Concluding my audience research.

I carried out my questionnaire on fifteen members of my respondent group who were all of 16 and 17 years of age.

In question one, I asked what is your preferred location of a thriller film?
Seven respondents answered a unrecognisable location and eight answered a recognisable location and no-one answered an exotic location.

In question two, I asked what music if any do you prefer to hear in a thriller?
Six respondents answered vocal and instrumental, nine answered instrumental only and no-one answered none, vocal only or a well-known soundtrack.

In question three, I asked what is your favourite sub genre of thriller.
Five respondents answered horror, ten answered psychological, one answered action and no-one answered crime or drama.

In question four, I asked what is your preferred time period for a thriller to be set in.
Eleven respondents answered present, four answered 2000-present, and one said they were not worried about the time period and no-one answered 1900-1950s, 1960 – 1990s or future.

In question five, I asked what aspect of a thriller do you think is most important.
Eleven respondents answered characters, four answered sound and no-one answered costume/props, lighting or location.

In question six, I asked what do you expect to see/find out whilst watching the first two minutes of a thriller film.
Eight respondents answered location, four answered a basic introduction to the rest if the film, three answered introduction to the characters and No-one answered the storyline.

In question seven, I asked what costumes do you prefer for a character in a thriller film to wear.
Two respondents answered Dark, mysterious clothing, ten answered clothing relevant to the characters, setting and storyline, three answered costumes relevant to the period it is set in.

In conclusion to my research I have concluded that; an audience prefer a thriller film to be set in a recognisable location somewhere were they have been a famous landmark or the place where they lived. Audiences also prefer to have an instrumental only soundtrack rather than a vocal, instrumental and vocal or a well known soundtrack. Audiences also prefer to watch psychological sub genres of thriller.Audiences also prefer to watch thriller that are set in the present. The vast majority of people think that the characters are the most important aspect of a thriller film. I also found out in my research that audiences most expect to see/find out in the first two minutes of a thriller film the location. In my research I also found out that they also prefer the character in thriller films to wear a costume that is relevant to the character, setting and storyline.

My audience research will help me with the construction of my thriller because i can use what i found out in my research and apply it to my film. My research has helped me to decide a location for my thriller and i have decided to use a recognisable location which is what the audience prefer. It has also helped me in deciding what sound audiences prefer, i discovered that audiences prefer instrumental only, this will help add suspense. It also helped me with finding out what costumes audiences prefer the characters to wear, this has helped me because the costume holds a large part in representing the character and their personality. Overall the audience research has helped me in constructing my thriller film because it has told me what my target audience prefer and expect to see in a film.

Questionnaire.

This is my questionnaire that i will ask approximatly 15 people who are all of the same age.

1).What is your preferred location for a thriller film?
· Faraway exotic country
· Recognisable location (either you have visited there, live there or its a famous landmark)
· Unrecognisable location

2).What music, if any do you prefer to hear in a thriller?
· None
· Instrumental only
· Vocal
· Vocal and Instrumental
· A well known soundtrack/song

3).What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?
· Crime
· Psychological
· Action
· Horror
· Drama

4).What is your preferred time period for a thriller to be set in?
· 1900-1950`s
· 1960-1990`s
· 2000- present
· Present
· Future

5).What aspect of a thriller, do you think is the most important?
· Characters
· Costume and props
· Sound
· Lighting
· Location


6).What do you expect to see/find out when watching the first 2 minutes of a thriller?
· Location
· Introduction to the characters
· Storyline
· A very basic introduction to the rest of the film

7).What costumes do you like the characters in a thriller to wear? (please write a short description of a costume)

Audience research.

When creating any type of media production, it is always best to start with carrying out audience research because you can get to know you target audience. It also helps because you know what to include in your film, that will get your target audiences attention.

In order to create a thriller film, which attracts a vast amount of people, I need to create and carry out research that will tell me exactly what audiences expect of a thriller film and what preferences in relation to a thriller film they have. I am going to ask around fifteen people who are all of the same age, a questionnaire, in order to have fair and equal results.


What I want to find out about audiences.
In the task of carrying out my audience research in order to find out what people like and what are peoples preferences in thriller films, I want to achieve the following;

Find out preferred locations
Find out at what pace people like to thriller to be
Find out what soundtrack people like
Find out what is the audiences favourite sub-genres of thriller
Find out what costumes the audience prefer to see characters in thrillers wear.
Find out what aspects do the audience consider to be of most importance.

How I am going to find out the required information

I am going to conduct a questionnaire; Iam going to ask around fifteen people who are all of the same age. I am going to ask them all the same seven questions, in order for the research to be fair and reliable.

What I expect to find out from my research

I expect to find out in my research the following;
That the audience’s preferred location is recognisable to them.
That instrumental music is the audiences favourite.
That psychological- thriller will be the audiences favourite sub-genre.
That the 1960s-1990s will be the audiences preferred time period for a thriller to be set in.
That the characters are the thought of by the audience as the most important aspect of a thriller.
That the audience expect to see a basic introduction of the storyline within the first two minutes of a thriller film.
The audience would like the characters to wear costumes which compliment their personality in the film, for example; wear black if they are the criminal and a pale colour if they are the victim in the film.

References to our thriller film.

In the planning stage of our thriller film, we needed to find films that had a reference to our own, when thinking about this we needed to consider; setting, lighting, shot types, storyline, sound, costume, age/gender of characters, social class/background of characters in order to find a film that we had seen or heard of that held a reference in any of these ways to our own thriller film.

We made two references they are; `psycho` and ` the third man`. Psycho, by Hitchcock, has a reference to our own because of the use of long shots to show the criminal and the way in which Norman Bates is portrayed as being a caring and kind man towards Marion and then towards the end of the film he becomes the criminal when he kills her, this has a reference to our thriller film, because the man who is portrayed to look like a caring young man towards the girl making sure she got home okay, however towards the end of the film just like in psycho he becomes he criminal when he begins by stalking her out of the club and attempts to kidnap her.

the famous shower scene;when norman bates becomes the criminal

The other reference we made was to `The third man`, by Carol reed, has a reference to our thriller film because of the stalking scene, which is the main issue in the storyline in our film. Another reference that we made was the lighting that is used in the third man, that is very dominant in the mise-en-scene, because it has been filmed at night on a wet cobbled street and the only light is a street lamp which creates a very a typically thriller lighting, we are also filming in the evening and the only light will be the light from the surrounding streetlamps and clubs, we are going to try to schedule to film on a evening when it has been raining during the day, so the light will reflect off the pavements like in the third man.

this image from the third man shows the different lights and the reflection from the light on the wet pavements.

This image is from the third man, and shows the dark and light well and the light from the streetlamps and the way that the man looks like a silhouette in the distance.

By Louise McGee

Discuss the ways in which age and gender are constructed in an extract from Blackpool

• Camera shot and movement
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

Costume

• Father - very colourful shirt; bright pink this suggests the 70s era, connotes he might be stuck in his ways or looks to the past, he has a 70s haristyle and sideburns this reinforces the look of the 70s era.
• Mother and Father are wearing the same colour this unites them both.
• The daughter and her boyfriend are also wearing the same colour palette of grey and navy blue this unites them both and shows that they are of a different age to the parents.

Mise-en-scene

• Father is more dominant; does most of the talking, vast amount of close ups of him, dominates the mise-en-scene, we can see he is a traditionalist.
• There is a sense of recognition betweent he father and the boyfriend, as if they somehow know each other.
• Father is jealous of his daughters boyfriend becuase he cannot control her anymore and he may be upset because she is not her `daddys little girl` anymore. This is paternal jealousy.
• Father has an aggresive attitude; he pushes the glass firmly onto the table, he also has a rascist and homephobic attitude as he says "lesbian refugees"
• Binary opposites between the two couples is signified using costume.
• When the two couples stand up and the coffee table to inbetween them, there is a divide between them, which represents the divide between there generations and values in life.

Monarch of the glen - class notes

Monarch of the glen is set in the present day, in the location of Scotland in the setting of; a loch, mountains and a castle. The genre of the programme is predominately a family drama, because of its placement before the 9pm watershed. In the extract that i watched in class, i heard mainly diegatic sound; dialogue, furniture clattering and the movement of people, however there was a non diegetic soundtrack, that i heard during the opening of the extract, it helped to set the theme for the rest of the programme because of its Celtic style, which related to the location of the programme. The colour palette that is used on the characters costumes, differs between age and social class as the younger characters are dresses in pale colours and the older characters are dressed in darker bolder colours, this represents their authority in society. In Monarch of the glen there is an intertexual reference to the soap opera; Hollyoaks.

The shots that are used helped us to create opinions about the characters for example; a low angle shot is used to show the Monarch, this tells us that he is the boss, is superior to others and is upper class, the way that is has been shot makes him look taller than the other characters around him, which shows him as being higher than the others, this relates to the social structure; that he is at the top and has more authority than others. The mise-en-scene of the monarchs house tells us that he is upper class becuase of the props that have been used. The way in which the Monarch dresses, does not tells us much about his social class, as we see him dresses in dark, casual/smart and practical clothes, however this choice of modest dress, indicates old money and his confidence. The positioning of the characters of the screen and how much of the mise-en-scene the character occupies shows us their importance within the drama. When we are shown both the monarch and the teacher, both upper class and of high importance, a shot reverse shot is used and they occupy the whole of the mise-en-scene.

Questions in response to my preliminary film.

1). What planning did you do for your filming task, and how did this planning aid in the filming?

I created a storyboard,shooting map and shot list which helped me in my planning for my film. The storyboard helped us when filming because we knew which shots needed to be filmed and in which order, it also helped the characters, becuase it told them what they needed to do and in what order and location. The shooting map and shot list were referred to alot during the filiming, they both helped us in the filming of our preliminary task because they told us were we needed to position the camera. Our storyboard,shooting map and shot list, all helped aid the filming of our preliminary task and resulted in the filming of our task running smoothly, becuase of this planning we had done beforehand.

2). What camera and editing techniques and codes did you use in your film and how do they influence the audiences understanding of the film? (eg. camera and shot types etc; match on action, shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule)

In the filming of our task we used the zoom on the camera, in order to film close up shots of the characters, when we had finished the filming we imported the film onto the computer and edited the film using adobe elements, a video editing programme. We used the 180 degree rule throughout the film, the use of this rule helped the audience to understand the position of the chracters and when they enter or leave a scene. A shot reverse shot is used when the two characters are talking, this means that each character dominates the mise-en-scene, when they are talking, the use of this shot reverse shot shows their importance. The use of the editing programme creates a more finished and professional look to the auidence.



3). How did you use new technologies in your construction, planning and evaluation (eg. digital camera; non-linear editing software; youtube, blogger) and what skills do you have at using this technology? (strengths and weaknesses eg. steady/shaky camera; variety of shot types; smooth/clumsy; independence when using technologies...)

We used new technologies in each of the three aspects of the film. In the planning stage we used a scanner and blogger, in order to display the shooting map, storyboard and shot list. In the construction stage we used a video camera and tripod, the use of a tripod, made sure that the film was still when filming and the finished film was steady, as opposed to an unsteady and shaky image. When the filming was complete, we uploaded our film onto the computer and used an adobe video editing software which enabled us to cut parts out of the film we did not want, add titles and add effects to the transition of the shots for example fading. When the editing stage was completed, we uploaded it onto youtube and created a link on blogger so that the video could be viewed on blogger to along with the evaluation questions about the film. I think that I could work quite well independently with the technology that we used, however if I was to perform this task again, I would try the filming aspect of task rather than the acting, however I believe that I can work well and independently on all the other aspects of the film.

Preliminary task Video

Monarch of the Glen review

Monarch of the glen is a televison drama which was broadcasted on BBC one, it was created by Michael Chaplin and produced by Nick Pitt, Paddy Higson, Jeremy Gwilt, Stephen Garwood and Rob Bullock. The series started being broadcasted on television in february 2000 and concluded with its seventh series in october 2005, in total over the five years that it was broadcasted 64 episodes were produced. Monarch of the glen, is partly based on comptons mackenzie novels, which were set in the same location, however they were set in the 1930s and 1940s. The first novel in the series is called monarch of the glen. The television drama Monarch of the Glen, is set in the modern day, in scotland we can tell this because of the accent, the backgrounds; loch, mountains and a castle which is where the monarch lives, we can also tell that the setting is scotland, because of the instrumental celtic soundtrack that we hear throughout the series. Monarch of the glen is predominatly a family drama, because it was broadcasted before the 9pm watershed and does not include any bad language, sex or any actions or connotations that would cause offense to any viewers.

The director uses a vast amount of diegetic sounds for example; dialouge, the moving of furniture, people moving around, the use of these diegetic sounds creates a more realistic feel to the drama, however non diegetic sounds are used, just not as frequently, the soundtracks that we hear are mainly instrumental celtic music, which sets the scene because of the scottish location around the loch and the setting of the castle. In the drama we can see a strong difference between the working class and the upper class residents of the village. The colour palette plays a strong part in the differentiation between working and upper class residents, for example the use of dull and drab coloured clothing worn by the young boy and girl and also the use of this colour palette on the tea towels the young boy is hanging up and the colour of the courtyard they are standing in, the use of this dull and drab colour palette gives connotations that they are working class.

In the drama, there is an intertexual reference to the soap opera; Hollyoaks, the use of this reference makes the drama more appealing to the younger generation; who are predominatly the audience of Hollyoaks. The use of the younger charcters, also makes it more appealing to the younger generation.

The use of a variety of shots shows the status and wealth of the charcters, for example a low angle shot is used to introduce the monarch, the shot has connotations of importance, wealth and an upper class status, also the postioning of the shot makes him look taller than the other charcters around him, which has a reference to the his position in society. The use of props inside the monarchs home, also shows us that he is upper class because of the use of the glassware,wooden panelling and the old books. The positioning of the characters shows their importance and status.

In conclusion to my review, i believe that monarch of the glen, is a well constructed family drama, because of the split in status amoungst the charcters and the intertextual refrences.

Shot list.

1).Long shot of the main character and her two friends getting ready.
2). Two person shot/panning shot, fades into black
3).Long shot of the three girls drinking at the same time, laughing, smiling. Cut to shot 4.
4).Close up of the main character drinking, laughs, cuts to next shot.
5).Panning shot/medium shot, focus on one girl dancing.
6).Medium shot/tracking shot of main character dancing and stumbling through the crowd.
7).Close up of main character and the young man, go in for a drunken kiss.
8).Mid shot of the girl and young man, of her arms around his neck, his arms touch her back.
9).Close up of the drunken kiss
10).Mid shot of the man pulling away and she stumbles backwards, she looks confused.
11).Reverse shot/medium shot looking onto the young man, pushes his arm forward.
12).Extreme close up/reverse shot of his hand
13).Reverse shot/mid of her looking at hime and looking down at their hands, then she goes to grab his hand.
14).Extreme close up/medium of his and her hand meeting
15).Close up of the girl, smerks,smiles and looks down.
16).Close up of the young man, laughs behind his teeth , looks up then down
17).Medium shot of him, he pulls her into him "common let me buy you a drink", smiles and nods, he walks backwards out of the camera.
18).Tracking shot, he turns around and both are walking through crowd, laughing and stumbling
19).Sides shot of small bar, walks into the scene, still holds her hand until she manages to sit on the stool.
20).Two person shot behind bar, she slumps on the bar, he looks shifty, orders drinks
21).Close up of his pocket and his hand going into the pocket, pulls white powder from the pocket.
22).Two person shot, pulls his hand onto the bar and takes her drink
23).extreme close up of the drink and powder being poured into it
24).Two person shot, she lifts her head and he looks and smiles, she grabs her drink
25).Tracking/close up of her holding the drink and her drinking it, she stops, presses her lips together
26).Two person shot put her drink down, looks over at the young man and smiles.
27).Two person/close up shot of the faces talking, her touching her hair, him talking she listens.
28).Close up shot of the young girls face, starts to squint eyes, music becomes slurred/quieter.
29). Extreme close up of her hands to her head, like she has a headache, still hear the man talking, music becomes quieter.
30).Medium close up of her looking distressed and unwell, things seem abit blurred.
31).Two person shot she grabs his hand "are you alright" things are blurred looking ill she runs then yells while she has her hand over her mouth.
32).Panning shot of her running out of the club, turns left and throws up in a corner.
33).medium shot of her gasping her breath, spits and wipes her mouth, leaning with her arm on the wall.
34).Long shot of her slumping to the ground, wipes her face and moves her legs like she is cold, she looks up.
35).Close up still looking up, presses her lips and looks down, wipes her eyes and starts to get up.
36).Long shot of her getting up using her hands, wipes her dress down, walks out of the scene.
37).Tracking shot of her walking down the street, sound of cars, people, traffic. She sniffs, wipes her eyes, sorts out her hair.
38).Tracking shot (part 2) camera focuses on the young man before following in the distance he turns his head left and nods, he leaves the scene.
39).Long shot as she trips and falls on her hands and knees, the contents of her bag spilling onto the floor.
40).High angle shot of her picking up her belongings, sound of footsteps gets louder and then stops, she look up.
41).Low angle shot of a tall dark man we are unable to see his face.
42).High angle shot reverse shot, she stops picking up her bag and looks at the man, puts her hair behind her ears.
43).Low angle shot of the dark man, he pulls his hand out of his pocket "need a hand up"?
44).High angle shot, she nods, grabs her bag and grabs his hand.
45)Long shot, she gets up struggles a bit, he grabs the side of her chest. "looks like you`ve had a bit too much to drink"
46).Close up/two person shot, she nods "yeah me too" they look at each other. "did you want me to walk you home"?
47).Close up, she looks at him, but onlyshowing her face not his. "erm, im okay i thikn i`ll be fine"
48).Panning shot, she walks away and he follows behind her.
49).Tracking shot, she walks and he follows behind her, she covers her mouth again and moves to the left.
50).Panning shot/high angles shot, she hunches and throws up again. She gasps for breath and wipes her mouth, she unhunches and spits.
51).Low angle shot, he asks her again if he wants him to walk her home
52).Medium shot "okay,okay"
53).Medium shot reverse shot, "good, give me your hand show me the way"
54).Panning shot/mid shot, she grabs his hand, gets up again and walks off the scene.
55).Tracking shot/long shot, we can see them walking behind hand-in-hand. She pushes/pulls him out of the scene to the left.
56).Panning shot of them two turning into a dark street, camera follows them.
57).Tracking shot/two person shot can see them walking in front of the camera she stumbles and hold onto him, club music fades and you can hear a car/van driving close.
58).Medium shot, they stop walking and turn to each other, they start talking, car/van becomes louder.
59).Cut shot/extreme close up of the moving wheel of the van.
60).Midshot, he hold onto her waist and she pulls away. He keeps trying to touch her, she starts screaming and he puts his head over his mouth.
61).Close up/sideshot, he pushes her into a wall with his hands covering her mouth. She tries and gets out, but is unable. Noise of the van stops and are able to hear doors opening and clsoing. 62).Wide shot, includes girl and young girl, van and two other men dresses in black, he tries to puch her into the van but she struggles.
63).Cuts to a long shot on the van door, the men throwing her in. A loud bang of the body going into the door, closing and cuts into black.

When myself and my production group started the filming process of our film, we decided to cut out some of our shots that we had previosuly decided to inlcude, we cut out the scene of the girl and her friends getting ready to go out and the kidnapping scene in the van, we decided towards cutting out these two scenes because; the time limit to our film is two minutes and it would not be possibe to include all of our shots and scenes within our two minute time limit. We also felt that these scene would not particularly have added anything to the film, that would help create suspense and ambiguity, however we decided to keep wih the main scene, of the girl walking home and the boy offering thw walk her home and making the auidence believe that he is the protector, however he changes into the villian and the girl becomes the victim. After our first shoot, we uploaded our footage onto the computer and watched it, we then realised the lighting was wrong and it was too dark, this stopped us from being able to see the characters faces, therefore creating no relation between the audience and the characters, however we took this on board and decided to shoot the footage again, at an earlier time, when the lighting would be right, because the only lighting we had was the natural light and the line of street lamps that are by the river, which created a soft lighting, therefore making the film more indepentdant because of the limited lighting. In the re-shoot of the film, we created more ambiguity and used more close up shots of the characters. The decision to re-shoot the film, helped us as a production team to create more ambiguity, through a variety of shots and actions.

By Louise McGee

Thriller film treatment

Treatment for my thriller film


In the opening shot, we are first introduced to the main character; a typical 18-year-old girl who is getting ready to go out for the night clubbing in Norwich with her friends. We are introduced to her in the setting of her bedroom; in her home, which she lives in with her parents and younger brother and sister. The use of this setting creates a feeling of normality and innocence, which later on in the film helps the audience to feel sorry for her, because of the incident that occurs, because of the normality and realistic setting that she has been introduced in.

The storyline is that of an ordinary 18-year-old girl who is going out clubbing with her friends on a Saturday night in Norwich on Prince Of Wales Street. The main focus is on the end of the night when the girl leaves the club drunk, this is where we are introduced to another main character; a man in his late twenties, who at we first we believe he is being the girls protector when he asks if he can walk her home, however our opinion changes when she refuses to let him walk her home and he attempts to force her into his white van, which is parked on a nearby street. When he finally succeeds in forcing the young girl into the van, we are introduced to two other men; one of whom is the driver and the other is a friend. In the opening shot we decided to have a diegetic sound, so we can hear the sounds of her moving around her bedroom and the diegetic sounds of the hairdryer and the sounds of her family walking up and down the stairs. We have decided to also use a non-diegetic soundtrack in the opening shot; we have decided to use a song from the genre of dance or R&B, because this is what is mainly played in clubs, so it would set the scene well. When she is in the club there will be a non-diegetic sound of music and in the street there will be the diegetic sound of other people walking and cars passing and the diegetic sounds of music from the other clubs on the street. The lighting will be artificially lit, in the opening shots in the young girls bedroom, in the club the background light will be black and will be artificially lit by bright or neon lighting. When the girl leaves the club the setting is in the street, so the lighting will be dark, with the artificial lighting of the street lamps. The girl and her friends will wear high heels and dresses or mini skirts and tops; this type of costumes will be appropriate because of the setting. The men in the white van will wear black trousers or tracksuit bottoms and dark coloured hoodies, because these type of clothes are always what the stereotypical `thug` would wear, also the use of dark clothes represents evil.
I think my thriller film will attract the type of audience that would watch films like; London to Brighton, because of the realism of the setting and characters, which I am going to use in my thriller film. My film also relates to the film The strangers even thought it is predominantly a horror film, however there are elements of thriller within the film, it relates to my film because of the use of dark clothing worn by the men, and the way they lurk in the shadows, which is what the men in my film do at the end.

By Louise McGee