The thriller Genre in the film, television, literature and too and extent the gaming industry, is one that has been around for a long time. This is a genre that creates Suspense in order to ‘Thrill’ the viewer. Writing and Directing a thriller is often quite a difficult task for some, as it can often change and become more of a horror, or on the other end of the spectrum, it might simply not be thrilling enough. The difference between a horror and a thriller is that horror movies are often more shocking, whilst thrillers are subtle, if we look at Se7en, a very popular thriller, which tells the tale of a gruesome killer, and how the case is solved. This film could have been written in a very different way however, as this story could just as easily have become a horror, or a thriller, depending on how the film was made. Thrillers are often told from the detective’s point of view, as opposed to a horror, which is mainly at the victim’s point of view. This often leads to the stereotype ‘trying to beat the detective’ feel, that many thrillers obtain. However, in several thrillers, protagonist can be the victim, although often is not at direct peril, or is not aware that he is.
In our thriller opening (‘Warren Grey’) the main character for the first part of the film, has stolen a bag, thinking that this was just an ordinary bag, and therefore not thinking so hard about the consequences, however, the contents of the bag are particularly worthwhile to a powerful criminal, who has most of the city’s cops on his side. Following the opening of the film, the boy is murdered by the criminal. The boys father, who is a cop, Then struggles to comprehend who and why this has happened to his son, As he works on the case, he unravels his sons life, learning of his life of crime. These twists are typical of the thriller genre, and make for a more interesting film.
In our opening, we shot the scene by Daytime, although this made it easier to shoot, it could have come out much better if the scene was shot at night, as this adds slightly more suspense, due to the things associated with night time. It would also have made it easier to use low key lighting, which is also typical of thrillers, and makes the film more suspenseful. We could also have chosen a better location, As the one we chose didn’t really fit the scene, We were originally aiming to shoot in a alleyway with high walls, to add a constricting feeling to the shots, making you feel for the boy who was trapped between two threatening men, however, we were unable to shoot at the location, and opted for the other alleyway instead.
The thriller genre is one that often keeps with fast cuts to keep the momentum of the film continuing, We attempted to replicate this, which worked well for the first part of the opening, as the shots of the thief running were cut well, and added a strong pace to the film. However, the transition of frames between the Running shots, and the Shot reverse shot, did not work as planned, with both characters seeming teleporting to different locations, This made for bad continuity, and although we attempted to cover this up, it did not come out as well as intended. The shot reverse shot also turned out well in my opinion, As it kept the pace high, with the camera often shown over the shoulder of who was speaking, this added for good reaction shots of the characters. All of these shot types added for the thriller effects, with a fast pan to add to the pace of the film.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our opening, There is a Young boy wearing a black hooded top, Trainers and jeans, He Reacts aggressively to the man asking him politely to give him the bag back, All of these things suggest that the boy is inline with the Stereotype of teenagers, However, Without these things, The scene would not have worked properly, As he might have listened to the man, and realised he was in well over his head. The characters ignorance was his fatal flaw, making him vulnerable when he could have escaped the situation easily. Although this representation is negative, You can also empathise with him, with the fact that he does not understand his trouble. You can however see the boys worry, as he is holding the bag close to his body with one hand during the conversation, seemingly protecting it, this shows that he is worried they will take the bag by force.
We chose to have the character as a teenage thief, as we intended the target audience to be mainly teenage, and therefore able to relate to the main protagonist, However, by making him slightly bratish, he would also appeal as a character older audience, who may dislike this type of person, as he is in a world of trouble. Older audiences would also be able to relate to the father, who is the protagonist for the second half of the film, He is shown to be a strong person, whose life is falling apart rapidly, They would therefore empathise with him, As a strong man whose life has taken him years to build and perfect, is being destroyed. Seeing strong characters fall down can really make you feel for them, as they are thought to be the most likely to get through the problems in life, and are often people you look up to in life. The Teenage audience could also relate to him, As They can see the genuine love for his child, Whom children crave from their parents, Especially around the time when they do not show it.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When a film is made, The Producers / director must choose a company whom they feel will distribute to the best standard, Often in Hollywood, several of the big name brands could be chosen, such as 20th century fox or Paramount, however, sometimes for 1st time directors, this is not an option, as these companies will not risk the money involved if the director is not well known and accomplished.
Here is a list of all of the Distributors of all of the United kingdom’s film distributors.
http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/distributors.html
When choosing a company, you should choose those who are most likely to make more money, since it is in the distributors interest to distribute the film to the best they can, you need not worry about the amount of work, however, if you have to pick a smaller company, pick one that has distributed a film of the same genre before, and preferably one with good reviews.
Due to the low budget our film would be made on, Guerrilla films might be a good choice, since they are renowned for distributing independent films. Since they are good in this area, they are probably going to be able to advertise this film well on a low end budget, this would be perfect for us.
A bad Distribution company for our film would be Squirrel films, as although fairly well known, this company specialises in children’s films, which is probably one of the furthest genre from a thriller, and would need to be advertised differently.
Above is an example of the two genres, and there respective advertisements.
4.What type of audience is your thriller targeted at?
With our thriller, We decided to aim it at the target audience that we know the most about, teenagers, as teenagers we felt we would know what people our age would want to see over what a 40 year old would want to see, So we decided that it would be a good choice, however, I also feel that the thriller would suit well to males around the age of 40 as well, As they would be able to relate to the father.
The thriller is mainly a masculine production; It has high paced scenes with aggression shown through body posture, language and violence. These are typical of masculine films, although also not exclusive; I feel that although aimed at a masculine audience, there is no reason as to why a feminine person would not enjoy this film, as it portrays a father’s love for their son.
The Boy is also wearing typical teenage clothing, this allows people to instantly know what type of person he is, however, to teenagers, this could also tell them a lot about his personality, and also about what sort of background he is from. Because his clothes are neat although not too expensive looking, you can assume he is from a middle class background.
Thrillers such as the usual suspects, Are often fast paced at the start, and then have a slowdown in the middle, which tells the story more, this is a necessary part of the plot, and in my opinion adds to such a great film, as they are kept guessing at who did it, however, to your stereotypical teenage boy, they may get bored, because of the lack of action, whilst in a film like Fight club, which is very psychological, although also very violent, they are more likely to stay interested.
5. How did you attract your target audience?
During the opening of the film. The first shot is of a man running at high pace, Followed by fast cuts, which leads into an explosive dialogue, this burst of high pace at the start of the film is very grabbing toward our target audience, this entices teenagers, and makes them eager to see more action.
6.during the editing and filming of our opening, I have learnt much about how to operate a video camera, as well as a great deal about the editing of film and sounds whilst I have been in the editing suite. A list of equipment we used in overall production is
A Tripod
A Digital camera
A Video camera
Lighting ( although not through our production)
IMovie
IDvD
Garageband
Whilst filming our production I learnt a lot about camera operating, such as where best positioned a camera is for shots.
The main developments I have had during the production was practice with Editing software with Imovie, I did most of the editing although the group would come also to help with decisions with shots and order ect.
I now feel comfortable using Imovie to create continuity in a film, The two main problems being mainly due to a lack of footage, and I feel that the first few frames flow together nicely. I also now understand the proper use of transitions between frames, as well as how to add titles and credits. I also learnt much in Garage band about the use of Foleys.
We also used a Digital camera during our production, we used this to take stills of the set, and of us operating equipment.
We used a Dictaphone to do the voiceover, as we felt that a microphone would enhance the voice, and that it would not sound right. This was fairly simple, and did not take a huge amount of time, however, if given the chance to do this again, I would have possibly used a microphone, as this could of given us better control over the sound.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?
During the filming of the original opening, we made a lot of mistakes during filming, mainly with continuity, we have learnt from this, and it has allowed us to make the intro much more efficiently, Due to us understanding the rules of continuity, such as the 180 degree line.
I have also progressed a large amount in the use of editing software, this is due to me having more of a backseat during the preliminary, but taking a more predominant role in the editing of the final product, I was really glad about this, as I found I progressed well, and even with flaw in continuity which was mainly caused by camera work, I feel that this was done well.
No comments:
Post a Comment