this is the media preliminary i worked on with James Dench, Jake Fox and John Hughes

evaluation of a preliminary task

Evaluation of prelim task

My original preliminary was a video I did with Jake Fox, James Dench and John Hughes. Here is a link to the channel the video is hosted on youtube-www.youtube.com/user/plato503

While the preliminary task went quite well there were some minor continuity errors and schedule clashes. The most notable continuity error is halfway through when my character the runner is running up the stairs and halfway there my trousers change, the reason for this is that on the second day of shooting it was “jeans for genes day” where students give a pound to charity in return for being able to wear jeans for the day. Another minor continuity error is that Jake Fox loses his sunglasses in the second scene he’s in due to him sitting on the earlier in the day. On the first day of shooting we had some minor problems due to James having to leave early for a science lesson.

The great strength of the preliminary task is that it was very straightforward and in the end did what it was supposed to. It got finished on time with a minor amount of complications. I learned from this task that it takes a lot of shots before you have what you really want but that it’s worth it when you put the work in. if  I could do it all again I would make very few changes but I would re-shoot several scenes for continuity also I would want to re-shoot any scenes that use the dolly for the camera because they didn’t turn out as well as they could.

summary of the thriller genre

Summary of the thriller genre

Often confused with the horror genre the thriller genre contains many of the same elements as the horror genre meaning to scare. But where horror focuses on the unreal and the frightening thrillers prefer to focus on the tension and excitement inherent to some plots. More often than not the thriller genre draws from reality in a way that makes one think “this could really happen to me.” The most well known thriller sub genre is crime usually involving hostages or murders the idea will usually be based around one character trying to thwart a villain. Many thrillers are psychological both in storyline and how they deal with the audience. The films will use music, lighting and effects more than story events in order to interest the audience.

Of course the genre has many sub genres that use different events, storylines and techniques in order to thrill their audience.

·                    Conspiracy thriller usually political directed at certain groups meant to make a point or expose something the writer thinks is going on.

·                    Crime thriller usually follows single characters who work within the law forced to make ifficult decisions contains many similar aspects to psychological thriller

·                    Erotic thriller romantic or risqué in someway usually just old romantic stories retold to fit the genre

·                    Legal thriller most plots revolve around justice being done despite the attempts of the defendant to sway the opposing defense usually through money or violence

·                    Psychological thriller usually void of action until the conclusion in which two characters face each other over emotional or psychological grounds rather than physical ones. Meant to psychologically effect the audience as well as the characters.

·                    Supernatural thriller uses things outside th

·                    Action thriller: In which the hero confronts dangerous adversaries, obstacles, or situations which they must conquer, normally in a violent or suspenseful manner. Usually these films are less like thrillers in that they are just other genres like horror or romance retold in order to fit the thriller genre.

“...Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job.”

James patterson 2006

conventions of a thriller opening

Conventions for the opening of a film

I have learned by watching the opening sequences to several thrillers such as Donnie Darko and Sleepless that the opening must set the scene but also keep the audience in the dark. This is the main setup for the plot so it must keep the audience tense. The music or indeed any audio must keep with the visual and be very tense and usually has a fast tempo to heighten the drama. In such films as the happening classical music is used making the film seem intelligent but many films choose to use unconventional instruments like a Theremin in order to make an odd sound that knocks the audience into a state of slight shock.

Most camera shots in an opening sequence will be unconventional usually not even establishing a clear plot or storyline. These sequences will usually be altered in order to disturb the audience removing them from their comfort zone using footage of perhaps everyday events which has been sped up or darkened or contrasted in order to create a psychological effect. When the story begins the camera will usually revert to a normal state following specific characters or objects. The mise en scene in most thrillers is a normal town or city somewhere with lots of ordinary people the purpose of this is to add an element of realism to the initial setting so that whatever incidents occur throughout the rest of the plot the audience remains with an idea of this could happen to me. Usually the films target audience is linked directly to the setting for instance if I wanted to use a film to send a message to hundreds of people in a specific area of the country I would base my film there and then make sure it was known that the events of the film affected everyone in that territory.

a short analysis of conventions found in various films that i wrote about a while ago and had to dig out of the school computers

Uploaded homework

Reasoning of chosen idea

The main reason for our choice of the first idea was the apparent difficulty that recording idea two and the lack of thrilling material in idea three. Idea one in short was the most realistic in terms of completion using set and actors. Although it was easier to adapt this script to the lack of set and props we were faced with I would have to say that it is the most plot driven of our ideas due to the good writing and use of powerful narration story and ideas.

Idea number one was also the most popular overall when presented to the class (teens and avid media boffins who fit our target market.)

250 word treatment

The original proposal for the opening has been changed a lot to make it what it is now. Most changes have mainly been made during editing. The first of the three proposals originally entitled looking for vengeance was mostly point of view shots from the main character. A single piece of audio was set to be present throughout the entire piece namely loud heartbeats coupled with heavy breathing. The point of view shots follow the character through his experiences after an encounter with a dangerous enemy. His experiences are mixed as his memories aren’t correctly ordered and he switches between what is happening and what has happened.

The second idea originally entitled police protection was planned to be a crime thriller starting with two guards in a maximum security prison watching over a high priority inmate who has turned himself in for protection. As they talk a man is seen entering the prison who is then spotted on a monitor the guards have on the cell of the prisoner. As the guards run to save him we see the inmate being threatened by the unknown man.

The third and final idea was also a crime thriller. The instrument revolved around a detective with special deductive abilities investigating a single crime scene profiling the criminal responsible and then realizing that something bigger is going on.

Record shoot details

There were two days of shooting the first of which I was unable to be there for. The advantage to having the camera on the Friday was that it gave us extra shooting time over the weekend. So I arrived on the second day of shooting. The shooting of the main sequence went very well the only major problem we had was the fact that our piece was meant for recording during hours of dusk which limited the amount of shooting time we had before things became unable to shoot. We managed to get all the footage we need in the bag before then though. A major problem we face right now in editing as I see it is that certain people in our group have opposing opinions. While John and I believe there are too many point of view shots to cap off the film successfully Zander believes that we can carry the film with the footage we have now. We solved this problem by developing two initial cuts of the film on two different computers which sometimes presented problems due to one computer being used during lessons when Zander wasn’t there so we couldn’t review the work he had done.

I apologise for the lack of work put up recently I am uploading this at a cafe with free wifi I was unable to Upload anything over the holiday and will be unable to upload anything once at home.

I would also like to place my finished studio ident here it was made from various of the old design and then was redesigned with the help of john hughes suggesting the colour as it would appeal more and set the mood of the thriller

i hope the animation still shows...

more soon if I am able to find it

revised questionare

In order to properly ascertain our target market and give ourselves something to work for while editing I have revised our questionare in order to pin down out target market and will be putting up the results soon.

1. What is your favourite movie genre?

·         Thriller

·         Horror

·         Drama

·         Comedy

·         Crime

2. What do you see in the opening of a movie that you enjoy?
3.  If you had to choose a Thriller sub-genre what would it be? Crime-Thriller, Psychological-Thriller

4. If you had to choose, what would be your favourite Thriller movie?
5. What do you like about that movie? I.e. the tension it creates.
6. What setting do you think is best for a high tension thriller?
7. Have you ever stopped watching a movie after 5 minutes? If ‘Yes’ why?
8. What in the opening to a Thriller would keep you asking questions?

9. Give your age?

10. Your status (lower class/middle class/upper class)?

11. Do you like intelligent well thought out films?

13. Do you like foreign films?

14. What is your favourite type of music?

15. What was the last film you watched?

16. What was the last thriller film you watched?

17. What did you like about it?

18. What did you not like about it?

19. Do you like films with lots of effects?

20. What type of effect do you prefer?

In other news John and I will be confronting Zander on the lack of shots other than POVs as we think it leaves much to be desired. I will be confronting him in his media lesson today as John is preoccupied.

prelim

although our prelim was finished ages ago I am only now uploading the link to the youtube channel it can be found at. Look for the Morris conspiracy for the preliminary task I accomplished with my original group of Jake Fox, John Hughes and James Dench
www.youtube.com/user/plato503