Evaluation activity 5

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.

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

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.

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'.

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.

photos from the second day of filming

                                                                    

Titles

We have been discussing a name for our thriller. Our initial idea was 'Nyctophobia' which means a fear of being alone. We wanted a name that relates to the Schizophrenic character Anna plays. We have been researching other pyschological thriller titles such as:

- Eisoptrophobia
This means a fear of mirrors. We thought it was a good idea as it relates to her split personality, however, we feel is too long and not sharp enough.

- Aberrant
This means a diversion from the normal type. We feel this could be a good  title because it relates well to the themes within the thriller.

- Optophobia
This is a fear of opening one's eyes. We thought this would be appropriate as Anna closes her eyes before she changes. Her changed personality is shown by her different colour eyes.

-State of mind

This means a temporary psychological state. This fits really well as Anna's character in the thriller keeps changing.

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'
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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

Questionnaire

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      Legal       Horror

4.) Which type of location would you associate with a thriller?

    --------------------------------------------------------------
 5.)  What attracts you to thriller advertisement e.g colour, images

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

6.) What are the three main things you expect in a thriller?

   ---------------------------------------------------------------

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

   

 

Production of our preliminary task

While filming for our Preliminary task we came across a few problems. Originally we had planned on our storyboard to film in the school hall, we had started to film on the back of the school stage like in our original storyboard. We used Match on action of Anna walking down the hall and up the stairs and again when she was walking up a ladder, this was effective as it the shots linked in well with the story as it made it seem as though Anna was lost. We then included shot reverse shot when Anna and Alex were having a conversation.

Therefore we had to come up with a different plan of where it could be filmed, we found a staircase that was empty that we could use in order to try at stick to our storyboard as much as possible. Firstly we made sure we included match on action, 180 rule and shot reverse shot. We decided that Anna walking up the stairs would be a good shot for match on action. Our first shot is of her walking from the bottom of the stairs, then from half way up. We used a tripod when filming this to keep the camera steady. As I walk into scene, we have a short conversation which is where we use shot reverse shot to be able to see the other persons reactions.

As a group we made sure we discussed all our ideas in order for everyone to include their own ideas. Filming for the preliminary task helped the group with working with a camera and how to film to make it seem professional, also making sure we included 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action as we could use this in our own thriller.

When we watched our preliminary task back we thought some things needed editing as some parts were a bit shakey. We also wanted to cut parts out and some takes that were wrong, and to add writing and music to introduce us to editing films in order to help us with our own thriller to make it as best as we can.

BBFC

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films. Issues are raised such as discrimination, drugs, horror, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence when making decisions. They also consider how it makes the audience feel and act on audience behaviour.

"It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror." - http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

There is a wide audience but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work. 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 descrimination.

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work. An '18' rating movie will be very explicit; therefore it's only suitable for adults. Abusive themes will be explored and their maybe strong sexual content with heavy violence.

Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’.  A '12' and '12A' is categorised when material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.
The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work.

Demographics

  A common method of audience research is known as demographics. This is the population of Britain broken down into six groups through income and status.

Producers use demographics to shape their text or product to appeal to a group with a known viewing  habits. Producers of a television programme about DIY would have a target audience with a C2 demographic. It does not tell you somethings they would like to know, such as how much money each group has to spend each week. Some skilled manual workers such as, electricrians and Plumbers earn more money then many teachers, however the money spent is not in the same way. Also, demographics only includes information about the main earner in a household so young people at home at home are not included for example.

Starting the Preliminary task

 To help get used to using a camera, mise-en-scene, and using sound we have been told about our premliminary task. We have to design a storyboard for our own 30 second film. We have looked at the thriller 'Psycho' storyboard to help us design ours and think of a story. We need to include the 180 degree rule which is when two characters within the scene have to keep in the left or right side of the screen, if the camera passes the 'imaginary' line the frame will look mirrored, the positioning of the characters will change.

We also have to use shot reverse shot which is where two character are talking is the shot is going from one person talking to the others reaction.

We also have to use Match on action which is where you are filming from one angle then from another of the same thing. For example someone walking down the stairs, we could start to film them from at the bottom of the stairs then from the side or from above.

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.

Initial ideas

When thinking of ideas for our Thriller we decided that we wanted to think of something unique, that isnt cliche. We were trying to think of good locations, and as a group we thought that the Secret Nuclear bunker in Kelvedon Hatch would be a good location. We researched and emailed them asking if it would be possible to film there.                      Below is the email asking for permission:

However, once they had replied and said that we could film we, as a group thought the location was great but found it hard to come up with an appropriate storyline. We would also of faced problems with filming as we would of had to film it all in one day as they were expecting us to pay each time we were filming.

Therefore, we have thought of other initial ideas and other locations and are currently working on another storyline and creating a mood board.