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

In the time between the production of our preliminary task and our thriller, I have learnt several things about how to construct media texts effectively. The main thing I have learnt is how to use camera angles and shots to enhance the atmosphere of a film. For example, in our bird's eye view shot of Jonathon Cody travelling down the stairs, the bird's eye view shot implies that he is being watched. Furthermore, the high angle shot connotes vulnerability. Without the research and planning I did prior to making our thriller, I would not be aware of these things. In that case, I may have just used a static medium shot of Jonathon going down the stairs - this would be boring and would lose the audience's interest. In our thriller opening, keeping the audience gripped is vital.

Bird's eye view shot of Jonathon travelling down the stairs

Another example of this is our low angle tilt shot of an enigmatic figure in the window. Before, I would not have known how to use a tilt shot to show corruption and mystery - but due to my new knowledge, me and my group managed to use this, combined with the power shown by a low angle shot, to construct a great shot.

Low angle tilt shot of an enigmatic figure in the window

Also, I learnt about other techniques of film production, such as the 180-degree rule, match on action and shot-reverse shot. The 180-degree rule and shot-reverse shot are used in the part of our thriller where Jonathon Cody discovers his mother, Eve Cody, and there are shots from the positions of both Jonathon and Eve - but they never cross the line of the 180-degree rule.What I learnt about these things is shown in our thriller - for example, the way our thriller cuts from shots of Jonathon Cody to shots of the enigmatic figures to show the link between these characters and the possibility that Jonathon may be caught up or involved in the dark actions of these mysterious, enigmatic figures. Below is the final cut of our thriller, "From the Dark", where you can see the different shots and filming techniques being used for different effects.

While constructing our thriller, me and my group also learnt how to successfully cooperate to produce a successful thriller film. We each took one main responsibility - James was the main actor, Joe was the main cameraman and I was the main editor. Alongside this, we also each took a decent role in each of the stages of producing our thriller e.g. I was responsible for shooting some of the thriller. For some stages of producing the thriller, we had to work together to make the best choice. For example, choosing the soundtrack was a bid decision and we ended up making a joint decision after looking at several different soundtracks. Here is the link to my blog post displaying the soundtracks we made our decision from:

http://wrmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/soundtrack-ideas.html

We chose the soundtrack based on the tension and suspense it produced, along with the way it pulled you into the action. The heartbeat, which becomes more and less prominent depending on the action, pulls you into the action and tells you what Jonathon is feeling. This also tells you how to feel.

A major decision for our group was the title for our thriller. At the beginning of the production process, when we had the idea of "marks" on each character to link them to each other, we were using the name "Marked". But when we decided to simplify (and improve) the film by taking out the marks, we had to collaborate to choose a new name. After many conversations, where we looked back through our research for inspiration, we finally decided on the name "From the Dark" (which one member from our group, Joe, slightly altered into "From the Night" for his final cut). This played on the generic thriller convention of locations, characters and ideas originating from the darkness or night. Also, the shadowy, enigmatic figures from our film lurk in the shadows and the darkness - this title is a direct reference to that. We chose the font because it was subtle and quite old-looking. This stopped the font of this title, or any of the other titles, taking your focus away from our thriller.

Titles showing our thriller's name, "From the Dark"

As aforementioned in Question 6, the process of producing our thriller also taught our group a substantial amount about how to effectively edit our thriller so that it was gripping - this was done using effects such as dip to black and cross dissolve.

By showing our thriller to members of our target demographic, as well as our teacher, we have been able to positively alter our film along the process of making it. When we received negative feedback, our group did not ignore it or get frustrated - we simply used it to improve our thriller and end with a film we are all proud of. If we had allowed to affect us negatively, then our film would have gone downhill. On the whole, the feedback we got from our target demographic was much better than we expected - this form that a 17-year old male (a member of our target audience) filled out was very positive (this form was used for Question 5). This person also found our thriller's narrative easy to follow and clear - this was also a very good sign, as it meant the main structure of our thriller was acceptable and we only had to slightly edit around it.

A questionnaire filled out by a member of our target demographic

Example of a cross dissolve transition

I do not think the film has many weaknesses. One weakness could be that it has not got a large budget, which prevents us from using the special effects, CGI and expensive equipment that are frequently used in big-budget films nowadays. This could prevent us from making the film more visually appealing to the audience that likes films such as "Transformers", where special effects play a large part in the appeal of the film.

Overall, I feel that the most important thing I have learnt about film making in the time between the preliminary task and the thriller we have made is how to edit and put together a film so that it holds the attention and interest of the audience and improves their enjoyment of the film.

Our Thriller: "From the Dark" - Final Cut

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

In the process of making our thriller, "From the Dark", I have learnt new things concerning technology and its link to our thriller. The main thing I have learnt is how to edit a film effectively into a clear but absorbing narrative. By using effects such as "dip to black" and "cross dissolve", we could change between shots of the boy, Jonathon, in the house, and the members of the enigmatic group outside the house or somewhere else in the house. This prevented any long, boring sections where only one character is being followed. Again, without our new experience and knowledge of thriller films, we would not have been able to efficiently create this effect. We managed to achieve this effect without affecting the narrative, creating a clear but gripping thriller. Our thriller is below - this contains evidence of these effects being used.

Furthermore, I have also learnt a great deal about sound. Before the construction of this thriller, I did not realise the huge importance of the sound choice in a thriller - I now know that the soundtrack can completely change the atmosphere - as the wife of Bernard Herrmann (American composer for motion pictures, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock in famous films such as the thriller Psycho) said, "The music tells the audience how to feel and what to think,". Because of this, we chose a soundtrack that had a heartbeat that changed as the situation of our thriller changed, which also had an eery background sound to help the tension and suspense increase.

http://www.freesound.org/people/hello_flowers/sounds/32424/ - Main soundtrack
http://www.freesound.org/people/steveygos93/sounds/91572/  - Non-diegetic gunshot sound

Also, I learnt a great deal when operating my media blog. While setting up and using the blog was quite straightforward, the main thing I learnt was linked to the different ways of presenting my work. Using a blog for my media studies coursework cause me to use things such as Prezi and how to embed Microsoft Word documents into a blog. Before this I had not even heard of some of these ways of presenting my work e.g. Prezi. By using a media blog, it has increased my knowledge of how to present my work and improved my ability to use things such as Prezi. My Prezi I made to display the target audience for our thriller, "From the Dark", is shown below.

Target Audience for our Thriller "From the Dark" on Prezi

In addition, using the website IMDb assisted me greatly when trying to research other thriller films. For example, we used the "user ratings" section for "Animal Kingdom" to find out it's target audience. From this we learnt that it's target audience was similar to the target audience of our thriller, "From the Dark" - the males under 18 gave it the highest rating. This told us that successful features from Animal kingdom could work in our thriller. For example, we created the character Jonathon, who is similar to "J" from "Animal Kingdom". (as discussed in previous questions).

As well as this, YouTube helped us construct our thriller. As we wanted a similar costume to that of "Harry Lime" in "The Third Man" for our mysterious, enigmatic figures, we could use YouTube to view sections of "The Third Man" to help us analyse the costume. Below is a sequence from "The Third Man" that I analysed in our thriller research.

Also, we used many new techniques for changing the lighting in our thriller. We used several different lamps and lights to adjust the lighting, and in our edit we tried both black and white, noir lighting as well as full colour. In the end we decided to use full colour. At the start of filming our thriller, the lighting we used was too dark and we realised that and decided to re-shoot. The discarded footage is shown below:

                   

Finally, the school e-mail helped the production of our thriller film, as we could e-mail our teacher with any problems or enquiries and receive feedback. This meant that we could get quick feedback and advice.

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

To address the target audience for our thriller, "From the Dark", we used characters of similar ages (mostly), such as Jonathon Cody, which was discussed in Question 4. A familiar location, a middle-class house, is used, and we chose this to comply with our target audience and the nature of our thriller.

Furthermore, the room of Jonathon (our main link to our target audience, similar to the character of "J" in "Animal Kingdom" also has many distinct aspects of mise-en-scene that will directly appeal to our target audience. Many posters of popular comedians and musicians are on the wall, and this is a direct link to our audience and their culture (an image of this is in Question 4). This would promote interest in the film from them, our target audience, immediately as this shot of the boys bedroom is one of the first in the thriller.

Our camera shots were also designed to draw you into the film and empathise with Jonathon Cody, our main character. This is done with close up shots of Jonathon, as well as point of view shots that take you into the situation. This is especially effective when a point of view shot is used when Jonathon discovers his dead mother - it makes the shock affect you directly in the same way it would affect Jonathon. Again, like "Animal Kingdom", these shots are used to put you in the place of the boy of a similar age.

Point of view (POV) shot of Eve Cody, Jonathon Cody's mother, from Jonathon's point of view

The lack of speech in our thriller also helps you to empathise with the character of Jonathon Cody. It lets you focus on his feelings and the atmosphere, further connecting you with him and his situation. A voice over or dialogue would distract you from the action and ruin the atmosphere of the film.

To see the opinion of our thriller, "From the Dark" among our target audience, we made people from the demographic we have chosen fill in a questionnaire.

Assessment of our Thriller by a member of our Target Audience - 17 year-old

In this assessment of our thriller, high marks are awarded. Their only problem with our thriller was the sound, which we have since edited and updated. This choice of music was then approved of by our assessor. They did not find the narrative confusing, and they were not offended by the thriller. They especially liked the editing, which they said "fits perfectly with the opening scene". I believe that this is due to the editing which quickly goes back and forth between the enigmatic figures and Jonathon to keep the atmosphere while linking the characters together. This editing is shown below in the final cut of our thriller, "From the Dark".

As the assessor is a 17 year-old male, his profile ideally fits our target demographic in terms of age and gender. As most of the characters in the thriller are male (and the only female in the opening sequence is dead), the film appeals more to males than females. The fact that this person was impressed by our thriller is a good sign that we have appealed well to our target audience.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our thriller, "From the Dark", is 16-25 year olds, as described in my Prezi describing our target audience.

Target Audience for our Thriller "From the Dark" on Prezi

This age group would be able to relate with our characters, as the main characters are teenagers/young adults, except from the mother, Eve. The standard middle-class teenage/young adult boy is a standard figure, and the audience would be able to relate with him, and empathise with him as he is thrown into a world of crime - like "J" in Animal Kingdom. As discussed in the Prezi above, Animal kingdom has a lot in common with our film in terms of audience - it is aimed at the same age group, and our thriller would ideally be advertised in a similar way.

"J" from "Animal Kingdom" - a similar film in terms of audience to our thriller, "From the Dark"

The standard, middle-class house can also be related to by the audience of our thriller, which is British, white, middle-class males aged between 16 and 25 - this further helps the audience relate to Jonathon Cody, as the location will be reasonably familiar. However, the action in our thriller, where this standard person is thrown into a new world of crime and danger, will excite the audience and keep their attention. This combination of a familiar figure and a sudden, drastic change in events will keep the audience interested.

As I have just mentioned, the audience of our thriller is British, white, middle-class males aged between 16 and 25. Our target audience is white because of the white characters of our thriller, and British because British people will be able to relate to the locations, themes and characters of the film. Also, the mise-en-scene of many shots contains cultural references to Britain e.g. the posters on Jonathon's wall showing British comedians and musicians. The audience is middle-class due to the middle-class house and characters. Finally, the audience is male because the characters of the thriller are mostly male. All of this helps the target audience relate to the character of Jonathon.

Posters showing British musicians, comedians, etc.

In addition, the fear we have utilised in our thriller (the fear of being alone and stalked by an unknown, hostile figure), is well-recognised to be universally suffered from. Most people have this fear, and by using it we have made the thriller more frightening and absorbing. The 16-25 demographic are often fans of horrors and more mature, non-child-friendly media texts as they are discovering things that they could not access before, when they were young. So by using a widespread fear, that of being stalked, we are making our film more exciting to this demographic.

Our target audience would likely watch thriller films such as James Bond, Animal Kingdom, etc. They would be interested in independent, niche, lower-budget films that are gritty and dark - such as our thriller, "From the Dark". This is also discussed in my research into our target audience.

Target Audience for our Thriller "From the Dark"

Target Audience for our Thriller "From the Dark" on Prezi

Soundtrack Ideas

These are the soundtracks we found that could be used in our thriller, "From the Dark". We ended up only using a select few, but they are all focused around building suspense and tension, and so assisting the feeling of being stalked in our thriller.

The soundtrack is a vital part of our thriller. Without the extra suspense built up by the soundtrack, the thriller loses a lot of the fear factor we have tried to achieve.

http://www.freesound.org/people/tradeshowmusic/sounds/136721/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/82299/

http://www.freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/58962/

http://www.freesound.org/people/hello_flowers/sounds/32424/

http://www.freesound.org/people/imaginaryband/sounds/79417/

http://www.freesound.org/people/imaginaryband/sounds/79418/

Furthermore, we needed a loud gunshot for the start of our thriller, when Jonathon Cody wakes up. These are the possible sounds we found for this gunshot:

http://www.freesound.org/people/Audionautics/sounds/133966/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Shades/sounds/37236/

http://www.freesound.org/people/tradeshowmusic/sounds/136721/

http://www.freesound.org/people/steveygos93/sounds/91572/

This will be the noise that is heard when Jonathon wakes up. It could either be a sign that something bad has happened, or the end of a nightmare giving a bad omen about what might be about to happen. It could also be thought of as something that foreshadows later events in the thriller.

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

Our thriller film, "From the Dark", is an independent thriller film that is made to a low budget - the low budget bracket before the "dead zone". The main way that this film draws you in is through the constant tension and anxiety through the film - the suspense builds up quickly, such as in popular films such as "Psycho" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". This highly suspenseful independent thriller, with it's focus on the 16-25 year old market, could attract a company such as Warp films to fund the film who promote young film talent and films aimed at a teenage/young adult age group. As the main attraction of the film is it's content, the main way to advertise it would be with trailers, teasers and film footage.

Warp Films

However, our film is not mainstream in my opinion - it would not fit in well at a multiplex such as ODEON. This is because it is not a high-budget film with many famous names associated with it - in contrast to a film such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which is also a thriller that relies on suspense and secrecy, but contains famous actors such as Gary Oldman, and a well-known director - Tomas Alfredson.

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

Because of this, I believe a suitable cinema outlet for "From the Dark" would be the Picturehouse cinemas (such as the cinema Cinema City in Norwich). These more independent-focused cinemas would be a good place to showcase a less mainstream film, as they would be directed at the people who go to Picturehouse cinemas - fans of niche, less well-known films. This would give our film a more suitable place to promote itself.

Picturehouse

Cinema City, a Picturehouse cinema in Norwich

In contrast to the possible interest of Warp Films, a company such as Working Title would probably not be interested in our film. This would be because of the niche nature of the film, which makes it less viable as a mainstream film with a wide audience. As Working Title is more of a mainstream film company, they would probably not be interested in funding our film.

The two characters on show here - the one from the trailer for "Snowton" and Jonathon are similar characters  visually and in terms of character. They are both teenagers/young adults that are caught up in issues that are not necessarily their fault. 

In contrast, the characters given the most focus on the Working Title website are older and more appealing to a larger, European/American audience e.g. A-list actor Gary Oldman from "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

In terms of electronic outlets, releasing the films over a wide range of electronic devices would be unwise. As a less-publicised film, it would be likely for the film to be swamped by more mainstream films and the money used to put it onto many electronic outlets would be wasted. Instead of this, a focused DVD release, and perhaps some other focused electronic release (e.g. on a games console) would be better. By focusing publicity on a DVD release, with help from the funding of a company such as Warp Films, the DVD would become better known amongst fans of films. This would greatly assist the size of the audience for this film.

Furthermore, posting our thriller film onto public video sites such as YouTube would greatly assist our appeal. As the majority of our audience would use technology every day, putting our thriller onto the highly popular video site YouTube would greatly assist publicity, especially for fans of independent, low budget films that would be able to manually search for our thriller. We could also post a trailer instead of, or alongside our thriller to encourage people to watch it in a cinema. A trailer would entice you, while watching it on a small screen might entice you to watch it on a large screen, where it is designed to be.

YouTube

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our thriller film represents different social groups in different ways.

In terms of gender, our film is very pro-male. The only female figure in our thriller is only seen dead, with a gunshot wound. This also makes her appear as if she has a mysterious, deviant background – another negative representation of female people. The powerful figures are all male – the enigmatic figures, and the “hero” of the film, Jonathon, who is always seen in a god light - a positive representation of male people. This has intertextuality with “Once Upon a Time In America”, which I have analysed in my research of thriller films. In the opening scene of this thriller (like our thriller opening scene), a female figure is shot dead by powerful, dominant, enigmatic male figures. This is similar in some ways to our thriller – the sole, dead woman and the multiple enigmatic males who are the main source of her death. The story revolves around the powerful figures of the men and their betrayal - the plot focuses around the male figures, like our thriller. 

Eve in "Once Upon a Time in America" suffers a similar fate to the Eve in our thriller (this character was an inspiration for our characters name)

The location used is a relatively expensive, large, old-fashioned house which looks like the property of a middle-class family. This is a development of the thriller genre, as normally thrillers contain working class, dark figures. This is a change from this – the class of these people is more like the class of the people in “The Third Man”, which I also researched. Another development of the middle-class stereotype is that this family seem to have a dark, mysterious background – normally middle-class families are not portrayed in a negative light. Also, as the main character is a white, middle-class teenager, he is easy to identify with as he is very recognisable.

Furthermore, are film is dominated by only one race class - white. This is not a great representation of race, but there are many white-dominated films - for example, Psycho has little variation of colour. Also, as in Psycho, it is the woman who dies early in the film, representing Marion Crane, the female, as the weak figure. This is similar to our thriller when Eve Cody dies. The female figure dies a short way into our film as well - this further supports the fact that the plot is focused around the male figures, like in Psycho when Marion dies and the plot focuses around Norman Bates. This focus on the male characters, and comparatively insignificant female figures, is quite common among thrillers. For example, "J"'s girlfriend in "Animal Kingdom" (one of few female characters) has quite a small role and is killed by Pope (one of the many male figures).

Dark, middle-class house in England

In our thriller, Britain/England is portrayed as a dark, bleak environment. This acts a reference to the recent economical issues that the country has suffered e.g. the recession. This could show the problems for 16-25 year olds (our target audience) in contemporary Britain. Our thriller could thus show the possible result of these issues - families being corrupted. In this case, the mother could have a link to a person who lent her money, did not get it back and wants payback. The enigmatic figures could be loan sharks, which would show the current desperation for some families in Britain.

Evaluation of my Thriller: Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The film our group constructed was inspired by several thriller films, as well as our desire to develop the thriller genre. The use of shadows and lighting to show Jonathan being watched is similar to "The Third Man". In "The Third Man", shadows are used for effect in the sewers to give a sense of danger lurking around the corner, just like in out thriller, where Jonathon is being watched from all angles. Also, there is more intertextuality with "The Third Man". When Harry Lime reveals himself, a shaft of light is used to make him appear and disappear. In our thriller, light is also used to reveal and hide the enigmatic, mysterious figure(s). Furthermore, the costume for these character(s) is very similar to the iconic costume from "The Third Man" – a trilby hat and dark clothing is used.

Harry Lime is revealed using lighting

Our thriller also shares many aspects with "Animal Kingdom". The main character is a teenager who our primary audience, 16-25 year old males, can easily relate to – this makes the character of Jonathon similar to that of “J” from "Animal Kingdom". Also, some of our locations are similar to "Animal Kingdom"’s generic thriller locations. Our thriller primarily takes part in a dark, mysterious house at night – you see little of this house, which makes it sinister and enigmatic. This is like the house of the main family of criminals in "Animal Kingdom" – you see few rooms and the family, combined with this mystery, compose an unsettling environment. Both of these locations are similar and are generic thriller locations – there are narrow areas, mysterious corners and doorways, and dark environments. The second location of our thriller, the estate street, is also used in "Animal Kingdom" in the exceptional scene where the police car is found with its doors open in the middle of a road. Both of the scenes take part at night, with cars and a genuine sense of being watched. 

"Animal Kingdom"

In our thriller, a high angle over the shoulder shot of Jonathon being watched by one of the enigmatic figures is used. This gives Jonathon Cody a sense of being watched, and makes him appear vulnerable and helpless. The following low angle shot of the enigmatic figure then makes him look like the powerful, dominant figure.

Similar shots are also used in the shot from "Animal Kingdom". There is a low angle shot of the other police car coming to investigate, which is taken from below the car, as if someone is hiding there. This makes you think that the police are being watched by people of a darker nature, like in our thriller. The use of a street in our thriller is another generic thriller location. At night, the road seems to be taking you where it chooses, and it can connote a sense of entrapment. Also, the fact that roads are open spaces where you can be easily seen provides a sense of being vulnerable – especially as danger is consistently present on the roads.

Police car scene from "Animal Kingdom"

As aforementioned, the characters in our thriller can all be related to characters in "Animal Kingdom". Jonathon could be related to “J” Cody, Eve (the mother who is discovered shot) to Janine “Smurf” Cody, and the enigmatic figures to darker figures from the film, such as Andrew “Pope” Cody.

Jonathon Cody from our thriller, "From the Dark" 

"J" from "Animal Kingdom"

Finally, the soundtrack plays an important role in our thriller. It assists the sense of being tracked and watched, and raises the suspense with each major event of our thriller. It plays a vital role in making our thriller work how it is meant to. It has intertextuality with music used in other thrillers, such as "Psycho". In "Psycho", the music is used to raise the tension prior to and at the same time as major events of the film, such as when Marion Crane is murdered in the infamous shower scene. In our thriller, the music is used to raise the tension as it makes the audience feel as though both they and the main character, Jonathon, are being followed. However, in our thriller, sound is also used for creating an unsettling atmosphere while also building tension. This atmosphere is what gives the main sense of being observed by someone else. This develops the use of sound in thrillers we are using the sound to both create the atmosphere and develop it.

Eve from our thriller, "From the Dark" (above) and
 Eve from "Once Upon a Time in America" (below)

As aforementioned, our thriller's characters are linked to "Animal Kingdom", which is due to our research of the film. The characters names are also inspired by the relavant characters. The name Eve Cody is a direct reference to Eve from "Once Upon a Time in America", who is shot in the opening scene. Relating her to our character immediately suggests that she may be killed, like Eve from "Once Upon a Time in America". This is an iornic reference to the character of Eve from this film.