Thriller Final edit

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

One key thing that I learnt from my preliminary task in comparison to my thriller is that sound is key. With only diegetic sound used in my preliminary task, I knew that adding music to our thriller was vital. In reflection I feel that our music choices were effective as it added atmosphere and tension to our thriller. In progression I have learnt how to add music to the opening, how to use sound bridges and how to choose music successfully.

Since the preliminary task I have also learnt how to use the camera to enhance the narrative in an effective manor. One of the major pieces of feedback in the preliminary task was that the various establishing shots made the film feel more like a documentary. When considering this whilst filming our thriller, we ensured to use a wide variety of shot types and movement/editing techniques to enhance the narrative. We also developed are use of close ups further since the preliminary task to create more ambiguity and meaning to the line 'checkmate'.

Throughout the production of our thriller opening I have learnt that following generic conventions of a thriller can be easily done once you understand them and therefore can easily be incorporated into your own work. This links to the importance of research and planning as learning about how other films have used certain conventions has helped us to improve our work.  I have also learnt that working to a deadline can be difficult in terms of re-shooting however I feel it was essential to re-shoot some parts and in reflection am pleased that us as a group did so. My favourite part of the production of our thriller has been creating an engaging narrative as although it conforms to the genre I believe that are narrative is more unique and appealing.

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

When creating this audience member profile and considering how it relates to my thriller , I based the choices I made on the idea of mainstream media products that young people enjoy as I believe this is the type of mainstream film that would attract a large amount of young audience members.

Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I believe our thriller is quite mainstream and therefore believe the following methods of distribution would be the most effective:

Method of distribution	Why it may be an effective choice
Global distributor	I believe a global distributor would be the most effective in distributing our film as I believe our type of film could produce good viewings around the world, like films such as Psycho and Casino.
Vue/Odeon cinemas	These are mainstream and multiplex cinemas which attract many different audiences as they are widely known. I believe our film could attract many different audiences from teenagers to families or older adults. For example bond films are usually distributed in these cinemas to appeal to a wide array of audiences.
Video on demand distribution such as Netflix and LoveFilm	I believe distributing to companies such as these would be extremely beneficial as VoD is constantly increasing in popularity, and has grown twenty times in reputation since 2008. I also believe this method of distribution would specifically target a younger audience as less young people go to the cinema now due to watching films on other platforms such as VoD.

Question Two: How does your media product represemt particular social groups?

Thriller Evaluation Question One

Question one: in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In our thriller 'COUNTERPLAY', we used two different, contrasting locations. Firstly, the chess scene was filmed in my conservatory, and the chase scene was filmed outside down an alleyway. Our chosen locations were a significant part of our opening as they were two strikingly different locations, using a variation of a controlled setting with a more chaotic setting to create a juxtaposition between the two. This conforms to the genre and sub-genre of a typical crime thriller as there is often various different types of locations.

One existing media text that personally influenced me on deciding the calmer location was the American TV series 'Suits'. One way in which this media product has influenced my decision on location is the way in which the rooms are set out with the table and the diegetic lighting. It also influenced me as it is a controlled location which reinforces the character's higher class.

We also used costume to highlight the contrast between our two pairs of characters. For example, the character in the first picture, played by Rakib Hussain is wearing a suit, in comparison to the antagonist in the second picture, played by Lewis Hunt, who is wearing casual wear with his hood up. This difference in costume is typical of the genre as it creates a binary opposition between different classes and leads the audience to have different opinions on each character at the start of the film just because of what they are wearing.

Smart costume

Informal costume

The characters in the thriller opening are also typical of the genre as it includes character types such as a protagonist, antagonists and an innocent, vulnerable victim, all of which are clearly defined. The young victim girl, played by Grace Peacock, is an example of this as when we first meet her she is leaving a party and his happy, which creates more sympathy for her nearer the end of the clip where she is clearly fearing for her life.

We also used props to conform to the genre and characters of our thriller. For example, the use of the Ribena, imitating red wine, and the cigarettes conform to the use of stimulants such as alcohol and cigarettes that are commonly used in crime thrillers, as it highlights how characters may be higher class due to being able to afford such luxuries. The prop of the phone and the water, imitating cheap vodka, used for the teenage girl also modernises the convention used in a thriller as it signifies her age and youthful nature.


Phone

Wine



Cigarette

We also used lighting to create contrast between the two scenes. For example the low-key lighting in the chase scene created a more menacing and frightening tension to the scene. Where as the strong chiaroscuro lighting used in the chess scene created a more calm yet tense atmosphere, with the harsh shadows also used to add mystery to the characters.



Low-key lighting used in the chase scene and chiarscuro in the chess scene

We used sound to create a more atmospheric chess scene which added to the idea of the scene being in a more controlled setting. For example, the diegetic sound of the saxophone jazz music played (link below) adds a calm yet tense tone to the scene. In comparison to this, the non-diegetic music used in the chase scene adds an alert and chilling tone and increases the panic within the scene.

Jazz saxophone music used in the chess scene:

 One way in which we used camerawork effectively is through the use of closeups and extreme closeups. For example the close up of the chessboard gives a sense of a claustrophobic atmosphere to my work. This type of shot also adds more depth to my shots, and meaning to the game which my characters are playing. With the  camera focused onto the chessboard it adds a sense of importance, making this a running theme throughout the clip.


This close up is effective in a similar way as the character's face fills up the short, giving a significance to his line, ''checkmate''. This again creates a feeling that there is more to this game of chess than there first is seen. This line and close up also comes at the climax of the music as the piece of jazz music becomes louder and stronger, which adds to the significance.

Women and German Expressionism in film noir

Women in film noir

The main female character in film noir is usually known as the 'femme fatale'- a character known to have a deadly combination of manipulation and beauty. The femme fatale tends to be very glamorous and rouge. The femme fatale is usually used as a large addition to the narrative, where she is seen as an object of sexuality and a lover of the male protagonist, however she usually suffers a tragic ending within the film. Despite the femme fatale's almost inevitable death in a film, she is always seen as a strong female character who would object to any female stereotypes there were at the time. the femme fatale's clothing is always chosen accordingly to her personality and role within the film. Her costume usually expresses her femininity and sex appeal. They are also usually seen to have a large influence on male characters when making decisions.



Examples of femme fatales in film noir

One example of a femme fatale type character is the character of Cora Smith in the 1946 film 'The Postman Always Rings twice', played by American actress Lana Turner. The character of Cora matches many of the attributes of a typical femme fatale. Firstly, Cora is in an affair with the character Frank Chambers, which highlights the use of the femme fatale's beauty and seductiveness. Part of the plot includes Frank and Cora planning a murder, heavily regulated by Cora. This emphasizes the idea that the femme fatale uses her charm and beauty to influence a man's conclusion. Another example of how femme fatale has been used within the character of Cora is that she dies in a car crash near the end of the film. This is also a typical occurrence within the femme fatale, who often suffers a tragic death.

Learning about the impact of female characters in classic film noir has taught me that the stereotypical views of women can be effective through the use of character, narrative, costume and make-up.

German expressionism in film noir

Another common theme in film noir is the use of German expressionism. One example of German expressionism in film noir is the use of chiaroscuro lighting. Chiaroscuro lighting is strong lighting that forms harsh shadows. It is sometimes used to create significance towards a certain character. The lighting helps draw attention through the intimidating nature of the harsh shadows. The shadows used also helps to add a sense of anxiety and uncertainty.

Extreme camera angles are also used as part of German

expressionism in film noir. These are used to make the audience feel like they are being watched. This reinforces the concept of film
noir as it helps create an unease for an audience member.

Camerawork in the shower scene- Psycho

Camera work in the shower scene-Psycho

                 
One effective shot Hitchcock uses in this scene is this low-angle shot of the shower. This is effective because it makes the audience feel like they are suffocating and almost unable to breath, due to the posisitioning of the camera, which symbolises drowning which leads to anxiety and distress. This effect is caused by the way that the water is spraying down onto the camera, which is the audience's viewpoint.

Another way Hitchcock uses camera work successfully is through the speed of the cuts, for example at the start of the scene the cuts are quite slow and casual, whereas leading up to the murder in the scene the cuts become extremely quick. This was powerful as it helped reinforce the panic and fear in the scene. The way the cuts increase in speed throughout the scene also subconsciously foreshadows to the audience that something bad is about to occur.

Hitchcock also uses edits effectively in this scene. One edit that is particularly successful is this edit of the close up shots from the drain to the eye. This edit worked well as the middle of the drain was perfectly aligned with the centre of the eyeball. This is effective for an audience member as when you watch the water going down the drain and transitioning into the eye you realise that she is dead and you watch the life being poured out of her. The way the water trickles down the drain reinforces this.

 

Intertextual references in COUNTERPLAY

In many thrillers they often make reference to other powerful Medias, this is a common theme in many thriller films. An example is the film The Matrix which contains many references to the Wizard of Oz such as when Dorothy goes Oz connecting to when Neo goes out of the matrix and into the real world with the others.
Intertextual references are used to enhance and extend the meaning of the film to the audience

Intertextual references also make films more captivating, as the audience has to decipher and notice where they are and figure out where they have seen them before, whether in real life or in another film or aspect of the media. This is something have tried to include in our 2 minute opening.

Some of our ideas for our thriller COUNTERPLAY have been taken from the 1996 film Fear, starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. The plot for the film Fear is that "When Nicole met David; handsome, charming, affectionate, he was everything. It seemed perfect, but soon she sees that David has a darker side. And his adoration turns to obsession, their dream into a nightmare, and her love into fear." This plot synopsis was taken from IMDB

In our film we wanted to give it a darker edge, we filmed all of it, except the cross cuts to the chess scene at night, the darkness of the shots raises more suspense and tension among the audience and it works really well.

The idea for the cross cuts came from the 2012 film House at the End of the Street. There is a scene in there where they use cross cuts to raise tension and create suspense in the audience and we decided that this was highly effective and that we should use something like that in our thriller task. The scene (the video of which I have included below) at 2.05 where Carrie Anne escapes and is running towards the house, lived in by Elissa and it cross cuts to Elissa on the phone completely unaware that she could be attacked at any moment. This is hugely effective and another part of the scene that is also highly effective is when we see the room through Carrie Anne's eyes and it flickers at cuts around and this is effective because it shows her perspective and we know how she is feeling.

COUNTERPLAY script

The Script for COUNTERPLAY

We decided to have no talking in our 2 minute thriller opening because that would increase the tension even more. We are going to have one word spoken and it is going to be the word "Checkmate" in the cross cut to the chess scene at the point where the music reaches the crescendo and it cross cuts back to the cracked phone lying on the floor.

Planning and mind map

This is the mind map of ideas for our thriller task.

We decided in the end to have our title as "COUNTERPLAY" and the font in which it would be written would be taken from da font and would be "erthqake".

We decided good props for our main, female, character (Grace) to be holding would be a bottle of vodka, vodka would connotate a party spirit and show the younger and wilder side of our main character. We also decided she would have her phone with her because technology also works with the age range we were using and then we could use the shot from the story board of her texting her dad to say she was on her way home.

We decided the location would be a city at night and that we would be filming down a dark alleway which would be spooky and we could use the shadows to hide the antagonists face. We also found a dark alleyway that wasn't too dark because it had diegetic streetlights and then we could also use non diegetic torches to cast shadows and light.

We had our main character (Grace) as a teenage girl leaving a party in the early hours of the morning. Our second main character (Lewis) was the antagonist following her as she left the party and cut down a dark alleway.

Storyboard

Below is the storyboard of shots for our media studies thriller filming task. They are in the order of how we will edit them together, but they are not in the order in which we filmed them.



Shots 1-3

Shots 4-6

Shots 7-9

Shots 10-12

Shots 13-15

Shots 16-18

Shots 19 & 20

Deciding on a name for our Thriller

The name of our thriller is COUNTERPLAY, the dictionary definition of Counterplay is

A threat or offensive position in chess intended to counter an opponent's advantage in another part of the board.

Counter play is also a synonym for avenging. This is effective to the audience as it makes them wonder about what might happen after the opening sequence and how the revenge might take place. Counter play suggests that something will be retaliated, it also makes the audience think about whether it will be positive or negative and who it might involve.

Revenge also connotes that something will happen to the angagonist. That revenge will be taken against him for what you see in the first opening two minutes of our thriller.

The word play connotes a game which could be considered as fun, but it also gives it a macabre menacing feel to it because life, and what you see in our thriller, is not a game.

The word ‘play’ in the title is also ironic, this is because its suggesting a game, however, as it is a thriller the audience will know that the word is juxtaposed as the film is dark rather than fun like a game. On the other hand the revenge at the end of the film could be seen as a reward which you usually get at the end of game.

The fact that it has cross cuts to a game of chess links to the name because it is achess move and the cross cuts will create tension.

 

 

Explaination of planning of our thriller opening

Explanation of planning of our Thriller opening

Explanation of planning

We had a list of all of the tasks we would need to complete and then shared them out between us. Most of them we decided to complete as a group so that we would all have input and a decision in the opening of our video. The tasks we did individually we made sure we conferred with each other and sometimes other members of our class to ask them what fonts they liked and whether they would come and see our film.

The tasks completed individually were

Location and Mise en scene- Ali Hunt

Detailed mind map of ideas and storyboard- Amy Roberts

Costume planning- Alice Heffer

Plot Synopsis for our thriller opening scene

Plot Synopsis of our Thriller opening scene

Plot synopsis

Our film will start with a young adult woman leaving a party and being followed down a dark alley by an older menacing looking man. We will have cross cuts to create tension of men playing chess in a dark room. When the male catches up with her he abuses her and when she returns home to her family she breaks down and tells her father about what happened and then he becomes the protagonist and hunts down the antagonist, the young girl’s abuser, to get revenge for what he did to his daughter.

Mise-en-scene in film noir