My Final Evaluation

Opening Thriller Evaluation

Massie Road

In order to make a successful opening sequence a lot of planning had to take place. We started off with preparing a pitch, looking at the Mise-en-scene, and different camera angles, movement and positions. Through the beginning of the thriller period I realized there many types of thrillers and are sub-genres like romantic thriller, legal thriller, spy thriller and the list continues!

So when it came to planning of our thriller, this time round I realized the importance of it from doing our preliminary task I took a wide look at the different openings of some of the thrillers we studied. One of these strongly influenced us in the creating of our thriller and you can see the influence it has had on our original thriller. For instance, when the strange looking child randomly appears and disappears, spooking the young girl. This was The Shining, when the little boy is riding on a bike and the two twins flash at half second with a thunder of music. I found this part of the clip alarming but intrigued to know what is going on.

However this wasn't easily dealt with we had to look at the conventions of thriller movie openings and discuss whether we wanted to introduce the character or begin with an establishing shot. Once my group looked at conventions shown in different suspenseful thrillers, and spoke about what kind of affect they could have on the audience and the type of atmosphere we wanted to convey.

We were able to develop such openings like the Collateral (by Michael Mann's)

This opened with introducing their two major players in a busy airport. The special thing about this opening was that the location had a normal atmosphere and the scenario given was in fact common. However we know as an audience that something is going to happen, but What, Is the question we are left with unanswered. It isn’t until we follow the scene through that the narrative is later discovered.

From looking at the conventions shown in the Collateral we were able to apply the natural but curious atmosphere to the beginning of ours, by placing the girl (Louise) in a natural setting (a house) and walk within the urban back roads of Hackney. This again was a common scenario however I believe it would leave the audience with an unsettling mind because they are also hearing the words from the radio as well as following the girls every movement.

I believe the home in which the girl (Louise) lives is significant which is why we first open up with an establishing shot of the estate and a close up of the level floor she is lives on. I think the type of built the estate is and the area in which we are in Hackney displays that she probably lives in a council estate and is of working class. I think her race and the postcode help defend this and create a typical stereotype known within this area. I also think that her coming of a red bendy bus on back roads is also representative to our viewers that we are in the area of London and the type of social group she belongs too. 

I knew that in order to create a successful thriller it wasn't just important to just think about the film but how we could also distribute it. I had to think about how I would promote my group’s movie and get it distributed in its most convenient way. Through some research you are able to pick up on how many Londoners watch TV dramas and films. They are attracted to TV film because it is easy and free access to all viewers regardless of class, ethnicity or personal circumstance.

Many people also have surround system now so that there's no need to go in to the cinema. I also found out that families find it more convenient to come home after work and not have to worry about the kids and watch something that they can relate to but still find unpredictable and breathtaking, this is what I consider our opening thriller fulfils very well. For it is based in a common part of East London, down the road from the popular Hackney Empire Theatre and isn't like many media products that appear on TV all based around Middle and Upper Class. But instead shows the other communities in London of working class, in a common home with a character living a common lifestyle. I reckon if we distributed our product amongst the British population and advertised it well within London we would have a greater number of viewers if we published it as Channel 4 film for example rather than trying to publish it as a Hollywood blockbuster.

Concerning the way in which we would like our media product to be distributed we know roughly what type of audience we would also want it to appeal to. This is why I believe the character we selected is important because she is not a famous actress with a high reputation but someone who is unknown and more likely to be stereotyped straight away. This in relation to the thriller corresponds well because the girl (Louise) is stereotyped in this film as innocent and young, giving the impression that she is naive and venerable with less importance because of her race. Such topics like stereotypes, reality in London, and working class lives is what would have been addressed within the rest of the film. 

For instance our female character that is unnamed at in the opening is perceived as a young adult, around the ages of 17-19 years, possibly in her last year of college or taking part in some sort vocational subject. She may appear to be interested in fashion, socializing with her friends, hence why she is always out of the house and in many cases just enjoying her youthful days. This then opens up our audience to a larger capacity of viewers ranging from 13 - 50 years of age. The younger audience could possibly relate themselves to the character and her life style, whereas the thriller may open up the older generations mind to what their children or grandchild could be getting up to and going through.

To produce an intriguing, advertisement for the promotion of my media product, I would start by cutting up the most alerting and gripping shots, gelling them together to create a movie trailer. The trailer should still keep the main character as the audience’s centre of attention, drawing up on significant themes in opening like the postcode and the keys.

Trailers like such would be displayed as an advertisement on channels like the BBC and channel 4. I think an important thing to keep in mind when doing the trailer is to also have a voice that sounds young to attract the younger audience as well as appear friendly.

However even with a genial tone, I think it is important that a male does the voice over because it still may inflict a tense atmosphere as he speaks. Especially because my thrillers not a Hollywood type film, I would recommend it to also be advertised in TV Guides and magazines etc. I think this would be any easier and social way or creating a bridge between the movie and the audience, as our audience is more likely to read newspapers and magazines to catch up on any latest releases that are British based.

During my time of creating the media product I was able to experiment with the apple equipment. I wasn’t given a specific responsibility like people do have in the Movie industry but I was able to assist my group members in finishing the soundtrack, re-editing shots and alternate in filming. Sadly due to lack of trust and three big personalities in my group, as well as the screen not being wide enough for us to all sit at. It meant that most occasions someone would be left to observe and give verbal constructive criticism then practical help. However even with my experiences of being on the side I was still able to have a good understanding of the equipment and software used. I would also attend extra workshops so that the time my group did spend in discussion or argument we would catch up on it as a group t make sure there was still continuous progress.

I had an interesting experience using Final Cut Pro because in the beginning it wasn’t very easy to grasp, even though we practiced using this software on our preliminary task, when we began to use the software again it was only then when I started to get the hang of things. Making it easier to know what to do when logging and capturing all of our necessary bits for the opening. Once things like this was out the way and we had clear running sequence, we was able to edit it using features like cross-dissolve making the transitions from one shot to another shot smooth.

When creating the credits we used the software Live Type. In my opinion we spent a lot of time on the credits because as time went on we realized that our narrative wasn’t clear and that having busy detailed credits can distract the audience and create a change in atmosphere. Once the credits were created edited with the cross fading tool so that it ran as a part of the opening and not seen as two separate sections with Credits and Film. Another area that I was able to work on was the soundtrack we did this on Soundtrack Pro, were we went through a variety of sounds and created different layers so that as a scene build up in tension this is reflected in music, making this particular scene effective along with other elements in the scene

Considering the meaning behind the preliminary task didn’t seem very evident to me, as we continued to edit our footage my eyes took notice to some jump shots we had and some match-cuts that never looked near perfect. So I then felt challenged positively to go and re-film in order to get the perfect match-cuts. My group and I did have to book the camera equipment a numerous amount of times in order to get good shots, because many a time we also forgot to keep in mind the 180° degree rule, which sadly did waste time. I learnt that you in order to make a successful match cut you must do it from different angles otherwise it will look like a jump shot.

Overall I am very happy with the outcome of out thriller opening, the end result was excellent and really just brought our plans to life. I also believe that it appeals to its target audience perfectly, as the main character is a teenager, a character a younger audience can relate to. The narrative is very effective as it allows an older audience to relate to the story. To some extent I also feel that our thriller is to some extent educational, as its reinforce the message like on the radio that young people are very vulnerable and should be more conscience about their where surroundings. Other then the creative match cuts and well angled shots, the effects used within our thriller help add to the atmosphere and creates suspense for the audience. For example when the stalker is behind the van and the shot is done in slow motion, we are able to see the girl from his point of view.