnt a lot about technoliges from the process of constructing my media thriller, from research through to editing and the final product. These new tehnologies that helped my create my thriller were all easy to use, cheap, professional and convienent, which means anybody can use them and create their own films, increasing the chances for collaboration and enhances the opporunititeas for creativit, due to there being more chances for people to use these technologies and create whatever they want with others or on a project by themselves.
For example, YouTube became useful in pre-production due to it providing the ability to watch other thrillers/crime thrillers similar to the idea of our own thriller, and could gather aspects of those thrillers and incorporate them into our own thriller. An example of this is from Kill Bill, with the walking scene which I watched multiple times on YouTube, after watching it in class. We then took ideas of how to shoot our own walking parts from this clip and used them in our thriller.
For Blogspot, this became useful as it would allow me to look at other peoples ideas and inspirations and incorporate these ideas into my own thriller, or try to develop them further. Blogspot was also useful as I could get feedback from my teacher and other classmates on the ideas for the thriller, along with the ease of access for my group so we could easily share and look at eachothers ideas.
Freesound was useful for pre-production due to being able to gather sounds that were copyright free, that we could use for our thriller. The site also includes an extremely large amount of sounds, which became very useful as we could find and use sounds such as heartbeats and ambient music which we otherwise may not have found, especially as they were copyright free.
Production:
Throughout the production process of our thriller, I learnt a lot about technologies and how they have developed in the last 50 odd years, such as the use of digital cameras and how much easier they are to use than older cameras, which would have naturally been heavier, more complicated to use and less convienent in general.
The fact that new technologies have evolved and developed drastically (and still are) means that filming and producing film of a high and proffessional standard can be created by anyone, for a reasonable amount of money. The advancements in new technologies such as digital cameras like the one we used (with the make of Canon) means that anyone can make a proffessional looking film, which the high quality HD video cameras. To use them, you don't even have to be particulaly skilled in filming, as they are now extremely simple and practical to use. The fact that cameras now days are small and portable is a massive change in filming from 50 years ago, along with the way in which the footage is captured and saved.The digital cameras we used in the filming of our thriller had an SD card in it rather than video tape which could only be looked at afterwards and you'd only be able to use so much of it, whereas with a SD card we can look back at and delete any footage we have taken instantly after it has been filmed, meaning that we could easily save the footage we had collected and re-watch it on the camera to check if the shots we had were good enough, instead of having to wait till post-production to see if the shots were any good which we may have had to do if we didn't have access to such developed cameras. The SD card also allowed us to capture a lot of footage and take it out of the camera whenever we needed to, either for post-production and editing, saving footage onto our own laptops/computors to rewatch and keep spare copys and saves on, or in case another student needed to take the camera to use for there own thrillers so they wouldn't have mixed footage, and we could use the SD card with any other camera and keep all the footage in one place.
Another advance in technology is tripods that were again provided by the school, which were very easy to use, professional and light so they were easy to carry around and not put a strain on us when we had to move locations etc. They were also easy to carry around as they could become compact and small, due to being able to extend ad retract the legs. The tripod was also very professional and was never off balance, due to the fact it even had a small balance on it so we could see it it was going to be a straight shot and not tilted at all.Post-Preduction:
During Post-Produciton, I learnt a lot about the changes in technologies when it comes to editing, from adding sound, editing certain clips to have effects, titles/credits or changing them to make them look better if they were orginally filmed badly. For example if a shot was slightly tilted we could use the editing software to move and tilt it back into a straight shot.
Editing wise, this has become much easier due to new technologies such as editing softwares on computors and other devices. When people had to film with video tape, the editing process would be physically cutting the tape were you wanted a shot to end, which clearly would give many problems especially if you cut it wrong. Since new technological advances were invented, these issues are no longer a problem because you can edit clips, cut them and redo mistakes with ease by moving them and using the software.
I also learnt about how editing can change the way a shot was orignally taken, such as during our editing phase of our thriller, we noticed how some shots were not aligned properly and weren't straight (unintentionally tilted) and through the editing software we were able to change and rotate the clip, then zoom in a little to make it look like the clip is straight and how it shoud be.
You can also use the editing to remove things that went wrong in the filming, such as cutting out things that shouldn't be in the shot or ading things such as overlays and sounds, which means we didn't have to worry too much about sounds during the filming, as we could make it louder, quieter, add non-diegetic music or get rid of the sounds all together.
So, from the process of the thriller i have learnt about how new technologies have affected and advanced editing in media and in constructing things such as our thriller.
I have learnt a lot about technoliges from the process of constructing my media thriller, from research through to editing and the final product. These new tehnologies that helped my create my thriller were all easy to use, cheap, professional and convienent, which means anybody can use them and create their own films, increasing the chances for collaboration and enhances the opporunititeas for creativit, due to there being more chances for people to use these technologies and create whatever they want with others or on a project by themselves.
Monday 4 April 2016
Q4. Who would be the target audience for your thriller task?
This is James. He is a 26 year old man living in the UK, studying at university and has a stable part time job. He has an interest in films and especially the thriller genre, and also enjoys crime/detective dramas. He prefers to watch these as they give a sense of thrill and become a challenge when watching them, as you can't tell whats going on or whats going to happen during the film. He also enjoys a more niche market of films, so the UK based films as he has an interest in the smaller budget films due to how it shows you don't need money to create a good thriller. Examples of films he has previously watched and enjoyed in the thriller are films like The Disappearance of Alice Creed, and Layer Cake, which was again a UK based thriller film. However he also enjoyed Se7en, which was a more global and higher budget film, but still fit the genre he enjoys to watch due to the challenges they present, as well as the enigma and intense plots. Due to the likening of smaller more niche films, he enjoys going to smaller, more niche cinemas such as cinema city, rather than cinemas like Vue which tend to show the larger more global films, or the "blockbusters".
Saturday 2 April 2016
Q2. How does your thriller film opening represent particular social groups?
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| Detective Furnace - Furnace (Firgure 1) |
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| Detective Somerset - Se7en (Figure 2) |
The thriller does represent the main character as a typical hard boiled detective who conveys connnotations of power and authority through his job and formal attire, which makes the character familiar to the audience as they can become fimiliar through this stereotype. However, we also twist this representation at the end of the piece where he lashes out and seems to lose all power in the situation and loses control of himself and the situation he is in.
We represent the social group of middle aged men (30-40 years old) as formal. business like and organised. However, we also represent this age as confused and psychologically tormented, through the desk swipe in our opening, along with the pill he takes, showing how something has happened throughout his life that has caused this pain, meaning he could live a double-life.
Our thriller represents crime in a suburban and "normal" way, through the very suburban house/setting that the thriller takes place in. This could be seen as representing crime in a familiar way to the audience, as it is taking place in unsuspecting places but also everyday locations like a semi-detached house in suburbia of Norwich, which could lead to representations of the hidden darknesses in these locations, and that is the direction our thriller takes, similar to a location and idea such as Walter Whites house in "Breaking Bad".
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