Final Thriller Video

Here is the result of the group's hard work over these last few months. It's Underpass -

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

Below are the two parts of our Evaluation 7. The first is focused on the preliminary task and the second is focused on the actual Thriller opening.

Evaluation 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Here is the video of my Evaluation 6 - What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

Evaluation 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation 4 - Audience Profile

Audience Profile (Evaluation Activity 4) from JJJMedia96

Evaluation 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The character I have chosen to analyse is the killer in our thriller production. Throughout our film, he is shown as a mysterious and threatening individual, who’s only aim is to stalk and kill the innocent victim James. On evaluation of the final video, I thought that the killer from the film ‘Scream’ (1996) shared many similarities with the Killer character in‘Underpass’. I have compared the similarities and differences between the two, in an attempt to attract a wider target audience and fans of ‘Scream’, to watch our film, as well as thriller fans in general.

From instantly looking at the two characters, it is obvious they are both dressed head to toe in black. This gives the audience the idea of danger and death straight away, as these are the stereotypical connotations associated with black. This associates both characters as a symbol of death, and puts the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the thriller. Both characters also hold a sense of power and authority, as they have the ability to gruesomely kill the other innocent victims in their respective thrillers. The picture of the killer in ‘Scream’ standing behind Courtney Cox shows his method of killing is to approach his victim quietly, then attack when they are least expecting it. This is similar to our thriller, where throughout the film James (innocent teenager) is unaware he is being followed by a deadly hooded killer, seeking to end his life painfully. I also noted that in the film ‘Scream’, the killer would chase his victims after they attempted to run away, and this is also similar in ‘Underpass’ in which James, where he is literally running for his life.

However, there are some obvious differences between the characters. The killer in ‘Scream’ has a white, simple but scary mask totally hiding his/her identity, making the character unknown and adding yet another element of fear to the film, as no one knows who it could be. In ‘Underpass’, the characters face can slightly be seen, but is shaded by the hood. This also gives him a slight sense of hidden identity, however the audience can see that he is a teenage killer, perhaps giving them the idea of a deranged character, or there is something unsure and dangerous about his personality. Throughout the film ‘Scream’ the killer is constantly seen holding a long, sharp knife used to slice his victims with, usually resulting in his black costume caked with blood. In our thriller, it is clear the antagonist is carrying long bag with an item in it, and drops it whilst chasing James through the underpass. However there is an ellipsis in between where James screams as he’s about to die, and the CCTV shot of him lying dead on the floor. We chose not to include the killing, as we let the audience decide for themselves what happened, hopefully making our film more intriguing and having the desired ‘attached’ effect on the audience.

Due to us being 16 year old boys, we took influences from the same band of Social groups. We felt that this would allow us to reach out to our focus groups of teenagers, as this is who we targeted our thriller at. After watching the film ‘Scream’ we took inspiration from the killer, a young adult murdering fellow students at his college in America. We adapted this idea to our work, as the Killer murders James at the end of the thriller! This will hopefully have the desired effect of empathising with the audience, and putting the characters in their shoes.

Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

 By James Taylor and Joel Guest

Title

Due to our thriller being set in a dark, gloomy environment, and the murder scene taking part in an alleyway, we felt the title ‘Underpass’ suited our film perfectly, due to its simple yet effective tone. The font used to present our film in both the opening title and poster also delivers the creepy, rough image we aim to give off to the audience when seeing our title, and we believe the font ties in well with the title. We also decided ‘Underpass’ could mean a lot of things due to the simplicity of the title name, leaving the audience guessing as to what it can mean. The innocent victim (James) within the film is also chased through an Underpass; therefore the main hotspots of action within our thriller occurred here. James is also murdered in the Underpass, linking back to our title and hoping to create an air of tension and thrill throughout the film as James is being chased down into an Underpass. Finally, we believe the whole theme of an ‘Underpass’, creepy, mysterious and unnerving, relates to our killer in the film, a cold and heartless individual who the audience don’t know much about, giving him an air of danger and mystery.

Setting/Location:

We decided we needed a dreary and lonely place to film our thriller, and after reviewing a couple of locations we discovered Romford Marketplace, a desolate and quiet place of a night which had a nearby subway link. We immediately decided to use this location, as not only could we film the chase scene in the underpass, we could add in a variety of shots with different backgrounds to add to the suspense, such as the tall church with the black backdrop, and the station and train scenes where it is evident James is being stalked. As a group, we decided that filming in a public place added a sense of danger and reality, as not only had we seen this technique used in previous thriller films such as Scream, it makes the audience think it could be anyone walking home alone, being attacked thus putting them on the edge of their seats. Although we filmed late into the night, all locations were lit sufficiently enough to be able to film everything we needed. The atmosphere at the station, the streets and of course the ‘Underpass’ were perfect to create the thrill we were looking for to fit in with the ideas we had, and thankfully the location and our ideas interwove brilliantly when filming.

Costume & Props

Due to ‘Underpass’ being filmed in a public place, we felt the characters that we portrayed needed to dress sensibly and normally, as the innocent victim was dressed in jeans, a hoody and trainers- clothes which nearly every teenager wears, reaching out to our social groups and again presenting the idea that anyone could be involved in an incident like this. Thus, we needed clothing which most teenage boys watching could empathise with. The Killer was dressed from head to toe in black, so that he could blend into the darkness of the night. The hood also shades the majority of his identity throughout the film; therefore the audience may not be entirely sure who the character is. Although he is dressed in black, we felt his costume had to be believable and realistic, so jogging bottoms and a coat were perfectly suitable to dress the character in. The character also wears gloves, so that his fingerprints can’t be traced back to the scene of the crime, and his hands won’t be left with blood, enabling him to slip back into the night as silently as he came. The only props we used throughout ‘Underpass’, was the long bag the Killer was carrying on his shoulder and dropped, although the audience are clueless as to what is in it. The other prop was the innocent victim’s iPhone, used to show him receiving a text from his mother and also at the end, where it is hopelessly vibrating next to his dead body.

Camerawork and Editing

When filming our thriller, we used a diverse range of shots in order to make our thriller as eye catching and exciting as possible. Our opening shot is a high angle shot, presenting James as alone and vulnerable from the outset of ‘Underpass’, and allowing the audience to take in the Mise en scene of the area. We also used point of view shots, to engage with the audience and put them in our characters shoes, such as the innocent teenager receiving the text, and the killer peering over his newspaper to lock down onto his target. This also gives the audience an idea of the characters state of mind. We felt that high angle shots were vital to portray the innocent victim’s vulnerability, as it is used when being chased and also when he is lying dead on the floor, showing he is powerless against a force greater than him. The extreme close up of the camera panning into James mouth emphasises his horror and fear of being caught, and the screen goes black and the picture fades, symbolising the end of his life and death. As a group, we felt having the right camera shots was vital for each scene as we needed to emphasise the thrilling nature of events that were occurring, and needed to make the audience as uneasy and tense as possible whilst watching ‘Underpass’.

Title Font and Style

We decided that because our poster was going to be a black and white theme so it made sense that the title should be white. The font matches the eerie sensation we aimed to possess throughout our thriller and marketing campaign and so we were looking for a font which appeared spooky and mysterious. The fact that this font appears worn down and vandalised matches the area which we located our thriller. It is commonly the case that in places such as underpasses that you will find graffiti and our title appears to be a piece of graffiti. This could also give off the impression that the smudges and drips could be blood splattered and therefore this also matches our thriller as the murder scene is the main subject of the film. Also blood is commonly linked to thriller films and so we believe our title meets the general connotations people have of a thriller. Also we decided to make the title rather large as we want the name of the thriller to stick with people so that they remember what it is called and go and see it. The fact it takes up a rather large proportion of the poster means it is easily noticeable and even more affective. We looked at similar thriller films titles as we wanted to find a title that would be unique as well as meet the connotations of a thriller. We believe our title is not similar to other thriller films and therefore our title will hopefully stick with people and ensure they make a link to our thriller film whenever they see that text style and font.

Story and How the Opening Scene Sets It Up

We knew from the start that we intended to make our thriller mysterious and use flashbacks as the main aspect of the opening. We had an idea of setting the thriller in Romford using the train and the underpass. We had this idea because we intended to make our thriller in a modern, relatable setting for our target audience. We wanted to do this because having seen students thrillers from previous years we saw that most were located in an abandoned house and were not in modern times. The storyline from our thriller is a boy getting followed and eventually murdered. We found this effective because having seen The Silence of the Lambs opening we wanted to use the camera shots following the main character. The flashbacks are intended to add mystery and audience assumptions to the thriller. As the thriller is set in a modern day setting and leaves the opening on a cliff-hanger many doors are left open for when the opening is followed up with a main movie. The boy is left dead and his phone is ringing which leaves the audience asking many questions and making numerous assumptions. The film can then go onto show who the killer was, why they were following the boy and why they killed him. The film can also go onto show how the main character was killed. Also the boy’s mother could get involved as although she doesn’t physically feature in the film, the text and phone call means she is a main part of the storyline. The film could also go onto show why the mother was ringing and if the murderer goes onto kill anyone else.

 Genre and How the Thriller Suggests It

The genre of our film opening is a thriller. We believe the dark lighting creates a sense of eeriness and meets the connotations of a thriller. This is because having taken inspiration from similar films such as Scream it became apparent that darkness creates the mysteriousness that the genre aims for. Also the fact that thrillers are supposed to make the audience ask themselves how things have happened and make assumptions is another way Underpass meets this criteria. The flashbacks leave the audience asking themselves how things have happened. For instance, how the boy was murdered. The fact that the boy is being followed also gives the audience the immediate impression that Underpass is a thriller as this is very similar to the world famous thriller The Silence of the Lambs. The camera angles and mysterious acting give the audience a scared, confused feel as they are worried about what will happen next, as well as being unsure about who the follower is. The concept of a following and murder fits into the main connotations of a thriller which can then add a horror/mysterious feel to the opening. The fact the genre meets these other genre conventions means it made sense to take ideas and inspiration from famous films such as Scream (horror thriller) and The Silence of the Lambs (mystery thriller.)

How Characters are Introduced

There are two characters in our thriller. We wanted to establish James’ character first as he is the main character throughout the thriller opening and so we believed he should be the face of our thriller opening. He is introduced wearing casual clothing which shows the audience he is just a normal, everyday boy. As our target audience is teenagers and the character is of this age range appearing as a normal teen means the audience put themselves in his position and make a connection with him. The fact he is the first person the audience see means they almost build an immediate relationship with him. This is because he is alone, isolated at the station at night, which gives them the impression something bad is going to happen to him. The other character is introduced immediately after we see James. This is because we felt it would be effective if the viewer could see who it was that was following James, although not giving away his full identity. We done this by use of costume, Joel wore all black with gloves and his hood up. This adds a mysterious feel to the character which is what we intended when introducing Joel’s character. The fact that our thriller has one vulnerable, lonely character and one psychopathic, mysterious character this immediately realise they are watching a thriller. This is because in the world-famous thriller film Scream uses similar characters. Scream begins with a lady on her own receiving a mysterious phone call, which secondly introduces the second character. The characters are very similar as the lady appears vulnerable on her own, the same as James. The man on the phone is very mysterious and the identity is kept secret, which we intended from Joel’s character. We believe because of this link and characters appearances it becomes clear the characters in Underpass meet the connotations people have of thrillers.

Editing Diary

As I used a MacBook Pro for the editing of our Thriller opening I was able to use Final Cut Pro X. Before this project, I only had limited experience using Final Cut Pro after watching a few YouTube tutorials. I then got to experience using many different transitions, effects and sound in Media lessons whilst working on Underpass.

The first thing to do was import all the footage from the iPhone 5 and had to sort through what clips were suitable to use and also to keep within the time limit. To start doing this, I put all of the clips in chronological order based on our storyboard and watch the film through without clipping or editing any of it. After I was happy with the order, I deleted the clips, which were either outtakes or didn’t fit and scaled it down to two and a half minutes. Next, I had to focus on our flash-forwards that occur at different times in our Thriller to act as a transition between scenes.  To do this I put a “Flash” transition at the start and end of the clip where James the teenager is lying dead in the underpass. Then I put the Old TV effect to give the footage the impression that it had to come from a CCTV camera. When these two elements combined, it gave it a convincing CCTV look.

I then had to focus on the titles that were going to be put at the start of the film. I looked through all of the 155 titles that could possibly have been used and saw a range of different ones that could be used. They ranged from flashy, flamboyant animations to simple words that can flash up on screen. Not wanting to detract from the dark feel to the movie, I decided to use simple titles. I got a font from DaFont.com and tried putting the titles on top of the footage. They seemed to work and after consulting my teacher, we agreed that they looked good and they have been used ever since.

The rest of the editing process was fairly straight forward and the majority of what was left was trimming the final clips to get it under the time limit and to make sure one shot wasn’t on screen for too long. The main problem came when it came to choosing the music. We as a group wanted to use the track No Church in the Wild but then found out we were only able to use copyright free music. After a quick Google search, I found the website Incompetech. This website allows you to search music based on feel and so I searched Dark and Eerie. I found some good tracks and the start of our Thriller uses the track Bent and Broken. The problem I had was when it came to the chase scene. The music that Incompetech had was too cheesy and made the Thriller quite comical, which was not what the group wanted. I then looked at another blog and spoke to fellow Media students and one of the groups said there was some good music on YouTube. I searched “copyright free music” and in the first few hits I found a good track to use.

After this was sorted, the editing process was complete and this left us to complete our evaluations.

Storyboard

Here is the storyboard for our Thriller "Underpass" -

Audience Feedback

Amy Lane, Lee Myers, Liz Taylor and Dan Button all gave us feedback after watching 'Underpass', and I jotted down their ideas. Below are what they thought.

Final Movie Poster

After some deliberation between the group, I decided our initial idea for a poster to try and make a professional looking one complete with a BBFC rating and credits on the bottom. I decided to use a photo of the Underpass in which our Thriller takes place and also to link in with the title of the film. I took inspiration from other film posters such as The Dark Knight Rises and decided to use predominately dark colours with a contrasting colour for the writing. The credits at the bottom of the page were also an idea that was taken from existing posters.
Below is our final poster -

Diary of a Day of Shooting

Evaluation of Previous Students Work

Analysing other students work

In order to gain a wider understanding of what is required to attain the top grades in our coursework, I observed and analysed previous Year 12 students work, at Shenfield High School. The blog I chose to analyse was the ‘Twisted Nature’ group, who attained a grade ‘A’ for their coursework, therefore a good model to analyse. Using the official mark scheme, I observed the marking criteria for each presentation.

Video: I felt that the shots used throughout the thriller were appropriate when needed, and showed a range of skills and camera techniques. Some of the shots used at the beginning of the thriller made you ask a lot of questions as to what was going on, adding to the suspense and thrill of the opening. I thought the introduction of the cast was done in a stereotypical, thriller themed way, as they appear in a typewriter style theme, making for a tense and mysterious opening. On this note, I believe that the video techniques were excellent and kept me on the edge of my seat- everything you need in a good thriller. Therefore I would give ‘Twisted Nature’ a Level 4 for Video, as I believe it meets the guidelines of excellent creative use and correct shot transitions, as well as editing and sound.

Research and Planning: Each of the four group members produced sufficient and good quality work, sharing out a good proportion of work. I have highlighted this below, as all members of the group were invloved in many different tasks. When looking at the blog, I get the general gist that the students genuinely enjoyed working on the foundation project, and took time and care in writing and publishing their work. There were many ways used of publishing their work, such as videos, PowerPoints, and Prezi’s and almost all the work was detailed, good quality and relevant to the task. Therefore I would give another Level 4 to ‘Twisted Nature’.

Evaluation: I thought that ‘Twisted Nature’ addressed the evaluation task very well, highlighting their problems and struggles when filming their thriller, such as starting from the beginning mid way through the course. However I felt they dealt very well with this, and went on to produce a very good video and blog. They clearly had the appropriate IT and technological skills throughout the task to produce the final film, as well as a strong understanding of their target audience. Though there was one video where they were clearly unplanned and stuttered through it, I would give them another Level 4 for evaluation.

Overall, I would agree with the Exam Boards final evaluation of an A, due to a very good blog, marketing pages and the final video. The blog post's were all excellent, however I felt some of them were not diverse enough and needed more media products to present their work. Though I enjoyed 'Alice' I found it confusing and I didn't really engage with it. Due to these two negative factors, I would grade the group a mid ranged level 4, as I thought these two points were the only points that hindered the groups excellent coursework.

I enjoyed the thriller opening and I admit it was one of the stronger openings from the year group. I look forward to seeing the groups Advanced Project work in the future.

Film Influences

Before filming, I scoured the internet for similar thriller openings that we could employ to our own production. Our specific demand needed to be some sort of chase or stalking scene, as this is very common placed in our opening. The film we decided to base our thriller on is the 1991 film ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. The opening of the film is extremely relevant, as it shows Jodie Foster running through a deserted forest, with the camera tracking her, creating an air of anticipation and excitement as the audience is expecting something to happen, therefore tensing themselves and being drawn in. this relates to our thriller opening as we plan to film James walking alone down the near empty streets of Romford. However, after 1:40 of anticipation the audience discover infact that Foster is training for her FBI intuition, almost giving the audience a mixed sense of relief and disappointment, as nothing happened. (Known as a 'Dummy Scare.') This could signify a thrilling and exciting event to occur later on in the film, drawing in the audience and making it an effective thriller film. The dark, eerie background of the forest also plays on the stereotypical setting of a thriller, giving the character a sense of Impending doom and adding to the suspense of the opening. The camera shots used, such as mid shots, also present Jodie Foster as alone and isolated, making her appear vulnerable and helpless. The violin themed, high pitched music also adds to the mysterious and threatening opening to the thriller, keeping the audience glued to the screen in the simple thrill of the opening, an atmosphere we aim to create in our thriller.

Poster Influences

I researched and discovered these two appropriate thriller posters to base our own work on.  Due to the recent release and success of the Batman ‘Dark Knight’ films, I chose to model our poster on these designs, as they both share a relatively simple but powerful message, as both posters portray Batman standing away from the camera, masking his identity. This is relevant to our original idea of a poster, as James is standing on the train platform awaiting the oncoming train, whilst a man in a black hood is standing behind him, oblivious to James and instantly telling the audience that the film follows the conventions and iconography of a stereotypical thriller- mystery, death and excitement. Like Batman, I am dressed in a black hood, symbolising death and danger, and signalling I am a powerful character throughout the thriller. The Mise en scene of the posters are also based in a dark environment, linking to our thriller poster in which we have James standing isolated on a desolate platform, unaware of my presence.

On the left hand side, the poster shows batman looking out over the city. This could symbolise that Batman is in control and owns the city, similar to my character in our thriller, who knows exactly what he wants to do and is in control of his territory and surrounding area.

I have also noticed the slogan at the top of the poster on the right hand side. This short sentence is effective and powerful, as it gives the audience a taste of what to expect in the film and adds to the poster, in an attempt to engage with whoever reads the poster and encourage them to watch it. We are considering adding this technique to our poster, as it gives a short synopsis of what to expect in our film, and should draw the reader in.

 Joel Guest