Shooting schedule

1st February:
5pm/7pm, at Riverside in Norwich (we’ll meet at the bridge)/ to film all the opening shots of the opening, from the girl going down the stairs, up till her walking away with the male. All cast and crew will be needed (Megan Purdy, William Durham, Sam Hudson, Lexie Ferguson and Louise McGee). The equipment need will be a tripod, digital camera and tape. The costumes we will need are a black hoodie, jeans, and trainers for the male; and a skirt, t-shirt, cardigan and plain shoes for the female.

15th February:
5pm/7pm, at Riverside in Norwich (we’ll meet at the bridge). To film the second half of the opening, from the girl and male walking along, up till the male grasping the girl by the throat. All cast and crew will be needed (Megan Purdy, William Durham, Sam Hudson, Lexie Ferguson and Louise McGee). The equipment need will be a tripod, digital camera and tape. The costumes we will need are a black hoodie, jeans, and trainers for the male; and a skirt, t-shirt, cardigan and plain shoes for the female.

2nd March:
5pm/7pm, at Riverside in Norwich (we’ll meet at the bridge). To refilm the shots which were to dark, because you couldn’t make out facial expressions, and also film establishing shots at the start and end of the opening. All cast and crew will be needed (Megan Purdy, William Durham, Sam Hudson, Lexie Ferguson and Louise McGee). The equipment need will be a tripod, digital camera and tape. The costumes we will need are a black hoodie, jeans, and trainers for the male; and a skirt, t-shirt, cardigan and plain shoes for the female.

Audience profile.

This is my audience profile that i have created for my thriller film and have used my audience research questionnaire to help me, my audience profile also acts like a kind of symmary of my questionnaire.

Age: 16 - 25 years of age
Gender: Female and male
Mainstream/Independent: my questionnaire implies that mainstream is preffered, however the storyline of my thriller suggests that is an Independant film.

What they look for in a thriller; My target audience look for the thriller to be set in a location that they recognise,a film set in the present period; the period it was filmed in. My target audience also look for good actors to play the characters; they look for them to be believable and well at acting out any actions that the character may have to perform. They also look to have found out key elements of the film, within the first two minutes of the film for example; the location of the film. They also want the characters to look believe because of their costumes, so they want them to be wearing costumes that represent their personality and role in the film.

Other films they like(genre,events,cinematography,mise-en-scene,themes); pyschological, film noire, unexpected events, the criminal to be a character who is portrayed as innocnent throughout the film, good lighting; creating shadows and highlights, to represent a sense of stalking and following.

How are you going to appeal to the audience; I am going to appeal to my audience by creating characters who are believable, have a good acting ability, are dressed to fit their personality and role in the film, have a good well lit stage, which creates strong highlights and shadows.

Audience quotations from mainstream and independant thriller.

I researched thriller films that had relevance to my own and found that; Pyscho and The third man had the most relevance to my own film. I used IMDB, to research reviews and extract quotations from Pyscho and The third man that people have written about them.

These are quotations i found from reviews on Pyscho;

If you have not seen this movie, do yourself a favor. Stop reading thse comments, get up, take a shower, then GO GET THIS MOVIE. Buy it, don't rent. You will not regret it.

"Psycho" is easily the best horror-thriller of all time

"Psycho" has one of the best scripts you'll ever find in a movie

this movie is probably the best directorial effort by film history's best director

Perkins who gives what remains the single best performance by an actor in a horror movie.

Anthony Perkins' skillfully crafts his performance as Norman Bates, avoiding a ranting, raving, drooling, murder-happy, manic characterization; instead his performance as Norman is subtle, creepy, cool, and unsettling.

The movie set a new and very high standard in horror movies which I don't believe has ever been equaled. The characters were great, the direction perfect and the music, which I thought was absolutely fantastic, made this a classic.

These are quotations i found from reviews on The third man;

The Third Man is a movie that looks and feels not like a movie of the 40s, but like a neo-noir of the late 60s/early 70s

combines amazing visuals, sounds, dialogue, and acting to tell a thrilling story and comment about the atmosphere after WWII.

So The Third Man is not only a wonderful film noir, but a unique look at the brief time between WWII and the height of the Cold War.

stunning camera angles and back-lighting

The eerie shadows around the deserted streets and of course the unforgettable first glimpse of Harry Lime (Welles) himself as he skulks like the rat he is, in the corner of the building, lit in close-up suddenly from the light in an adjacent apartment

The story is quite straight forward and can be perceived more complicated than it is

The film is given a great mood of shadows throughout

This is a rare film that is flawless in every respect. It combines great acting and memorable characters with a fascinating story, taking place in an interesting setting and adding a creative musical score.

My research on pyscho tells me that the audience focused on the performances of the characters, the storyline, script and the directorial effort made by Alfred Hitchcock. This tells me that in my film i need to focus on creating a good and intriging storyline and make sure that the people i get to play the characters in my thriller, represent their personality well and in a very believable manner. I also need to make sure that the planning is done to a high standard, in order to get a high quality finish to the film, like alfred hitchcock has in pyscho.

My research on The third man tells me that the audience focused on the visuals, sounds, memorable characters,camera angles, back lighting including shadows and its focus on WWII and the cold war. This tells me that i need to work on creating very striking visual images within my thriller which will interest the audience. I also need to make my characters memorable to the audience,in order for them the believe the character and in some way feel connected to the character. I also need to focus on the camera angles and lighting that i use, as i am filming my thriller at night, which is why i have related my film to the third man, because the third man is predominatly filmed at night. I think that the camera angles and lighting are deemed so important by the audience, because of the moods that different lighting can have in a film, the camera angles are very important, because it helps you to see from the characters point of view. The shadows in the third man, give a sense of stalking and that someone mysterious is following the character, i need to try and apply this technique to my own thriller, as it is predominatly about stalking. Although my thriller is not related to WWII or the cold war, i need to make sure i focus entirely on the subject, as they do in the third man.

Costumes, characters, music and location for our thriller film.

The Characters:

The Girl;
The girl should be not too tall, so she should in a way quite weak and powerless compared to the man. She should be good at being drunk, and also have good facial expressions. She should be wearing lots of make up, and a lot of lipstick.

The Man;
The man should be quite tall, taller than the girl and also quite kind and warmly looking. But he most also be able to look extremely intimidating and mad.


The Locations:

We are going to film our first film at one of our groups houses, as it is an in club scene. WE will use darkness with in stage lighting, and about 5 supporting actors, to make it seem like there are a lot more people.
In the second scene we are going to shoot at riverside, because it is quite a lonely place at night, and the river is also a great place to film in terms of a thriller film, it is a place where things could be hidden, which send a message to the audience.


The Music:

We are going to incorporate music into our thriller. For the first scene within the club we our going to use loud dance music. We are going to find music by an unsigned band that people could dance to. Then in the second scene we aren’t going to use any music to begin with, the silence of the characters walking and just Diegetic sound will make a great contrast with the loud music, and will therefore make the second location fell a lot more lonely and in a way intimidating.


Costume:

The man in the thriller should be wearing plain trousers, a shirt and good shoes. This will make him seem like a ‘safe’ character, he doesn’t look like the stereotypical stalker murderer character of thrillers, and so when he flips on the girl it will take the audience by surprise and throw them off balance, which is what we want to achieve in our opening.

The girl in our thriller film will be wearing a costume that would be expected on a night out. So she will be wearing a dress, it should be quite short. It will be red, this will be a signifier that she is the main character, and it is also a colour that is often seen as going well with thriller films.
As the scene progresses and she becomes more drunk, her costume will become more ‘messed up’ showing she is drunk, their could even be small tears, and creases, showing her vulnerability.

By Sam Hudson

In what way does `white girl` challenge stereotypical representations of ethnic minorities.

How does `white girl`, challenge stereotypical representations of ethnic minorities?

One particular stereotype that white British class make about the Asian community, is that they try and brainwash other cultures and religions to become part of their religion, however `white girl`, challenges this stereotypical belief by portraying the Asian community as caring, non-violent and kind. The director shows the relationship between Leah and the Asian family as that of unconditional, the director shows the audience that the Asian family accept Leah for who she is and are in no way trying to brainwash or convert her into their own religion; however Leah chooses to do so as her own individual decision.

Another stereotype that we have as a culture about the Asian community is that; they are prejudice of the white British culture, however `white girl` challenges this in a way that they reverse the stereotype. In white girl the Asian family and community are shown as being caring towards those that are of a different culture to themselves, however Leah’s family; a white British family are shown as being extremely prejudice towards the Asian culture within the community they live in, as it is highly populated by `ethnic minorities`, this is typical of a northern city in England. The prejudice that Leah’s family have against the Asian community is shown very strongly when Debbie, Leah’s mother sees Leah wearing a headscarf, we understand here that Leah’s mother is prejudice towards ethnic minorities, because of the way in which she responds to Leah wearing the headscarf; she responds in way which portrays her as a working class less educated women because shows her dislike for her daughter wearing the headscarf by; swearing aggressively at Leah and acting very violently towards her because of the decision her daughter Leah has made to wear a headscarf and to follow the Muslim faith. As well as the mother being portrayed as being prejudice, the grandmother is also portrayed as being prejudice, this is shown particularly well in the scene at the wedding when Leah has taken the decision to wear her headscarf at the British wedding and her grandmother says to Debbie, her daughter “she’s embarrassing us”, talking about Leah wearing the headscarf. We believe that Leah has decided to follow the Muslim faith because she sees it as an escape from her own life of her mothers drinking, her fathers abusive behaviour, her parents separation and mother being illiterate. We are also lead to believe that Leah has joined the Muslim faith, to feel part of something and to feel that she belongs to a `family`, as she throughout the programme we get a feeling that Leah does not feel as if she belongs to her family and they resent her.

A common stereotype of ethnic minorities, is that they use frequent acts of violence towards those from other cultures due to their cultural differences, however `white girl` portrays ethnic minorities in a totally opposite way to the stereotype, by showing the Muslim community as that of; very caring and kind people who want to bring out the best in people; who are of their own religion and those who are not. We see an act of kindness at the very beginning of the programme when the white family move into the area and a nearby Muslim family offer them milk, which is refused by Debbie; the mother of the white family, this also shows prejudice towards the Muslim family as well as showing a reverse in the stereotype; the ethnic minority family being kind and caring and the white British family being prejudice and violent. Throughout the programme we do not see any Muslims show any violence towards other cultures, however although it is very ironic we see a vast amount of violent behaviour from the white family.

In conclusion to the question `white girl`, challenges the stereotypical representations of ethnic minorities, by reversing the stereotype and representing the white British characters as you would the ethnic minority characters, if you were representing them true to their stereotype.

`White girl` notes

We watched White girl in class which was produced by the BBC and was broad casted in 2008. The genre of white girl is social realism.

The television drama, white girl is about; a young white girl; Leah who lives in a predominately Muslim community in the north of England. Leah attends a school which is also predominately Muslim and they practise the Muslim faith at school. Leah becomes friends with a Muslim girl, this represents the difference in culture and that two different cultures can be civil with one another. Leah's family; the white British family are associated with; violence, drinking, separation, breaking down in relationships,washing lines; which are typically shown in social realism dramas to represent the British culture. We believe that Leah wants to be part of the Muslim community because it is; peaceful, caring, kind, theres no violence and she sees it as an escape form her own life.

White girl is set mainly in terraced housing and the alleys behind the houses this is because they are typically British, the use of the terraced housing and back alleys reference the film Billy Elliot; which is also set in the north of england, it reminded me of a articular scene in billy elliot when he dances down the street, showing the terraced houses in the background. The mosque is shown several times during the drama, which has different meanings of; religion,refuge,calming and emotion to Leah. We think Leah is so desperate to become part of the Muslim community, to have a sense of belonging and feeling needed.

The drama focuses on different aspects throughout the programme which emphasise both british and muslim culture. Its main focuses are the representation of; gender,working class culture and ethnic minorites. One event that happened was a wedding that the british family attended, weddings are typically british including the costumes,food and drink at the wedding reiterated the british culture. The wedding is where Debbie, Leah`s mother shows her resentment very strongly against Leah wearing a headscarf, her grandmother says "shes embarassing us", talking about leah wearing her headscarf, this showed that perhaps her grandmother is not very well educated about other cultures or is resentful towards other cultures. The remarks that both Leah`s parents and her grandmother say to her and about her whilst she is wearing the headscarf, shows that perhaps they are racist, this also shows that they are predujice against the muslim religion and culture.

The blue headscarf that leah wears signifies; religious differences, protest, declaration of faith and identity and a weapon that is aimed at the parents. The fence represents a barrier between the two houses, this also represents the difference in their culture and attitudes and their differences in the lives that they lead and the way in which they lead them.

The drama shows britain as `multi-ethnic`, this is mainly in the north of england. In a particular scene Debbie and Leah are talking over a fence, which represents the separation between mother and daughter, it also represents the break down in the mother and aughter realationship, however the pink and purple scarfs that we see whilst they are having the conversation could represent love between them, although it could also represent the muslim community, because it is a very colourful culture. Leahs mother, Debbie is illitarate, this shows that perhaps she did not have a very good upbringing and also tells us that she was raised in a working class environment.

Representation of british culture in television dramas.

I was given the task to research British television dramas in order to find a drama that represented British culture in an interesting way. I watched several clips of television dramas including; Hollyoaks and eastenders both of which are soap operas, a sub genre of British television drama. I then watched an episode of coronation street which was broad casted on Christmas day 2009, i think that this represented British culture best out of them all.

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=114306

Above is the link to the particular episode of coronation street, that i think represents British culture well.

Firstly the location is typical of British culture because of the terraced houses with the back alleyways, this suggests it is set in the north of England, this is later confirmed by the northern accent of the characters,that we are introduced to. We are firstly introduced to families opening their presents in their homes which represents the British culture as being very family orientated, which is how the culture is portrayed, this also shows the togetherness of british families. Another aspect of the drama, that strikes me as being very typical of the British culture was the emphasis on the date; being Christmas, which is the most celebrated date in Britain. The timing of the drama; Christmas day shows even more of the British culture because of the meaning of Christmas and the religion behind it. Religion plays a big part in showing the British culture in this episode although it is not directly mentioned at all through the episode the meaning is still present because of the religious link to Christmas being Christianity which is predominately the main religion in Britain, meaning it is a large part of British culture.

Being christmas food and drink play a large part in british christmas`s, in all the different families homes that we see during the episode they are all centered around the cooking and eating of the christmas dinner.Another part of british culture that we see and that is talked alot about during the episode is the pub; which in many british towns and villages the pub is the heart of the community and most villages and towns have at least one pub. Later on in the episode we are introduced to the corner shop, which is also typically british which most villages and towns have in the cntre of them. All these aspects represent togetherness because they bring the community together.

The main storyline in this episode is that of the two characters who are having an affair and plan to tell their families on chrsitmas day, however when kevins wife reveals that she has cancer everything changes, he then tells molly that everything is over, affairs are now very typical in british culture and becoming very common for couples to divorce over an affair in britain, this part of the episode showed modern british culture. We also see family feuds, which is very common at christmas time and we hear alot about it on the news in the running up to christmas about family feuds causing stress in families. In a particular scene the reuniting of the platt family with nick the eldest child, is also a factor of british culture and christmas, many people emphasise to importance of being with your family and reuniting, the importance of this is mainly stressed at christmas.

In the episode secrets,lies ands guilt play a large part of the episode; with kevin and molly lying about their affiar, sally keeping a secret about having cancer. This factor shows british culture in a modern way and perhaps represents the working class. The whole episode does not focus on one particular story, it cuts from house to house showing the different families christmas days. This makes the whole episode more realistic because we can familiarise with an aspect of each families day in some form. The episode also shows families breaking down; this represents the extended family going home and the breaking down in faith and the breaking down in realationships, however at the end of the episode all the problems seem to have been resolved. The sound is mainly natural for example the movement of the characters and dialouge, however at the end when all the problems presented in the programme are resolved a well known christmas song is introduced. The music that is used has been produced by british artists, which relates to the british culture and music play a large part is our culture.

Overall coranation street shows british culture in the way of; the location, food, drink and the storyline, however although it represents britain as a whole it also represents parts of britian for the example this programme has a strong emphasis on the northern culture of england, becuase of its location in manchester.