Our Thriller Film - Grand Theft Autumn

Evaluation Question 7

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

Evaluation Question 6

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

When filming and editing a film, there are many different technologies used to construct and complete the film. In the making of our film we used a few different technologies.

The first piece of technology we used in our thriller film process was Google. We first used Google to find a suitable location to film our film in. The location had to be relatively local to our area so that we could get to the location quickly and have as much filming time as possible. We used Google Maps to do this. By doing this we could find local parks with a forest part in them so that we could use that part of the park to film our thriller. (Picture on left).

The next piece of technology used was our mobile phones to take pictures of the chosen location to make a recce. Once we chosen the location, on our first attempt of filming we took pictures of our location and specific parts of the area we would using to film. We used our phones because they have good quality cameras on them so that we could capture images of our location.

The next technology we used we the video camcorder. Although we had used the camcorders before there were certain thing we did with the camera that we had not used before such as certain camera movements and shots. We also used the camera in the editing stage of our film so that we could transfer our taken footage from the camcorder onto the computer so that we could then edit it.

 In the editing process we used a few programs to complete the editing of our thriller film. The first program we used was Final Cut Express. We used this programs firstly to capture all of the footage from our camera and transfer it onto the computer. Once we had done this we used Final Cut to look at the footage we had got and began to cut together our film, so that it created the first edit of the film.


After creating the first edit on the film we then imported the film into Adobe After Effects. This is where the fine tuning of the film took place. Here we created the main titles for the beginning and end of our film. When doing this we had to create a black solid layer so that we could put our white text onto them. We also gave the titles a fade in and out so that each title would follow from one to another. We also used colour correction on our film because not all of the clips had the same colours and brightness because of the position of the sun. So we used this to correct the colours in our film so that they all match up. In After Effects we also in detail fined tuned the footage to correct all of the small mistakes made in the first edit. All we did here was finely cut clips so that each clip flowed into the next with no problems. We used Abode After Effects because it is a advanced piece of software that can be used to create a high quality product, so by using it, we could make the beginning of our thriller film more clean and sharp.

I also used Survey Monkey to create a survey to see what types of films people between a certain age range and what sub genre of thriller films people like. I used this so that we could create a thriller film that was suit the likes of people between the age of 16-24.

From constructing this project I have learnt a few things, firstly I have learnt that when filming a film take many different shots of a scene or take so that in the editing scene you can select the correct and best shot to use in your film. By filming many different shots and shot types you prevent having to go and re-film if needed. Another thing I learnt from this project is about group organisation. By having a group that knows exactly what they are doing and is organised you can prevent errors and mistakes that may be made. Also by having an organised team, each member of the team knows their specific roles within the team so that things can run smoothly and more efficiently.

I have also learnt skills from this project such as time keeping. When constructing a project like a film you need to know how long to spend on certain areas of the film, such as editing and filming. By time keeping our group would have enough time to be able to plan for our film, film our film, and edit our film.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be your audience for your media product?

Before filming our thriller film, I created a online survey about thriller films and what type of thriller films that people like and what makes a good thriller film. From this survey I found that most of the people that complete the survey were of the age of 18-24. From all these people that did the survey the largest majority had selected a thriller film to be one of their favourite genres of films.
This showed us that people of that age group like thriller films maybe because they are more 'thrilling' and fast paced than other films. So because of this I think that the target audience for our film would be people between the age of about the age of 16 to 24.
I believe people in that age range would watch our film because it is fast paced and has plenty of action in it, and this is would people in this age range seem to prefer. I also believe people in this age range would watch this film because straight from the beginning of the film the viewer is instantly in the action. This will get the viewer instantly interested in what will conclude in the film.    

 I also asking in the survey What makes a good thriller opening?', and from this out of the 10 responses I got, 8/10 of them had said that having fast paced action makes a good thriller opening. So because of this this is why we created a fast paced action scene to fulfil what most of the people between the age of 16-24 like to see in a thriller opening.                                                                  

Evaluation Question 3

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

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product re[resent particular social group?

Evaluation Question 1

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

Costume Choices.

   This is the costume choice for the protagonist of our thriller film. We chose very light colours for her outfit because it shows her to be the main, most important character of the film. Also because of her light colours it automatic lets the audience know that she is the main character because the other character are wearing dark colours. 

  This is the first antagonist character that you see in the thriller film. The costume choice is all black to show that he wants to harm the protagonist who is wearing all light colours. We used all black because many villains in thriller films are wearing all black or dark colours. By having the first antagonist of the film wearing black is shows that they are obviously trying to get the protagonist.

This is the next antagonist seen in our thriller film. Again they are wearing all black to show that they are trying to harm the main character who is wearing lighter clothes.

Finally this is the last antagonist seen in our thriller film, although he is wearing slightly lighter colours that the other antagonists it is still clear to the audience that he wants to harm the main character.

Film Props

We had only a few props in our thriller film, this was because we thought if a person is getting chased through the forest unexpectedly than she would have very few items on her.

This is the only prop that is featured in the film. On our first attempt of filming our film we had originally thought that the protagonist should have a specific weapon like a baseball bat etc. However we then thought that the film would be more realistic and make more sense if the protagonist had had a weapon found from the surroundings. We picked this log because if was big and heavy enough to be able to kill or knock someone out. Because this is the only prop in our film we used a close up shot of the log before the protagonist had picked it up, to show the importance of the log in the part of the film.

We also had originally chosen to use a face mask for the original shooting of our thriller film. Instead of three character chasing the one main character, we thought that we would have one specific main character that would play a main role as the antagonist in the film. However when using the face mask it was very hard to see out of, this would make it very easy to fall of especially in a forest environment, so we decided to change from having one main antagonist to having three antagonists that are chasing the protagonist.

Recce For Our Thriller

New Location

We have changed our location for the filming of our thriller film, we have now decided to switch from Hainault Forest to Raphael Park. We have made this chose because this park is easier and quicker to get to from where we live. It also have a good piece of forest in it so that we have a good place to film our film.

Animatic

Location Sheet.

Shot List

Story Boards

Studio Ident intro.

This is the studio ident for our thriller film. The name of our production company is Myth Films.

Costumes and Props

Shooting Schedule

Risk Assessment

Contingency Plan.

Music to Accompany Our Studio Ident and Copyright.

I have looked for non copyright sound effects or music to use for our ident online, however we could not find a sound effect or piece of music that would fit the studio ident that we have made. So instead we will create the sounds to accompany the ident using the program GarageBand or Logic Pro. With these programs we could create fitting music sounds that will accompany the visuals.

To make the sound for studio ident we may have to connect a portable keyboard to the computer so that we can create a sound piece. Because we will be creating a sound piece for our studio ident, we will not have to worry about the problem of copyright sound or music. If a piece of music or sound is copyright, then before using it you have to get permission from the person that holds the copyright to the sound or music. Otherwise the sound clip may have to be removed from the website.

Production Company Name and Studio Ident Completed.

We have now finished our studio ident which we will use on the beginning of our film which shows our production company name. We created the ident using Adobe After Effects because we wanted to make a effective but simple studio ident.

The name for our production company is called 'Myth Films'. We chose this name because we thought the name of the company sounds fitting for a thriller or horror film. The simple for our ident is simply just a square with our production company name inside of it. We wanted to create a ident that did not look too simple but will be effective to use as a ident.

For the ident I started off by creating a simple background that wasn't just one solid colour, so I created a black solid layer and then added a gradient onto it which created the background. I then though how I wanted to create the logo/symbol for our production company. I wanted to create something that was simple, clean but also effective to use as a studio ident. So i created a simple square box that was transparent and added a stroke to it to just have the outline of the square. I was thinking the just put the initials of the production company name into the box, but I thought it would look better to put the full name of the production company into the square. So inside the square I put 'Myth Films'. Then I looked to find a suitable font that would compliment the text and I chose one.

Finally I just added a fade to every layer so that all the different layers faded into the screen one after the other. This made the ident look more animated to look like a more professional ident. All I had to do after that was render the ident in Adobe After Effects in high quality so that we could use it as the ident.

Mood Board.

Our group has created a mood board which shows different ideas and inspirations to use in our thriller film. Our mood board shows different themes and conventions that we could use in our film.

Treatment Sheet.

This is our treatment sheet that shows the different roles within our group. It also shows a rough idea on what we are planning to shot that day. The roles of the different group members have been discussed and decided. 

Our group thought that we should have a running title on our film because we have not yet fully decided on the name of our film. By having a running title we can create a title that is completely meaningful to the film. The tagline of our film is also decided because once we finish shooting for the film we will know what the tagline of our film will be. On the treatment sheet we have to write a short synopsis with a rough idea on the story of our film. We have written the synopsis to show the rough ideas that we are basing our film on, however when we go out to film we may still make further changes to the main basis of our film 

Survey Results

I have now got a total of 10 people to complete my survey on thriller films. I did this to find out what other people think about thriller films and what they think makes a good thriller.

This was the main question of my survey that I wanted to look at. This is the question that asks 'What is your favourite sub genre of thriller films?' I thought I should put this question in the survey because it gives us an idea of what sort of ideas that we can base our thriller film on. The results show that 9 out of 10 people that answered the survey like crime thriller film. I didn't find this surprising because crime thrillers are normally very fast paced and interesting. Spy and psychological thrillers are also quite favourited by people which are also fast paced films. 

By using these results we can make further decisions and create more ideas about the thriller opening scene that we are going to create. 

Vertically and Horizontally Integrated.

This is a vertical and horizontal integrated chart. It shows the links between different companies. Going vertically on this chart it shows an example of a production, distribution and exhibition company Warner Bros. Warner Bros when producing and creating films will be made by Warner Bros Pictures. Once the film is made it then has to be distributed to all different countries to be viewed and has to be made for DVD. This is done by Warner Home Video. This will then be send to Warner Village Cinema now known as Vue. The cinema then will play the films which ends the link of the production, distribution and exhibition stages of the film.

Going horizontally it shows the film being produced by Warner Bros. Then Warner Bros has a partnership with DC Comics who creates the ideas for the games from the film. RockSteady Games then will create the games from Warner Bros films.

Studio Idents

These are the 'Big Six' production companies that commands 90% of box office takings. In this picture from top to bottom are;

20th Century Fox
Paramount Pictures
Warner Bros.
Universal Studios.
Columbia
Walt Disney

There are also other studios that make films outside of the major six studios. These are called 'Indies'. These are some examples of the main indies studio companies;

Film 4 Entertainment
Summit Entertainment
Icon Production

Finally there are studio companies that are too big to be considered 'Indies '. These are called 'Mini Major' companies. The main mini major companies are;

• DreamWorks
• The Weinstein Company
• Lions Gate Entertainment

Focus Group Analysis.

For our thriller film we had to record a focus group where we would discuss our ideas with other students from our class. By discussing our film ideas with other students we can see what ideas of ours can work as a thriller film idea and what ideas don't work. This would give us productive feedback on our ideas so our group know what ideas to improve on and what ideas not to include in our thriller film.

In our focus group we discussed our ideas with some of our classmates. They also agreed that our third idea was the best idea out of the ideas that we had. They agreed that this is the easiest idea to film and that this idea was most practical. This idea we thought would be the best idea out of the three for the thriller because it would be the easiest to film and would be the most interesting opening scene out of our three ideas.

Source Code Thriller Analysis

Source Code is a action thriller (2011), which features a soldier called Colter Stevens who wakes up inside a train in another man's body. He is very confused and stands up and walks about the train, then an explosion goes off inside the train and he dies. He then wakes up inside a machine. This machine is run by a company that is able to go back into the past to change certain events, such as terrorist attacks. Colter Stevens is to live another man's life on this train and has 8 minutes to locate a bomb hidden on the train to save the members of the train to prevent a terrorist attack.

Source code is a different type of thriller films to other films that we have studied. The director and written have created an interesting concept to base the film upon. The filming of the film is very basic. Because most of the scenes are confined onto the train the camera angle are very much repeated. Also because Colter Stevens is re-living the same scenario multiple times, the director decided to use the same camera angles in every scene to keep the continuity of the film. This is needed for a film like this because on screen the same scene is being replay multiple times, so the camera angles of replayed scenes need to stay the same.