Review on Questionnaires.

Review

In this post i am going to be reviewing the answers i got when 20 people answered my questionnaire. I will be going through each question and analysing what they put and seeing if i can uses these things in my final product the 'Thriller Opening.' Because i asked 20 people to fill in my questionnaire my answers will be more reliable, therefore i can get a better view on what to include in my Thriller Opening.

Question 1: Are you male or female?

For this question i tried to asked equal amounts of girls and boys, this is because they might have different tastes to the other gender. I didn't want to make my results biased so by asking equal amounts of people i was more likely to get a variety of results.

Question 2: How old are you?

Here i wanted to ask different age groups, but i mostly got between the ages of 16 and 18, i think this is a better age group to look at because people who are younger don't watch as many films as people who are older. I did however get one younger person to fill out this questionnaire he was between the age of 12 to 14, i did this to make my results more fair and to show that i wasn't just making my friends answer the questionnaire.

Question 3: What genre of films do you prefer to watch?

For this question i got more of a variety of answers, the most popular answer was 'Comedy' this was because they enjoyed laughing and smiling and they also liked seeing someone making jokes to an audience. The next most popular was 'Action' this was because people like something which they can really enjoy and also feel like they are getting involved. I found out from my results that less people liked 'Horror' and 'Thrillers' then i thought, the reason why i thought most people who like this is because it gives them something where they can feel scared and alone, but seeing that this was the leased popular really did shock me.

Question 4: What do you do in your free time?

Another result that shocked me was that more people like 'Reading' then doing there hobbies, this might be because they like losing themselves in a book and also like being able to escape our world into something that seems better.  The next more popular was 'Anything' and 'Other' i didn't expect this answer because i thought people who be hanging out with friends, or doing something they like doing not anything.

Question 5: If you had to chose what would your favourite film be?

From this answer i got many different films from 'Black Hawk Down' to 'Finding Nemo.' I found when looking at my results that two matched 'Jaws' i thought this was different because everybody likes different things and i didn't expect to find any that matched but i did, which just makes my results more interesting.

Question 6: What genres do you dislike watching?

For this one i found out that most people don't like watching 'Horror' films, this surprised me because i thought most people enjoyed watching these films. From these results i can connote that people don't like to be scared as much as they might say they do. The next one i found people don't like watching are 'Romance' films this might be because it reminds them of an ended relationship or they just don't like the story lines. From my results i found out that most of the people who disliked watching 'Romance' films were boys.

Question 7: What would you ideal opening to a Thriller be?

From this i found out that most people thought a 'Thriller' movie consisted of creepy music, eerie locations and murders happening, but has a twist involved. I thought this questions would be answered this way because everybody puts a haunted house into the 'Thriller/Horror' genres.

Question 8: What film stars do you like watching?

From this i found out that most people enjoyed watching 'Will Smith' this surprised me because i didn't think people would enjoy watching him, but from these results i come to see that most people do like his work.

Question 9: What films have you seen more than once?

Most people for this answer answered 'Hot Fuzz' this is because it is a film made to make people laugh, and also to make you worried about what is happening. I found that people had watched a lot of different films, some i have not heard of before, but it is nice to see people have different styles of films too.

Question 10: Do you pay attention to age related films? If yes what stops you from watching them?

Most of the answers to this question was 'No' the only person who said yes was the person who was age 12 to 14. I wasn't really surprised that all these people don't listen to the age related film guidelines, this is because they like something which might make them feel more grown up. And for 'Horror' films it gives them more of a scared and makes them jump more then a film which was suitable for them.

Question 11: If you answered No, why do you ignore them?

Most people in this question answered by saying 'They looked good' or 'Parents don't mind.' I think that films that are made for the older children do look better, and if you have parents who don't mind then i'm not surprised people watch films like that. But i do think that they should be followed in some ways more than others, this is because they are put there to make sure we don't get to scared and to prevent us from being told something before it happens. 

Questions 12: What are your favourite Thriller plots?  

Most people guessed that a Thriller movie was something that 'Scares you, involves murder, monsters and dieing.' Something else which is included in a Thriller which no one guessed was the 'Confussion' of something or someone. For example, the film Donnie Darko is ment to keep people on there toes, but is also ment to confuse you because it involves time travel..

Conclusion:

Overall, i think that i have found that all the questions were asked fully and were to the best people could answer. Something i could have inproved on was the questions, i could have added more questions and made it easier for people to follow.

Props

For our Thriller opening we decided not to use that many props, this was because a Thriller opening is about what a person feels not about how many props they have. However, we did use some props for example, a mobile phone, a plastic bag and two police files. We also used a scarf which was used to cover the body. To make the shape we used rope, this was so Hayley could still work the camera.   

This is a photo of the two police files that Hayley made. She thought adding the words 'Confidential' in big red writing would add effect and make the files look important. She added the letters 'CASE: 00-172' which showed the case number the detectives were working with. Inside the files Hayley added photos of us, this is where we added the credits. We will used the Mac's to make the writing appear. 

This is the mask we used in our Thriller opening. Jack's mum made this out of an old sheet, remembering to cut out eye and month holes. As we inspired our idea from 'The Strangers' we had to make sure ours was different to make sure that it wasn't see as copyright. Also, we hoped that the mask would make the audience ask questions such as, 'why's he hiding his identity from the audience ?' Overall, I think that the mask helped in making our thriller better, this is because nothing is as it seems.

We also used a phone and a bag to place it in for the effect of finding evidence. We thought the bag worked well, we decided to write the date and what case the murder was, which made it more effective. We thought this was a good prop to use as when evidence is found at a murder scene they placed in a bag for safe keeping, and to make sure the evidence doesn't get lost.

Final Shooting Script

1. Black screen - The phone call is taking place
2. Mid shot of the detectives looking over the dead girls body
3 Close up of a file opening - also over the shoulder shot
(at the this point the credits will be shown with pictures of the character)
4. Extreme close up of the girls phone - receiving a text message  'You're dumped'
5. Pan shot of the girl walking round the corner
6. Mid shot of the girl walking passed the building
7. Close up of the girls phone in a bag 
(detectives speech 'what are we working with here?'
8. Mid shot of the girl walking down the path
(the camera zooms into the girl so she's centre of the screen)
9. Mid shot of the masked man grabbing the girl
(girl screams and gets pulled to the ground)
10. Close up of more files as Detective Freebury hands Detective Coley the file
(shows their pictures for then more credits to fit in) - another over the shoulder shot
11. Close up of the girls reaction
(the masked mans POV shot)
12. Close up of the masked man coming towards the girl
(the girls POV shot)
13. Ends as a black screen.

To make our Thriller opening different we thought that 'Flashbacks' would be a good way to split the film up. We decided to use 'Flashbacks' to separate the two detectives talking and then Hayley (Laura) walking down the road and being murdered. We thought this would be a good effect because you would be getting a story, but it would not be showing enough to give the idea way.

Shooting Script.

Shooting Script

Beginning (Detectives talking):

-          The screen is black, where Jack will be talking, through a phone.

-          Mid shot of the detective talking over the body.

-          Extreme close up of the credits, (which are the files with our names in.)

-          Over the shoulder shots, of both peoples reactions.

Hayley’s Scene (At night):

-          Extreme close up of Hayley’s phone.

-          Long shot of Hayley walking down the road (round one corner)

-          Mid shot of Hayley walking past the building (Jack pops out of the building)

-          Long shot of Hayley walking down the path.

-          We don’t stop filming here because we wanted it to look as smooth as possible.

-          We tried to use a point of view shot here from Jack view, the reason why we didn't do my reaction is because we didn't want to break the 180 degree rule.

Extra things we filmed:

-          Hayley filmed a plane going passed (For the sound)

-          Hayley recorded an old gate movie (So we can place it in the movie)

-          We recorded the phone call so we can make a Non-Digetic Sound.  

Narrative script for our thriller opening.

Jack hangs up the phone leaving the beeps..

Detective scene

D1: Who was she?
D2: Don't you remember?

Pause and hands D1 the file containing imformation about the girl

D2: Laura Robinson, three suicide attempts last month
D1 : I doubt that was the case here though

D2: What are we working with?

There is a pause before D2 passes file back to D1
D1: Holds up bag with the girls phone in

D1: The murder took place around 4, due to a message she received on her phone
D2: Which would explain why she was out here alone

D1 and D2 look at each other

D1: Do you think it was him?

D1 hands file to D2

D2: It looks like his work

D2 hand file back to D1

Costumes for our thriller opening.

Costumes for our thriller opening.



Hayley's costume:



As a group we came up with the idea that the victum (which was Hayley) should be wearing casual clothes which was joggers and a top. We thought the coat added to the tension because she was outside on her own wondering down an abandoned road.

We hope that the audience agree that Hayley looked like she was just a normal girl. And didn't think anyone else would go out after her.  

Costumes for our thriller opening.

Costumes for our thriller opening.

Toni's costume.

 

My main role in this thriller was a detective, the reason why we had done this is because we wanted to make sure everybody had a role in the short opening.

 

The same dress code was used for both me and Jack. Underneath my coat i was wearing a white top with a black shirt over the top. I was also wearing a pair of black trousers. The reason why we did this was to make it look like our roles were not to be messed with and that we had power.  

 

Costumes for our thriller opening.

Costumes for our thriller opening.

Jack's costume: Costume 2.

For the second role which Jack had to do was a Detective. For this we decided a smart costume with black trousers and a white shirt and tie.

We hope that the audience realise that he is someone important and they come to respect him.

                           

Costumes for our thriller opening.

Jack's costume: costume 1.

Jack will be dressed all in black with a white mask placed over his head revealing his mouth and eyes. This makes us wonder who he really is underneath. As a thriller is based at night we hope that the white mask will stand out which would hopefully creative a tension on the target audience.

The white mask is used to hide his identity from the audience and the girl he murders. We've inspired this costume from the film 'The Stangers' but tried to make the storyline and mask different from the actual film. We wanted something which would scare people. 

Roles for our thriller opening.

Roles for our thriller opening.

Acting roles:Murder scene:
Jack: The murderer (masked man)
Hayley: Girl that gets murdered

Camera roles:

Murder scene:
Toni on camera as she's not in this scene
Investigation scene:
Hayley on camera for this scene
Phone scene:
Hayley will be talking through the phone and hearing Jack

Location for our thriller opening.

Location for our thriller opening.

Our thriller opening is going to be set in Morton fen, this is because it is the best place to go where no one will interupt up.

We chose this because there is an abandoned  building with a creepy/thriller look to it. And no one has used it in a long time so we don't have to worry about people walking through when we are filming.

Also, it is in the middle of nowhere so the surrounding consists of fields and a straight road. Which will work with the idea of the thriller opening.

As half our thriller will be set at night the location will be more realistic for a thriller film. This is becase when it is dark all the sounds will make the thriller just more spooky.

Our Storyboards and Idea's

 

Final idea storyboard.

Idea 1 storyboard.

Idea 2 storyboard.

Idea 3 storyboard.

Our FInal Idea For Media.

Final Idea!

After we had presented our presentation to the rest of the class, most of our feedback was very good. The class like two of our ideas, ( 1 and 3) and after this we decided to mix  these to together because we liked things from both of them.

Starting it off:

Once we had a idea in mind we decided to think about how we would start it off, here is our idea:
 - The scene would start with black
- Then it would fade into the picture of Jack (Killer) on the phone (old red pay phone)

- A girl running (Hayley)

-A masked character (Jack)

-Two criminal detectives (Jack, Toni)

Costume:
- Smark suits/skirt and blazer (detectives)

- A whitemask with eyes and smile cut out with black clothes so he blends into the background

- Casual clothing for the girl going to be a dark mise en scene. So the clothing here doesn't really matter. But we might make it seem like she is going for a job or something.

Props:
- Police files (for the credits)

- Pens

-Knife?

Soundtrack:

Hayley thought that these lyris from the film 'The Strangers' made people feel on edge and want to know whats happening next. Here are the lyrics:

'There is someone walking behind you, watching your footsteps, turn around, look at me'

Questionnaire

This is a Questionnaire to show different peoples views on different genres. The reason why I am doing this is because I am currently in the middle of planning a thriller opening scene. I would appreciate if could put a tick next to the answer which suits you the best. If there is more then one answer please tick more. 

1-     Are you male of female?

Female
Male

2 – How old are you?

12 < 14
14 < 16
16 < 18
18 < 20

3 – What genre’s of films do you prefer to watch?

Horror
Thriller
Romance
Action
Adventure
Comedy
Sci Fi

4 – What do you do in your free time?

Read books
Watch films
Anything
Hobbies
Musical instruments
Other

5 – If you had to chose what would your favourite film be?

6 – What genres do you dislike watching?

Horror
Thriller
Romance
Action
Adventure
Comedy
Sci Fi

7 - What would your ideal opening to a Thriller be?

8 – What film stars do you like watching?

9 – What films have you seen more than once?

10 – Do you pay attention to age related films? If yes what stops you from watching them?

11 – If you answered No, why do you ignore them?

12 – What are your favourite Thriller plots?