Live Type

We used Live Type to create the text which says '9 months later', 'Obsessed' and the credits. We put them all in red because the colour automatically creates suspense and tension which we need to show for the thriller genre. The font we used was 'cracked' and put effects over the top to add to the tension and make it more interesting for the audience to watch.

Garage Band

I hadn’t used Garageband before, and we didn’t add any non diagetic sound into our preliminary task, but it was very straight forward to get used to, and gradually we learned which sounds worked together and which sound effects would be suitable. Also from watching existing thriller films I got an idea of what type of music is used to build suspension and tension for the audience. When we first started using garage band we put together a repetitive sequence of sounds, but this got boring so we adapted it to add in more sounds and varied the order. We decided we wanted to include violins so found a base sound and a tune sound which we put together and repeated throughout the time of the filming sequence. We added the over the top sound effects we wanted as we deleted all of the recorded sound from filming.  Putting the file into Finalcut was trickier because I had to make sure the track synced with the footage, and the only way we could do this was to play both programs at the same time to make sure the timings from cutting from scene to scene worked, cutting sections once it was imported into Finalcut. Here we learned how to do a Sound Bridge as drawing the text which said ‘9 months later’ a sound effect of a phone ringing went off which lead into the zoom in on the phone ringing.

Script

- Tara runs throught the woods- (In slow motion)- Tracking shot.

- Camera on the floor in a slanted position, following Taras feet (slow motion)

-Tara runs to a dead end- Long shot.

- Close up of Amies hand on Tara's shoulder, with Tara turning to look right into the camera.

-'9 Months Earlier' text appears on screen- text in Red and black background.

-Zoom in/Out shot of 'unknown' caller on the phone.

-Over the shoulder shot of Amie hiding behind a piller whilst taking photos of Tara,Steph and Jess walking.

-Close up of Amie holding the camera to her face, She takes a photo. - Extreme close up of the Flash, the flash goes off and the screen turns white.

-Amie in her room looking through old photos of when they all used to be friends. Lay them out on the floor

- pick one up, zoom into her holding a photo of her and Tara, picks up another of Tara, Steph and jess, and scribbles Tara’s head out and rips it up.

- Writes a sign saying ‘what goes around comes around’

- sitting on facebook; sends a text to Tara saying ‘do you want to come around mine tonight?’ Then a close up of Amie scrolling down Tara’s facebook page – photos she’s just been looking at.

- looks at ‘past friendship’

- Gets a reply from Tara saying ‘Just leave me alone, I want nothing more to do with you

- Throws phone down

- Zoom into phone

- Extreme close up of Amie’s eyes closed; then open.

Certificate for our Film

The certificate which I would give our film would be a fifteen. I think this because as it is a psychological thriller, there is no actual violence within the film. However there is use of threatening behaviour which is also portrayed in a menacing fashion. Although this type of behaviour suggests violence and injury, there is no actual violence displayed within the film. Overall, I think that our film would fall under the classification certificate of a fifteen.

History of the Thriller Genre

Thriller is a genre which is used in literature, film and television to create suspense, excitement and tension. The most common use of this subgenre to thriller are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers, however there are also many other subgenres. Thriller is also very closely coincided with the horror genre, To which both use suspense and atmosphere to cause feelings of dread in their audiences. The genre of thriller film developed from well known novels. Then later these novels were studied and adapted and later reproduced into a thriller film.

A film is portrayed as a thriller when the storyline gives the audience thrills, and keeps them on the ’edge of their seats’ as the plot builds up towards the climax. The tension is usually built up by a character being placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap which seems impossible to escape. There is also use of life threatened during a thriller film, as the main character is usually unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in an extremely dangerous situation.

The common plots in crime thrillers are ransoms, revenge and kidnappings, which are elaborated on for the effect on the audience. In mystery thrillers, the common methods are investigations and the ‘whodunit’ technique. This is technique when there is a complex plot of a detective story where the audience is provided with clues of the identity of the criminal. The elements which are usually shown in a psychological thriller are mind games, stalking, death traps, obsession. These elements are generally combined to a certain extent, where it creates a complex plot which creates thrills the audience.

The atmosphere in a thriller film is also enhanced through the lighting and use of music. An example of this is from the opening of the film ‘Alien’ by Ridley Scott in 1979. In the opening of this film, the lighting is minimal and dull, this creates the atmosphere of suspense and mystery which links into the thriller genre.

One of the most well known and popular thriller films is ‘Psycho’ which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was produced during 1960. This film is a psychological thriller based on the American 1960‘s time period. The film was adapted from the1959 novel which was written by Robert Bloch also called ‘psycho‘. Both the film and novel are based on the cases on convicted serial killer Ed Gein, this therefore allowed the directors of the film to associate the film with other genres such as horror, drama and mystery, as well as the thriller.

Overall, the genre of thriller is used in various ways to create an atmosphere which excites, thrills and entices the audience to carry on watching a film. This is done in several ways, such as through the use of lighting, mise-en-scene and also with the added use of non digetic and digetic music. The thriller genre was a popular genre during the past fifty years and is still increasingly popular within the industry today.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

We filmed 3 of us walking up to and opening a door, and one of us filmed, where we used panning, and zooming into the door handle. Then crossing a room and sitting down around a table. We had a short conversation where we used shot/reverse shot, two shot and over the shoulder shot, always keeping to the 180 degree rule. Afterwards we filmed one of us walking out of the room where we used zoom in/zoom out. We captured the footage using the macs, the uploaded it to final cut where we cut and edited the sequence so that it fit together, making sure the dialogue fit the actions and therefore good match on match action. Then added text which scrolled upwards.

Preliminary Task

Storyboard

Lighting

• Low Key lighting usually gives a very dark and dingy effect whivh exagerates the textures and shadows and gives a sense of mood to the shot. It can be used to create tension because it implies to the audience that the character is hiding something from them that they dont want them to know. Also implies that anything could happen, and creates tension because of the fear of the unknown of whats in the darkness. The shadows also can imply someone following the character, or you could only film the shadows so the audience can see the shadows movements, but not theyre faces, so keeps their identity a secret.
• High Key Lighting is usually very light and free from shadows, which allows the audience to see everything in the shot, but is a bit too unatural which can put the audience on edge because usually implies the area is very clean and unpersonalised which can also be used to hid evidence or a character's identity.
• We thought of using green lighting or put a green filter through a shot in editing because green is the colour of jealousy which is a key aspect of our film, and we want to get across the jealousy of Amie towards Tara.

Location Report

We decided to film in a wood near to where we live because a wood is often used in thrillers because it appears very mysterious due to the trees which block out light making the lighting appear dingy, and the tranquil atmosphere builds suspense for the viewer as no one seems to be around so anything could happen without anyone finding out about it. The hill which Tara runs into shows she has reached a dead end, and so the audience will wonder what will happen to her once Amie has caught up with her.

The next location is at the front of college, which is a very ordinary scene of 3 girls walking out of college, but Tara is standing at the entrance behind a pillar taking photos which suddenly turns an ordinary scene into being quite creepy and unnerving, as you wonder why she wants the photos.

The scene in Amie’s room is very dark which also makes the audience what she is hiding and what they will find. The small space also gives a trapped feeling, as though they have got themselves into something which they can’t get themselves out of.

We won't need any permission to access these locations because they are either public or our own or college's property. We also wont need to include any extra actors as we only need the people who are in our group.

Answers to Audience Research

What types of thriller films interest you the most?

·        Murderous passions x1

·        Change of identity thriller x1

·        Psycho-traumatic thriller x3

·        Innocent on the run x1

What things do you not like to see when watching a thriller? Things which would make you dislike the film.

Gore; things that make me jump; blood x2; the powerpuff girls; far fetched things

What things do you like to see when watching a thriller? Things which would make you like the film.

Exciting scenes which interreges me x2; jumpy scenes

Do you prefer to be able to see the monster, or for its appearance to remain a mystery?

Mystery x3; see the monster; see the monster at the end x2; see parts of it

Do you prefer thrillers which are based on real events?

Yes x6

How often do you watch thriller films?

• 1-3 times a month x5
• 4-6 times a month x1

Costumes and props

• Casual clothes
• DSLR camera for flash and photos
• Photographs

Production Plan

Monday 7^th – Filming at Town Centre (scenes 1-4)

Tuesday 8^th – Filming at Town Centre (scenes 1-4)

                    Evening - Amie and Jess Filming at Amie’s house (scenes 7-12)

Thursday 10^th – Garage Band

Monday 14^th – Filming in Wellington (scenes 13-16)

Tuesday 15^th – Filming (scenes 17-19)

Thursday 17^th – Filming / Editing & Garage band

Monday 21^st – Editing & Garage band

Tuesday 22^nd – Editing & Garage band

Thursday 24^th – Editing & Garage band

Monday 28^th – Editing & Garage band

Tuesday 29^th – Editing & Garage band

Thursday 31^st – Editing & Garage band / Evaluation

Monday 4^th - Evaluation

Tuesday 5^th - Evaluation

Thursday 7^th - Evaluation