Thriller Task - Production: Filming Day 1 (13/12/14)

We went to the location we have discovered to create our film, we started with the beginning of the opening which is currently a secret. Instead we made a little video showing how cold it was on the day of the shoot.

We used some of the schools equipment where Andreas reserved all the equipment we needed. Overall we used the:
DSLR Nikon Camera
Glide Cam
Tripod
Zoom Audio Recorder
Boom Mic
Boom Pole
Go Pro Camera

This is the location day shooting form to show that we have acknowledged that all the equipment we have reserved will be used and that we have used props and costume. The risk form we have used is to show that there is a problem with what could happen and that it could potentially harm Andreas when he gets hit in the back of the head with the block of ice.

Thriller Task - Research: Distribution Process of the Film Industry

Thriller Task - Planning: The Pitch

This is the video of the pitch we had to present to Spalding-Welch productions for the opening of our thriller. We used a PowerPoint presentation to additionally present our ideas, I have also uploaded a copy of our pitch for you to view.

With the pitch that we attended with Spalding-Welch productions, we have learnt that maybe we should look more into the age group rating that we intend on marketing the opening production to. In addition we have decided to focus more on the detail of the opening so the most information is released to draw in an audience without giving too much away in the opening 2 minutes.

Thriller Task - Planning: Storyboard for Opening

This is the storyboard to our opening of the thriller. This is our first draft of the opening and will be open to change later in the future if needs be, currently we are going on this plot and we will follow the narrative but will create a new storyboard if we drastically change a part of the opening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side 1: The first side includes all up to the scene where the victim gets attacked by the antagonist.

The shots that we used were a wide shot, an over-shoulder shot and a two shot , the wide shot is technically our establishing shot as it is setting the mood and theme as the location is mysterious and dark. The over shoulder shot is used to show the action of the victim and the camera shot can suggest someone is behind him (because there is someone behind him). The two shot shows the comparison between both characters and that they are binary opposites as one is evil while the other isn't evil.

 

 

Side 2: This is the scene in which the victim has fallen to the floor and trying to crawl away. Multiple kinds of shots are going to be used to create different effects. On the second box the victim is crawling past the camera while its on a fixed position just to show how fast the victim is moving and that its just fast enough to escape the murderer, however the murderer is doing the cliché slow walk while the victim tries to escape. The over the shoulder shot is used this time to show the height distance between the two characters and that the murderer is in control of the situation and has the power.

 

 

Side 3: In this scene the witness (protagonist) has seen the murder take place and the murderer looks at his own reflection and the notices the witness in which he turns to and then it ends to insinuate that this isn't the only murder to happen or that the murderer is going to get caught. In the last two boxes, we use a shot/reverse shot to show the emotion on both the murderers face and the witnesses face and the next action they are going to take.

Thriller Task - Planning: Target Audience

We created this mindmap to express our views on who will be our targetted audience and who we want to view our thriller to create an effective and engaging response from people who view the thriller and for us to understand how to engage the selected audience by adding or removing parts to the thriller to make it suitable for them.

Thriller Task - Research: Blumler and Katz "Uses and Gratifications" Theory

In 1974, Blumler & Katz created a theory about why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. It is an audience-centred approach to understanding mass communication diverging from other media effect theories that question "what does media do to people?"

Beginning in the 1940s, researchers began seeing patterns under the perspective of the uses and gratifications theory in radio listeners. Early research was concerned with topics such as children's use of comics and the absence of newspapers during a newspaper strike. An interest in more psychological interpretations emerged during this time period.

The theory suggests there are different reasons why audiences consume media texts:

 

 

Katz, Gurevitch and Haas (1973) saw mass media as a means by which individuals connect or disconnect themselves with others. They developed 35 needs taken from the largely speculative literature on the social and psychological functions of the mass media and put them into five categories:

• Cognitive Needs: Acquiring information, knowledge and understanding
  • Media Examples: Television (news), video (how-to), movies (documentaries or based on history)

• Affective Needs: Emotion, pleasure, feelings
  • Media Examples: Movies, television (soap operas, sitcoms)

• Personal Integrative Needs: Credibility, stability, status
  • Media Examples: Video

• Social Integrative Needs: Family and friends
  • Media Examples: Internet (e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, social media)

• Tension Release Needs: Escape and diversion
  • Media Examples: Television, movies, video, radio, internet

(Source: Wikipedia)

The uses and gratifications of media is helpful in the understanding of why audiences view television shows and films. This theory is also helpful in letting us know what kind of person would be incline on viewing the opening of our thriller but also why they are watching and if they would question it making us more aware of what to include or not include into our thriller opening in order to attract and engage and audience.



Thriller Task - Planning: Location Hunting

We went and had our first look at the location in which we plan to film our thriller opening. We found an old car park overgrown with weeds and it is suitable as it is a desolate concrete slabland. We have chosen to film here as it is out of the way of the public and it suits the theme of it being a psychological thriller. As a result we all agreed on filming in this abandoned car park.

We spent about 30 minutes here looking around the entire site and we realised that by 4:30pm it was getting too dark and we thought that we would need to film when its light and make it darker in post-production rather than making it lighter from a dark film shoot.

As a result we decided that filming would take place on weekends and on days where we had no lessons in the afternoons to film our creation.

We also decided on specific areas in the grounds to film certain scenes such as an area which the murder is carried out and a little but behind that is where the murderer will remorse, and in addition be scared as to what is happening ect.

We looked at a puddle which could play a key role in showing the murderers remorse and confusion and in addition to this, we can make the little bit of water effective in showing who the character is and elaborate on his emotions in just the short time we have to create this opening to the thriller.



Once again the gang managed to make an impressive photo with the opportunity to photoshop in the near future, they decided to look interestingly at what i call the "pine cone of the urban societies".

Thriller Task - Research: How Is The Industry Regulated?

This is a powerpoint i created on how the industry of film and television is created. This would be helpful for our thriller opening as we will use these to work out what ratings are used in what films and how we can control what stuff is featured in our opening to make the film suitable for some people of certain age groups.

Press the full screen button below to enlarge the PowerPoint.

Thriller Task - Research: Kuleshov Experiment Editing Practice

I decided to practice cutting by attempting my own kuleshov experiment, this shows that we can create different emotions from different things because of the way you can edit the clips to manipulate what the person is doing. This will be handy in our thriller opening as it will be able to show the audience the emotion of the characters and how and/or what is causing the emotion to be triggered.

The cutting which has been used in this clip is going to be used during the main opening of the thriller, we can use this to quickly switch between the clips without the audience seeing a difference or without slowing the plot down. In addition, we will use the cutting to maintain the use of the specific negative emotions we aim to achieve within the opening of the thriller.