Director's Interview

Evaluation Of Thriller

A thriller is a suspenseful adventure story or play or movie.Thrillers have also been produce in the radio, theatre and television media. This genre is incredibly large and thrillers typically involve sudden plot twists and lots of red herrings. For example, keeping people unsure about what is going to happen. Some well known thrillers are 'The shining',Pyscho,Dejavu,The Hills Have Eye.

As part of my media coursework we had to create the opening of a thriller which lasted two minutes, including titles. This included decided what our thriller was going to be about, planning how we were going to film it and were , making a production timeline so we all knew when we had to film. 

The name of my Thriller is called ‘The Observer’ We chose this name as we think it connotes the theme of our thriller and was the best way of describing the thriller with out giving that much away. Our Thriller is about a girl that is being watched by someone given the hint of the title ‘Observer’. She has done something but thinks she has got away with it until she gets an anonymous email and someone has found out. She still thinks she has got away with it and runs out of the building until the person sees her and catches up with her.

Our thriller was set in the College, the reason for this was because it was easy for our group to meet there and if we needed to re-film anything we would have to travel. As it was set in a college the outfit that the actress wore was her everyday clothes. The actresses casual, up-to-date, trendy approach to fashion show that’s she is off a young/teenage age that’s has an eye for fashion. This shows that she could be of an age of a teenager and represent her as a college student.

 

Our group used a range of shot types from long shots, close ups, medium shots, point of view shot, high angle shot, low angle shot and some others . We also tracked the actress as she walks and runs down the corridor this is so the audience can follow the actress at her every move. In our film we used the effect of slowing down the walking as this would create an sense of slowness as she walked. As when we next see her in the corridor she is running this creates a contrast with the two shot as we see slow and fast action. To create the perfect sound track we had to use Soundtrack Pro where there Is a variety of sounds to choose from, our group chose sound from the orchestra section, were we used a string instrument to create tension with the music. There is also an organ playing in the background this contrasts with the violin with the deep organ and the high pitch of the violin creates a strange tensioning music. We also used a heart beat for when the actress had finish running and was heavy breathing therefore her heart would be pumping loudly. We used this non-diegetic sound because we wanted to audience to hear her heart.

I think a smaller studio would want to distribute our film as it is just set in a normal college using video cameras and is edited on an apple Mac. The reason for this is our film is very low budget and would attract a small range of people. The benefit with working with a smaller studio is that it would be cheaper for them to distribute and save a lot of money. Also as it is only going to be shown in the UK, we wouldn’t need such a big company to distribute it as it is going to be shown only in the country it was made in. I also think that it can be released over the internet on popular websites like YouTube or MySpace. This is because a lot of people use the internet everyday and would find it easier to access the newest and latest film genres

The audience for my thriller would be teenagers or young adults ages between 16 - 19 as the actress her self is in this age range. The sex of the audience doesn’t really matter as a thriller can be watched by any sex as long as it gets the audience attention as it is aimed to. It could also been aimed at working class people because the characters we chose our working class themselves and I think it they can relate to it better than any other class. It was generally made for people who found thrillers enjoyable and appreciate the fast pacing and complex plots associated with this genre.

We will attract the audience by the tension of our film and by the storyline. The soundtrack is very thrilling as it has a range of violins and organs mixed together to create tension. This will get the audience wanting to watch it as it gets there heart pumping. There is no dialogue in our film as we thought that we wouldn’t need it. As it might distract the viewers from the actually point of the storyline. The title of the thriller also gets the audience to think what the film is about as it is just called ‘The observer’ and its not letting nothing else out about it.

When using the Apple Macs at first I found them a bit tricky, but after using them a couple of times it became easier and after that I got the use of them. I have learnt about all the inputs you have to deal to create a successful film. From the planning, to the filming, to the editing and then to viewing the final piece. I have learnt a lot of things such as how to log and capture a film, put in the inputs and outputs, edit a film together and create a film. I have also seen that if a scene is not filmed right or the way you wanted you might have to go back and re-film it again, which might become a pain for the group. But its something you got to get over to make the film be exactly what you wanted.

The cameras were easy to use as I have work with them before so this I did not have no trouble with. The final cut pro program was difficult to use at first but with a lot of practising and playing with, you start to find out were things or and it becomes simpler. The soundtrack was the most fun part to work with as we could listen to a range of sounds and play around with it. I learnt how to make a soundtrack and mix all the sounds together to make a good soundtrack. This was very enjoyable.

When I first started the preliminary I was confident in what I was doing but not as confident as I am now. I have learnt how the plan and organise my work into a production line so the thing goes exactly to plan and to deal with anything that doesn’t go to plan, which may happen while filming. I have also learnt how to work effectively in a group with everyone putting there views in and creating a successful film. I also learnt to understand the genre of thriller a bit more and that it didn’t have to be scary but leave the audience wanting to no what happened next. I have gotten better at editing and filming and think that I have improved a lot with all the work we have done.

The Observer from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Editing Day 2

Today was the finally deadline for our films. We were ment to meet at lunch time to finish the soundtrack but speaking to efosa the day before, i had realised he had come in his spare time to start the soundtrack, however he didnt finish it all and needed the groups advice also.

The media suite were hetic everyone was trying to complete there work but our group was relax as we knew we had done the best that we could.

We listen to Efosa soundtrack and it was really good it fitted the clip perfectly but there was a few extra bits that could have been added so as a group we helped pick out some other sounds so that it could be a perfect as possible.

Now all we had to do after that was add the soundtrack to the film and then add the credits. Me and Ava done the credits the lesson before but were told that they looked a bit girly so as a group on our final editing day we create the credits as a group and put it in.

We then had to pick a name for our thriller there was the name we wanted from the beginning the 'The Unknown' or 'Anoymous' but in the end as a group we thought the best name was 'The observer'

Our film was finish everything was done to perfection. We even stuck to the deadline of 3pm for all the media thriller. Even though in our class the deadline was 4.30pm as it was our 3hour media lesson.

This was a great relief for our group we had completed it in the deadline, when we watched over what we had done and it all put together i was very pleased with the work which we all put in. As a group we worked well together there was minor issues that we got over and all in all it was a great success. I am also happy that i got to work with this group as they were a great team =] =] Hopefully we get good marks and the audience like it when we watch it at the cinema. =]

Editing Day 1

Today was our first editing day, all the group was in and that was a good thing. As everything was all loged and captured from previous lesson all we really had to do was find the best clips and point them together.

We had to make sure with the clips that they fitted correctly to the story that we was trying to tell. This took a lot of time as sometimes i would go out of focus during filming or laugh and we filmed it several times so we had to find the best frame and put it all together

In this lesson we had finished the editing and when we looked back at it, i was very proud of the work that we had all inputed to make this thriller.

As a group we had started to look at soundtracks that fit with the thriller, Me and Ava then decieded that we would go an create the credits for the movie while Efosa and Rebecca continue to look for the sound tracks and add the little extra effects that were needed to the footage e.g slowing down some bits.

So everything was on track and the group was doing there best that we could do. Hopefully we will finish by the deadline on friday. We was ment to be meeting at lunch to finish the soundtrack !!

Filming Day 5

Today was a great success, but unfortently our group member Ava couldnt make it because of a funeral. This was going to be our last filming day and for me the last day of wearing the same outfit i had been wearing for weeks on end.

We all met at around 10 but Efosa was there from 9.20 so that he could get the camera and finish logging and capturing what we previously done in the lesson the week before.

Me, Rebecca and Efosa had to think of how we was going to end the thriller to make it as most thrilling as possible so we done a series of different types of ending. One, was me falling and running, which didnt work because the drop looked to fake. I had to do a running scene which took forever as i had to do everything over and over again and this was beginning to annoy me as we wanted it to be perfect.

In the end we finally got what we wanted to do and fixed up all of the other stuff that we needed to. This was our final filming day we had completed it. It was the most exciting thing i had heard. I no longer had to wear the same outfit over and over again. It was our week hoilday so we had to wait to we came back to complete it. That would be our first editing day =]

Filming Day 4

Today was our fourth filming day, our deadline was getting closer and closer and we still had a little bit to do with the filming.

Efosa our directed had seen that there was some continuous errors, which we had made while filming. When he was re looking over what we had log and capture, and thought that it would be a good idea to polish up the little mistakes that we had made so that we could make the film to the best of out ability.

We also today had to think of how we was going to end our thriller, we had alot of thoughts in mind but just had to choose the perfect one.

Today was one of our short lesson and we couldnt fit everything we wanted in. We also didnt have a lesson on friday which was meant to be our other day. There was a media workshop on the monday in the half term that me and my group had all agree to come to hoping to finish our thriller and start with a bit of the editing.

Filming Day 2+3

Filming Day 2

Due to adverse weathers it wasn't possible for us to come to college because of the snow therefore this has slow our group down a lot with the filming as the college was close.

Day 3 

This was also not a good day for us, as the room which we normally film in was taken up by a class , this meant that we could not film once again. My group was getting very aggravated as the deadline was getting closer and closer and we had only filmed once. Our director of the film thought we should take this time to log and capture what we had filmed from day one.

First Day Of Filming

We started filming and it was a very fast pacing day. Our group couldnt film in the place which we wanted to film in which was the libary so we had to change the rooms and this ment we lost a couple of key shots we wanted but it had to be done. We also couldnt get the main character we wanted for the film as her timetable conflicted with our group, so i chose to be the main character as it would have been easier than waiting for someone.

Today, was a very fun days as it was the first day, we had a range of shots and as the main character i had to do the same thing over and over again which became very annoying but in the editing it will be good that i had done it. We got many different camera angles and point of views so it brings in the thrilliness about or short film.

We couldnt fulfil all the things we wanted to do today as we needed a email from an unknown address but was not able to set it up from college so someone has to set it up from home. So we would have to film that bit another day.

The day ran smoothly and was really fun, the director of our play help alot as he would not let us go without fulfilling it to our full potential and repeating it just incase we done anything wrong. It was a long day and stressful day but in the end work out to be a good day... :)

Thrilling Read + Pre Lim Thriller

Thrilling Read

Our task was to film someone reading a newspaper in a thrilling and exciting way. This act in itself isn't particularly thrilling; therefore we had to create an atmosphere of suspense and mystery through the choice of shot distance, choice of camera angle and movement of the camera.

We had to use a minimum of 12 shots in which to create this sense of mystery and suspense. We had to use Extreme close up, Point of view shot and an over the shoulder shot.

The camera work in our short film was to a good standard. The shot which i liked the most was the handheld camera shot. This is when we try to reinact a lift shaking. This clip was really good and effective as we added in special effects of the lights dimming and this create more tension of what going to happen when the lights come on.

A walking shot which we did, didn't really work as we was unable to do an successful match cut. This made it a bit messed up as we couldn't do it properly.

The editing of the film went well as most of our clips fitted together perfectly. The short film which we create did make sense as he whole plot of the film went well.

The mise en scene was an important part as our character didn't speak and it was all through the movement and the setting of the film. So this was an important part as it had to create the whole tension and effect of our thriller.

In our short film, we was able to create suspense in the ending. Leaving the audience questioning what had happen in the lift and what will happen next. The suspense was create with the way we filmed the film and planned it. Also with the camera movements and the effects we used also helped with the tension.

When filming we forget about the head rule - how much head space should be in a shot. We also forgot about the space rule about how much room should be in front and behind the person.

When making are real thriller we are going to use some of the handheld techniques which we learnt as it creates movement with the camera. Also, we would use the point of view shot and the over the shoulder shot.

I actually enjoyed this task as it was one of our first filming task in the year and we was able to create our own type of thriller, i found it very exciting and intresting.

Pre-Lim Thriller

Our task was to create a short clip using three particular shots types that where match cut, shot-reverse-shot and the correct knowledge of the 180 degrees rule. Also our clip had to involve two people having a conversation which each other.

This was our second practice task i think it all went very well. This clip worked particularly well as we all had a knowledge of the shots which were needed to be done.

Our group has grown alot from our first task to our second task as we know abit more about the camera and shots and are able to understand them abit more and how to film them the correct way. We have also learnt a new technique such as the 180 degree rule and we will have to keep this is mind when we our filming for our final film.

In our practise film the best shot i think which we used was the shot-reverse-shot as we could see each characters facial expression as they held a conversation. I also liked the match cut of when the character was at the door and then we see a shot from her coming in the door from the otherside this makes the audience able to see it from the other side and from inside the room.

The editing of the film when particular well but we had a few problems which was overcome easily and we knew not to make the mistakes again in the real thriller. The music we added to the short film was a good mix as it create the suspense feeling of the clip and let the audience wonder what is going to happen.

With the Mise en Scene there was a bit of a problem as we was using a classroom we didnt clear the other students bags and coats and you can see them in the film but when we do the real one we will make sure that are setting is tottaly clear the way we want it. Also we forgot about the head space rule of how much head space should be in the camera and this was an issue what we could not over come but will we certainly remember.

All in all it was a great day of filming and i really enjoyed it and had fun with my group with the editing.