Evaulation Questions 7, Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product?

Looking back at our preliminary task we can see the difference between that and our actual thriller film. After having processed and edited our preliminary task we come to learn of several mistakes that we had carried out which therefore made it a little less effective as it could have been but also made it good for us as we then knew what we would not do whilst shooting our actual thriller. These included playing back the scene we had just recorded in order to look at it but found that whilst uploading it onto the conputer and in the process of editing, it took a lot longer then expected as we had to do several things. It also included stopping and starting the camera everytime that we had shot one of our characters talking  meaning that we had to be very precise when editing it to make it flow as it sounded very unatural and planned. 

Whilst being in the process of filming a thriller, we have come across and learnt many new things. These simple skills include how to use the camera better therefore meaning being able to use the zoom in and zoon out button whilst recording. We also feel like we can use the camera in different ways in order to get different angles and views that we want so that we can maybe portray people in a certain way.

As said earlier, we can notice differences between our preliminary task and our thriller, 'The Decoy'. The differences between them are that we believe there is more imagination and thought in the thriller rather than the preliminary task.This is because in the preliminary task, we were given a set of vocabulary that could be exchanged between two characters just to give us an idea of what we could say, however as we were very new to the whole thing we just decided to use the vocabulary that we had been given. Whereas, in the thriller we come up with the very few vocabulary that has been used in it.

 Also, whilst watching the preliminary task through we realised that the shots we caught were not very strong and the actual filming was low. However, in the thriller we hav improved our filming and the shots that we have caught at a much higher level. 

If you look at the top image above which is taken from our preliminary task, you can see that the camera angle is not very good and isn't very straight. However, if you look at the image on the bottom which is from our thriller film, you can compare them and see how our camera angles have improved.  


I also think that right at the start of our preliminary task the camera angle wasn't very good, this therefore made this shot look lob sided and look as though it goes up from one end to the other. It also isn't very equal as it doesn't show you the other side of the room. In our thriller film, we have made sure that every angle shot from the camera was correct and everything balanced in each to make it look equal. This example is shown below.

Evaulation Question 6, What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Whilst shooting out thriller, we used several uses of technologies to create the opening sequence.

The first piece of technology that we used was a mini DV digital camcorder. We used this digital camcorder to shoot the whole of our thriller and was also used to film our preliminary task.As said before, we have developed our knowledge of being able to use the camcorder which us therfore improved on the quality of our filming.

We obviously used a tripod in the process of filming our thriller so that we could get smooth steady shots. Using a tripod also meant that we were able to tilt the camera down in order to again portray different things. We were taught by our teacher in class how to use a tripod and how to safely and securely attach the camera onto the tripod. We were also told that we must take care with camera's and tripods.  

A digital camera was also used by our group. We used this camera in order to take pictures of our location for our thriller. This was very easy to use as I have one at home very similar to it which made me familiar whilst using it. Once we had gathered the shots for our location, we uploaded them onto the computer so that we could transfer them onto our blogs.

We also used a mobile phone to take pictures of our group filming our thriller. Even though we were not able to process the images and put them onto our blogs we still attempted to use one. If we were able to use these pictures, we would have gone to the Apple Mac Computers, another piece of technology used and we would have used bluetoothed them onto the computer.

As just mentioned, an Apple Mac Computer was used. These are very different to normal computers as they enabled us to go onto the internet to go on our blogs, bluetooth pictures and most of all to use various complex programmes to edit our thriller etc.

The reason for using these types of technologies were due to the fact that for example the Apple Mac Computers let us edit our thriller thoroughly, add music in where wanted, take our sound that had been recorded etc. We used these technologies firstly by following sets of instructions that had been put up on the walls in various places to help us get used to the programmes.

I have also used different websites and computer programmes to complete my thriller.

Blogger is  most obvious one. I have used this to update and let people know what I have been doing at certain times of the course, what work I have achieved and to show people my work. Everyone that has taken this course has their own blogger and they can be accessed by anyone from around the world. Our main job for our blogger was to keep a constant update of what was happening. I think that I was able to ahcieve this. The link to my blogger is http://georgiecameronrc.blogspot.com/ 

I also used the website http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html This site let me and my group send off license requests for unsigned music that we thought would be good and would fit in with our thriller. Whilst looking through the types of soundtracks, we sent off for about 8 license requests overall and were approved for all of them. However, although we have sent off for this many, we will not be using them all in our thriller as some didn't fit as well as others.

Another site that was used was http://www.surveymonkey.com/  This site let me create and design an online survey in order to help me find my target audience. Once I had created this, I then posted it onto my facebook page so that people could take my survey and give me feedback. I thought that 'surveymonkey' was very simple to use and was a very quick way to provide myself with people's likes and dislikes. 

Youtube was also another site that I myself and my group used. I used this to get clips of titles from different films, to use opening clips of films and also to upload our preliminary task video onto it. Youtube is a very easy site to use and we had no problems using it.

Another website that I used was http://www.onetruemedia.com/ This website let me create several slideshows in order to present my work in different ways. This website again was simple and easy to use and I found it to be very effective.

Final Cut Express and Livetype were two programmes that were 

commonly used in our group that were found on the Apple Mac Computers. Although I thought these two programmes were very difficult to use, I after a while got the hang of them. I think that these two programmes are both very effective as they can produce some amazing stuff.

By using all of these different types of technologies I myself think that I have gained a lot of skills. It includes being able to use the Apple Mac Computers to the best of their ability and being able to complete work alone successfully. I have been able to create surveys and montages that I probably would have had struggle to do before. I also feel like I have improved on my communication with other people as I have had to work in a team and therfore have to talk to other people, arrange times and so forth.     

Evaluation Question 5, How did you attract/address your audience?

I believe that me and my group attracted our audience firstly by the music we used. The music we chose for our thriller turned out to be very effective as whilst watching the thriller, the muisc tends to get you on the edge sounds very mysterious which makes us think to ourselves what's goingt to happen next.

I also think we were personally impressed on where our thriller was placed. We thought that it was a good idea to shoot the first half of the sequence in daylight and then shoot the other half in the dark. This was to create an effect for the audience as they would therefore believe that the antagonists had been planning on the kidnapping all day and we didn't know when they was going to come back.

As we had set up questionnaires in order to find out our target audience we had a fair idea on how we should create our characters and how we should get them to come across to the audience. The reason for doing this was so that we were able to basically get into the heads of our audience in order for us to produce something that would be very effective towards them and would get them involved in the film. 

As we have finished filming, editing and producing our film I then decided to ask several people to watch it to give me feedback on what they thought of it. I asked them to be as honest as can be, so that I knew everything was true about what they thought. 

The feedback I got back was: 

Person 1: I really liked the film as it always seemed to keep me in contact with it. I liked how the music was used as it created tension at certain points in the film. 

Person 2: I thought that the film was created really well, I liked the titles at the beginning of the film and the music which I thought was really eery. 

Person 3: I liked how the young boys were shown to be a bit nasty and violent at the start of the thriller when one of them barged the girl that was walking past them. 

Person 4: The music was really exciting as it felt like as the music went on, something was going to happen at the end even if nothing did. 

Person 5: I liked the storyline of the thriller, thought it was clever how they filmed the first half the film in daylight and the second half in the dark. This created a better effect as the boy was getting kidnapped in the second half and the darkness made it more violent and scary. 

Person 6: I enjoyed watching the thriller that they have made, thought tension and suspense was created in many parts of the film. 

Person 7: It was good how some of the shots dissolved out at the end, and then a new scene came in. The music was good too. 

By me asking some of the people at home and friends etc, I was able to get some feedback and therefore know what people thought of it. 

Evaluation Question 4, Who would be the audience for your media product?

Before me and my group started to film our thriller, I created an online survey on 'surveymonkey.com' to find out my target audience. Even though only 8 people took our survey after they had left us with the results I could analyse them and find out who my audience were and what they would expect from our thriller.

In our survey we asked the audience a question and that question was, 'What do you think makes a good thriller?'. From looking at the results of this question, below are what we received from the people who took the survey:

• SUSPENSE
• TWISTS
• CLIFFHANGERS
• TENSION
• MUSIC
• TRUE STORY'S
• JUMPY SCENES

From the public completing these surveys, I can say that I reckon the audience for our media product would be people between the ages of 17-25. I also think that they will be either male or female and will be into the sort of films that contain a various bit of violence and a film that requires the audience to think a bit, think about what my happen next or why what has just happened has basically happened.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

After having finally finished editing our thriller, and uploaded it onto youtube I have done several bits of research to find out the names of various film companies that could possibly distribute our film, 'The Decoy'. 
The first company that come straight into my head was Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The reason for me thinking of these first are down to the fact that probably most times that I watch films, I can remember this advertisement at the beginning of the film.

You could say that 20th Century Fox Films are the most well-known company in the world as they have been running for a long, long time. They produce many films each year which are usually highly rated by the population ourselves. 20th Century Fox's most popular film franchisies include 'Avatar', 'The Simpsons', 'Ice Age', 'Home Alone', 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and many more.
Although 20th Centrury Fox is a well successful, and highly rated company, there are some disadvantagedsto it that would not be suitable for our film. Firstly, they produce more films that have a very high budget rather then a low budget. As our film would have a low budget it will be very hard for me and my group to try and offer our film to this company so that they will buy it. Therefore, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation is not the best film company for us.

The next is FilmFour Productions. This is a British Film production company which is owned by Channel 4. This company has been responsible for screening a large number of films that have been made in the United Kingdom. The companies first production was the film 'Walter' which was released in 1982.

I reckon that FilmFour Productions will be a good production company to sell our film to as said earlier most of the films made on this company are british as is ours and also it is a very highly watched channel.

Universal Studios is also another well-known company that could potentially screen our film. It is one of the one of the major six American movie studios still in continuous production. This company has produced and shown various films that have been highly popular including films such as 'Dracula' 1931, 'The Mummy' 1932 and 'The Bride of Frankenstein' 1935. Even though it may be hard for us, I think that this company would be another perfect choice as Universal Studios have a wide range of different budgets.

Columbria Pictures Industries was another film company that I decided to research. This is another American film production and distribution company. This studio is also very famously well-known and has been running for a long time. In an effort to improve their image, the Cohn brothers renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1924. A string of this production company's hits in the early 1930's solidified Columbia's status as a major studio. In particular, 'It Happened One Night' 1934, 'Lost Horizon' 1937 and 'Mr. Smith Goes To Washington' 1939.

Many of the studio's early productions were low-budget affairs however, they were pushed to produce high-budget films. Therefore, Columbria Pictures Industries will not be able to distribute our film.

Our film could also be produced on the 'Microwave Scheme'. This type of production gives film directors an 18 day limit to make their film with a budget of £100,000. Obviously this amount of money comes from 'The UK Film Lottery', 'BBC Films' and 'skillset'. This production company would be a very good choice as it has a micro-budget and we are students living in London. An example of a film that was produced by the 'Microwave Scheme' is the film 'Shifty'. This was very successful as it was nominated for BAFTA Film Awards.

Our film 'The Decoy' could also be shown in many other different ways. This could be through advertisement, such as posters, billboards, adverts on the television, magazines or even newspapers.  

Evaluation Question 2, How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In my thriller, we have only very few haracters. Every one of these characters that star in the film are all men except for one pass by who is a woman that gets barged. The age of the these men are all between the ages of 15-17. The reason we decided to base our thriller on a group of young men is because men are seen as the more dominant powerful sex. The characters in the film are supposed to be portrayed as very young, violent and harsh men hence them being dressed in dark clothing and being the stars in the kidnapping of a boy therefore being shown in a negative way. Therefore, in our film we use a stereotype against these as we have put the young men in a category of 'thugs' basically. However, we do not use any abusive or racist language neither homosexuality. The reason for having the stereotype in our film was due to the fact that we wanted out thriller to come across as violent and scary, and wanted it to respresnt what life is really like out in our world today; we wanted the audience to see for themselves what things go on in the world.
We also use the stereotype of 'the young theives, or thugs' as we have the kidnappers in the film wearing dark clothing with their hoods up. Usually when we see groups of people with hoods up we expect something bad to happen due to their actions.
'The young thugs'

The 'dumb blonde' is also another stereotype that we decided to use in the thriller as she is barged by one of the protagonists. This way, she comes across to the audience as weak and stupid and very clumsy.

The 'dumb blonde'

I believe that our film represents middle-working class people. This is because the characters are not shown to be walking around with loads of money however they are not shown to be sitting on the floor in poverty. I think that the film we have created is not suitable for young children as a crime is being shown. It also shows abusive behaviour as the antagonist is beaten and taken away. 

Evaluation Question 1, In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The conventions of the thriller genre are types of elements that are put into a film to make them a thriller, to make them appeal to an audience and for them to be very effective in order for people to like them. It is also to do with sound and editing. This would be quick cuts, fade outs and the different changes of the camera angle. Also the music that is used in particular scenes, during particular shots that is appropriate. It can be to do with the lighting, the use of shadows and stairs used in various parts of the thriller. Different types of lighting can be used to create different effects such as key lighting, back lighting, low- key lighting and high-key lighting. Using these different types of lighting obviously creates different effects for the audience, some appealing to more to than others. A film that goes against and does not play to the conventions is 'Phone Booth'. This is about a male who is trapped in a phone booth, pinned down by an extortionist's sniper rifle.This film avoids darkness and shadow, as it is set out in broad daylight. During the film when the antagonist is on the phone to the protagonist in the phone booth we see the use of flashbacks and very quick passed editing and is probably the only convention that the film follows.

In our thriller, we used non-digetic music throughout the film. Non-digetic music is music that is not part of the film world but has been put in place and can only be heard by the audience. This creates tension and suspense in the thriller as in certain parts of the film, more erey music is needed. We made sure that whilst choosing the music and allocating it to the right scene that it was appropriate and fitted well. For example, when the young male antagonist is being kidnapped by the group of thugs we used up beat, fast music to help attract the audience in. To make them feel as though they are on the edge of their seats and what to know whats happening next. We also used a lot of dissolve cuts in our film as at first we had too much footage of the protagonists walking from the car to the house and therefore passes the time by. We decided to use these in order for us not to loose interest of the audience as it would get too boring for them to watch.

Our thriller, 'The Decoy' can relate to several other thrillers as several elements are similar. Whilst in class, we watched the thriller film 'Shifty'. This film is about a young crack cocaine dealer thats lives in London when his life quickly spires out of control due to these 'druggies'. We thought that it would be a good choice of film to use to help us create our film as it focuses of crimes and we wanted to attract the same sort of audience that 'Shifty' had. We also took an idea from the film, as near the end of the film, we see a bunch of thug looking men that you are unable to identify. They are all wearing dark clothing, showing no facial expressions which creates a sense of mystery. It also creates tension and suspicion as we do not know what they are covering themselves up for and what they might do next. Therfore, in our thriller we wanted to create the same effect as this so in order for us to forfill this we dressed our young group of thugs in dark clothing and wearing a hood so little skin was shown.

The Decoy

 Shifty

We also took another idea from the film, as we thought it was a very good idea how at the beginning of the film they have a close up of someone knocking of the door. We liked how it seemed as though they had zoomed into the hand, giving us a point of view shot making us feel like we are in the position of the person who is knocking. This element is very effective, and to create this in our thriller we twisted it around a tad as we shot a close up view of the antagonist knocking on the door of the protagonist. This therefore, puts us in the position of the thug and gives us imagination which makes us think who's going to be on the other side of that door.

 The Decoy

Shifty

Another film that we decided to look at and gather some ideas from was the thriller film, 'Taken'. This film was obviously the most ifluential film that we looked at as we took the plot of the film and based our thriller on it. The main plot of 'Taken' is about a young female who is kidnapped and relies on her former spy father to save her from being forced into the slave trade. We obviously changed it around, as just mentioned a young female is taken whereas in our film the protagonist is a young boy. Usually in thrillers watched around the world, woman are the main sex that are being kidnapped. This is due to men being more powerful and dominant over women.

Taken

The Decoy

Last but not least is the film, 'The Dark Knight'. This film is about Batman, Gordon and Harvey dent are forced to deal with chaos unleashed by an anarchist mastermind known as the Joker, as he drives each of them to their limits.We thought that this was a popular film in the film industry and therefore saw like many other films it has a getaway vechile. We thought, that we must use this element in our thriller as kidnapping somene would be very hard without a car etc as we wouldn't be able to transport them by foot from one place to another.

The Dark Knight

The Decoy

Therefore, all of these elements show how are film relates to several other media products in the industry.

The Decoy!

Last time filming.

Last night, me and my group finished filming our thriller. It took us a couple of hours to do this, however we that has made us more positive that we have everything we need for our film. We have also just finished completing our titles for our thriller and in the process of editing the rest, therefore the titles will be visible to see when we have finished editing the thriller. 

Filming.

On Friday 11th February 2011, me and my group decided and arranged with the starring characters that we would start to film our thriller. So we all met up at Charlie's house, where we had planned to place our scene at. We then did a role play of the first bit we was going to film and then we carried it out seriously. We thought that the filming went quite well and thought that we had the perfect weather to start filming.  

Our thriller title, The Decoy!

The name of our thriller, as you can see is called 'The Decoy'. At the beginning, we will introduce the film by using the title. The name we have come up with fits in with the plot of the film as it sounds very mysterious and keeps the viewers guessing.

Location Pictures.

Today me and my group are going to take pictures of the location we are sure that we will set the scene of our thriller at. We will take several pictures and then post them on our blogs. 

Treatment sheet.

Me and my group have not yet come up with a name for our thriller, so over the next couple of days we will be discussing ideas and names for it. 

Ideas/Story 

For the plot of our film we are going to be following the life of a boy. On this particular night he will be at home, watching television alone. While watching the tv the protagonist will get a knock at the door, he finds it very strange as he is not expecting anyone and is not expecting his family to be back till around midnight. When he opens the door, he doesn't recognise the two men and is more sure about this as the man asks for someone that he knows doesn't live there. When the protagonist has sent the men away, a while later he gets another knock at the door and strangely it all happens again. The protagonist definitely feels like its happening all over again. As he starts to get worried about this door knocking, he decides to call a friend that will come round and just watch some tv with him. Again there's a knock on the door, the protagonist automatically presumes its his mate so he opens the door but stood in ahead with his back to him is a man. When he comes out to confront the man he is approached by three other men who attack him and gets hit over the head with a bat. We then see him getting picked up and put into the back of the boot. The last scene of the film is us seeing the car driving off in the distance. 

Settings/props/costumes

Setting: house/road 

Cast: 6 actors overall 

The 4 kidnappers will be wearing all black clothing which will make them look and come across as very suspicious and mysterious 

Protagonist: Casual clothes, wearing pastel colours 

Getaway car, rope 

More ideas

We have decided to shoot the thriller at night so the darkness adds to the mysterious and suspicious tension in the atmosphere. Whilst the protagonist is at home watching television and he gets the knock at the door, dark and nerve racking music will be played. Contrapuntal to make the audience suspicious. When the car is driving off with the man in the boot, the audience will feel confused and will ask questions to why the protagonist is being kidnapped. 

TheArtOfTheTitle.

Today I decided to look at 'theartofthetitle.com' and I realised that the reason for having this site is to show off to the public the title designs of many artists. This website has a large variety of film and television title sequences. 

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programmes present their title, key production, starring actors and the staff members or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sounds.                                                              

Sound for our Ident Company name.

Today me and my group found the sound that we are going to use for our Ident Company name. 

Inception 2010.

On saturday, me and my mum watched the film 'Incpetion' a 2010 sci-fi thriller film directed, written and produced by Christopher Nolan. This film stars a very famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page. 

This film is about Dom Cobb who is a skilled thief, the absoloute and for most the best in stealing valuable secrets from deep within someones subconscious during their dream state; this is when the mind is at its most vulnerable.

Although I found this film to be very confusing and hard to get my head around but I did really enjoy it. I liked how tension was built up in the film as the music started to get really fast and up beat, or when the characters were in their dreams and it made me unsure of if they was going to wake up time.  

Our thriller changes!

Today me and my group planned to go and role play our thriller film so we had a more accurate idea of how we would actually shoot the film when its the real time. However, due to several reasons two people from our group were absent so therefore we could not proceed with this. We hope to do this and post it on our blogs within the next week. 

Changing ideas.

Due to several reasons, we have decided to change the plot of our film slightly. We have decided to have the protagonist in their house and then they get a knock at the door. There will then be 4 other people in the car, one being the getaway driver and the other 3 taking part in the kidnapping of the protagonist. 

List of characters.

So far we have not confirmed our actual list of characters that will be involved with our thriller. But we know that there will be: 

1) Charlie Brien who will be the person who is kidnapped. 

2) Kidnapper 1 - He is going to be the character knocking on the door asking for someone, then later on taking part in the kidnapping.
3) Kidnapper 2 - He will be the main kidnapper in the film.
4) Kidnapper 3 - He will be assisting kidnapper 1 and kidnapper 2 in taking charlie and putting him in the boot.
5) Getaway driver - He will be the one who drives off once Charlie is in the boot of the car. 

Past students work.

Whilst in class, our teacher showed us several openings of past students' thrillers. While watching the openings, they made me want to carry out watching, made me want to know what was going to happen next. I liked how the music is some of them was very erey and strange and made the atmosphere feel really tense and suspicious. I also liked how one of them showed us flashbacks of what happened the night before whilst showing us what was happening at a different time. 

In the Cut.

Whilst in class, we watched the opening credits of the film 'In the Cut'. This film is a 2003 erotic thriller in which is written and directed by Jane Campion starring actors like Meg Ryan, Jennifer Leigh, Nick Damici and so on. This film follows the plot of a Newy York writing professor, Frankie Avery who has a spiteful affair with a police detective who is in which investigating a cruical murder of a young woman in the neighbourhood.

Whilst watching the opening credits, the music is very erey and makes us very excited to watch the film. I like how the names of the actors come up along the ice as the people are skating. For me, I also like how when the title of the film is shown to us it is on the bottom rights side of the screen and appears when the person has skated over the ice. Once it has appeared, and 'In the Cut' is visible, it seems as though the letters start to bleed which give us an idea in our heads that the film probably is going to contain blood and deaths.

Analysing some of the results.

By looking at my survey so far I can start to anaylse some of the results I have received.

The first question I asked was, 'Are you male or female?'.
From asking this question, I found out that 5 of the people are female and the remaining 3 are male.

'What is your age?' This question gave participants several answers to choose from and therefore I found out that 0 people were under 15, 6 were between the ages of 15-20, 1 was between the ages of 21-30 and 1 between the ages of 31-40. There was no participants between the ages of 41-55, 56-75 or 76+.

.

'Do you enjoy watching thrillers?' From this question I found out that everyone apart from 1 person likes watching thrillers.

 

'How often do you watch thrillers?' I purposely asked participants this question so that I could get a rough idea about how much people tend to watch thrillers.



'What is your favourite sub-genre?' I wanted to ask this question so that I could find out what type of thriller film people like to watch most. Therefore asking this question helped me find out that most people prefer to watch action films.

  

Thriller codes and conventions.

What is a thriller?
A thriller is one type of genre of a film that uses several techniques to pull in an audience. They use suspense, tension and excitement as the key elements or ingredients.
Conventions of a thriller are to do with sound and editing. These could involve quick cuts and the different angles of the camera. It also includes the music that is added for example to make the atmosphere more tense and adds excitement. Another could be the use of lighting within the film, how shadows and darkness is created or how light and bright parts are. Other thriller conventions include:
A crime at the core of the narrative
A protagonist who has no control or power over the antagonist
Themes of mirroring
Mise en scene
A complex plot which follows false clues, paths and resoloutions.

Psycho

The film Psycho 1960 is a thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Joseph Stefano and Robert Bloch. This film also stars actors such as Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles. The plot of this film follows a young woman who unconsciously steals $40,000 from her employer's client. On her way to see her boyfriend, she stops off at an old motel which is run by the odd Norman Bates. Whilst in the shower, she is crucially murdered. Her sister, boyfriend and a private investigator are looking for her as they don't have a clue that she is lying in the bottom of a bath dead. We also come to learn about Norman Bates. 

Summary of films studied in class.

Whilst in class, we studied the opening of several films. The first thriller film that we looked at was Memento. The man character in this film is Guy Pearce. The director of this film is Christopher Nolan and the writer Jonathan Nolan. The plot of this film follows a man, suffering from short-term memory loss and therefore has to use notes and tattoos to hunt down for the man who he thinks killed his wife. 

A second film we looked at was Children of Men, 2006. This film is set in 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer produce children. However, a former activist agrees to transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea in which her child's birth may help out scientists to save the future of the human kind. 

The last film was History of Violence, 2005. The plot of this film follows a man who becomes a local hero through an act of violence. However this sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core. This film is directed by David Croneberg and written by John Wagner and Vince Locke.

Coursework brief.

We have been set a coursework assignment of producing an opening of a thriller, including titles and which is aimed at a 15 or 18 certificate audience. This thriller opening should have a duration of approximately two minutes. 

Collateral 2004.

The film 'Collateral' 2004 is a crime thriller that stars many famous actors. These actors include Tom Cruise and Jamie Fox. This film was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie. Collateral is set in Los Angeles, California. 

The plot of this film follows a very simple and quiet life of a cab driver called Max. Another cab journey it is for Max as a beautiful Da called Annie gets a lift. They both have a very friendly and welcoming chat about her stressful upcoming events of trial appearance and his dream business of a limo company. At then end of the ride Annie gives Max her card and takes herself for a night of hard work. 

After this journey, a man approaches the cab but Max is fairly busy concentrating on something else but notices him just in time and calls him back. This man introduces himself as Vincent, a friendly business man that offers him $600 to drive him around for the night. Without thinking twice Max agrees to his proposal. However, Max regrets his words as later on in the night a dead man falls on top of his cab. Soon finding out that when he's putting the man in the back of the cab, Vincent's the killer. 

Although Max doesn't want anything to do with these killings, he is forced to by Vincent's and goes to several places not afraid of using his gun. 

Livetype.

Today me and my group are using LiveType to come up with our production company name.

We played around with LiveType trying out different fonts, colours etc and we come up with the name 'Monkey Grape Productions'.

Checking up on my survey.

Today, I decided to check my survey to see how much people had completed it. So far only 7 people have done the survey, however I will be checking over the next few days to see how many more will complete it. 

The Bone Collector 1999.

Last night I watched 'The Bone Collector' 1999 on channel 5. This film stars actors such as, Denzel Washington (Lincoln Rhyme), Angelina Jolie (Amelia Donaghy), Queen Latifah (Thelma), Luis Guzman (Eddie Ortiz), John Hickey (Dr. Barry Lehman) and so on. The writers of this film were Jeffery Deavor and Jeremy Lacone and the director was Phillip Noyce. The genre's of this film contain crime, drama, mystery and thriller.

In the film quadripeligic (paralysed from the keck down) ex-cop Lincoln Rhyme was looking forward to his assissted suicide when he gets the news that there is a serial killer on the loose: going round in a taxi abducting people and leaving them to die in cruel ways. As time is ticking on between abduction of innocent people and the their death, Rhyme recruits rather-unwilling Amelia Donaghy who is haunted by her cop father's suicide and thinking she's next, into working the crime scenes to track down the killer. Both Rhyme and Donaghy are left with clues from the crime scene by the serial killer that are obviously there for a reason. These clues therefore lead them onto having an idea of what he is planning on next.

Personally for me, I would say that throughout the second half of the film I felt like I was on the edge of my seat. This was because I didn't really know what was going to happen next or when the serial killer was going to attack. I thought that tension was built up coming towards the end of the film when the serial killer had abducted a man and his daughter and the police were looking for them in a hurry as both of their lives were in danger.

I would say that the best part of the film for me was when the serial killer had made his way to Washington. His first kill there is Washington's loving nurse Thelma. He makes his way into the apartment and washes off the blood from his glove. At this point tension has increased as I know that Washington has no defence as he is paralysed in bed. We hear the water running from the tap and the footsteps of the killer. We also hear Denzel calling out, "Thelma is that you?" With no answer from the killer the tap soon stops, and appearing from round the corner is Dr.Lehman. Washington looks at him very confused, they have an eye to eye contact and Washington try's his best to get help, not by only pressing a button on the bed but by calling out for Thelma. The scene then reaches it's climax when we see the doctor about to stab Washington when Amelia breaks in and shoots him to the ground.

Creating our animatic.

Today me and my group finally finished our storyboard which gives people a rough and basic idea about what is going to take place in our thriller. Once we had finished our storyboard on paper, we then took individual pictures of each shot and uploaded them to Final Cut Express. This will then create an animatic for us so we can see the shots all together. Below is our animatic that we created.

Mobygratis.

Just signed up to 'mobygratis.com' so that me and my group can soon start to decide what music we would like to use in our thriller film. 

Gathering ideas.

Today me and my group come up with a rough and basic idea of what our thriller film is going to be based upon. Basically, we thought that we could base the film around a kidnapping. We are going to have a car involved in this kidnapping and have the protagonist walking along the road peacefully listening to there ipod music. We decided that although they are listening to the music through earphones we are going to hear the music out aloud. Having this music playing will therefore mean that the protagonist can't hear the car coming along.

What is an Auteur?

Today I found out that an 'Auter' is a filmaker who has a personal style and keeps control over his or her work. Often using certain techniques, use similar themes and try to get across the same point but in different ways throughout their films.

The Manchurian Candidate 2004.

The Manchurian Candidate is an American thriller film based on the 1959 novel 'of the same name' by Richard Condon. In the midst of the Gulf War, soldiers and kipnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes. It stars actors such as Denzel Washington (Bennett Marco), Liev Schreiber (Raymond Shaw), Jon Voight (Tom Jordan), Meryl Streep (Eleanor Prentiss Shaw).

In this film during the ambushing in the Gulf War, Sergeant Ranymond Shaw saves his fellow soldiers as the commanding officer, then captain Ben Marco is knocked unconscious. Soon after this, Shaw is elected a vice presidential nominee, whilst this is taking place for Shaw Marco is soon haunted by dreams of what happened in Kuwait. As Marco starts to investigate as he wants to find out what happened, the story soon unravels. As it unravels, Marco questions himself and asks did it really happen?

In the final scene, the film reaches it's climax as Raymond realises his soul is corrupt, and realises that the damage he could cause on America is too much and therefore sacrifices himself and his mother.

Survey.

Today I signed up for surveymonkey so I could create a survey in order to find my target audience. I come up with 10 questions that would enable me to find out the information I need to know. These questions included asking 'what is your favourite thriller, how many times do you watch thrillers and what do you think makes a good thriller'. Creating this survey only took me a short time and I will be posting up shortly my results from this.

Se7en

Above is the opening credits for the thriller film 'Se7en'. While watching this clip, you start to see several disturbing images. The music you hear also starts to add to this as it is very eiry and unsettling.

I started to look at the opening scenes of several thrillers to see how the credits are presented in order to help me and my group with ours. I thought that the opening credits for 'Panic Room' really helped me get an idea of what we can do. I like how the names of the actors and directors etc come across as very big and bold letters with the large buildings behind which emphasises their size.

Creating our storyboard.

In today's lesson me and my group decided to create a storyboard of what our thriller film will be about. We drew visuals of the sequence and wrote down ideas of props and the settings that we will include in the thriller. Completing this gave us a more accurate idea of what we want to do.

Jurrassic Park 1993!

During the christmas holiday I watched a scientific film thriller series known to us as Jurrasic Park, the one I decided to watch was Jurrasic Park 1993. The director of this film was a man called Steven Speilberg and runs for 127 minutes. This film stars actors such as Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm), Sam Neil (Dr. Alan Grant), Laura Dem (Dr. Ellie Sattler), Ariana Richards (Alexis Murphy) and Joseph Mazzelo (Tim Murphy).

I really like Jurrassic Park because I like how the tension is built up for us in many scenes as they are accompanied and under attack by dinasours such as the T-Rex. This is shown to us in the scene where the two young children, Alexis and Tim are in the kitchen and soon find out that there are dinasours outside trying to get in. The tension is built up as the children have to be dead silent, trying to creep around the kitchen in able to escape from them. I also like the scene where the two men and the woman are in the truck and they are chased by the T-Rex. I think its really tense as the T-Rex gets closer and closer to them building up the tension to make us think are they going to get away in time.