The Finished Film

Evaluation

This evaluation is missing the images of scene from our actual film but the rest is here..

Evaluation

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Production Design

Location

We had to different locations for our film; the locations were set in different days:

· The woods across the road from harrow weald college

· Outside Grimsdyke Hotel

Set design

The set was design was a natural wood and outside of a hotel:

Woods:

· Green leaves

· Tress

· Muddy and grass

· Grey sky

Outside the hotel:

· Grey sky but a bit of sun

· The hotel in the background

· Standing on top of the stairs

Props

· A phone& head phones- Lara uses this prop to show she is a business woman.

· One heel (shoe) - one heel she carries during the time she is being chased.

This shows her confusion throughout the chase scene.

· A Cigarette - to show Lara Boons high status because she is a business woman.

Special FX

We use special FX:

Camera handheld for most of the shots to get feelings and

POV of both the protagonist and the antagonist.

Sound Tracks: A heart beating and heavy breathing to show the fear of the antagonist.

Lighting

No lightings needed because we have decided to use natural lighting (the sun).

Costume

We looked at 3 different dresses and one smart outfit for our Grimsdyke scene.

Costumes that could possibly suit our actress included:

Dresses

· A black prom dress up to the knees and boob tube

· A blue denim boob tube dress up to the knees

· A grey, three quarter sleeved dress also up to the knees

We decided to use the grey dress because it’s more like what Lara Boon would wear and because it has certain connotations.

Business outfit

We decided to use black skinny fit jeans with a grey blazer, black heels and a white top for her work outfit.

Make-up

For her make –up we used natural face make-up:

· Mascara- to show she was going somewhere before.

· Eyeliner- smudged eyeliner to show she has been wearing her make-up

for so long also to suggest she has been crying.

· Hairspray- to get her hair messy an ruff

· Mud & leaves- to show she has been struggling to get away also

creates an enigma of what has been chasing her

Final Script

Fade in

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Evaluation (Draft)

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing thriller film openings?

• Does your sequence follow/deviate from a conventional thriller’s narrative content, format and style of presentation?

Our sequence doesn’t necessarily follow the conventional thriller narrative content as it plays with the audiences expectations, when seeing this independent strong women become weak and helpless. This normally isn’t expected from a thriller film as the female characters are always presented as dependent characters. However the format and the style of the film follow the conventional thriller films. We have chosen to keep some traditional conventions as it’s what the audience have shown interest in and changing too many things in a thriller is not always the best idea, because it may not appeal to the audience. That’s why we have decided to change some of the areas we believed would interest the viewers and kept some traditional conventions of a thriller film to establish the genre. (Some of these decisions have been influenced by audience feedback and interviews)

• Does the use of conventions indicate what sub-genre you thriller is?

Our opening sequence does not instantly give away the sub-genre of the film as its suppose to confuse the audience and keep them guessing all the way threw however the audience can clearly see that it could be a horror thriller due the location of the film which is in a forest. Also the use of mise-en-scene indicates a horror thriller because it shows a woman wearing torn cloths running through the forest.

• Does it use typical or atypical characters for a thriller?

We haven’t used a typical character as we didn’t want to create a common film, we wanted to create a traditional thriller film but as modernised as possible that is why we have chose a strong female who fights till the end for her life rather than a dependent female who relies on a male character to be rescued by. I believe that making a film is to show other people you interpretation of the world and the way you see everything and also to open peoples eyes to new things and to stop people from stereotyping, this is why our film is breaking the boundaries and is showing something new and different

• Does your use of camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene follow/deviate from thriller conventions?

The use of camera follows the thriller conventions as we used close ups and long shots to create tension and also to create an atmosphere to get the audience questioning the film. The shots don’t last long which is the reason for the audiences questioning and also there are point of view shots which allows the viewer to see the film through the women’s eyes which creates a scarier atmosphere. The use of sound also follows the thriller conventions as we used a heart beating non-diegetic soundtracks and also a very edgy soundtrack through out the whole sequence, we also used scream sounds and breathing sounds as a diegetic sound this creates a tense atmosphere. The use of mise-en-scene was a bit different to other thrillers however followed the conventions as we filmed in daylight rather than in a dark area to create more suspicion.

• Does your use of all the above forms and conventions indicate what other thrillers have influenced you work?

The thriller film that influenced me the most was “Wolf Man” in one scene where the women is running through from her lover scared in a very elegant dress. This caught my eye as I wanted to create something similar however change many things in the sequence. The reason I was inspired by the character running through the woods was because she was alone and the soundtrack was building suspense and as she was running it seemed like it was over for her and while I was watching the film I felt sympathy for her and also I felt very on edge, this is why I wanted to create a movie that made my audience feel the same, to feel thrilled and to feel like their neck skin crawled.

• How does your thriller establish setting/location, themes, narrative, character, and enigma? Can you improve it to thrillers you researched?

Our film establishes location through the use of long shots and the character is established right at the beginning however by the end of the sequence she is in a different state and this gets the audience questioning, this is also where the enigma is established.

2. How does your film opening represent particular social groups?

• How are particular social groups represented in your thriller?

The main character is represented to be a very posh and classy lady who has it all and is the boss of everyone, she is very independent and confident however the people around her are very average working class until she meets the criminals in the film in which case they are people similar to her status however they have gone mad with power and money. However in normal thriller films men are the ones with power and dominate women, this differs in or film because the women is shown to be walking around talking on the phone and firing people.

• E.g. is gender represented stereotypically?

The main character is a woman who is strong working in a big company controlling everything which shows that gender is not represented stereotypically.

• What about any age, ethnicity and sexuality?

We haven’t specifically focused on the main characters age or ethnicity however her sexuality is very important in the film as she uses her femininity in a powerful manner.

• What about any social class and status?
• What about any physical ability/disability and regional identity?

Social class and status is one of the most important aspects of the film as it focuses on rich people and working class people and the difference and conflicts in these circumstances. The main character is a Business woman who is very elegant and upper class. This instantly creates a personality for the audience as she is seen to be very self-centred, superior through our sequence.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?

• Would your thriller be produced by a major Hollywood film studio or an independent film company?

• Therefore, how would it be funded?

Our thriller would be produced by a major Hollywood film studio such as “Universal” because "Universal" has produced many films such as "The Wolf Man" which was categorised as a horror/thriller genre which is similar to our film as it’s a thriller (psychological). This film has inspired us to produce our film and has helped us with many camera techniques and an over all visual of what we want to achieve. This is why I believe "Universal" company could be interested in producing our film as its something they have done before and also the fact that our film is not cliché which plays with the expectations of the viewers.

• Who might then be interested in distributing your thriller?
• What’s you thriller’s particular selling point?

4. Who would be the audience for you film?

• What did your research reveal about you audience’s preference on thriller films?

(Put in the video, too long to write)

• What professional thriller films are similar to yours … who do they appeal to?

Wolf man (already talked about it)

5. How would you attract/address your audience?

• What elements did you build into your film to appeal to your target audience?

Our main character is at first seen to be the protagonist, an innocent person who has been attacked however we later reveal that the character is hand in hand with the villains which surprises the audience as they where only witnessing one side of the story and that’s why they felt sympathy for that character however as the film continues they begin to detest the character.

• Link this to specific considerations in your development of idea.

• How did you use camera, soundtrack, mise-en-scene and editing to appeal to your audience?

We used camera shots in a way to attract the audience, we used long shots to establish the scene but only revealed the shots for a couple of seconds and then jumped to credits which intrigues the audience making them want to know more. The use of soundtrack and voice over also appealed to the audience because we used heart beating sounds and loud breathing to tense the atmosphere along side the soundtrack which was very scary. The use of mise-en-scene attracted the audience because the character was running through the woods not knowing where to go in pure daylight.

• Who does the audience relate to?

• How well was your thriller through audience feedback?

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

• Regarding location

• In what way did the college equipment enhance/inhibit your ideas?

The equipments enhanced my ideas as we need to create a thrilling atmosphere and needed the equipment that do that luckily we were shooting outside and didn’t require any lighting, but the important thing was the cam recorder and also the tripod.

• How well did you master the camera controls/use of lenses/handheld technique/tripod/dolly equipment available?

Since I did most of the shooting I had more experience with the camera, I had to adjust the camera on the tripod which was difficult as the surface of the ground was not smooth or flat. I also had to use the camera handheld to get the point of view shots which was a bit more difficult that i thought because when running the camera shakes more than expected and therefore you have to seem running but control what the camera captures.
• Were there any technical challenges/ problems on the shoot, and how did you resolve them?

We had some problems with the camera when it started raining as the camera got wet and damaged which stopped us filming however we came back to the college and exchanged it for another one and carried on filming, with an umbrella this time. We also had some problems with the surface of the area, first of all for the tripod and also our actor as she had to run bear feet through the woods and she ended up injuring her self and got sent to hospital to have stitches.

• Regarding editing software

In what way did the college equipment enhance/inhibit your ideas?

I have had some editing experience from before therefore the editing equipment really enhanced my ideas as I was able to work with the system and create what I intended for the sequence.

How well did you master the actual editing software techniques available?

Even though I know a lot about editing I learnt many new techniques, such as cutting the shots and soundtracks to suit you.

Where there picture and sounds that could be useful for your sequence and did you use it appropriately?

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

Talk about it in the video!!

Evaluation

Evaluation For Opening Sequence

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Production Schedule

This is what I used to plan everything out, in order to stay organised and on top of my work. Also, as we were working as a group it was easy to arrange meeting up times etc, when we had this sort of time table.

Questionnaire Findings

1) What gender are you?

Female [ ] Male [ ]

2) How old are you?

15 – 20 [ ] 21 – 35 [ ] 35 – 50 [ ] Other [ ]

3) What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?

Action Thriller [ ] Conspiracy Thriller [ ] Horror Thriller [ ]

Psychological Thriller [ ] Spy Thriller [ ] Political Thriller [ ]

* 2/10 participants chose only action thrillers.

2/10 chose only horror thrillers.

4/10 chose only psychological thrillers.

2/10 picked various genres, 1 participant of those 2 selected every type of thriller genre.

This shows psychological thrillers as being the most popular.

4) Do you prefer to see a male or female lead role in a thriller?

Male [ ] Female [ ] Don’t mind [ ]

* 2/10 participants chose female lead role.

8/10 said they didn’t mind.

Though no one chose male lead role.

This shows that generally the sexes of the main character isn’t a key point in a thriller for the audience.

5) Do you think explosions, guns and violence is essential in a thriller?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

* 6/10 participants chose No.

4/10 chose Yes.

This shows that audiences can have varied opinions on the essential presence of explosions, guns and violence in a thriller. Even though 6/10 chose no to the importance of violence in thrillers, the question asked ‘do you think it is essential’ which could mean those 6 participants wouldn’t mind seeing it anyway.

6) Would you prefer to see a thriller that has a complex and mind boggling plot?

Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t mind [ ]

* 3/10 participants said they didn’t mind.

7/10 said Yes to a complex and mind boggling plot.

Though none said No.

This shows that audiences generally prefer when a thriller gives you an intricate plot, so we should try to do the same with our film.

7) Do you have a favourite thriller film?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

8) If so, please name it below;

* 4/10 participants named their favourite thrillers, they named,

Hide and Seek

Halloween

Funny Games

The Butterfly Effect

These are all films with intricate plots and some kind of twist at the end. These results support the findings from question 6.

9) Would you like to see a strong, independent female protagonist as the main character in a thriller?

Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t Mind [ ]

* 2/10 participants said they didn’t mind.

3/10 said Yes to a strong female lead role.

5/10 said No.

This was a shocking result as I thought most females would chose Yes. Though in actual fact, every one who chose No, was a female and 1 of the participants who chose Yes was a male.

10) Do you think it is important to have special effects and lots of soundtrack, such as ominous sounds, in a thriller to make it good?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

* 10/10 participants chose Yes for the effectiveness of the soundtrack.

This clearly shows how important the sounds and music in a thriller are to an audience. I will definitely keep these results in mind when e and my group are editing sounds for our own film.

Call Sheets for Locations

This was a sheet given to us by Harrow College whice was signed by our teacher to show to Grims Dyke. It told them that we were legitimately filimg something for our media coursework and asking for their permission to let us use thier site.

This is a call sheet for our second location in the woods opposite Harrow Weald college.

This is a call sheet for our first location at Grims Dyke Hotel.


Though both the call sheets say that our production title is 'Obsession', after filming when we were editing we decided that the title 'The Dark Side' would better fit the theme of our synopsis.