Problems we faced

Our first problem is that our preliminary task is not on the blog. This is because we cannot transfer the file in the correct format. However, we do have our preliminary task on Disc, if needed.

Our next problem is that the YouTube version of our video is glitchy in places, the music cuts out in certain stages which is not attended. Again, this is corrected on our Disc copy of the video. However, we'll try and re-format it and re-upload the corrected video.

Evaluation Activity 7

Here we are discussing and analysing our Preliminary task, pointing out what went well, and what wasn't so good.

We have done this in order to reflect on how much we've developed over the course.

We then compared our previous preliminary Task to our Thriller. We did this to see how much we had progressed with using the equipment

and editing. We have attained a much greater knowledge of the process it takes from adapting recorded footage into a movie.

Evaluation Activity 6

During the process of making our thriller, we used different equipment and online websites. Here is the technology we used in order to record, edit and promote our media project.

Evaluation activity 5

Evaluation Activity 4

Evaluation Activity 3

What kind of Media Institute might distribute your Media Product?

Evaluation 2

How our Media Product represents particular social groups

Black Swan-

The character Nina Sayers played by Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan' is very simular to Anna's character in our thriller. Both characters represent a sort of schizophrinic state, presented by there being more then one of the same person, one represents the good side and one represents the bad side of the same person. Therefore, both Anna and Nina in the film are the victim as well as the villan in the two movies.

The two characters and their roles throughout the two thrillers are quite simular. Both characters are very silent when the are in their possesed state which gives a chilling and sinister feeling to the audience as it seems very unnatral. Also, both characters have emotionless expressions most of the time, this shows that something isnt quite right as it gives a impression that the characters are detached from the rest of the world and whats going on around them.

The characters costumes are quite simluar as both Anna and Nina Sayers wear all black to represent that they are the evil characters, although Annas characters arent all evil, it still contrasts with Ellies costume as she is wearing all white to represent that Ellie is an innocent character. Our media film Nyctophobia and Black Swan are both phychological thrillers that follow the story of the life a female who is mentally ill. We thought that the main character in our thriller should be female as they come across more vunrable and are usually stereotypically the victims in movies. Both characters also have different states of mind. When the characters change into a different state, it is shown in their eyes as they change colour. In the Black Swan, her eyes change to the colour red, we decided to go with a more natural colour in order to make it more suttle, we therefore had Anna's eyes change from green to blue, we thought this looked very effective.

The Orphan-

Isabelle Fuhrman who played the character Esther in The Orphan also has a few simulataties with Anna's character.

The two characters both have a sense of a blurred identity as Anna has many different identities as there are more then one of her, and Esther has a hidden identity right until the end of the film. Also, like Black Swan, Esther also has quite a blank expression a lot of the time which suggests abnormality. Both Nyctophobia and Orphan are films that create questions for the audience whilst they are watching them. This keeps that audience intrested and on edge throughout the film.

Evaluation Activity 1

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

Title of our film: We had some difficulties with deciding what to call our thriller. We were researching , split personalities and even phobias to try and think of an idea. When researching phobias we come across the fear of the dark which is 'Nyctophobia' we also found a fear of closing one's eyes which is 'Optophobia' which would be effective as the main character in our thriller closes her eyes before she changes. However, in the end we went back to our original idea of 'Nyctophobia' as we felt it was catchy and suited the themes of the Thriller well.

Setting/Location: For the setting of our thriller we wanted to find a place that was fairly quiet and slightly eerie to fit the themes of our film. We had thought of many locations, our original locations were a forest in Shenfield and The Secret Nuclear Bunker in kelvedon Hatch. We emailed the Secret Nuclear Bunker to ask for permission to film there. However, we as a group didn't feel that the location suited the storyline to our thriller. We later discovered an old abandoned house in Hutton Mount which we all went to look at. Straight away from standing outside the house we knew that it suited our story well, and as we were looking round each room we were already trying to work out which shots could be used in each room as we knew and all agreed straight away the location fitted well. We all also agreed that we wanted to stick to one location as our story is based around what is happening in and around the house and is really important in our storyline. Many thrillers use large abandoned houses usually surround by forests to create an eerie effect, thrillers such as 'The last house on the left' and 'The Shining' uses large buildings to emphasise the vulnerability of the characters, much like ours.

Costume and Props: As we created a story board for our thriller we all decided as a group that we wanted the two characters to wear contrasting costumes. We decided to put Anna's character in a black lace dress to get the viewer's thinking she is a villain, however, when my character is shown wearing a similar dress but it white it portrays to the audience the two side or personalities of Anna's character. We made sure we didn't use many props in our thriller as we wanted the main attention on the characters as well as necklace which creates enigma. We decided to use a key necklace as we thought it was a strong symbol which could be used throughout the film.

Camera work and editing: When filming for our thriller we used a variety of shots to resemble the changing emotions of the film, as well as seeing into the mind of the protagonist. The film begins with a 360 pan shot of the land outside the house, we made this blurred when editing to make it seem as if it is what our character is seeing. As our first character is introduced we use a low angle shot to get the audience thinking she is the villain, this shot is important in our thriller as it is where the necklace is first shown. We all decided that we wanted to use a shot that shows she more of a vulnerable character, however we did this by again using a low angle shot but this time it shows Anna's characters evil side to her personality, this shows her characters vulnerability. During our editing we also agreed that we wanted the flashbacks to be in black and white to show the difference also making it seem more eerie effect, films often use a blurry effect to create flashbacks, however the psychological thriller 'the element of crime' uses a sepia tone to create it.

Title and font style: We found looking for a font style difficult to suit our thriller. We wanted it to look different and effective at the same time. For the credits our names are written in a bold white font that has quite a rough look to it to emphasise the themes of our thriller. We decided that the title of the film would appear at the end of our opening rather than the beginning as it would be the last thing you see and has more of an effect. The font of the title is different to the rest of the credits as we wanted it to be a lot bolder, we also put a slight 'earthquake' effect on the writing as it gives it an un-steady effect.

Story and how the opening sets it up:  Before we started filming we knew that we wanted to create an enigma for the audience which is known to be a main convention of a thriller. The Whip pan at the very start creates confusion which represents what Anna is seeing, as it stops Anna is standing in front of the house holding a key necklace. This is what creates the enigma for the audience as they do not know who she is and why she is there but most importantly what the necklace symbolises.

Genre and how the opening sets it up: The genre of the film is a thriller. One of the main conventions of a thriller is being fast paced and as a group we wanted to create this in our film. We wanted to do this to create tension from the very beginning as it makes it more engaging for the audience. The location of our thriller also creates the genre of the film. Another main convention of a thriller is the location in which its set, 'Shutter island' is set on an isolated island where the protagonist is faced with numerous problems, much like the protagonist in ours.

How characters are introduced:  There are only two characters in the opening of our thriller. We wanted to introduce Anna's character on her own as we wanted to show she is isolated and creates questions for the audience of why she is there, who she is and why she is on her own. She is first introduced after the Whip pan which sets the location, we have also made it so that it seems to appear from nowhere giving off an eerie vibe to keep it in with the conventions of a thriller. We also used shots to keep her face hidden until she walks into the house such as, the first long shot of her from behind, the close up of the necklace, then a close up of her feet walking towards the house. We done this as we wanted a way to represent her hidden identity and split personality. My character is introduced in a flashback and i contrast from Anna not only because I am wearing white but from looking at Anna's previous state I am laughing. We wanted to use flashbacks as we wanted the audience to ask questions, and from the flashback of me then the fire we wanted the audience to assume my character had died which makes it more engaging when my character re-appears at the end.

New BBFC Rating for our Thriller.

After evaluating the final product of our Thriller, we have decided it should be categorised as a 15.
 A '15' rating film will include themes such as strong language, suitable violence (if too explicit; the film should be 
categorised as an '18') and topics that deal with discrimination.


We can relate this to themes in our Thriller, for instance, the flashback of the fire. 
Another way we can categorise our film as 15 is through the adult themes presented in our film. For instance, it would be hard for an audience under the age of 15 to understand psychological illnesses such as the symptoms caused by schizophrenia. 


The build up of tension, and climaxes in our Thriller is also another way we can aim our movie at a 15+ audience. This is because it plays on the audience's minds, which would not be comfortable for everyone.
One moment would be when Anna's eyes roll back, and the pupils change. Certain demographics may find this disturbing.

Final Product

An Expert's opinion on Codes and Conventions of our Thriller

Here are some questions we asked in order to improve our ideas for our thriller and to get another persons point of view to help us understand more about what other people want to watch and what they expect from a thriller.

Pitching our Movie

Risk Assessment

Costume analysis

A stereotypical view of the protagonist villain would be a male wearing mainly dark clothing to help contrast from either the heroine or victim in the film and to portray that they are bad. Anna and I are playing the only two characters in our thriller, Anna is playing the main character who can be seen to the audience as a villain and a victim as she has a split personality, she is wearing a black lace dress to show that she can be seen as a villain compared to the character I play who is wearing a white lace dress. We decided to wear the same style of dress (lace) to show that we in the end, very similar.

To show that Anna's character has a split personality her hair is messy and eye colour changes, she used bright blue eye contacts for this, also, her eye make-up is a lot darker. This is the same with my character, when I appear towards the end my eye make-up has changed, it is a lot darker from when I appear in the flashback.

Diary Of a Day Filming- Day Three

Our third day of filming went really well. Before we went to our location we planned out exactly what we still needed to film so therefore filming went smoothly and we were done relatively quickly.

8.00am- Arrived at our Location
(Began setting up tripod and applying the make up for our thriller)

8.20am- Had a quick check around our location (the house) to make sure everything was safe and in place.

8.30am- Started Filming

11.00am- Looked over shots and discussed what could be improved and if there were any shots we needed to film again.

11.30am- Started to film the remaining shots we needed and re-filmed any shots we felt could be improved.

12.30am- Finished filming and came back to school to begin editing our final bits of footage.

Working with the Weather

There are clear weather changes throughout our thriller. We decided that this will look very effective as it will create pathetic fallacy. At the start of the thriller, the weather is quite sunny but still cold, this fits to mood as it at this point in the thriller, nothing bad has happened. The next day we filmed, the weather was more cloudy which worked well as it give the audience a feeling that something is about to happen. We have therefore picked tomorrow (Thursday) as the next day we are going to film as it is will either be raining or wet. This will look very effective as the bit we are going to film next is going to be the most dramatic bit of the thriller, represented well by the fact that it is going to be raining throughout this scene.

Make-up

I have experimented with make-up and feel that it will be suitable for our piece; as our Thriller involves a fire in one of the flashbacks. My character re-appears towards the end of our thriller with a burn, the accident in the fire isn't filmed as we wanted the audience to link it all up at the end.

For the make-up I used:

- Different shades of purple eye shadow

- Red and black face paint

- Tissue

- Eyeliner

- Cocktail sticks

- Make-up brushes





Choosing the music

When looking for a track for our thriller we wanted a track that would enhance the atmosphere to create suspense for the audience. We had to make sure all tracks were copyright free, therefore, we looked on websites such as http://www.freeplaymusic.com/. After listening to many tracks we discovered a track that we felt would fit perfectly in our thriller. We adapted this track to create many 'music stings' throughout our thriller which is one of many conventions for a typical thriller.
We then decided to use another track for our flashbacks to differentiate the changes from past to present throughout the thriller. The track is called 'abandoned infirmary' which created and cold feeling when listening to the soundtrack. The soundtracks we have used are called 'Abandoned infirmary' and 'Spirit'.

Final Story Board

Researching Schizophrenia

I have done some research about Schizophrenia, as the main character in our Thriller suffers from this, gaining some research may help Anna (who plays the main character) get into her character and the role of a girl who suffers from this illness. This research will also help Alex and I understand Schizophrenia more to help us while we are filming.
 It is a mental disorder that mainly manifests as auditory hallucinations or paranoid delusions. A person who suffers from this illness may hear voices in their head, have disorganised thoughts that they may not be able to control, their thoughts may be hard to follow and make little sense to others making conversations with others difficult which can then lead to isolation and loneliness.

 The main character in our Thriller has a split personality, this is where a person can have multiple identities, these personalities can take over a person's behaviour and can lead to memory loss. Many sufferers are known to have a good and evil side.

Additional Influences

I have named a few films that have influenced our group with the themes and storyline of our film. These three films include characters that are Schizophrenic, whether this is shown by one character or cleverly played by two.

Secret window- The Secret Window is a psychological thriller starring Johnny Depp.  He plays a writer called Mort Rainey who is confronted by a stranger who is outside his house. He calls himself John Shooter and claims that Mort (Depp) had stolen an idea for a story from him however Mort claims he can easily prove he had written it first and Shooter becomes more and more violent as he waits for the evidence.  

Black Swan- Black Swan is a psychological thriller, like our film 'Nyctophobia'.  A Ballerina is cast as the lead role in Swan Lake, she is perfect to portray the part of the 'White Swan' however finds it difficult to portray the 'Black Swan'. Another ballet dancer who she knows fits the role perfectly of the Black Swan. However, as they go compete for the lead, Nina (played by Natalie Portman) finds her darker side.

Fight Club- After the nameless narrator (Norton) who suffers from Insomnia is on his flight home he meets a man called Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) after he  finds out his apartment has been destroyed by an explosion he calls Durden and meets him, outside the bar Durden requests the 'nameless narrator' to hit him. After further fights there appears to be a crowd surrounding them. The men decide to create a 'fight club'. Towards the end you start to realise that Tyler (played by Pitt) is the darker side to the 'nameless narrator.

Marketing our Movie

Marketing is arguably the most important factor in a production of a movie; without it producers find it hard to promote their film, leading to less people viewing & buying the movie leading to less profit made.
Unlike famous Hollywood directors, we are running this project on a limited budget. So we have to think of initiative ideas into promoting our movie and persuading people to watch it.
One Marketing strategy we have used so far is creating a page on the social networking site 'Facebook'
this gives people the chance to 'like' our movie, whilst doing this it appears on their 'news feed' which has
 a snowboarding effect which gets even more people involved.

Final Poster

                                                              



                                                                

Potential Poster Ideas

Here are some ideas for a poster for our Thriller. We think they are good as they represent the split mind that the main character has. They also look interesting and would make people want to find out more about the film. I chose this writing because i think it suits the story and it goes well with the pictures used for the poster.

I think this photo looks very effective in black and white as it makes it look cold and dark.

 This one is good because the colours make it look interesting and intriguing. It also looks quite dark making it look scary and mysterious.

This one is quite effective as it shows slight differences between the two people. You can also see how one of them has blue eyes, which is also featured our thriller and everytime this character has a flashback, her eyes change colour which represents the other side of her.

Draft Risk Assessment

photos from the second day of filming