To make our opening thriller a thriller we had to abide by certain conventions, like for example hero and villain. We as a group could show these conventions in a number of different ways like camerawork and mise en scene. With the nine screen grabs above I’m going to explain how each one shows a convention of a thriller.
1.) The first shot out of nine is of our main title which is centred in the screen and superimposed over the still image. The main title has different font and style to the credits in order to make it stand out.
2.) In the second shot it shows protagonist and antagonist (hero and villain) where the antagonist is standing over the protagonist after just throwing him to the floor, this is a vital convention of a thriller. This is the first footage that the audience sees, we did this early on too establish who’s who, if we did not do this then the narrative would not be clear to the audience and they might become disinterested and stop watching our movie.
3.) In the third shot it shows a wipe out to signalise the end of the flashback, which again is a convention of thriller. We used editing transitional technique of the wipe out because it blanks out to a white screen and then goes back into a white screen, white wipe outs like this in movies usually symbolise the ending of a dream or flashback.
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5.) This shows some credits which as you can see when compared with the main title in screen grab one are different because they symbolise different things. All the other credits are the same as in screen grab five to show they have less importance than the main title.
6.) The sixth shot shows the use of props, which is a part of mise en scene, to help the audience understand the narrative and also it makes the audience have more of an understanding as to why the character is about to do what he is about to do, in this case, he is about to bet all his money on these two cards in front of him. Also it is a Point of view shot, which also makes the audience have an understanding of the character because they are seeing the world from his eyes; this is a convention of a thriller because with any movie you need to engage the audience.
7.) The seventh shot shows the location, which is a dimly lit, has got graffiti all over it, is at a back of a warehouse, so basically not a very nice place. This is what locations are supposed to be like in thrillers, scary places where if you were there you would be looking over the back of your shoulder because it creeps you out.
8.) In the eight shot there is low key too lighting which creates a mysterious mood because you can only see the characters body and not his face, so the audience ask questions as to who is this. This place looks a bit dodgy it’s the kind of place where you would expect a poker game like this to be held. We were able to create this light by partially blocking out the normal light with bits of paper over the light bulb.
9.) In the final shot it shows a still image of a character which we do not now if he is dead or alive, again inspired by 44 inch chest this is the shot leading up to the final shot, number four out of nine.
Who
Above the two males that are represented in our film.
Our media product represents young white males, who could be of any class because gambling can affect anyone no matter what class and can become an addiction, as we did not discuss what class they would be, you would probably assume that they are of lower class because they are involved in illegal gambling in a dodgy room somewhere, but upper classes have more money to spend, anyway they could be of any class. Also there are no women in our product, this shows that the world of backstreet illegal gambling is mans world because they are hard and take risks and women stay at home and do the ironing, this is an old notation of gender. Women these days can easily get themselves involved in situations like this just as easily as men can.
How
Whoever they are they are not being represented as law abiding citizens, so it is a negative view of men and maybe a little bit of an old fashioned perception of men as well because they earn the money they can do what ever they like with the money, but in a family unit these days the financial burden is not fully with the man but also the women. To emphasize that they are in a ruff area, in our film we have included some non-diegetic sound which is police sirens, representing that there is allot of crime going on in that area that the police have to respond to. Also in the final shot of the film which is a close up of Dave’s face, we have used some facial make up (an area of mise en scene) to symbolise a black eye plus blood pouring out of Dave’s lip, this represents the antagonist as a thug who will use violence to settle disputes.
Why
We represented our characters like this to show a certain type of people who get themselves involved with illegal gambling. This is a thrilling theme because these characters take big risks in order to gain money, sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t and this is shown in our opening. Below is the protagonist and antagonist being represented
3.) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
We as a group chose soda pictures to distribute our media product. Soda pictures are a film distributer of art house, independent and world cinema, who are based in London
We choose them because they have a good reputation for distributing small budget independent UK
4.) Who would be the audience for your media product?
At first we were debating as to whether we should have it as a 15 or a 12, so we looked on the bbfc website, they are the people who rate every film and they have guidelines as to what should be in each age category, link below.
Even though we have slight violence in our film we deemed it not bad enough to classify it at a 15. Also if we put it at 15 it would alienate some of our potential audience, so we want it to appeal to as many people as it possibly can so that’s why we rated it at 12. So our main target audience is young males aged 12-18, mainly because they like this sort of thing where there is male dominating characters with a bit of action in their, compared with girls of that age because they would probably prefer rom-coms.
Even though we have slight violence in our film we deemed it not bad enough to classify it at a 15. Also if we put it at 15 it would alienate some of our potential audience, so we want it to appeal to as many people as it possibly can so that’s why we rated it at 12. So our main target audience is young males aged 12-18, mainly because they like this sort of thing where there is male dominating characters with a bit of action in their, compared with girls of that age because they would probably prefer rom-coms.
5.) How did you attract/ address your audience?
. We attracted our audience with our clip and we addressed them with the use of character, narrative camerawork etc.
. As we our aiming our movie at the young males of 12 and above we liked to incorporate certain themes from other films, Casino Royal and is also a thriller. With Casino Royal also aiming at the same age group as us we thought it would be beneficial to help us make our clip and so the audience could relate and compare each movie.
. Also we listened to the start of the poker game in Casino Royal to help us with the script of our narrative at the start of the poker game which is at the start of our clip.
. The link below shows a clip were in Casino Royal there are allot of players who use the term ‘All In’ which is also used in our film, this is were you put all of your chips on one hand and comes with tremendous risk, but also builds tension with the audience because it is all or nothing .
. So by using some of the same elements as another similar film it is addressing our audience because that is the kind of stuff they want to see in a film and they will become more familiar with the film and more comfortable with it witch hopefully means they will like it.
A few technical areas we used to attract and address our audience
Camerawork
. Allot of facial close ups so the audience can try to second guess what the character may or may not do next.
.Pan establishing shot to show the location around so the attracted audience knows that this is a spooky dangerous area.
Sound
. Some diegetic sound, the police sirens, which implies to the audience that allot of crime goes on in the area and this sort of thing should happen in this area, which is good in a thriller because crime thrills.
Mise en Scene
. The use of blood and bruising, facial costume (which was make up) is used to symbolize to the audience that violence, which is an issue in thrillers, has occurred in the clip. Example of this below.
Lighting
. With the use of low key lighting in the poker scene, this was done to give a spooky and mysterious effect of the character so you can’t really tell what the characters facial expressions as to what is going on in the scene.
6.) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the construction of this product I have learnt allot about camerawork and editing software. Prior to making this final product I had had some experience with camerawork and the editing software’s on the Macs through me doing video production, this helped allot because it meant that if I knew how to do certain things It would save time for the group. Also I could share some of my knowledge with the rest of the groups especially with the editing software’s. As none of us were full experts on the camera we all took turns with it so we would all learn how to use them and apply certain techniques for future film work, these techniques included setting white balance, setting the camera up ect. With Media studies at the start of the year we learnt about camera movements, angles and shots and with this product we could apply those things in order to portray our narrative to the audience. Also I learnt about editing, film and sound, allot because before I came to this college I had never used a Mac. With editing there are certain procedures you have to know in order to make your final product, one of those procedures that I learnt was how to log and capture the footage onto the Macs into imovie and save it onto the network, with the help of the technicians. Overall then I think I learnt allot about different technologies by constructing this product, which I hopefully can apply to products in future if needs be.
7.) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
1.) Picture 1 (top left) shows a wipe out from one shot to another, which signals the end of a flashback, also we used a wipe in, fade in and fade out, which is an editing transition technique. In our preliminary we did not use any of these because we did not know how to. So that’s one thing we have learnt from our prelims.
2.) Picture 2 (centre top) shows an element of mise en scene, costume (facial) it is some make up put on Dave’s characters face to signify blood and bruises after he had a fight with my character. In our prelim we did not use any costume so we as a group have learnt that costume can help the narrative just as much as dialogue will.
3.) Picture 3 (top right) shows the use of low key lighting of Dave’s character sitting in a darkened out room and you can only make out prominent features. This was done to create a certain mood for the audience. In our preliminary we did not use any lighting whatsoever, so we learnt that lighting can help create a mood or the set the tone for a scene which is very important, so this shows the importance of lighting.
4.) Picture 4 (middle left) shows location which is key in a thriller. In our preliminary we only were at the college so we were limited to where we could shoot. This picture shows me that location is key to applying the conventions of the genre by setting the tone or mood.
5.) Picture 5 (middle, middle) shows the protagonist and antagonist clearly, which I felt that in our preliminary that it was less clear to see who is good or not. This picture also shows who has the power in this specific shot. So what I have learnt from that is you need to establish who is who in order for the audience to get a good understanding of what’s going on and if the audience don’t know what is going on then they will probably stop watching.
6.) Picture 6 (middle right) shows the use of props (an area of mise en scene). This shot shows that props can really convey the narrative to the audience. Even though we used some props in our preliminary this shot enhances the importance of them for telling the narrative, so I’ve learnt that props are very important for telling the narrative but they can also let the audience know what mood to feel or they can set the tone for the whole clip.
7.) Picture 7 (bottom left) shows a blank screen, the reason I have done this is to show the sound, but you can’t hear sound through a picture so I’ve put it there to symbolize sound. That screen grab is shown at the start of our intro where there is a voice over of the start of the poker game even though you can’t see anything the narrative is still being conveyed to the audience. Also in our preliminary we only used the soundtrack (non-diegetice) throughout, but in this clip we used a lot of different varieties of sound diegetic and non diegetic and I feel that it made the clip better than if we just had one soundtrack throughout because different sounds go with different scenes. So overall I have learnt that when you are using sound you should use more than one type.
8.) Picture 8 (bottom centre) shows the use of titling. Below on the left is a title from our preliminary and on the right is a title from our final product.
Even though they may look the similar on screen they are not, because for the preliminary we used the same technique for the writing to come on the screen and the titles in our preliminary are at the start and the end of the clip. Compared to our titles in the final thing we used different fonts and techniques as to how they appear on the screen, we did this to differentiate between the titles and their importance. Also when some of our titles appear in our final product a sound comes on which sets a mood of eeriness, and that’s setting a mood on a title. Also we altered the time of when the titles came in it wasn’t just at the start and end. So I have learnt over the period of the course that titles don’t have to be boring you can make them interesting and also they don’t all have to be the same you can differentiate.
9.) Picture 9 (bottom right) shows the zoom in shot, which is camera movement, in our preliminary we did no zooming or panning. I believe by doing the camera movement it diversifies the type of shots the audience sees and also the audience knows where too look because you’re showing them. Also it can highlight important shots and locations. So I have learnt that you need to diversify your camerawork.
below is the link to our prelimnary.
below is the link to our prelimnary.
Overall then I think that as we learnt allot along the way it really enhanced the quality of our final product.
