learning about technologies from the process of constructing the product

We have used a number of different media technologies throughout the period of our coursework including filming equipment, editing software, other softwares for different purposes and other forms of media technology e.g blogs. the technologies we used helped us to understand our media better.

recording

When we did the recording, we started by doing all the outside scenes so that the weather was similar for each shot. We had a few props including a bottle of beer, a few shopping bags and casual clothes scattered around to make it look as if we had been at the scene for a short while. We spent around an hour there re-taking shots until they flowed together well. We found it hard sticking to the storyboard but we managed in the end. Once we had filmed the outside shots we moved inside and recorded all the shots inside. Near to the end we ran out of tape in the recorder so we had to continue the next day, but this did not matter too much as the conditions inside would stay the same.
The evening and next morning of recording was productive and we got through all the scenes that we wanted. We learned a huge amount as we encountered many difficulties. For example, we now know that we need to be more organised - running out of tape was a set back that we had to overcome. Sections that we thought would be easy proved harder than we had expected but in some cases others were easier than we were expecting. For example, creating a split screen was not as hard as we had imagined.
Overall the recording was fun to do.

editing

Using a programme called Final Cut Pro we uploaded all of our recordings and put them onto the time line in the order that they will be in the final clip. We started by cutting out all scenes that went wrong (for example, where people had burst out laughing) or had better versions on one of the re-takes. This was time consuming as we spent a long time cutting the clips down and joining them perfectly. We used many effects including cuts, wipes, fade in and fade out, fast motion and split screen. Using Final Cut Pro was challenging at times but the more we used it, the easier it became.

video for premilinary task

securing locations

Location was a big issue for us as we wanted to give the idea that we were in a hotel. To do this we could have possibly hired a hotel room for a night but this was inconvenient and would have been expensive so we started by making a spider diagram regarding different possible locations that we could use and then we slowly narrowed each scene down to one final place. We came to the conclusion that our outside scene would be taken in our old athletics stadium and our inside scene would be in a boarding house in our school.

We would use no particular costuming, just our usual teenage clothes, as this film clip is to be based on normal teenage activities but with a twist.

Holland

This is our thriller film that we created for our media As levels project and its called 'Holland'.
enjoy :)

film music

For our thriller, we decided that we would create our own music by using links and loops as these can be much more effective and full of effects that would be very difficult to make using live instruments our self. We had done a lot of research to music tracks used in other similar films and we have been over the internet searching for soundtracks that we could take ideas from. In the end we came to the conclusion that our thriller should involve some spacious music that makes people wonder and scared of what’s to come next.

We did use one clip from youtube that we asked permission for. This was a heartbeat sound effect. We desided to use this as we couldnt find anyway that we would easily be able to re-produce the sound of a heartbeat. This is the link for it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIzBbEGPQdw

Below we have a picture of us using garageband below:

permission forms

The consent forms are to provide concent for the childs image to be filmed. I have made a generic form so that everyone involved can sign it. I will also ask for concent from the school to make sure that I can film in the certain areas of the school grounds. All forms are have been photoed and posted below:

shooting schedule

We desided that to produce our thriller, we would need two evenings to film. These two evenings were on the 15th and 17th of march. We hoped that after school had finished we would be able to film as the sun was setting so it was getting quite dark and spooky. all of our filming was done in our school grounds so it was easy to get there and there was no transport problem. we would start on the first evening by shooting all the outside scenes and then on the 17th we would film all the inside scenes. We did it like this so that the weather was not too different from scene to scene.

Scripts and storyboards

 A short while ago we planned out all the shots on a storyboard and draft scripts so that we were ready to shoot our opening scene as soon as we could. the pictures of our storyboard and script are below

Potential target audience

Recently we have been looking at who our audience is mainly going to be and we came to the conclusion that the best way to find out who to aim our film at is to make a questionnaire.

1) what age group are you in? under 12, 12-15, 15-21, 21 +

2)Are you male or female? .................

3) How often do you watch films?
   - Never
   - Rarely
   - Sometimes
   -Often
   -Always

After completing the questionnaire it came clear to us that the main watchers of thriller films were in the category of 15-21 year olds and well over half of these are male so this is what we think we will aim for when producing our thriller.

Attracting our audience

We created a survey type questionaire in order to find out information contributing to our research of our media. After asking various amounts of people in random circumstances we found that our target audience was actually that of our own, so from about 15-21 and thats what we based the film on, around a bunch of 16-17 year olds. We also found out that people enjoyed both thrillers that made you jump and others that slightly confused you in different parts, so we thought we would make a thriller involving both those aspects. In our movie we have a group of mates that travel to Holland on a school trip for fun, but theres a twist including a lot of strange happenings. We also appeal to the audience via the music too, as theres some dubstep which is fairly popular within our age range and we use alcohol props too which all in all attracts youths and young adults.

audience for our media

We believe that the ideal age for our film ranges from 15-21, any gender can watch it too. Our film is not gory and theres not much swearing so its suitable for ages from 15. Any culture or background can watch our movie as there is no racist comments or ethical concerns within the film. I believe our film could become a massive hit in the world as it has a great appealing factor, considering its similarities to many scary movies involving youths so it relates to our own age, I also appreciate that everyone has their own tastes and opinions and so some may not agree with it but in our opinion it is seen that everyone will enjoy our film from the beginning all the way to the end.

Distribution of our media product

It would be amazing getting the choice between production companies such as Sony productions, virgin, paramount pictures or warner bros as these are all great companies within the film business and to have a film distributed by these companies would increase popularity massively in the media as they have connections and all other types of media surrounding them. Some films that are similar to ours are paranormal activity which is actually produced and distributed by paramount pictures and the exorcist which is produced and distributed by warner bros. Our own company called 'E-clips productions' were behind the production and distribution of our film, the reason we chose to back ourselves was simply because we thought it would show more of an example to others looking to make a film too.

Social groups within the media

Our film involves four characters of which are around the age of 16-17, so stereotypically we are mischievous teens, only looking for a good time without a care in the world. All four of us are caucasian, although I am partially oriental asian too, this is good within the film as it shows a difference between cultures in the characters. The type of audience we can expect to watch our film and relate to us are teens and young adults ranging from 15-21. Already just in the first few scenes a beer is captured, showing the motifs of a youth. The reason being for our choice of age group is the simple fact that we are of that age group and felt that it would be much better for us to relate to people of a similar age, in order to get a better audience within the media.

Conventions of real media

Most thriller openings tend to express forms of spine tingling and suspicion, making the audience curious as to what happens next in the film. Our film starts off with a simple but intrigueing phone conversation between the four main characters of the film in a split screen, this is a casual beginning to a thriller as quite a lot of thrillers start with a 'talking' scene. Our film has aspects of many thrillers, such as paranormal activity and the exorcist as different objects in our film move by themselves.Our film displays strange happenings within the first 2 minutes and when ending with '2 weeks earlier...' it gives the impression that something big is going to happen next. Also our blogs are used to advertise the film around the web to get more popularity through the media, despite the fact ours is different to most.

preliminary task

For our Preliminary task we had two jobs. One was to create a copy of a clip we watched, so using as similar shots, equipment, angles and similar editing as possible. The clip was a simple idea of a man walking down a long corridor, opening the door, walking to a desk and asking the other guy at the desk to borrow a DVD for him to watch with a small amount of dialogue.

The other task was to create our own very short clip and then direct and edit it. We had 3 hours to do it. This was just so that we had the opportunity to individually use all the equipment that we would need.

The two tasks help a lot as this gave us the chance to experience all the equipment and help us practice doing many difficult to set up shots.

Planning

For the last few days we have been looking at ideas and joining them together to create a opening few minutes of a thriller film. We started by writing down lots of ideas from the trip to Holland and many other inspirational ideas on a big sheet of paper and choosing the ideas we wanted to keep and putting them down one side of the sheet to create a draft time line.

Inspiration of our thriller

We have been inspired by a few ideas and experiences. The main influence to our thriller is from a school trip to Holland a couple of years ago. on this trip, we encountered many strange happenings for example strange movement of objects in the room. we also experienced an unusual situation with phones. We called our mate and even once he had hung up, the phone continued to ring and then someone else answered the call.

Other influences came from various films, including paranormal activity and the fourth kind. These films had many aspects within them which corresponded to what we had experienced.

pictures of film certificates

film certificates

Suitable for all: this means it is suitable for all ages above 4, as it cannot be predicted what may upset a child.

Parental guidance: general viewing, although some scenes may be inappropriate for little children, it shouldn't disturb children aged 8 or over.

suitable for 12 years and over: there are two categories for this '12' and '12A' the A is used for cinema purposes meaning children below the age of 12 cannot view them, whereas the other one is for purchase and rental purposes.


suitable for 15 years and over: no one below age 15 should be allowed to watch these.

suitable for 18 years and over: no one below age 18 should be allowed to watch these as they may contain high levels of violence and swearing

my top 3 thrillers

This is my list of my favourite top 3 thrillers, information for the films are found on www.imdb.com.

  3.) Orphan: This movie is one of favourites when your up for a good scaring otherwise I wouldnt normally watch it as it scares the hell out of me. Its a very freaky and disturbing film about an escape mental patient with a slightly deformed body that made it out as an orphan and was adopted into a family but then causes a lot of grief, horror and trouble.
 

  2.) I am Legend: This is one of my favourites as it stars one of my most favored actors, and that is Will Smith. The movie itself is about Will Smith playing a type of doctor/ hero figure that risks his life in order to try and save humanity after a plague turns everyone into a zombie type monster.


   1.) Limitless: Well this is my all time favourite thriller movie starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, its about a top secret drug that enables the user to access all of the brain at the same time, rather than just the average 20% at one time, but Bradley Cooper playing the main character gets into a lot of thrilling trouble in this movie which is very entertaining and puts you (the audience) of the edge of their seats.

'Best of all time' Thrillers!

Here are a list of the apparent top 10 thrillers of all time...
this list is going to be put together by viewing different websites opinions on the best thrillers.
such as imdb, filmcrave, telegraph and listal. film information found on imdb

10.) The shining: A family takes a trip to a hotel in winter where there are spirits and evil presences around which causes the father to violent acts resulting in horrific actions.

9.) Se7en: This is where two detectives, one veteran and one rookie try to track down a serial killer that uses seven deadly sins as his motive, this stars Brad pitt and Morgan freedman.

8.) Jaws: Directed by Steven Spielberg produced a menacing film that caused everyone to fear sharks, a great white within the movie goes on a killing spree over a small island.

7.) The sixth sense: A boy speaks to dead spirits without realising they are dead, causing him to visit a psychologist. starring Bruce Willis.

6.) Inception: A Chris Nolan film, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. This is a psychological thriller, it really leaves you thinking and wondering. Its about technology entering the human mind through dreams, and a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption.

5.) The Dark Knight: Yet another spectacular Chris Nolan film, this time part of the batman saga, starring the amazing Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. This is where batman encounters 'The Joker' and has to find a way to deal with him.

4.) The Bourne Identity: Starring Matt Damon as the main character, this film is about a man who has seemed to have forgotten who he is and what he has done, so goes through a series of challenges to find out who he is, which results in a lot of kills.

3.) Psycho: An Alfred Hitchcock film, where a woman steals $40,000 from her employers client and this triggers off a set of kills from a 'Psycho'.

2.) The silence of the lambs: A messed up killer is on the loose, he unusually skins his victims and a FBI cadet tries to catch the manipulative serial killer.
and finally.....

1.) Pulp Fiction: This was number 1 in many charts that I viewed. Its a Quentin Tarantino film starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman. The film is based on two mob hit men, one boxer, one gangsters wife and a pair of bandits intertwined in four different tales of violence and redemption.

top 3 actresses

3.) Rose Mcgowan: born september 5th 1973 in Italy. She is obviously one of my favourites as she is used for her sex appeal but she is liked by others for her contributions to independent cinemas. During the early 80s she migrated to Oregon, USA. At age 14 she was accused by a family friend of drug use which then led to the decision of rehab and a year later an emancipation from her parents leaving her without a home. Her acting career began in 1995 with The doom generation, but my favourite of her movies would have to be 'Scream' in 1996.

2.) Courtney Cox: The former friends actress makes it into my top 3 at number 2. She has to be one of my all time favourites though, if this blog wasnt about thrillers she'd be the top for doing friends alone, as i am a big fan of friends. She was born june 15th 1964 making her only 47! and yet she still looks stunning for her age. She started off as a model from the last year of high school but her dream was to become an actress and this dream eventually came true when she was given a small part in one episode of 'As the world turns' and then of course shortly after she was starred in friends. She has starred in a lot of thrillers now, but more tv drama thrillers rather than actual movies, but she has been in all 3 scream movies.

  1.) Angelina Jolie: Brought up in Los Angeles with award winning actor father 'Jon Voight' meaning she was no stranger to the film industry. She later started acting at Lee Strasberg's theatre school. Her career started when she became a model in London and then she in addition starred in many different music videos e.g meatloaf, Lenny Kravitz etc. She has won the oscars many times but mainly as 'Lara Croft' in the amazing thriller Tomb raider which is one of my all time favourites. She has been in many brilliant thrillers obviously as in Tomb raider, Catwoman etc.
information found via www.imdb.com

my favourite thriller actors

Here are a list of my 3 most favoured thriller actors, using information provided by www.imdb.com
I will start from my least favourite to my most favourite.

3.) Will Smith: This man is a wonderful actor, when watching him he puts all his heart and soul into the performance, its just simply brilliant. He doesn't actually star in that many thrillers but his most famous is 'I am legend' which is actually quite scary, and I personally hate scary movies as they give me the creeps but this one I like strangely enough. Well he started his career as a joint dj with Dj Jazzy but this soon led to bankruptcy, He then later released a show about his life in Bel-air called 'The fresh prince of Bel-air' which was a massive hit, this later led him to a very successful acting career which is still going on today as he is only 43.

 2.) Tom Cruise: This man is the more action type actor in thriller forms. He brings a certain amount of suspense to films. He was born on 3rd july 1962 in Syracuse, New york. According to various sources his ambition as a highly religious student was to become a priest but his life was destined to be Tom Cruise the highly paid actor rather than Thomas Cruise Mapother IV the priest. He was married to Nicole Kidman and he has starred in all of the mission impossible films and his last one made in 2011 'ghost patrol' is my favourite of them all.

1.) Bradley Cooper: The limitless, hangover and sex in the city star is by far my most favoured actor. He has a strong likability factor and he is very popular. He was born on 5th January 1975. He graduated from the honors English program at Georgetown University 1997, then he moved to new york to pursue his masters in fine arts. He started his career opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in 'Sex and the city'. The most famous films he has been in are Hangover 1 & 2, Limitless (thriller) and sex and the city. 

information found via www.imdb.com

top 3 directors according to imdb

Quentin Tarantino - This man became a huge legend within the thriller industry almost immediately after releasing 'Reservoir Dogs' in January 1992. Two years later he released the mega hit 'Pulp Fiction' which caused him to be nominated for a number of different awards in the Palme D'or, such as 'best picture', 'best director' and 'best original screenplay'. Quentin also directed 'Kill bill Vol 2' in 2004.


 


Christopher Nolan - He was born in london in 1970 and started making films at only age 7 using his father's super 8mm camera and a range of figurines. He uses a similar cast for mostly all of his movies e.g Christian Bale. His movies are usually quite sublime, starting with a flashback or back to front and he crosscuts several scenes of parallel action in order to build up to a climax. Some of his best films are 'Memento (2000)', 'Batman begins (2005)', 'Insomnia (2007)' and 'The dark knight (2008.

Alfred Hitchcock - he was brought up in a strict Roman Catholic family as a regular child. He joined the film industry in 1920 as a title designer, but was soon given the opportunity to complete 'always tell you wife' after the director for the film fell ill, he managed to impress and soon his career took off. his most famous movie is 'Psycho (1960'.

information found via www.imdb.com

most popular actors in thriller

As there are many directors in the film industry and especially in one field/ genre of thrillers, you do expect there to be a large and varied amount of actors/ actress' within thrillers, but some of the most popular in my opinion are Robert de niro, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Tom Cruise, Bradley cooper and Rowan Atkinson ( although some may argue he is a comedy actor, but according to Imdb his Jonny English films are comedy thrillers). There are still many more that i haven't mentioned but these ones are of my opinion.

most popular directors within thriller movies!

There are of course many thriller directors associated to different sub-genres within the main genre.
But only very few produce hugely exciting and spine tingling thrillers which throw the audience off their feet. According to IMDB the best thriller of all time is 'pulp fiction' directed by Quentin Tarantino, but then in the top 10 thrillers chart Christopher Nolan is mentioned a couple of times with 'the dark knight' and 'inception' showing his work is more varied and appreciated by us(the audience). Other huge directors are Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Bryan singer, but of course there are many more, these are just the most popular ones.
the information was found on
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=thriller&title_type=feature&num_votes=1000,&sort=user_rating,desc.

sub-genres

There are many thrillers around and many sub-genres used to associate with them.
here are a list of the most used/important ones:
action/adventure,
disaster,
historical,
medical,
religious,
crime and
technological.

characteristics/features of a thriller

Thrillers tend to throw their audience off their feet. Thrillers involve many scary plots usually resulting in characters turning up in risky, difficult and dangerous situation. They have a great deal of story telling a lot like in a novel but in the sense that the story starts with a serious problem and ends up with a protagonist (our hero) to save the day who actually in turn ends up making it worse and worse of course with the introduction of the antagonist (bad guy) and this usually ends with a short denouement (wrap-up). Most thrillers have life or death situations and others have murder investigations these different features are located to many different sub-genres (talked about briefly on next blog post). Many thrillers speak out to you in a sense that they ask you(the audience) who is the culprit/murderer, but some e.g Silence of the lambs, Jaws etc. tell you who the culprit is at the beginning. Usually thrillers involve high levels of anticipation, risk, anxiety, nerve-racking tension, excitement, suspense and uncertainty. there are of course other minor features but these are the most important and main features involved in thriller films.
this information was found in
http://www.thrillerpress.com/whatmakesathriller.html  and
http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html

Thriller?!

Thriller films are full of suspense and psychological action, they involve a great deal of excitement, anxiety, uncertainty and nerve-wracking tension. Thrillers tend to send shivers down audiences spines and leave them on the edge of their seats as a climax builds up. Some of the best thriller directors include David Cronenberg, Christopher Nolan, J K Rowling and many more.