Review On What People Thought Of Our Thriller Opening.

Review.

Here are some pictures of the reviews I asked people to fill out once they had watched the opening. I also asked people them to tell me what they thought a thriller film should consist off, before they watched mine. This would give me a sense of accomplishment, and it would also give me some techniques on which I can improve on it I decided to do this whole production again. I thought this was a good way of finding out what people thought, because it would give me the evidence to show that someone had watched the thriller opening before and after. 

The thing I would probably change most when filming is the different angles, i would try and create a more variety of different shots. This would mean I would be able to get different angles of what was happening in the story. I might have also change the sound to help make it more mysterious. I enjoyed designing the title because it added to the suspense, it also gave the audience the sense that someone has committed a crime.    

Most people who reviewed my thriller opening said that they thought a thriller opening was meant to entice and hook the audience and also that they would expect it to have creepy music. Once they had watched the thriller opening they told me what they thought after, and most of them thought the thriller opening had a good story line and also they thought it fit together well. Although I think that they music was not that good people thought that the music added to the suspense of the film and the message we were trying to tell the audience. What people thought we should have improved on was the transitions, they thought that the 'Flashbacks' were a little to quick and that they should have be slowed down to add effect to the whole situation which was going on at different moments in the opening. They also said that the voices on one of the scenes was a little unclear, so a way in which we would improve on this is by making sure that we speak clearly and that we don't use slang . 

Question 1.

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

When opening a thriller it is meant to grab the audience’s attention and to keep them on the edge of their seats. Therefore, keeping the audience suspension high will make them want to watch the rest of the film and see how it would end. If the first couple of minutes of the thriller opening are good then this should continue throughout the whole film. All thriller films should contain different conventions to keep the audience hocked such as:

-          Different camera shots = This would change peoples opinion on the situation which is being showed to them. Using Close up’s, Long shots and reaction shots makes the film seem more really, which creates the tension to rise. How we used this in creating our thriller opening was because it provided different effects when making the storyline seem more realistic. We tried to make the opening seem as realistic as possible because it would provide people with the different emotions.  The main shots we used were close-ups, extreme close-ups, over the shoulder shot, long shot and two shots. The reason why we decided to do different camera shots is to provide more of an effect when it comes to watching it.

-          Sound = Using Non-Digetic and Digetic sounds help make the tension rise by creating suspense which the audiences can feel growing inside them. It also tells them that something is going to happen. An example of this is the film ‘Jaws’ the sound makes people feel scared and unsure, but they soon become aware of the situation which is about to happen. Sound provides the scare factor to most films this is because the sound usually contains an unpleasant tone. How sound effects a thriller is by creating suspense and tension to the scene required. How we used sound in our thriller opening, we decided to have a low beat tune to help make different emotions come to light when watching the opening. It was also done to help make people’s tension rise and it helps them to understand that something is about to happen.   

-           Mise-en-scene = Having an effective location helps build up the audiences tension, this might be because the location is abandoned, or even in the middle of nowhere. As long as it is dark then it will help build the tension and make the Thriller seem more effective then before. How the mise-en-scene is introduced into our thriller was by finding an abandoned location which no one had been too, and also to make sure it was in the middle of no where, this would provide an eerie setting and also a chance for the audience’s tension to rise. 

-          Editing = Using different techniques when it comes to editing helps make the film seem more realistic, making the audience believe the storyline is really happening. Using different transitions such as ‘Black to White’ creates a flashback effect, results in the effect that time has carried on. How editing effects the opening is because it has to flow together without having too many mistakes, which you might be able to see. Therefore, it must be a continuous piece of work flowing from one scene to the other.   

Most directors use many different conventions to help hock the audience into watching their films; they might also decide to use different types of conventions at different points in the storyline, this might involve them having someone talking over the scene, this will be known as narrative speaking. Some might not even use them at all in an attempt to confuse the audience; this would keep the audience hocked because it makes them feel confused, which will make their tensions rise. An example of this is ‘The Strangers’ this is a film designed to make people feel scared but to also to make people want to watch the rest of the film, this is because they want to know what happens next.

Some directors think that using ‘Flashbacks’ create a sense of time passing or even being relived once again. This is a useful technique to use because it keeps the audience on their toes, because they might find something about the audience which they didn’t know before. It also makes the audience confused depending on how much the ‘flashback’ is used, it makes people tension rise because it creates a sense of mystery. We thought this would be a good convention to use in our thriller opening because it would show just enough of the movie to tell the audience the story, but it would still keep the secrecy that we wished to maintain during the making of our ‘Thriller Opening’ we used the transition ‘black to white’ to create the ‘flashback’ effect this was because we could alter the speed of the ‘flashback’ which would makes people tension rise and it would start to confuse them until they being to become so engrossed with the film that they don’t know what is happening in the really word.

The film ‘The Strangers’ has influence on the making of our ‘Thriller Opening.’ This is because we thought the opening gave us the spooky tension which we wanted to achieve in our film. The music in the opening of ‘The Strangers’ was simple, but it provided people with the mystery and spine tingling effect which we wanted to create. We thought the blood in the film had a huge impact on how the audience felt; so therefore when it came to creating ours we thought about having red hand prints going through the title. This would show the audience that something bad has happen. At the very end of the opening for ‘The Strangers’ she mentions all of the blood, this makes the audience want to know what happens next. For ours we decided to have a scream which hopefully would travel through our audience and scared them, because of our location when Hayley Woodland screamed it echoed through the fields and it created the feeling that she was all alone, and that no one is coming to save her. 

Here are some of the key words which we were trying to include when creating our thriller opening. These words are mostly from my idea in the very beginning but the words are close to some things we decided to do for our final Thriller Opening.

Here are some things which a director might decide to use when creating a Thriller Opening. I thought this would be effective because it made me understand what I might need to include.

Before we started to plan our thriller opening we watched different films to help us decide on different camera shots: such as close-ups, long shot, over the shoulder shots and noddy shots, transitions, locations and lighting. Also it helped us in creating the right plot for our ‘Thriller Opening’ this is because we would be able to see which plots make the audience more hocked. The titles of the thrillers we watched were ‘The Happening’, ‘Memento’, ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘Psycho.’ The reason why I think watching these films helped us decide on what to film was because it provided different evidence to the movie without giving the story and this is something we wanted to achieve when filming. 

Here are some of the other films which we watch and what there opening’s looked like. I thought these ones were the best because they contained a lot of different techniques:

Question 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think that this thriller opening is aimed for teenagers. The reason is because it has a message behind it not go out on their own. So although it is designed to scare people, we want to prepare them as well. I also think that thriller openings are also meant to provide people with the information that someone has been killed but without giving away to many details. We can also tell that the audience would be able to infer that the characters are a male and female (female is the victim, and the male is the killer) when it comes to watching thriller films the audience can realise that most of the victims are female, which gives of the expression that women can not look after themselves and also end up in trouble. This can be seen as stereotyping as women are not always the ones who wide up dead. Because we have kept the mask on his face covering his identity it is designed to confuse the audience to make them wonder who he really is, and if he is a male or a female.

Question 3.

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

The intuition I thought best fitting our thriller opening is Hammer Film production; this is because they are designed to create Thriller films with a twist to them. Although the Hammer Film productions are known for horror films they are also known for doing thriller films such as ‘Tomb', 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and many more. In May 1957 the Hammer Film Productions produced and created a film called ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’ and once this had been released it made stars out of all the cast and the crew, because they were seen as usually and different from other films which were being released around the same time. Because they are well known for the Horror films they have created over the years, I think that asking them to help produce our film would help make the film/opening better and also make it a success.

They are also known for creating the thrillers 'Skulls’, 'The Woman In Black’, 'The Nanny', 'Hysteria' and many more. They are also a good production to have because they leave you on your toes because you don’t always see what is going to happen next. The Hammer Film Production have been known for creating the best horror films around, names such as The Black Widow, Frankenstein, Dracula, The curse of the mummy’s. When creating our thriller opening we had to make sure that it looked realistic and didn’t have anything which wouldn’t seem possible contained in it. The reason why I think this is because having a film which is non-realistic makes the audience lose the concentration, resulting in the film not being very popular with the public. Another, reason why I think this is because when you contain something non-realistic you have to make sure that it fits in with make ground. Using graphics can make a thriller opening look worse depending on how good the graphics are; if the graphic are good then the image looked like it is really appearing on the screen. However, if it isn’t then you can see the different layers in the scene. This would provide a poor quality film which is what you don’t want to have when trying to make millions, so using a variety of different techniques means there will be more of a variety of people watching it because they enjoy it more.

Another production which might be used is ‘Universal’ this is because they do a variety of different films which have made an impact into the film industry, they are known for creating films such as: ‘The Thing’, ‘The Wolfman’ and ‘The Invisible Man’ and many more. The reason why I think this might be a better studio to have when making my thriller opening into a film. Because, they are used to creating films which are designed to fit different peoples styles.  

Question 4.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When I look back at everything I did over the course of planning and filming for my thriller opening, I came to understand that this opening would be better suited for someone who thinks they are independent and can take care of themselves. Possible young adults or females, the reason why I think this is because they are coming to the age when they need to know what can happen in the world. Because it links back to the original link that women are seen as the victims and men are seen as the killers.  

From looking at the website ‘BBFC’ the reason why I decided to do this is to fine out what regulation I need to keep to when deciding the age group for our thriller opening. After some reading I decided that our thriller opening should be a ’15.’ The reason why I have decided this is because it provides enough evidence to show that a murder is taking place, but it is also designed to effect people psychology, linking it to young adults going for a walk and never making it back home.

I looked at the guidelines for under 15, and along as it does not have a lot of bad language to it, it is seen as ok for children to watch it. I think this is a good age for my thriller opening; this is because it means people can still watch it without watching having to worry about breaking the law

When looking at my questionnaire I have realised that different people have different views on what a ‘Thriller Opening’ should contain, and I managed to get all around the same age group which was 16/17 to help make it easier show what peoples taste in film is now. I also managed to ask someone younger to see what they are thinking, and how their difference in age

Once I had completed the questionnaire, I decided to ask 20 people to answer it. This is because I thought it would provide more of an accurate answer. I also made sure that most of the people who filled out my questionnaire were around the same age this is because they were my target audience, and I wanted to see what their opinion of a thriller opening would be. Here are the results I got when I did a review on each question:

The reason why I decided to put our thriller opening as a 15 is because it contained dangerous behaviour and some seen of violence as the man pins the victim to the floor.  Although, I do not have many features in the ‘Thriller opening’ which make people fear for their lives.

I have to make to keep to the law when looking at different age groups when working with the ‘BBFC.’ For our thriller opening I would be expecting people who like thriller films to be watching it more, and also I would want to see younger to see it because it would begin to inform people of the dangers of walking in the dark on your own. I think this is the main output which I wish to contain when making my thriller; this is because it is based on a young girl walking around on her own and getting killed by someone who she didn’t know.

Question 5.

How did you attract/ address your audience?




Once we had finished our thriller opening we decided to put it onto you tube this is so everybody can see what our thriller opening is like. This will hopefully let more people watch it. I also decided to upload it to Facebook in a chance to get to post their views on it and what we could have done to improve. I will be posting these reviews on my blog at a later date. Before we finished making and designing our thriller opening we got some positive feedback about the storyline, and that it fitted together good. This means that people should hopefully like the rest of the thriller opening now it is complete.

One of the ways I tried to attract the audience was to make different camera shots which would relate to different things and emotions. An example of this is the scene where Hayley is lying on the floor; we thought this would be a good time to use a close up because it would make the opening seem more realistic. We thought this would make the film

seem better because it was relating to the moral which we wanted to show people, and it also created more of suspense for the audience because you want tot know what happens to the young girl. Another scene which we thought was effective was the mid shot; we used this to show the murdered about to kill the young girl. The reason why I like this shot is because it provides us with the first proper image of the killer and what his indentations are.

Question 6.

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

I learned that there are a lot of different techniques which can be used to make my media project better. The Imovie worked with making  and creating all of the piece of film and put them all together until they made our finished product. Here are the different technologies which I used to complete my thriller opening:

- Blogger – I used this to show all the research I had done on thriller openings and the different genres. This all helped in making our thriller opening the best it could be. I found this useful because it provided me somewhere to post all my information which i had collected throughout the course.

- You tube – I decided to look at different thriller genres to see what things are used when make a thriller opening I found this effective because it also helped me when thinking of the music I needed to include when deciding.  I also showed me what conventions I might use when filming.

- Facebook – I thought about putting our thriller opening onto ‘Facebook’ because it would provide people with the chance to look at it and leave their views about it, it also would give us the audience feedback to what they thought what went good and what didn’t go well.

-   Cameras and Video Cameras – This provided us with the evidence on the process during the filming stage. When taking photos this helped us decide if the setting was right and also if the lighting was right.

- Imovie – When editing I found this really usefully because everything was clear and it also helped make our ‘Thriller opening’ and provide the transitions and conventions it needed.

- IDVD – This was used when burning the movie onto a disc, this was something I found useful because it gave us the opportunity to create a title page for the opening.

What I think I learnt over the course of the product was different editing skills; some examples of this are transitions. This meant I could create different effects when joining and making the film continue. I also liked learning that different effects work in different ways, and this is one skill which I enjoyed learning.  

During the filming process, I found out that positioning the camera in different places could provide more of an effect then just having it straight. It also provided me with the opportunity to see the different camera shots and help put them into play when filming. We also had to make sure that when filming we had to keep the camera in the same position until we had finished that scene, this is because it would make the scenes seem to different if the camera had moved. So therefore, we tried to keep the scene continuous without making it look to obvious.

I have learnt in developing my editing and filming skills, this is because working with the Macs helped me understand what goes on when filming a movie and the process to make the movie complete. If I’m honest, I found some of the editing difficult and it just makes you realise what’s goes in to making a movie. My filming skills have improved because I can learn to ‘Pan’ more smoothly which made some of the filming more effective then others, I have improved when it comes to transitions and also editing the movie together.  Hopefully, these skills will show when looking at my finished thriller opening.

What I found most difficult was the credits; this is because we could not make them work as well as we wished them to in the beginning. But hopefully this will make the ‘Thriller opening’ better. I learnt the skill of importing different music and sounds had a big effect on the making of the film, because it helped to make the scene just a little more effective then it might not have been without the sound.