Final Evaluation by Jade

For my media coursework I created a Thriller film opening in a group of four. We all played separate roles in the making such as editing, directing, acting, etc. However before we started to film we conducted some research into typical thriller ingredients. We first started to look at the types of conventions used within a thriller so we could compare our film with a major thriller film production. As well as studying the conventions used, we also did an analysis of thriller posters and a particular film opening to build upon our knowledge of this genre.
Now our thriller opening is complete we want to look back over the film to consider whether we “ticked” all the boxes or whether we produce something that went against the typical forms and conventions or a thriller opening.
As a group we discussed the particular media institution which would produce our film, comparing whether it would be a high or low budget film. As well as this we also gained some feedback from our target audience.

Firstly, as a group we decided to try and stick to creating an opening that has the same forms and conventions as a “real world” thriller. To begin with, within thriller’s there are certain character types that often appear. There is always an innocent victim, stereotypically a female, and a well built, hard looking male villain. We stuck to the convention of the victim being female and the villain male, although we used three females as the innocent, harmless victims against a male villain. However we didn’t expand on this typical character type by making the women quite seductive and wearing skimpy clothing, just as we chose not to dress the villain in a suit and hat to give him the hard, mafia feel, of a character often seen within thrillers. We represented the young women as the victims with the male dressed in jeans and a hooded jacket with the hood up, to still give that urban, “yob” feel associated with this particular genre. Other characters are cops, spies etc. We decided against adding any of these as we wanted to leave the opening on a cliff hanger and wanted the audience to know there is more to the film.
The second convention used within thrillers is a typical story element. Thrillers develop suspense and action. We decided to build upon the theme of revenge and murder by creating a death within the opening. This is often done within thrillers, such as Jaws, to take the audience by surprise and keep them interested.
Iconography is a major ingredient to consider. We used the stereotypical surroundings within a thriller, rather than challenge them. We chose to stick with the urban, city life environment. We open our film and credits with a selection of images of the urban life. We started in a quite busy environment and then we moved to a more deserted, dull car park with no body or nothing around. (Yet you could still see the urban environment in the background). I feel we based our opening in a very stereotypical environment that developed the iconography and atmosphere, particularly at the end when the murder took place.
In addition to this the time of day also had an impact of the opening and enhancing the type of genre. We chose to set the film at night to create more suspense and it worked well with the characters, with the young females being out late and in the dark and the dangers that occur at night.
The final convention was the visual and audio style. One of the first audio styles that you can easily recognise, towards the end of the opening is creating the sound of a gun going off. After seeing the villain holding a gun towards the victim, the scene then cuts to an all black scene in which all you can hear is the gun shot. We chose to not only take the gun shot out of the scene and have it go off with a blank screen, but also try and make the noise quite loud, not only to build effect and suspense but, to also have an impact on the audience and allow them to use their own knowledge of what they have just seen happen in the opening and gather the sound of the shot symbolised a death.
As well as the choice of using audio style to add special effects and symbolise something, we also used a variety of music to build suspense. We started off with a quite dull and eerie music tune to grab the audience’s attention, which at the same time makes them wary and suspicious of what is going to take place. We then move on to cutting the music when the girls appear to show their innocents before picking a different type of music that was played in the back just to build suspense. Yet as the opening moved on the music died down again before picking up afterwards and going at a slightly faster pace and louder as it lead to the murder. With this, we decided to create something visually which was quite “panicky” to grab the audiences attention, so we decided to use the technique of cross cutting between the two girls and the soon to be murder scene. This was designed to build on the impact on the audience, as well as keeping their attention and make the audience feel that sense of fret and worry for the innocent characters that they have established within the opening.
Lighting was a particularly difficult element to try and include due to the particular setting we chose. Most thrillers use low-key lighting often on the villain to create the dull, suspicious feel that thrillers want to create. We would have liked to of used this lighting but with flood lit lighting and shop lighting used in our surroundings it became extremely difficult. However in some areas of our opening, especially towards the end, the lighting used on the killers face when approaching, the victim and when holding the gun towards her worked out well as it captured his face, and showed the audience who he was as they hadn’t seen him earlier on in the opening.

I think we stuck to the typical ingredients and elements of the forms and conventions, especially the representation of the character type and social group. We chose to use the very “stereotypical” genre characters and gender representation used with in thriller and we didn’t really challenge it. Starting with the choice of female victims, what we used is very predicable in thrillers as in society, as they are seen as lot more weak, innocent, the type of gender that would be easier to attack, and we can see that with in major thriller movies they use females as an easy target and a weakness. I feel this is one of the reasons when watching our opening you can see it is a thriller based genre. In addition as we are teenagers, this added to the young female weakness.
However, one thing in particular that could be see as going against the stereotypical female thriller character is the way we dressed her. Most women within this genre are normally quite seductive which adds to them being an easy target.
In addition we adapted the stereotypical character type for the male character. Obviously, just like in thrillers, we chose to use the male gender to become the villain. Men are normally associated with being more dominant , violent, tough and so are more suited to play a hard violent character than a woman. Also we wanted to expand on him being the villain by how he looked in the shots and the choice of clothing and props. Firstly as we based our opening within the city we wanted him to adapt to the role of a male, seen on the streets, in a gang, basically a “yob”.
So he wore jeans, trainers and a hooded jacket, but also carried a weapon, a gun. We chose for him to have a weapon to commit the murder but also to build upon his character of being violent and aggressive. He also has his hood up so when couldn’t see his face, for the most part of the opening, to not only create suspicion, but it’s a certain element seen within male social groups.

We also had to remember our audience and how to attract and address them. Throughout the planning and the filming we always had to keep in mind the type of audience we were addressing and what we should include to attract them. The first thing we had to do as a group, was to set a particular age range. As a whole we decided to aim our opening at a fifteen plus age group. Due to the particular violence created within the opening we felt it may be a bit to much for a younger age group. However teenagers as a whole, we felt was a good age range and particular audience for our film opening. Yet the kind of audience we chose to address are the type that are interested in quite a lot of action, murder and revenge, the typical elements of a thriller. You can see this through the murder that takes place and mise en scene. The surroundings, of an urban environment, basing the film at night, the visual elements of the editing and the variety in the audio style and as well as using stereotypical thriller characters, all help to address an audience who likes typical thriller movies that build suspense and contain all the common thriller elements.
We didn’t specify between the types of gender as I feel our opening has elements of ingredients that would attract a variety within the audience. We have used both genders within our film so we haven’t excluded anyone. One of the reasons we used both genders is for this reason. Some audience may feel its more generated towards a female audience due to the limited amount of males that appeared within the opening, just as other audiences may feel the opening is addressed at a more male based audience, due to the action that takes place, vulnerability of the females against the dominate male. However I feel it isn’t gender specific.
As our audience was a main part of our film opening we gathered some audience feedback on our work on what they liked about the opening and what we could of improved on. One person said,

“ It was a really good opening to a thriller, it contained all the typical elements of the forms and conventions of this genre and was quite well in addressing the type of audience. However if you could change something about it, it would be to maybe change the audio style. The chose of music was good and where it was placed, but it may have been a little louder”.

Another viewer of our film opening said,

“It was good, I liked the way you presented the characters and led to false suspense with the music, as every time the music appeared the audience knew something was coming, I liked that. I also like the chose of cross-cutting at the end to help build suspense. I think it worked really well. But it you have to change or improve on something, maybe you could a few more different shots”.

Most of the audience who commented on our work had positive feedback, but if anything they said maybe we could improve on the audio style just to make it slightly louder and maybe use a more variety in the types of shots.

From looking at the audiences feedback and our overall production we could now think about the type of media institution that would distribute our media product. I think from it that you can see elements of both the production becoming an independent production, and a more mass market production, with a mass audience and multiplex release. However as a group we felt it was more suited for a bigger release, a big budget, a major film studio production. We felt this way as firstly, considering the type of genre we are catering for, we have developed and used the typical ingredients used which creates a good thriller and draws the audience in from the start. I think our film opening is a good opening in the “thriller world”, and it is a good starting point to expand on and explore to create a mainstream movie with more special effects and a lot more action which would be created in a studio. I feel that the opening can be explored and carried on in many directions, which you would add more techniques and effects, stunts and action, to gain that mass market. Yet I can see how some people would see our opening geared to a more independent production, as some people could feel it is too much of a typical thriller, that it needs to challenge the forms and conventions of a thriller more than work with them. But I would disagree as most thrillers, if not all of them have the same elements ruining through them and is why I feel our production is steered more towards a larger market.

Looking back at making our film, I have definitely expanded my knowledge and awareness of how a film is created, and I have especially learnt about the technologies involved in creating a production like our own. I originally thought the editing would be easy to do, and if not, the easiest part of the whole process, yet I was clearly mistaken as soon as I started. To begin with I never realised how time consuming and fiddly editing is. Before starting my coursework I didn’t have a clue how to edit a piece of work and how much you have to consider. Also as we took quite a bit of footage I didn’t realise how long it would take to pick the right piece of film and see what works best, not only for your film but also what works best for your audience. That is another thing, you have to remember, what would look good for the audience and keep them interest. This also made we realise how important it is to use a variety of shots, instead of just a master and pan shot. Another thing I learnt is the variety in effects which you can include, Such as fading, reversing a shot, zooming in and out of a shot, and a variety in colours and textures that you add to a shot, which can almost completely change it. It showed me in particular just how they make a difference and what a difference it would make if they weren’t there. The editing process and the effects that can be used has also made me look at major thriller movies that have been created and just how long they would of taken and what kind of effects they have used.
I loved the use of cross-cutting within our production, towards the end, to create suspense and this opened my eyes to seeing how editing can create a certain feel to the film.
When it comes to what I have learnt as a whole and what skills I have learnt when it comes to the editing, I can confidently say I have learnt the process of creating a film and how much time and effort is needed. I have also learnt a lot about the individual sections of making each and every shot, and the process of basically “chopping up” your filmed work and re-creating it. Compared to what I knew, at the start, I can clearly say I have expanded on my knowledge and now know what needs to be done to create a film.
However the main thing I have learnt is about the audio style and how you have to work separately with the visual elements of the production to the audio elements, the voices and music etc.

I have also learnt a lot compared to when we did our first preliminary task. For me the preliminary task was a good piece of work to introduce me and get me ready for my main film opening. With in that task I learnt three main types of camera shots and rules, the 180 degree rule, shot/reverse shot and match on action. This also gave me a taster and was a good exercise to what we would have to do as a group. Compared to what we had to do for our preliminary task and are opening was quite a lot. For the short task we didn’t really have to think much about the location or think deeply about the story line, and when it came to editing, all we really had to do was piece it together, not thinking about special effects, the credits or music. However when it came to our opening we had to think about all these things and more, the setting, the audience, gaining a good thriller story line. So I definitely think I have learnt a lot through the process of the two, not just the editing. I have got to learn a lot more about the types of shots and the effect they have, more about the importance of the mise en scene and how that effects the product, as well as including certain things to keep the audience interested. I

Over all, making our film opening has really taught me a lot about the process of making a product and the elements you need to consider. From the idea we drew up on paper to the final product I didn’t realise how much you needed to do to get to that end result. Yet looking at our opening, I feel we have created quite a good piece for the thriller genre and having our film contain many of the forms and conventions. I feel we used the elements within a thriller rather well and created a good story line. I also feel we connected rather well with our audience containing ingredients that should attract a variety of people.