Our Final Idea

Final Idea -

After talking about our three different ideas for our thriller film; we finally decided that Option 3; with the two hitmen was the best, and we could incorporate a lot of key thriller conventions in this film. For example, we can easily use red herrings, in the sense that the audience doesn't know that the man who calls at the woman's door is a hitman and shocks and confuses the audience when they see him kill her. It keeps the idea of normality and realism up until the point he does kill her.

Also, we can use camera shots such as point of view, tracking shots and over the shoulder shots which will add to the effect of a thriller film. We will use quite a lot of dialogue as the audience will need to see the man and woman having a conversation, but the conversation will seem very normal and realistic which will lead the auidence to believe that the man means no harm.

The use of the first woman in the forest blindfolded will add suspense and tension but will not play a major part of the opening, it will last a very short amount of time which will give the audience only a glimpse of what could happen. The idea of only showing a short clip of this is so that the film can return quickly to 'normality' and the audience will be left wondering what the significance of the blindfolded woman is.

A common theme we are trying to achieve in this film is realism and how normal the plot will seem. For example, the idea of someone coming to your house to talk to you about a matter they feel strongly about or to tell you that you have won something; could happen in real life. This will hopefully make the audience feel vulnerable and make them think how easily it could happen to them. Also the setting of the film; a house, is very normal too and normally people will feel very safe in their own home, but this plot completely goes against that idea and is different to other thrillers as most people will be killed during a fight, robbery, public place etc.

The prop used (knife or gun) which will suddenly appear will shock the audience and will automatically make them think something bad is about to happen. This can represent binary opposites as the plot starts off very real and normal, an everyday situation. But very quickly changes to a completely different situation, which is the complete opposite to the previous setting.

Possible Shot Types

I decided to look at the types of shots we may want to use in our Thriller film and the impact that they would have upon our opening. Unfortunately my darling James wasn't available to model for me, so I decided to use my beloved Ganondorf figurine in order to show what the shot would look like.

Shot 1: Long Shot
This shot consists of showing the entire character's body. This is good for establishing a character and also showing the audience their costume or posture. For example, a long shot of the evil Ganondorf (as seen below) shows that he is wearing a lot of orange and red colours, suggesting to the audience that he is a dangerous and evil character.
In our film, we could use a long shot in order to show the hit man's costume. As he will be in a full suit, it is a good opportunity to show the audience what he is wearing and this would also allow the audience to infer that he is a professional.

Shot 2: Mid Shot

This shot shows the upper half of the body. It is good for showing costume and also for showing a character's reaction to something. We could use this in our film, for example, when the hit man pulls the gun out of his pocket and the victim realises what is about to happen. 

Shot 3: Close Up (CU)

CUs may also be used in order to show a character's reaction to something, but they may also be used in order to make sure the audience sees something significant in the film. For example, we may use a CU in our film in order to show the hit man taking the gun out of his pocket.

Here is an example CU of Ganondorf's face.

Shot 4: High Angle Shot

A high angle shot is used to show vulnerability in a character. In our film, I think it would be a good idea to use a high-angle shot when the victim is pushed onto the sofa by the hit man. 

Shot 5: Low Angle Shot

This type of shot has the opposite impact of a high-angle shot, and instead of making the character look more vulnerable, it makes them look more scary and powerful. We would use these shots on the hit man in our opening. As you can see in the picture below, Ganondorf looks twice as terrifying when a low angle shot is used.

Shot 6: Point of View (POV)

A POV shot is used in order to allow the audience to empathise with a character and understand how they are feeling. This may be used during a chase scene or may be used in order to show that a character is looking for something. We may use this kind of shot in our film when the gun is pointed to the victim's face. As you can see in the shot below, Ganondorf was looking at a lamp in his POV. How exciting. 

Shot 7: Establishing Shot

These are very common in film openings because it establishes to the audience where the scene is set. In our film, we may use an establishing shot in order to show the audience the victim's house before the hit man enters it. In the example below, I used Tortimer's house (from Animal Crossing, by the way) to give an example of how an establishing shot may look. As you can see, the house is in the distance because it makes it look a lot more vulnerable. 

Thriller Magazine Advert Analysis

Although it isn't directly related to Thriller openings, I made the decision to take a brief look at some Thriller magazine adverts in order to look at the kind of colours used and what character types they use in order to represent the film. It also made for a good opportunity to look at costume.

Thriller Film Magazine Adverts Analysis by George Tuvey

There were a few interesting things I learnt through these adverts because they have some things in common. It seems like females are a lot more popular when advertising Thriller films, probably because they are stereotypically a lot more vulnerable than males. Also, dark colours are used in both adverts.

Both adverts are also very minimalistic, which is contrasting with the complex narratives of the films themselves and so hints at what the films may be about without giving away too much.

I have learnt from this research project that it is important we use dull colours in our film. Although we would like the house to be as normal as possible, the hit man should wear a dark suit - a black or charcoal colour, as opposed to wearing a blue suit or something like that. Also, we need to make sure we have a woman as a victim and that she is dressed normally, possibly wearing colours such as white and pink to express innocence and femininity. 

23rd & 25th October Lesson - Audience Research

23rd October - 

In this lesson we started to look at story boards and how to put them together. We decided that we didn't want to draw so went with using photos instead of drawing. After a discussion about where we were going to photograph our storyboard we finally decided on one darker classrooms and the back of the field to act as the woods.

After spending about half an hour taking photographs, we went back to the media room and uploaded them to the computers. We didn't get to put our storyboard together in the lesson but we will hopefully be able to start putting it together during half term or after half term. 

We then went onto the subject of audience research and started to think about how we could get some feedback from our target audience. I suggested the idea of taking people from different years in school and asking them thriller film related questions, which we planned to ask the audience and film the next lesson. 

25th October - 

This lesson we decided to start filming our audience research and spent a while trying to figure out some simple but effective questions to ask the audience and help us with our planning. 

These are the questions that we asked - 

• Do you watch thriller films?
• What is your favourite narrative? e.g. murdering, kidnapping, capture, heists etc. 
• What is your biggest fear?
• What age of a villain do you consider to be the scariest and most intimidating? e.g. old age, middle age, teenager?
• What is the scariest gender of a villain?
• What setting do you consider to be the scariest in a thriller film?

We filmed about 10 - 15 people and will hopefully have the answers up on the blog soon!

Our 3 Thriller Film Ideas - Brainstorming

Thriller film ideas from j3ssmitch

Audience Research - October 22nd Lesson

We looked at audience research and the different categories people fall into.

We looked at the 'Appendix' a way in which people are classed due to their lifestyle:

The comfortable Full Nesters:

Family orientated with older children and high incomes

Combine home activities with going out and away from home activities

Very high readers of magazines, high consumers of radio, newspapers and television

Innovative product purchasers

The Settled Seniors:

Usually retired - 70% over 55 years old

Low incomes but manage well, significant savers

Highest viewers of television, high radio, newspaper and magazine consumption

High sporting interests

Conservative, buy well known brands and are suspicious

The Lonely and Dissatisfied:

Primarily old and retired, however a 3rd are in the age group 15-39

Some feel quite lonely, no sense of purpose in their life, believe it's too late to awaken new interests
Mainly low consumers of media

Next Generation:
10-14 age group
TV dominated and very active
Account for 9% of the 10+ population

Liberal Sophisticates:
Financially well off and well educated
Low consumers of television and radio, high consumers of newspapers and magazines
Set opinions on environment, culture, youth, education and women's issues
Active lifestyle

The Young Hopefuls
15-29 age group, predominantly male
Low personal incomes, many beneficiaries

High television and radio consumers, low newspaper and high magazine readership
Strong desire for success
Extrovert lifestyle

The Affluent Acquires:
Broad age group ranging from 25-64 years
Active consumers and lifestyle
Low television consumers, high radio, newspaper and magazine consumers
Concern about issues of contemporary life

Struggling Young Families:
Lifestyle based around family, especially children
Budget conscious
Frequent church attenders
Low carrer aspirations
Low consumers of all media, only interested in local news


This audience classification is based on their personal aspirations:

Mainstreamers:

Seek security and unconformity

Tend to buy well-established brands, eg. Heinz Baked Beans

Aspirers:

Care abut status

Tend to buy smart high-tech and high-fashion goods 

Succeeders:

People who have climbed the ladder 

Want to keep control of what they have

Adverts based on power and control appeal to this category

Reformers:

Want to make the world a better place

Educated professionals, eg. teachers, doctors

Buy eco-friendly products and healthy foods

Individual: 

Respond to advertising which emphasises quirkiness and individuality

We used this model to classify the Simpsons characters into these categories:

Contemplating Other Thriller Film Openings

After speaking to our media teacher and evaluating the feedback that we got from our 'final film idea' presentation to the rest of the class, I thought that another thriller film opening idea would come in very handy as our film which we pitched to the class was seen as (in a funny way, it wasn't intended to be serious and critical) pornography. This is mainly due to the descriptions of the man's actions and how he carried them out (for example, taking off his dressing gown/whispering into the girl's ear etc.). As I said, although it was not intended for harsh and serious criticism, our group couldn't look at our film (the idea of the film) in the same way anymore. Our group did find it amusing as well though, but because of this feedback, I just thought it was best that we have open arms to some more solutions and ideas for a legitimate final film idea. After speaking to my media teacher, I took the feedback back home with me and evaluated it further, which then lead me to start brainstorming a few ideas. I wanted something completely fresh, but something that still maintained threads of our other 'final film idea' which we presented to the class (titled: the house - which wasn't actually the title for the film, we just needed something to call it just for when we show to the class because a name is better than no name...). The way I did this was scrap the other idea which we had planned for 'The House' and start from scratch and build a completely fresh idea so that it didn't sound like pornography (haha). Although, saying that, the narrative for 'The House' was my idea which I pitched to the group so I should be to blame for it sounding like pornography. In the new idea, I still wanted to incorporate my house as one of the primary location because considering that it was going to be the only location for 'The House', I thought that everyone was comfortable with using it as a location and that everyone would still be enthusiastic about incorprating it as well. In addition, in our film idea 'The House', myself and another member from our group (either Amy or Jess) because George was very pushy and 'keen' to be in the film (maybe a bit too keen haha) and so due to their only being the idea of one other character in the film, someone would operate the camera and taking a prioritised role in the filming and editing of the film because we would not have been in the inital film, acting. So, because of this, I wanted to create an idea where we call be involved with the film and all take on a position and role in the film where we are all seen on camera and not have 2 people heavily involved in the acting side of the film and the other 2 heavily involved with the filming an editing of the film. I wanted everything to be an equal effort.

After finshing the new narrative I had planned, I pitched the idea to the group. Amy and Jess took on the idea very enthusiastically and had high hopes and ideas on how to work with the idea. They loved it and preferred it over 'The House'. George on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic and criticised it with "there is too much dialogue" and "it's too complex" for a thriller film opening (considering we actually learnt in our lessons from out teacher that thriller openings are very dark, eerie and mysterious and are very confusing and complex because you only find out the narrative and understand it towards the end. So, by making it a bit complex, we're actually following a vital key convention of thriller films). To be fair though, it isn't really that complex so I'm just hoping that myself, Amy and Jess can work on George and try and get him to understand and become enthusiastic about the new idea which everyone else. But, we can't force him. It is a group effort after all and if someone in the group has an issue with an idea or has an opinion on something then they have to share it because then it can only lead to greater teamwork and lead to possible better ideas. Fingers crossed though that he'll come round and like the idea because at least it's better than having a film idea which has been described through peer feedback as pornography (and also Amy and Jess have stated alongside myself that that idea has become quite boring and we're not greatly keen on creating something similar to that proposed thriller film opening).

Fingers crossed everyone likes it!