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 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.

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

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.

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

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.

Diary/First day of filming

Alex setting up for the first scene

This picture shows Alex setting up for our first shot and Anna putting on her make up for her character

This image shows on of our shots for the thriller, it is an important as it shows the significance of the prop.

We found this TV at our location and thought it would be appropriate in our thriller

- Ellie Sutton

Our first day of filming went really well. The weather was perfect as it looked cold which fits our thriller, also it wasnt raining which meant that our filming was clear and there was not too much backround noise. Also, we started filming quite early in the day meaning we would have pleanty of light to carry on filming throughout the day. As we were filming, we came up with alot of new ideas to improve our thriller as we found that one scene could lead onto many different scinarios, we therefore added alot of shots to our thriller that we did not originally plan on, adding to the intensity of our thriller. 

-Anna Dunk

Cape Fear Analysis

As a group in class, we sat down and looked at the opening of the film 'Cape Fear'. Everyone came up with a lot of good ideas as we looked deeper into the meaning behind different things in the clip.

Here is a screen shot of the very first clip of the opening. The fact that the image is blurred because of the water, represents the way that the main character sees the world. Also, the Eagle is a bird of prey which reflects the fact that he is also a predator and a dangerous character.

Next we see the image of an eye. We can tell that this is the victims eye because it is wide and looking around, showing that this person is scared.

The colour red in the water gives a sense of danger and can represent blood. It is also warning the audience that somthing bad is going to happen.

Here we have a silhouette of the mans body. The fact that it is a silhouette suggests mystery and intrigues the audience. Also, the tinted green water could represent the feeling of jealousy and envy.

The director then uses direct addressing as we are introduced to a woman talking to the audience. We assume that this women is the victim as she is wearing a white top, representing her innocence and purity. The fact that all the buttons are done up on her top also show this.

We are then introduced to as man working out in prison. The 'scales of justice' tattoo on his back could reflect the fact that he wants to get revenge.

The way that the prison guards follow him instead of lead him through the prison, and that way that they move out the way for him, suggests that he is a dominant figure and that other people feel threatened by him. This indicates that he is in prison for a serious crime.

The dramatic music and the storm that occurs when he gets out of the prison indicate danger. Also, the fact that he is leaving the prison alone links back and imitates the nature of the eagle in the first scene, suggesting he is on a hunt for revenge now he has been released.







Analysing Cape Fear has been a very useful task as we have learnt a lot about the way we can represent things in our Thriller. It has also taught us how to look deeper into the meanings of things in movies, and how to apply that to our own.

Answer to Questionnaire

         Here is a questionnaire we created in order to find out more information about what people look for and what people want to see in a thriller, this is a completed version.

1)     Are you male or female?

         Male                       Female


2.)  Which age catergory do you fit into?
     12-15      16-18        19-25          25+  

 3.) What type of thriller do you prefer?
     Psychological     Crime    Drama      Action    Horror 


4.) Which type of location would you associate with a thriller?
       Woods    Train Stations     Abandoned House    The city 


 5.)  What attracts you to thriller advertisement e.g colour, images
       'Interseting Colours and Pictures'
       'An Intriguing front cover and Title'
       'Somthing that you can tell will be scary by looking at the front cover'
       'A simple but catchy Title'
       'A short and blunt Title'
   ----------------------------------------------------------------


6.) What are the three main things you expect in a thriller?
         'Suspense'
          'Violence'
          'A twist'  
          'The audience are left asking questions'
          'Mystery'
    ---------------------------------------------------------------


7.)  Do you think a good opening to a film is important?
         Yes        No 


8.) Does an exciting film title attract you to watch it?
        Yes     No

Post Production Preliminary Evaluation

Through our preliminary process, we faced a few problems with the camera we were using. We recorded our preliminary but had problems when we wanted to edit it as the camera was not compatible with the editing software we were using. We therefore had to record another preliminary using a different camera which was then successful.

We then started to crop the clips to make them the right length as we did not want clips that were too long as they would be pointless and become tedious. We then chose the music we would add to the video. We decided to use jolly background music as it fitted in with our light hearted video. We then looked at transactions and finally we added our names to the video.

The preliminary task has been very useful as we have learnt a lot about do’s and don’ts for our 2 minute thriller. For example, we have decided to use little or even no dialogue in our thriller because we don’t think it’s very effective and it takes away the professional feel of the film.

Overall we found that editing the preliminary was very useful to learn and get comfortable with using the camera and the editing software. It also worked well and really enhanced the clip.  

Our Location

Here is a picture of our location. We thought it would be a perfect place to film a thriller as it fits the theme and also looks interesting and engaging.

Here is a picture of the back of the house, and also the land behind the house where the first scene of our thriller will be filmed.

We are all really happy with the location we have chosen as we think it has a lot of potential for creating a really great thriller. Also, there is a lot of land meaning we have a lot of space to get some really great shots.

Psychographics

Psychographics is a way of categorizing an audience by their behaviour and personality traits. Psychographics labels a particular type of person and makes an assessment about their viewing and spending habits.

After looking at Young and Rubicon’s psychographic profile, known as their 4C’s Marketing Model. We have decided that our target audience best fits the Reformers group. I think that this group would mainly include teenagers over the age of 15, for example, college or university students.

The preliminary task storyboard

This is the story board we created for the preliminary task. It shows a simple plan on how we will be filming and the shot we will use. The preliminary task should last about 30 seconds and we must include a match on action shot, shot reverse shot and a 180 degree rule.  Doing this will help us get used to using the camara and help us to learn what looks effective and what doesnt.

Moodboard of our Thriller

This moodboard represents elements of our Thriller. For example, an abandoned house, which is going to be our location and the pictures of the brain as our story is about a girl with schizophrenia. Also, the colours of the moodboard are typical colours for a thriller, as black and grey represent darkness.