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

q7

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

Open publication - Free publishing - More evaluation

Question Five, How did you attract/address your audience?

Question Five

Questions Four. Who would be your audience for your media product?

Question Fourrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Question three - Evaluation.

Question 3, what kind of media institution might distribute your media product? on PhotoPeach

Our Thriller, the final cut!

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 2

Heavenly Creatures - clubbed to death

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

Jackie Brown - Establishing the character.

Jackie Brown Analysis

The smooth handling of the camera in this clip suggests that this character is calm and relaxed person. It also reflects how confident and reveals a controlling attribute about her as we can quite clearly see by the way she is dominating the frame. It allows us to easily establish the character and immediately respect and like her.

Once Upon a Time in America analysis.

Once Upon a Time in America (1)

Props - (to be finished)

We will use the following props:

This sort of glass jar will be used to mix the chemicals in. The scientific feel to bottle reinforces her seriousness and determination that she will commit this crime, with out any second thoughts.

This will contain some more chemical fluid to make the 'experiment' look more effective and realistic because it shows the preperation of failiure, meaning she still has some more of the mixture available and ready to use.

The perfume sample pots are to keep the poison in, firstly so it looks like harmless perfume. It's easy to hide and keep concealed within a secret pocket inside the huge jacket that Thelma is wearing. And also, the cinical aspect of the pots, gives the 'experiment' a realistic atmosphere for the audience.



Filming schedule.

Monday 9th January - begin
In double lesson, started to practise filming the shots of the criminal walking to the friends house. Then review our shots and decide on what to use and what not to use.
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Monday 16th January
Another double lesson, start filming the criminal walking and get the section done

(wednesday's between these, we booked a science lab to use, but had been taken, so this delayed our filming)

Wednesday the 25th January
Film in the 'lab' where the poisoning being made, during our media lesson which is last period.

Also film an alternative scene in a small basement again for the poison making, as we can't decide which one would look the most effective.

Thursday the 26th January - finish.
Filming of the friends house, and the actual posioning being executed.

Characterisation of the characters in our thriller.

We decided to include a criminalistic female teen to challenge the thriller genre. As we're using a girl instead of a man, this allows us to shock the audience and rebel against the archytypal criminalistic man. Usually, you would see men maintaining the power and inflicting crime, for example in 'Essex Boys' Jason is the man who inflicts pain and causes the crime. However, another film that challenges the thriller genre is ' The girl with the dragon tattoo' where the teen girl in this film, also commits several crimes and shows acts of violence.

We decided to call my character Thelma, as it reveals an intertexual reference to the film ' Thelma and Louise' allowing the audience to relate to the character, so the audience will assume that my character will be of a femme fatale nature. Thelma is always in control of the situations, just like my character. She also decides to take over when she's had enough, and crosses the line just like Thelma when she goes to shoot the rapist and steal the police car.

Thelma will be played by myself, and my group decided that she will have a jealous and distorted personality, which is is reflected on the obscure poisoning that carrys out upon her 'friend', because of her jealousy towards her. This is then reinforced onto the audience, suggesting a disturbed past/upbringing. When Thelma was young, her parents were full time workers, and never had the oppotunity to create an emotional attachment towards any parent apart from her carer. Even then, her parents stopped sending the carer to look after her, so she had to cope with looking after herself. Thelma never had anyone to properly to deeply care about her, so that's why she has these jealous strikes, and why she's abnormal. This meant she became insensate , so she never learnt to cope with friendships untill she was sent to highschool where she was bullyed, so this is where she developed an agressive nature - standing up for herself because no-body else would.After highschool she became angry very quickly and possesive about what other people were thinking so she became a shy girl and made friends. She met Maddison Grace which was then her best friend from then onwards.

We chose Madison Grace as the victim's name because it reflects her calming, friendly nature, it also represents her being Holy because, 'Grace' being a religious term. The name also  reveals a disposition to be generous or helpful and filled with goodwill. Madison had the perfect upbringing, family, friendhsips, she was pretty and was never bullied. I decided to create this sort of character, to make the audience sympathise with her and to create juxtaposition of the two characters with the extreme contrasts of such a heavenly character, compared to an 'evil' one.

Because of Madisons such perfect life, this is why Thelma becomes jealous, as Madison introduces her to some of her friends, Thelma feels she's trying to make her look stupid and so she seeks revenge.

Thelma and Louise. ( click and will enlarge)

Shot List

Shot one :
A zooming close- of the hands revealing the menacing action of the poison making. Leaving the audience to feel enigma about the characters identity.


Shot two:
Tilted, worms eye shot of the character putting the chemical into his bag and leaving room- suggests that he is corrupted and powerful.


Shot three:
Various panning and worms eye shots of the character walking down the street, some close ups on the feet as the character walks to create suspense.


Shot four:
Wide point of view shot of the character watching friends socializing and having fun, leaves the audience to interpret what the character is feeling.

Shot five:
Birds eye/ high angle shot of character getting cups, pouring drinks.


Shot six:
A slow motion, extreme close up of the character pouring the chemical into a cup. - anticipation, who's cup is it?, why does this character want to harm another character? Slowing down the shot  leaves time for the audience to build up tension and gather their assumptions.


Shot seven:
A zooming long shot in and a panning of the character as they walk past the camera to delay the action even further.


Shot eight:
Birds eye view of the tray with the cups on and hands taking the drinks leaves the audience wandering who will take the poisonous drink and the reason behind the murder of a 'friend'

Costume Ideas.

My costume - the 'evil' friend.   Representating and stereotyping teenagers in modern life.                                                    

A kharki, military Jacket will be used to create enigma of the character because the jacket doesn't reveal the figure, making the audience question who this person is, as it completely hides them. Also, with this type of jacket, it will be oversized to cover as much of the body as we possibly can.The idea of multiple pockets could suggest to the audience that the character is criminalistic because it connotates that the character is a person to keep secrets, and be mysterious, and likes to keep things hidden. The jacket also challenges the stereotypical womens clothing, as the audience wouldn't suspect a woman under this manly but unisex jacket.

 The use of gloves is a generically used item, it creates the impression that they are committing a crime, and that they are consistant because they have prepared to keep them selves hidden. It also keeps the character enigmatic because there are no hands shown, making it difficult for the audience to identify who this mysterious character is. From researching I found that the enigmatic aspect of the thriller genre works best at creating suspence and tension so covering most of the body without making the character look too covered up will work very well.

The trainers allow the character to have a little normality, seeing as I will be playing a character of the same age, I thought it would be most appropriate to wear converse trainers to reflect modern teenagers to show the audience what age the character is, so they have the impact of shock when the crime happens. And seeing as the shoes are unisex, you are still able to hide the characters gender. Creating abstruseness.

Because blue jeans are so common and most archytypes where them, I thought that this was a clever way of creating more of a enigmatic appearance so that you can only relate to the character via the shoes. 

Rucksack also suggests the carrying of potential dangerous items, and you don't know what is concealed in the bag. It suggets this because in films such as 'The girl with the dragon tatoo' the main character also carrys around a rucksack where she hides her laptop in which she partakes in criminalistic actions on there. The aztec design could suggest to the audience that the character is corrupt and sharp thinking because of the patterns on the bag.

Story Board for our thriller.

Essex Boys- Opening

Director: 

Terry Winsor

Writers: 

Jeff Pope, Terry Winsor

Stars:

 Charlie Creed-Miles, Sean Bean and Gareth Milne

The first shot is created in noir lighting. Noir lighting gives the scene a gloomy and murky atmosphere, this effect also allows us to identify that the film is a thriller because of the noir convention used. The noir lighting in a garage where props such as the car and the cage are in juxtaposition creating a claustrophobic space of which suggests that Billy has no or little hope of escaping building anxiety for the audience, this also connotates isolation. This could imply that this character is an outcast or a withdrawn person. The effect of ambient lighting and diegetic sounds in this scene makes the audience think of their own reactions in that situation because it makes the scene realistic and they can sympathise with the character because most audiences have garages themselves and have probably experienced this sort of fearful atmosphere. The use of the medium establishing shot allows us to see only a part of the garage, leaving room for the audience to imagine other menacing props or incidences that may happen. You then see a shadow of someone standing near the light in the distance of the shot, this instantly creates suspense as you don't know who it is and what they are doing in this isolated garage-expectedly alone.

 Another claustrophobic close up shot, and the windows are covered in dust and cobwebs which creates an eerie atmosphere. Over the top of this shot we have a non-diegetic voice over, so we can have an insight to his thoughts, engaging with the audience. We also get reinforcement of the location as we know he is from Essex because of his accent. 

It then goes to an incredibly well thought out shot of a man standing there after putting on the window wiper to get rid of all the grime from the window, the fact that the there is dirt smeared onto the window could suggest that the character  revealed is disgusting and filled with impurities because as he is standing behind the grime stricken window, it shows he's clean and presentable on the outside, but, on the inside he is crammed with terror. The point of view shot allows the audience to put themselves in the characters position feeling shocked and overwhelmed because you didn't expect this random man to appear. His flamboyant shirt and leather jacket reflects a stereotypical gangster to the audience so we immediately know that he will be threatening and villainous. It also suggests to us more thriller conventions as we now have a criminal.

We then get taken into a scene that represents Britain as bleak, dull and tedious- which is an ideal atmosphere for a thriller. Non-diegetic soundtrack plays as we watch the speeding car drive into a vanishing point, this builds up excitement for the audience as it implies that they need to be somewhere or are getting away from someone. The idea of them going into a tunnel gives the impression that they are always hiding, as tunnels take them away from the outside world.

 When they enter the claustrophobic tunnel we see a point of view shot of the 'criminals' disappearing into the distance - the audience feel anxious. This shot also replicates the shot of when you look through the barrel of a gun, suggesting some people  are after them, or they are after some people. This shot creates mystery and tension for the audience and is a reminder of the thriller genre. The use of the tunnel also keeps you in anticipation as you actually have no idea of where they are going, or what they are about to do.

Passing through the tunnel you see this amazing close up shot of the lights reflecting onto the car window,  representing prison and crime and that these people are sinful and immoral and suggests that they are going to now induce a crime. But, however you do see the facial expression of the young boy and you can see that he knows he's going to be doing something wrong, his body language is closed so this could show the little insecurity he has. Whereas, the man in the back ground is completely relaxed with his open body language and slouchy posture, this shows how superior he thinks he is as this shot looks like he has told the boy to drive him somewhere. This could also express how isolated both of them are because they have completely separated themselves and never talk to each other in the car.

                                                                                                       

Close up of 'gangter' looking in disgust shows his hatred and his animosity towards something. You know he's going to do something immoral, but you don't know what, this shot leaves the audience building up more tension. Blooded white coats and dead animal is the new location, where you know he's going to commit a crime as he takes out a baton-type weapon with him as he gets out of the white, enigmatic van. Tracking shot of the 'gangster' walking and then the 'victim' walking, (shot reverse shot) builds up even more tension as you don't know when he will lash out, you don't expect it to be soon as they are many witnesses and usually with a crime you see places of seclusion where the murderer would never be found. 

After the crime happens you see a the young boy and the criminal driving away in the plain white van, creating inscrutability. You hear the sound of the vans engine creating realism and the sound of the victim in the back screeching and howling, they react in no way possible, suggesting they do this frequently and are oblivious to distressing help calls. The criminal also complains that he has blood on his shirt, showing his immoral and selfish character you can see he has been completely demoralized.

tbc..

Our gradual decision on our final thriller Idea.

Our orignal idea was that a group of friends were out walking the dog, but got out too late. They are walking around the forest when you see little bursts of light shining through the leaves and branches of the trees. The footage would be filmed handheld with elements of normal filming too. We thought that using handheld footage would be better because it makes the opening seem more realistic and believeable. Next, after the group of friends have recovered from the weird light display, they see one huge light shining onto the group with the person holding/shining the light unidentifyed to create suspense. The light would progressivly become closer and you just see the feet of the unknown person, a scream and a dog whine/howl, the camera is then dropped on the floor and you see someone being dragged away.


We soon realised that this was extremely difficult to conduct as you would need expensive filming equiptment to be able to film in the dark, and we would need to find lighting bright enough to be able to see it. So, Sam, a boy in my group came up with an idea of a laboratory experiment, where there would be two scientists creating a chemical that would cure some sort of illness or virus. Then, scientist 1 would walk off to get some other chemicals, then scientist 2 was left by herself. A soundtrack would play then someone would suffocate scientist 2, and the enigmatic character would steal the cure and we would then see them travelling to a secret/unknown location. At this location the thief would empty the cure into the river where scientist 1 had followed them and pushes the theif into the river so she drowns. I thought this idea was very complicated and difficult to do. For example it would be very difficult to create a drowning scene with-out special equiptment and create it to look realistic. Sam came up with the idea of hovering a plastic container with water over the top of the theif to give the illusion of drowning but I decided that it defintatly not work because the water in the plastic container would be clear whereas the water in the river would be dull and murky. Also, the idea of a plastic container wouldn't work because I don't think it would give an effect of drowning in water as she wouldn't actually be in the water. This idea is also too long for two minutes so we all agreed that we needed to come up with a simple but menacing idea to create tension and suspense for the audience that would look realistic and have time to use more cinematography.


Next, I came up with a new idea, I suggested that there was a girl/woman going to visit her mentally ill sister. However when she approaches the house, there is one light on in her house and the door is wide open. We would then see this woman searching the house for her sister- she is no-where to be found. She hears a radio sound, which is on upstairs. As she approaches the radio in the bathroom to turn it off, she gets brutally forced and locked into the bathroom, where no lights were on, and you don't see the person who did this. A dramatic soundtrack is played in the backround whilst the girl/woman tries to escape the claustrophobic space.You then see a shadow appear under the door frame and the film stops, leaving you in suspense as you don't know what will happen to the girl/woman, who the attacker is, or where the womans sister is. I really liked this idea because it uses thriller conventions such as small claustrophobic rooms, bathrooms, dark, menacing atmosphere, and the shadow. But, however I was told that the idea was too complicated eventhough I had only explained the first few seconds, It was then I knew we had to come up with another idea. I struggled to see this, but I agreed to come up with, yet, another idea. I do also think that my idea does have too much of a feel of a horror element because of the way it is a dark housewhich was then meaning we were going to be doing the task completely incorrectly.


We were then advised to back to Sams idea, but I suggested a few things to improve upon. For example I suggested that there should be no physical killing as it if difficult for people of our age and knowledge to conduct a murder scene that would be realistic. Billie then came up with the idea of a poisening murder. A teen would be making a harmful chemical due to research and poisen their friend out of jealousy. This time we were going to have the production of the chemical in a garage, as this is a confined, claustrophobic, ominous location in which something evil is being created - you can then easily discover that this is thriller genre. We got the idea off of 'Essex Boys' because we thought that it really built up tension and suspense so easily.Then, we would go to a shot of some friends hanging out at a home. The killer would then stare blankly at the character of which they are jealous of, and offer to make them a drink. You see the killer pour the poisonous chemical into the drink(s) and the film closes on hands taking the drinks. We all really like this idea as it is simple, and we decided on camera angles such as panning and tracking of the feet for example, straight away because this was such a good idea and easy to mould. We also thought it was quite an original idea because not many thrillers include a poisoning from a teen.


*STORY BOARD COMING SOON*