Slient Pass

The Brief

Evaluation - Analasis of completed thriller

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

How does your media production represent particular social groups?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For our thriller there are a number of institutes that could distribute our group’s thriller, one of which could be the Columbia TriStar Film Distributors who do films such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Layer Cake and many other Multimillion pound films. http://www.imdb.com/company/co0047778/

 However this may not be realistic so the use of companies such as films four who support British independent films which would most likely be more appropriate for a film such as my groups as they specialise in British cinema.

http://www.film4.com/

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

How did you attract/ address your audience?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Section 1: The Thriller genre

A thriller is a genre that creates suspense, tension and in most cases makes the viewer think about what is happening, this makes the viewer have to think about what is happening and their is often hints and twists throughout. The primary sub genres of a thriller are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers. Most thrillers incorporate plot twists, red herrings and cliff hangers, these causes tension and in some cases give the viewer a adrenaline rush, this all gets the audience involved and constantly guessing and keeps you as a viewer interested and involved.


The thriller genre begun in the 1800’s originally as a type of novel, its setting was usually set in and around urban areas in which the goings on usually based on everyday things but often added the idea of the ordinary becoming extraordinary. Northrop Frye built on the idea that the hero is often an ordinary person forced to work with Chesterton's extraordinary world. John Cawelti combined Northrop Frye and Gilbert Chesterton’s idea to create the idea that thrillers change a place from a "a modern commerce, industry and science into a place of enchantment & mystery". W.H. Matthews said that a thriller is a maze full of twists, turns and puzzles with dead ends and confusion. The use if twists keep the viewer involved and allows the audience the chance to solve the mystery.  Noel Carroll said that it is important to create questions for the audience to keep the suspense until everything is answered, so it is not obvious what is going to happen, this allows for more involvement, He said that the audience should wonder if the hero survives, it should never be clear.

Section 2: Research into examples of compareable media production

Seven

The film begins with the sound of sirens; this gives the idea of either it is a busy area or a rough area that has large amount of crime. It then shows Somerset’s things neatly organised on the side, this gives the impression that he is either really organised and has a routine, or he possibly has OCD. He also has a double bed which he only sleeps on one side, this gives the impression he is lonely and has possibly lost a loved one. When Somerset arrives at the crime scene he asks weather the child has seen the murder, this shows as a character he has passion for his job as well as caring for the child. When the credits begin some slow paced music begins, the music creates tension and suspense by the strange sounds that are played.  The credits show someone cutting the ends of his fingers off which is a significant later within the film, combined with the music that gives the feel of a heartbeat and pain creates a overall unpleasant and uncomfortable feel. There are a series of pictures and pieces of writing that the person is cutting out and creating some kind of scrap book, this also become clear later within the film. When it cuts to Milles we see that he is the opposite of Somerset, his stuff is everywhere and cluttered, he is unorganised unlike Somerset showing that he has not yet got into a routine, however Milles has only just moved so this could be the explanation. There is a contrast between Milles and Somerset, Somerset is organised but is alone, Milles is unorganised but but has a partner. When the phone rings he tries his best to answer before it wakes his partner up, however he is to late but she is not angry and we see the love between them.  Milles is stood in the rain with coffee, it is raining again, and this gives the feeling of dull and depressing days, symbolic of the weather.

The Dark Knight


The scene begins with the camera moving in the air zooming towards a building, the sound of people and vehicles is heard but their is also the sound of a ticking of some form. As the camera gets closer to the building the window in front smashes and it shows two men in clown masks. It then shows a greasy haired man stood by the side of the road with a clown mask and a large bag who gets into a car as it pulls up, this shows this is part of the organisation and you get the idea that could be the joker. As the men at the window slide across to the building opposite the music becomes louder with a louder beat. The men from the car with clown masks enter the bank and shoot in the air then shout "heads down hands up", there is a sound of screaming and shouting, one of the masked men grabs one of the men and shouts " lets go pal I'm making a withdrawal". It then cuts to a man in his office who seems fairly calm, the sound of one of the men shouting in the background show he is not phased. As one of the masked men hits an officer it cuts to the man in his office who spins around slowly, it is filmed in a close up so you gain the idea he is on a swivel chair, it then cuts the the masked man, a gun shot and the sound of glass smashing is heard as one of the masked men falls to the ground. The two masked men both find cover as the man from the office shoots a shot gun at them. He runs out of bullets and then is shot by one one the masked men, but he is not killed, their is two masked men left and one puts a gun to the others head saying did the boss ask to kill him like the rest, the other replies you gain the idea he is the joker, the other man says what bus and at that moment a school bus crashes trough the bank and hits the masked man with the gun to the others head. The other masked man walks over the man who he shot and removes his mask reveling he is the joker, he then places what the man thinks to be a grenade in his mouth attached to a wire which is attached to the joker as he enters the school bus. As it pulls the pin out the man looks frightened for the first time but is just a smoke grenade, the school buss pulls out in front and behind other school buses as the police come, this shows the plan was well thought out and worked.


Silence of the Lambs

The opening scene begins with calm music in a dull forest, the trees have no leaves on them so the time of year would be most likely autumn or winter, the lack of leaves and dull conditions build up the feeling of a scary and eerie atmosphere. The fact that the trees leaves have fallen and died gives the impression of death and suspense for later in the film.  When the women appears she is running which gives the initial feeling of her being chased, as the music becomes more intense and the different camera angles such as behind a tree adds to the suspense and feeling, continues the idea she is being followed or chased.  However the women is completing a fitness cause, her constant running shows her physical fitness as well as her stamina and drive, this remains the case when another officer asks her to see the captain.  When she is running back to the headquarters we see groups of men training showing that the fitness cause is dominated by men as well as her being an individual. When she is in the headquarters there are more women, however the vast majority of the people are dressed smart or in more vibrant colours compared to her who is wearing plane grey joggers and jumper which continues the idea she is an outsider, and her clothes have sweat marks showing her work rate. In the lift there are only men who are much bigger than her in height and width, they all look at her when she enters the lift as she should not be their, this shows a sexist attitude.  

Jaws

The opening scene begins with the notorious jaws sound, this is a slow pieces of music that slowly gathers momentum to add suspense to what is being show, the visual part of the scene is the point of view of jaws or another fish in the sea. It then cuts to the sound of laughter and a bonfire, the sound of acoustic guitar and harmonicas gives the feeling of a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere. The bonfire gives the impression they have been their all night and also the time looks as if its dusk, the majority of them have long hair that symbolises attitudes at the time, as well they are taking drugs and drinking which is stereotypical to that age and generation. There is a girl who is sat on he own who is like the outsider, or free spirit, one of the men engages in conversation with her, she be begins to run to the sea with the man in pursuit, as she is running she is stripping of this encourages the man and so the man does the same, however he stumbles and struggles to undress due to being drunk. When the women enters the sea the sound of the jaws music begins, this instantly build up tension and suspense,  the man is still trying to undress at this time, the music increases to its most intense feel. The scene of jaws killing the women is shot from above water to show the women’s fright, as well it leaves some to the imagination, her screams chill the spine as she is thrown around by the powerful shark.  After jaws has killed the women there is silence, with just the peaceful sound of the sea, this is a contrast between the calm and peaceful sea and what lurks beneath.

American Psycho

In the opening scene of this film the music builds up tension and suspense with the sudden sounds, this contrast with the peaceful soft sound from the restaurant. The business men are having a laugh about the restaurant and how it’s a “chick’s restaurant”, we get the idea that they take drugs as one of the business men come back and says “they don’t have a good bathroom to do coke in”. The music changes to a chart song that gives the feel of a night club, when Patrick enters the club he tries offering the women a token for a free drink, she replies in a slightly arrogant way and his response is incredibly aggressive saying he is going to stab her to death and play around with her blood, however what he says is not heard by the women due to the music. The following scene is of Patrick and his daily routine, the music is soft and peaceful from a piano, his whole flat is a clean white, this gives a neutral feeling. His begins to explain his daily routine which gives the impression he possibly has OCD but also the way in which he explains it gives the impression he is insane with the amount of depth he goes into, as well it also gives the impression he is vain. The music from the piano stops and the following scene the music is becomes livelier and feel good music; this is a contrast and changes the feel of the film. His impression on the audience is he is ruthless and has no regret or remorse for the victims and has an incredibly short temper and a vengeful attitude.

The Usual suspects

The film begins with darkness that is suddenly lit up by a bunch of matches being lit and sudden soft sound,  the sound stops when the camera changes to see  a man lighting his cigarette with matches, the sound of a liquid leaking onto the floor is heard and the sound of flames, it then cuts to a barrel with a liquid leaking out of it onto the floor,  it cuts back to the man smoking, we know see him sat down looking as if he has not fight left in him, he lets go of the match which sets a trail of a flammable liquid off, this causes suspense and leaves the viewer questioning the reason why this is going on. The camera begins to follow the flame, a dead body lay on the ground appears showing there is more of a story to what is happening, as the flame comes on to camera another liquid begins to poor onto the flame which puts it out, the camera slowly begins to pan upwards towards the source to see a shadowed figure standing over as he has just urinated on the flame to put it out. As the camera begins to show the figure tense music begins giving the impression this figure is feared or is a villain.

The man originally smoking now looks like he has almost given up and closes his eyes, it then begins to follow this mysterious shadowed figure as it walks down the stairs, the characters face remains shadowed throughout, as he comes into the light the camera lowers so the identity is not reviled. The shadowed figure walks over to the man smoking, the man slowly looks up to the shadowed figure, he begins to stare and you gather the impression that the figure is not who he expected or would have guessed.  The figure removes a flick lighter from his coat and lights it, this is a clue later within the film, still maintaining a close up but below the head to keep the identity of the figure a mystery, the man looks in shock up towards the figure as he doesn’t believe it, the figure speaks in a husky voice, the man replies saying “I can’t feel my legs, Kaiser.”  It is now established that the figure is Kaiser and he asks whether he is ready and pulls a pistol from his coat.  The gun points at the man and then cuts to camera views of the boat while the sound of the gun being fired is heard,  the slow paced music that had been played increases in pace, tension and volume. It shows a series of shots showing the boat and barrels of what is guessed to be flammable liquid, Kaiser drops his cigarette on the trail of flammable liquid and it begins to follow the trail, the music increases again in volume and it cuts to a shot of rubble which is significant later within the film, its shows Kaiser getting away down some ladders then continues to follow the flame, as it reaches a barrel and explodes it cuts to the rubble again that is lit up by the explosion and slowly zooms in on it till it a extreme close up in which it then fades into a scene in which we see a man about to start answering some questions, the significance of this man and the rubble become clearer as the film progresses.

Section 3: Brainstorm of content and classiforcation of film

In our group we came up with these ideas for a Thriller, the ideas were-

·         When a woman wakes up in a field and has no memory of how she got their or where she is chased by a hooded figure she runs, captured by the hooded man and threw into the boot of a car.

·         A man gains consciousness in a field, a dark shadowed figure see him and begins too chase him, as he gains distance between him and the figure he stops, a figure behind him grabs him and takes him into the dark.

·         A man alone in his house falls asleep to be woken by a knock on the door, the man answers the door to find no one their, he heads for bed and notices his wardrobe is open, a shadow figure appears behind to take him into the darkness, and screams are made.

·         A man tied up in a room an gagged, begins to gain consciousness has a series of flash back on how he got to this point, it will end when the door shuts and the lights go out and the man’s screams become muffled and distant.

The idea that we have chose is when a woman gains consciousness stubbles over the wall where she had been left to die, a man in a car see her and instantly begins to chase her. We have chosen this idea as a woman being chased is more visually interesting than an man, the sexist attitude towards a woman being feeble could be argued, however the point is the results of the questionnaire state that viewers would rather see a woman being chase and caught, as their reaction is often more effective from their screams. 

For our thriller our group have decided that it will be a certificate 15 because there will be mild violence scenes, a mild swearing also it will have some scenes of a sexual nature. Our group have choose it as a 15 before because our target audience is 15-22 with fast paced shots that will not bore the audience, we have mainly choose this because as being the ages of 17 and 18 in our group that’s what we look for in a thriller being fast paced and not to hard to follow the storyline. Also we have researched other films that are similar to ours to get the appropriate certificate.

Section 4: Audience Research

Analysis of the research

From question one we gained the information that out of the four options we gave Thriller is second favourite and Comedy is the first, as a group it shows that Thriller does appeal to a wide audience. From the second question we discovered that the element people most enjoy from a thriller is the twist, we also gathered most people think that thrillers should maintain the mind games over the gore. Another question is how they want the lighting to be, for the thriller genre most people voted for it to be both be well lit and dark, this showed us that it does not have to be dark to create suspense, its not always what is seen but sometimes what can. The finial question is based on if weather their was a wider variety of thriller films would more people watch, the result was that more people would watch thrillers if their was a wider variety. the conclusion to this is their is a possible wider audience that is teenagers, this is a good place to target our audience.

Thriller Questionnaire

1.      What genre of film do you enjoy?

1)Thriller         2)Action         3)Comedy        4) Romance

2.      What is your favourite element of a Thriller

1) Plot                   2) Suspense                  3) Twist

3.      what would you like to see in a thriller?

4.      Do you think thrillers should stick to mind games or should it be more graphic?

1)      Mind games            2) Graphic

5.      Why would you watch thriller

6.      How many thrillers have you seen?

7.      What kind of lighting do you expect?

1)      Low lighting  2) Well lit    3) both

8.      Do you consider the Oceans films, e.g. Oceans 11, 12, 13

9.      How often do you watch a thriller?

10.  Would you watch thrillers more if their was a wider variety?



Above are graphs which represent answers for 6 out of the 10 questions that were on the questionnaire, three are missing as the answers could not be converted into graphs, the graphs show such things as how many people said yes or no to a certain question, and so on, based on the allocated answers.

Section 5: Treatment

 Synopsis

When a girl gains consciousness in the middle of a darkened forest and doesn’t remember anything, her initial reaction is to get out and run but you don’t always know who or what is following you and what it wants. A shadowed figure appears from a car, not knowing who or what it is she run. A gripping thriller with an surprising twist.

Treatment

 The opening scene is set in an open forest; the location for the scene is in Grappenhall heys. We have chosen this area for our setting as there are many secluded areas which are situated in rural landscapes, and often have naturally low lighting. It will be silent whilst the camera is panning across the forest, when the figure's hand appears in the forest they will make a gasping for air noise; this sound will hopefully create an emphasised sense of vulnerability and give the impression the person was unconscious, the camera will zoom onto where the woman is situated while the gasping noise takes place, an instant shot of a tree where birds suddenly fly away due to the noise therefore giving the viewer a sense of insecurity. The shadowed figure we have chosen will be an unknown man; we have chosen this from the results of our survey as the majority would like to see a man as the villain.

 When the street light reveals the individuals identity we see the confused and scared expression on her face, it will then cut to a shot of a shadowed figure running down the pathway, the street lights will only be lighting up part of the pathway so the identity of the figure running will remain unknown. This location would be a street with a hedge where the dazed man can emerge from, just after they have  gained consciousness and left the forest. We have chosen Grappenhall heys as it has street lights that have a reasonable distance between each light so there is a patch of darkness or a poorly lit section that we could dim on the film.  The woman who has emerged from the forest will see the figure running towards them; she will then begin to run in fear of the shadowed figure. As the woman begins to run we get quick fire scenes of them both running and shadowed by the darkness between the lights, the face of the figure chasing the person is never revealed, however there will be a series of close up shots of the man running to emphasise the scene. As she begins to realise that he has stopped being chased he stops on the edge of the darkness so he is only just visible but there is a shadowed figure behind, it will then switch to a point of view camera to show what she can see. When it switches back to the shot from the side the villain will carry off the victim and make a quick getaway with her in the back of his car. 

 

Script

·         A hand pushes its way trough the black bin bag showing a sign of life, the slow paced music begins to build up tension.

·         As a women tries to clamber over the wall and falls, she is being watched by a shadowed figure in a car, as he gets out of his car and shuts the door the fast paced music starts.

·         The music increases in speed to create further tension as the shadowed figure begins to chase the venerable women

·         As he is chasing her there are angles shot from a distance, slowly getting closer to them both as the shadowed figure gets closer to the woman.

·         The picture becomes distorted and the shot begins to flash when the shadowed figure catches the women, the breakdown in the music creates the feeling of tension.

·         There is a series of distorted slow motion clips that are played twice to create the idea that it is a flashback, he ties her up and carries towards his car

·         When walking with her the car the music is at its fastest stage symbolising the feel of urgency and fright.

·         As he gets closer to the car the music begins to quieten down so the sound of the women screaming is louder, we see close ups of her terror and then her POV of being thrown into the boot.

·         The music stops when he shuts the car door, he then speeds of into the distance, this shot is of the car lights blending and blurring into the darkness.

Section 6: Character outlines

Elliot Archer: Elliot is very tall with dark brown hair, he often wears scruffy, roughed up clothes, as he does not spend much time focusing on his appearance. He is a quiet man and has suffered a past of severe depression and once tried to commit suicide but failed. Whilst at school elliot was a bright child, who achieved good grades and was involved in extra curricular activities. however this all changed after his mother was kidnapped and brutally murdered by his father. Elliot is now a struggling alcoholic and refuses to deal with his issues and instead decides to get drunk and carry out reckless behaviour.

Charlotte Johnson: Charlotte is a medium height, blonde and well presentable person, she has a bright future and has just left college with straight A's. she now intends to go onto university to study law. when she was younger charlotte was a loud, abnoxious and massively different kind of person, she was always getting into trouble and getting in with the wrong type of crowds. this all changed when her current boyfriend at the time died from a heroin overdose and she realised that she was just throwing her life away.

Section 7: Recce and location sheets

The location we have chosen to film the opening sequence to our thriller is in grappenall heys, the area is suitable as it provides good lighting for the atmosphere we are trying to create, the area is also very secluded and helps to emphasise the filming we did. Below are some pictures of the location where we carried out our filming.

Section 8 Production Material

Section 9:Production Schedule

Activity		Date		Location		Result
Filming		12/12/10		Antrobus		No filming as tapes didn’t work
Filming		14/12/10		Antrobus		Began to Rain
Editing		15/12/10		College		Captured and cut the shots
Editing		4/01/11		College		Film angles and lighting were poor
Editing		5/01/11		College		Tried and created the credits
Filming		10/01/11		Grappenhall Haye		Got our new shots but lost some due to the tape problems
Editing		11/01/11		College		Captured and cut the shots
Editing	12/01/11		College		Arrange the scenes in order
Editing	13/01/11		College		Added music and other sound effects
Filming	23/01/11		Grappenhall Haye		Filmed to get more camera angles, useless as the tape had problems.

Section 10: Video log sheets

Section 11: Audience feedback

1. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being very good) how entertaining would you rate the thiller opening sequence ?
2. On a scale of 1-5 how well would you rate the technical quality of the thriller?, e.g sound,editing,continuity.
3. On a scale of 1-5 how well would you say the thriller obeyed the codes and conventions of a thriller in comparison to professional thrillers?

these are the 3 questions we asked in order to get feedback on our media production, we found out that the majority of people asked said they would like to see the whole of our thriller if it were to be made, also they agreed it followed all the codes and conventions you would expect to find in a thriller.