Final Edit - Opening Scene

Once watching my opening scene after editing it again and adding the scream to the end and making the credits longer, I decided that the scream did not continue the audio correctly as it sounded like it was put in for no reason. This is why I decided to delete the scream and make the tense music longer. I did not touch the credits as I felt they looked better on for a longer length of time as it makes them easier to read.

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

This is evaluation question seven. During this video, I discuss the progression of my skills and knowledge from the preliminary task to my opening scene for my thriller film. I used Adobe Premier Pro to input my audio tracks of me talking over the top of screenshots from both tasks. This helps me show what particular shots I am referring to when talking about the progression.

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

 

This is evaluation question six. In this question I discuss equipment and software that I used during my planning and filming of my opening scene. I explain why I used these and why they benefited me. 

Question Five - How did you attract and address your audience?

 This is my evaluation question five. It shows the audience reactions to my opening scene. I have included my feedback from social media as well as an online survey that my target audience answered. I posted my pitch onto social media to get feedback before the film and then did a survey afterwards to analyse what people thought of my film as well as what I could improve if I was to do it again.

Draft Two - Opening Scene

I decided to change my opening scene by improving some parts of the film. I did this by making the credits last longer. I also made the audio more tense as I added a scream to the audio at the end. I changed the title to having it over the footage instead of a black screen as this makes the audience focus on the images and see the blood which adds to the narrative end. I could not however improve on the lighting of the darker scenes as this would have meant re filming the scenes which would have been very time consuming.

Question Four- Who would be the audience for your media product?

To find out about my target audience I did both primary and secondary research. My primary research included making two questionnaires (online survey monkey and print out leaflet to give to people) as well as asking questions to my peers and recording their answers. This made my survey accessible to all people. The online survey helped me to get a detailed view of my target audience and get their opinions on my ideas which aided me to make a focus group with various genders of an age that was reflective of my ideal target audience. My print out questionnaire was given out to my peers in both AS media classes to broaden my target audience answers. The secondary research I did was looking on YouGov Profiles for the target audience for similar films to mine as well as researching diagrams that others had done on the internet to compare the gender, ages and types of thrillers that people enjoyed which helped me narrow down my ideal audience for my film. To gather my research I used IMBd, Rotten Tomatoes, Survey Monkey, Google, YouGov Profiles Lite and Social Media Platforms.





 From my survey, I found out that my demographics for my film were 17-25 year olds of both gender. A total of 77 people answered my questionnaire and out of these 83% were female however from my secondary research I found out that the male gender also watched the thriller genre which made me come to the decision that I would aim my film at both gender. Both my primary and secondary research agree on the age group of the target audience as according to my diagram 43% of thriller genre audience are in the age group and with my survey I had 95% age group of 17-25.





I researched other films from the thriller genre to broaden my knowledge of the typical audiences. The films is researched were the Revenant and One Hour Photo. I chose these films as the One Hour Photo has a similar narrative and The Revenant is a newer film with violent scenes. The One Hour Photo is a 15 rated film which means that lots of 15+ people will have gone to watch it in the cinema. The narrative is psychological drama thriller which according to my research is the favoured genre of the 17-25 age groups. The film includes young characters which viewers might be able to relate to which makes them want to watch it. The Revenant uses violence to attract 17-25 as this is a convention of the thriller genre that attracts this age group.

Overall, from my primary and secondary research I found out that the thriller genre has various target audiences for example some thriller films are aimed at 17+ as there is violence which could be disturbing for a younger audience. The young adults demographic from 17 to 25 are a typical target audience as they are drawn in by the intense storyline and action which is seen frequently in a thriller film. The main gender that the thriller genre attracts is men. I think this is because of the male gaze theory as the main character is normally male who saves the day. The superior gender is stereotypically male for example Shutter Island has an all men cast apart from the nurses and mental patients. There are sub genres within the thriller genre which attract the other age groups and gender.

 

Question 3 - what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question Two Evaluation- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

Question One Evaulation- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Draft One - Opening Scene

This is my first draft of my opening scene that I have produced, filmed and edited for the thriller genre.

Credits For Final Piece

These are the credits I am going to be adding to my final piece. I chose New Line Cinema as they made similar films such as Se7en which is a psychological thriller which is my sub-genre for my film.  They are also a mainstream production and distribution company. I also researched the typical credit order for thriller films which I used to make my order of credits. I have changed my title from near the beginning to the end as it would ruin the narrative for the opening sequence. I researched who is mentioned in the opening sequence and applied that to my credits.

Photographic Evidence Of Filming

 

This post is photographic evidence of filming for my final piece. The post includes my thoughts on the location I filmed at and issues with the location. The photographs show the camera set up to film and also me filming for the final piece taken by an actor.

Sound Planning For Opening Scene

The sound of a opening scene is important as it helps manipulate certain feelings for the audience. This means that it needs to be planned and chosen carefully as it is a huge convention for thriller films to have a tense soundtrack.

Weather Forecast

Social Media Feedback

I posted my pitch onto social media sites to enable me to get feedback on my idea. I asked the people to tell me what they liked and what they thought I could improve. I posted this before filming as I can make changes to the shots and add new parts. This make my film appeal more to the target audience as they have told me how I can improve and I have acted upon their opinions. The social media allowed me to ask the target audience directly. 

Script

I used a different person for each line to add layers to the sound which makes the audience think that there are people who have said these comments to the character in his life. This adds mystery as the voices are anonymous. It also adds tension as the sentences are disturbing and creepy. It makes the audience believe he is psychopathic.

Sound Mindmap

This is a mind map of thriller soundtracks. The elements I spoke about were sound effects, volume, pitch and emotion. The sound is an important element in the thriller genre as it is the key part that makes the audience feel tension, excitement and suspense which are conventions of the thriller genre.

Typography Research

 

The research I have conducted is on typography. This is the fonts, sizing, spacing and colours that are used when creating a title. The films I researched were Stalker, Nightcrawler and Fargo. These are all thriller films which gave me a wide variation of the types of typography used in the genre. There were obvious patterns within the genre as the titles are usually white, small in size and widely spaced out with the lettering. This gave me ideas when thinking of the typography for my film. I looked at high detailed fonts at the beginning which didn’t reflect my narrative of the film. I decided to change it to simple, red in colour and widely spaced out. The colour is used to make the title stand out as the last shot is fading from colour to black and white. The typography is important to get right when producing a film as they hint to the audience about the narrative and type of genre film they are watching.

Credit Research Of Thriller Films and My Own Credits

 

This is my credit research of thriller films. I have included in my research images from the opening sequence and stated the order in which the credits came in for the films I studied. This helped me when creating mine as I could use the pattern to base my credits on as they would be in an order which is stereotypical to the thriller genre. The images also show the types of shots used in the films I looked in depth at which helps me when planning my opening sequence as I know what shots are used frequently in the thriller genre.

Audience Research

This is my audience research that includes research into average ratings for the thriller genre, research into audiences who are attracted to the thriller genre, research into websites of upcoming films and platforms at which films attract audiences. I have used various methods of research for this post such as primary research as I made my own surveys for my target audience to answer. I have also used secondary research from the internet as I have included diagrams, statistics, social media and YouGov Profiles. By using various methods of research I have been able to get a wide range of answers from audiences of thriller films. 

Pitch

 

The pitch for my film includes the plot line and summary. I will be posting this on social media for feedback for my ideas and what improvements I could make to ensure that my film is targeted to the specific audience. I have added images onto the slides which makes the audience understand and imagine my film easier.

Call Sheet For Thriller Film

This is my call sheet that I have produced. The aim of a call sheet is to let everyone involved in the film the timings of scenes and other additional information. The call sheet is given to everyone so that everyone has the same information. My call sheet shows the names of the actors, what characters the actors will play, when they are needed e.g time and day, health and safety issues and locations of the filming.

Storyboard Image

This is an image of my post it note storyboard. I did my storyboard as post it notes as you can change the order of the shots easily to make the footage more effective.

Locations For Opening Sequence

 

This post in my blog shows the locations I will be using for my thriller opening sequence. The images that are featured are taken by myself as research into settings for my film. The location has a brief description of permissions needed for filming there, the length of time I will be filming there.

Character Profiles

 

These are my profiles of the characters that will be starring in my film they show who plays them along with the costume and why I had chosen them to play a certain character.

Storyboard Animatic Thriller Film

 

I have created an animatic to make sure the timings are correct and that I can see that the shots are in the correct order. The animatic version of my storyboard helps me see how long the shots will be as I have made the duration of the image for as long as they shot will be.

Survey Monkey Responses To My Survey Created For Thriller Films

 

I created a survey on Survey Monkey as part of my research into thriller films. These are my responses from my target audience. I have analysed the answers and used their answers in my film.