Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

As a film maker I have learned new skills in editing and producing a final product while also learning that small things such as costume and camera angles can have more meanings and give your film a much greater depth of meaning for the audience too. I have also learned a great deal more about editing and how to make shots which did not look brilliant fit in well with your film and give it buffer shots to make the sequence flow and look interesting. 

Our preliminary task had many different successes and shortcomings. Some of the successes included a range of camera angles and shots however we realised that we needed to take a lot more shots in order the make the sequence flow and make more sense to the audience. We also learned the importance of a tripod while filming the preliminary as some of the shots were wobbly. From our preliminary we learned how to shoot different shots effectively and we learned that in future while filming we will set up the shot and make sure props are seen and unnecessary items are hidden off screen. We also learned that an over the shoulder shot is much more effective when it is closer to the actors shoulder and we used this technique in our thriller opening. Our use of continuity was good during our preliminary and we decided to use a match on action shot of a person opening a door in our thriller opening as this looked quite successful in our preliminary. Our preliminary task had unusual music which we realised did not suit it and so we decided we would take as much time as we needed finding suitable and effective music for our thriller opening titles. In our preliminary we used a filter over one shot to make in look like CCTV and this was effective however it did make the shot slightly blurry. Experimenting with this made us eager to use a filter in our thriller opening. After filming and editing our thriller we experimented with different filters to make sure we chose one which make the thriller sinister and eerie while also making sure each shot was still clear and not too dark.

I developed a lot of skills since filming the preliminary at the start of the year. For example I have become better at filming specific shots and angles due to more practice using the cameras and experimenting with where to take each shot from to make it look the most effective. I have learned that taking extra shots is a necessity as you never know whether you may need filler shots or any extras to make the sequence have continuity. Continuity is extremely important because without it, the audience will be lost as to what is happening on the screen and in the plot. During our preliminary we tried to use the 180 degree rule and it showed us how important it is. For our thriller we carefully planned at which point at our location we would be filming at so that we never went against the 180 degree rule as doing so can disorientate the audience. The screen shots below show how we used the 180 degree rule by only filming the scene from the right of each room:

We used the technique shot-reverse-shot in our thriller opening titles and this made the transition from the sequences focus being on the teenage girl to being on the alter-ego much smoother:

 We used the technique match on action in our preliminary and liked the effect so we continued to use it in our thriller titles. The shot is useful in having a character move from one room to another and when edited correctly it makes the transition look smooth and effective. We learned that when all of these techniques are used correctly when filming, it makes the editing process much easier as the shots are clearer and when ordering the shots they make much more sense and flow much better in a sequence. 

During planning we created a shot list and a story board. The story board was created first to establish our main plot and rough ideas for shots and angles. This made it much easier to then create a more detailed plan of a shot list which was detailed and explained exactly where the shot would be filmed, which actor and props would be filmed, the angle and type of shot, the length of the shot and the action which would be taken during the shot. We spent as much time as needed in our group discussing each individual shot and how each shot would follow from the next sketching rough images of how the sequence may look once it has been edited. This helped us create a much better filmed sequence of shots compared to our preliminary which was poorly planned and this poor planning showed in the quality and look of each shot.

We thought our thriller opening titles went very well however there are always areas of improvement. We thought our editing was very effective as we split clips to make images flicker on the screen and edited match on action shots well to make the sequence fit together and flow easily. We used a wide range of shots and angles to create different meanings for the audience and the use of many different shots also meant the audience wasn't seeing the same image multiple times but instead were receiving different angles to interest them. Screenshot 1 is a point of view shot, screenshot 2 is an over the shoulder shot, screenshot 3 is an extreme close up shot and screenshot 4 is a long shot.

We thought one of the strongest points of our thriller was the use of costume and make up to contrast the two different characters. The teenage girl wore light clothing and minimal makeup while the alter-ego wore black clothing and dark smudged makeup. As the two characters were being played by the same person, the clothing and makeup was very important so that the audience knew they were meant to be two different characters. The screenshots below show the teenage girl's costume and the alter-ego's costume:

On the other hand, there were some things which we would do differently if we were to film again. These include the camera work, especially the point where the teenage girl is shocked and drops the magazine. The girl looks shocked and looks up and there is a delay for when the magazine is dropped and hits the floor. To improve this we would film the girl dropping the magazine and looking up being scared from two different angles at the same time using two cameras so that the sound and actions match in both shots.

 The music used is effective in our thriller because it is synchronous to what is happening on screen which is a great improvement to the music used in our preliminary task which did not suit the story or what was happening on screen and sounded quite random. Although the music in our thriller was effective, the bang which comes from the girls bedroom should be made louder during editing to make the audience ‘jump’ while watching. This technique is used in horror films so that the audience ‘jumps’ at the noise with the character on the screen. The last thing which we would improve upon is the shot of the stairs and the girl walking to her bedroom. Although these shots are needed in order to make the sequence make sense, they could be edited and split to make them shorter and more interesting as we decided that lengthy shots can take away some of the tension and suspense from a scene. 

The two shots above are both establishing shots which show the location to the audience. The first shot shows a shot from our preliminary task and is not actually showing the location because when filming, we had our backs to the building our actor was walking to and we never took a shot of what the building was. This is in contrast to our thriller opening in the second shot which shows the outside of our location, a family home. The shot from our thriller opening was also a much shorter shot than that of our preliminary shot which made it much more effective because it did not lose audience interest.

Both of these shots are attempts at the match on action technique. The first shot from our preliminary needed to be closer to look more effective. The second shot is of our thriller opening and this shot is effective because it is dark and sinister and the actor is opening the door slowly because she heard noises coming from inside. Both close up shots work well however the sequence they were in differ. The match on action attempt in shot one did not work well because the shot of the girl walking through the door was at the wrong angle and height on the other side of the door whereas the match on action worked much better during our thriller opening when we used an extreme close up of the girls face walking through the door from the other side as she peeps into the room to see where the noise is coming from.

Both of these shots are of a character walking up the stairs to the camera however shot one from the preliminary is quite a boring and is a long shot of the girl walking up straight towards the camera whereas shot two from our thriller opening was shot from the top step of the stairs and is a high angle shot filming the girl walking up. When she reaches the top of her stairs her feet will walk over the camera. This was a much more interesting way to film someone walking up the stairs.

From filming our preliminary we discovered that most  of the shots we took were either long shot or mid shot and we only had two close up shots of the girls feet walking and her hand on the door handle. After researching other thriller openings we discovered that close ups and extreme close ups are essential in creating a diverse and interesting sequence of shots for the audience. In our preliminary, you never see the girls face in a close and she always remains very distant; the audience would never connect with her. Whereas in our thriller opening in screen shot two, we see an extreme close up of the actors face which allows us to see facial expression and makeup use.

Both of these shots are over the shoulder shots and we discovered from filming our preliminary task that we filmed the shot incorrectly. In order for it to look effective we should of filmed the shot closer to the girls shoulder and this would have meant you can see what she is looking at much more clearly. In our thriller opening in the second shot the over the shoulder shot works much more effectively, with just a section of the actors shoulder being seen and you can see that she is reading a magazine. 

Question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The first time I attempted filming my thriller I used a handheld camera which filmed bad quality footage and after looking at our footage on the Mac ready to edit, we realised that we needed to re-film our thriller with a different technology in order to get the clearest picture possible. We decided to use a phone because we discovered that the video on a phone has a much better quality picture than a handheld camera. The phone we used was an iPhone 5 which had a much clearer picture and the quality of footage was much better. below is an image of our old footage after being uploaded to a Mac computer. We also realised when looking at the footage that we would need to change our location because the current house we were filming in was too dark even on a bright day with the curtains open and the lights on.

After using a smartphone to film my final thriller titles I have learned a lot about how to use it to make my product look effective in the way it has been filmed. Using a tripod helped to make our shots steady while hand holding the phone helped to make our shots look like a point of view shot. Some shot types worked better without the use of a tripod while others such as a pan shot needed a tripod in order to remain steady as the camera panned around the room.

Lighting needs to be kept consistent throughout the sequence if your are filming in the same location and this can be effected by weather changes or filming on a different day. To keep the lighting consistent you can change the saturation or brightness while editing which is what we did to create consistent and natural lighting

through out our shots. Different shot types should be suited to what you are filming and why you are filming it. For example, a long shot is appropriate for an establishing shot so that the audience can see the whole setting. In our product we used a high angle shot and the meaning of this was to make the later-ego character look weak and vulnerable.

Different shot types can also be used to add interest to a sequence and make it flow better. For example if a sequence contains only long shots and mid shots, this becomes dis-interesting for the audience to watch at they are not being stimulated by what they are watching. Using a variety of shots allows the audience to be entertained with artistic shots while also pointing out important details. In our thriller production we used our iPhone to film extreme close up or tilt shots and this gave the audience an interesting image to look at while breaking up the sequence of shots to add variety. The choice of shot type greatly depends on the composition of the shot. For example in our thriller production we wanted the audience to see only one magazine with blood dripping onto it and not the character which was dripping the blood so we decided that the use of an extreme close up would give the effect we desired. We used framing to compliment the shots we used and create balance, for example we used the rule of thirds in the close up of the magazine and this placed the magazine points of interest where the rule of thirds line cross.

While using iMovie we learned that it was important to keep in mind that the audience must understand our narrative and shots. We filmed our thriller opening titles on an iPhone and then connected the phone to a Mac computer. We moved the videos into a file on the computer and then uploaded these to a new project on iMovie. Each individual shot then had to be moved onto the project board in the order we planned them using our drawn story board to create our narrative structure. 

We cropped some shots which were too long and any shots were deleted which seemed to make the sequence dis-interesting. We then edited the speed of our shots and this was done to increase the tension. We shortened some clips so that they appeared more quickly on the screen in flashes. We also split clips and changed the order which is shown at the beginning of our thriller when the tilt shot of the magazines on the floor plays with various shots flashing on and off screen of an extreme close up of the magazine with blood dripping onto it. This creates tension and an enigma for the audience while the two different shots flicker on the screen. We edited the sound to make certain points louder or quieter and this was useful when making sound effects such as the 'bang' from upstairs and the door creaking more audible over the soundtrack we used:

Our credits were created with text and these were made effective by trialling different colours and fonts.The font we chose suited our thriller and it was clear to read over our different shots.Transitions were used to make the sequence flow and these were usually jump cuts to create a fast paced sequence of tension building. We used a filter over our whole sequence in order to make the shots look sinister with shadows and darkened corners:

The last screen shot below shows how I exported my final and completed project:

Another technology apart from iMovie which we used was 'Art of the Title' and this website allowed us to look at other thriller opening titles and analyse them while planning our own. The website 'YouTube' allowed us to used one of the videos posted as the soundtrack for our thriller. We also used 'Garage Band' to edit this piece of music to suit our thriller more and edit extra diegetic sound into the music, such as a door creaking. The website 'www.dafont.com' allowed us to choose from a wide range of different fonts to use as our titles typography and we used the website 'Poll Everywhere' to ask which typography we should use for our main thriller title. This allowed the public to text in their answer for free and the typography with the highest number of votes was the one we chose for our title. The screen shot below includes the different typography's we chose from the website 'DaFont' and the number of polls from the website 'Poll Everywhere'. We chose the fourth typography down as this had the most amount of votes from the public:

We used the website 'Prezi' in order to present our Thriller Pitch in a way which was unique and interesting for the audience. A 'PowerPoint Presentation' is less stimulating than a 'Prezi' because Prezi allows the presenter or audience to zoom in and out of slides and images while using bright colours and artistic arrows or footprints leading to each slide.

Question 5

How did you attract or address your audience?

A 15-18 year old girl may be interested in what the character is wearing because the girl in our thriller is of the same age as our target audience. This long shot of the girl moves up so that you can see her face but at this point in the shot it reveals her costume to the audience. We used clothing which is currently in fashion to appeal to our target audience.

This shot shows a dramatic contrast to the make up and clothing of the teenage girl before. This would attract our target audience as it would intrigue them on the narrative of why the girl looks so different in this shot compared to the one before. It also creates an enigma as to why the alter-ego is on the floor and why she is so distressed.

This shot is a close up shot of the makeup of the alter ego being smudged and although it is obviously not makeup that our target audience would want to copy which means an enigma is created for the audience because it is intriguing to them as to why our teenage character is smudging her makeup.

This shot is a close up shot tilting down to show the blood and magazines on the floor of the girls bedroom. The magazines are a major hint to our thrillers plot line and our target audience may be attracted to the fact that there is blood covering the magazines and being smudged onto it because it is unusual and suspicious. At the beginning of our titles there is a shot of a slow zoom in towards the magazines on the floor and this is split with the previous close up shots of blood being dripped onto the magazines. This creates an enigma for the audience while the camerawork of the slow zoom builds tension and excitement.

This shot is a close up of the teenage girls face and similarly to the close up of the alter-ego, it shows the girls makeup. This makeup and hair style may be one that the target audience may find appealing. The sound used is a loud bang from upstairs which makes the teenage girl ‘jump’ and this may attract our target audience because the sound is suspicious. It is also quite relatable in the way that when you are home alone, you sometimes hear noises upstairs and become suspicious of them.

We fulfilled our audiences expectations because we chose a piece of music which built tension through out our opening titles and this tension built excitement for the audience. There was no intense action, however the suspense was erupted when the teenage girl found her alter-ego hiding in her bedroom. We felt that this successfully completed what we had been asked of by our target audience from the Vox Pops which was to have music which successfully created tension and built excitement for them during the scene. 

I think that our thriller has some aspects in common with the thriller film ‘Gone’. Through out the film ‘Gone’ you are constantly wondering whether the main character Jill is mentally ill and paranoid or whether her kidnapper really has returned and taken her sister. This is similar to our thriller because our audience will always question whether the alter-ego is real or whether she is just a hallucination of the teenage girl who may or may not be mentally ill and losing her mind. The enigma in both films will always attract the audiences because an audience watching a film always loves to watch a mystery unfold and try to figure out the ending before the film tells them. 

Music and sound is used in our thriller to attract our audience because the music we used called ‘Creepy music box’ sounds very sinister and has a tune like a children’s rhyme. This relates to the way that our main character is still very young and vulnerable however the images presented by the media have corrupted her and changed her mind. The music is very psychological in this way and makes the audience feel uncomfortable because the music has a sound of innocence while also sounding sinister. 

Editing was used in our thriller to attract our audience by splitting our clips to create scenes where the shots flick back and forth on the screen between two different shots. This allows the audience to absorb what is happening in both shots and not become bored by having just one shot playing for a long time. The shots of close ups and extreme close ups also intrigued the audience because it showed them detail and emotions of the actor.

Mise en scene was used in our thriller openings to attract our audience because we kept in mind that our target audience is teenagers aged 15-18 and we thought about what our audience would wear and how they would do their makeup. The lighting became dark, eerie and intriguing for the audience due to the filter which was added during editing. The props used were magazines which teenage girls typically read and this would appeal to our target audience while the setting was also a family home in a small town and we filmed mostly in the living room and a teenage girls bedroom so the setting compared to our target audience.

The plot we used was very accessible and relatable to our target audience of teenagers aged 15-18. Teenagers are very aware of the way they look and can be very insecure. At this moment in time media has a big influence over teenagers depicting how they should look, act and dress and we used this to create our plot about a teenage girl whose mind becomes corrupted by all the images of women pushed onto her by the media in magazines, on TV and the internet. The girl becomes mentally ill and although this is an extreme and was twisted to match the psychological thriller genre, we still believe that this plot line is very relatable to teenagers at current time because teenagers in modern times are much more effected by the media and the way the media portrays how a person should look like. The 'YoungMinds' website gives a statistic that: "The number of young people aged 15-16 with depression doubled between the 1980s and 2000s". A reason for this could be because the way women were presented in the media greatly changed in the 80s with more revealing images and also the computer programme Photoshop was released in the year 1990. 

Our audience responded to our opening titles in different ways however their were some similarities to what they were telling us. We shows our titles to two girls and two boys who commented on: Editing, Mise en scene, shots and sound.

• Girl 1: Thought that the editing was effective because it kept the viewers eye on the screen looking at the details in each shot. The plot was really relatable and the use of ripped magazines as props was a good way of showing the girls anger to the media.

• Boy 1: The fake blood used looked good however he wanted to see the wounds on the alter ego where the blood came from. He thought that the plot line was more relatable to girls and the bang from upstairs was a bit cliche however the way it was filmed and the ‘alter-ego’ spin made it more unique.
• Girl 2: Thought that the costume and makeup used were very good because they showed a great contrast between the two sides of the girls personality. The close up shots made the makeup more visible and the filter used made the whole title sequence look creepy. 
• Boy 2: Thought that the sound used was good because the music set up the atmosphere well however the extra sounds used such as the creaking door and the bang from upstairs could have been made louder/clearer. 

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our production company name is ‘AMOA Productions’ and each letter stands for the first letter of the last name of each person in our team. This represents the way that the four people in our team contributed equally to the final product we created. Our ident is a still image which appears on screen before the main sequence of titles. It is a leafless tree stood on its own and the skeleton of the tree looks quite sinister and evil which represents the genre of thriller film opening title we were hoping to create. The bare tree in our ident not only looks sinister and represents our thriller genre but it also represents the way our company ‘AMOA Productions’ is new and fresh and will keep creating new ideas similar to the way a tree keeps growing and changing it’s appearance each season. Our company ident is similar to that of Jerry Bruckheimer’s as their main point of interest is also a bare tree. Their company ident also looks sinister which is added by the shot of lightning and the pathetic fallacy of the stormy sky.

A production company provides the physical basis for works in film, television or radio. Production companies provide the funding for the film and sets the budget which is the amount of money which can be spent on the film. It also assists in the scheduling, scripting, casting and more aspects of a film.

The production company is also responsible for finding a director and most of the acting talent required. They are also responsible for anything which goes wrong while filming such as an actor getting injured or equipment getting damaged.

The distributor which I think would best suit our Thriller would be 'Lionsgate Entertainment'. Lionsgate UK is a diversified UK based film entertainment arm of Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio. It is located in London and the company (formerly Redbus film distribution) was acquired by Lionsgate in 2005 and has since established a reputation in the UK as a leading producer, distributor and acquirer of commercially successful and critically acclaimed product. From research I know that they have created a lot of Thriller films such as 'Abduction', 'American Psycho', 'The Lincoln Lawyer' and 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Since we are making a psychological thriller and 'American Psycho' is one of the most famous psychological thrillers we thought Lionsgate would be a good production company to be associated with. The idea of inherited audiences was kept in mind while deciding on which distributor would suit our thriller and since 'Lionsgate' thriller films such as 'American Psycho' had a very large audience and people know that Lionsgate are renowned for making critically acclaimed thrillers then we may inherit an audience from their previous thriller films to watch our film 'Alter-Ego'.

The money to fund our film could have come from crowd funding in which a group of people all contribute money to make a production and those contributors then receive a portion of their money back if the production makes a good profit. Product placement in films is also common, for example the production company agree to show and advertise a companies products in their film and the production company receives money for doing this. Film investors will also contribute money if they are contacted and decide that you film is a profitable production; the BFI film fund are an example of a company who use lottery funds to support film development, production and distribution in the UK. Advertisement is also a way to obtain funds for a film, our film’s target audience is 15-18 year olds and so we would advertise in shopping centers, on social networking sites and public transport.

                                             BFI Film Fund                  Advertisement in shopping centers 

                                         Crowd Funding                               Product placement

In our opening titles, the first name to appear is our production company name ‘AMOA Productions’ because the production company is very important and provides funds, casting, scripting and other aspects of film making. The second title is the name of the actress starring in the film as she is the first actor to appear on screen. Then come the technical aspects that go with making the film: ‘Filmed by‘, ‘Music by‘, ‘Make-up by‘, ‘Costume by’. The editor is a very important role and this is shown at the end with other roles which are very important; without an editor the shots filmed will not make sense and the editing creates the story line and atmosphere of the film. We then have the two roles in film making which are arguably the most important as without the ‘Director’ you have no vision or direction which the actors and film will be taken in and without the ‘Producer’ you have no organisation as the producer brings together the whole production team and creates an environment which the team can work efficiently and effectively. The last title shown is the main film title and this is so that the audience remembers the title and it hints towards what the films story may be. The look of the title and the typography also set up an atmosphere for the audience before the film begins The thriller film 'Se7en' which is a crime and psychological thriller, does this very effectively.

Below is a 'Glogster' expressing the main points of Question 3:

Question 2

How does your media product present particular social groups?

The protagonist in our thriller is a typically ‘normal’ teenage girl and she is a victim in our film. We wanted our main character to be female and for her age to be roughly 16 years old because in current times young teenage girls are the demographic which is the most effected by images in the media. This is greatly due to their interests such as reading fashion magazines, television programmes and images of the internet. These all portray physically appealing women or in the case of fashion magazines and the internet photo-shopped images of women.These types of media, especially high fashion magazines such as 'Vogue' also present products which lower social class may not be able to afford whereas the higher class who might earn more money will be able to afford the luxury items. Our target audience is teenagers aged 15-18 and so if our main character is of a similar age and is struggling with a situation which is currently occurring then they will greatly relate to it. 

She wears white and light clothing to denote purity and innocence and her makeup is very light and natural. This is important as it connotes to the audience that this girl is young and innocent and should not be made to feel the way that she does at the end of the opening titles. The character does typical teenage activities such as reading fashion magazines as shown in our thriller however the media is affecting her mental health and she becomes angry and depressed because she does not look like the women in the magazines. The magazines are very important props as without them, our audience would not understand or get a hint at the story which is about to unfold. The magazine she is reading represents the media and all the images of women the media tells teenagers they should look like. The ripped up and bloody magazines shown at the beginning of the titles represent the girls anger and mental state towards herself and the media. We thought that this was a relevant story line because the stereotype of a teenage girl is a girl who enjoys shopping, socialising, wearing nice clothes and wearing make-up which are all quite materialistic things and reveal that they are conscious of the way they look.

The first screen shot of the teenage girl is a long shot which was important to establish where the girl is which is relaxed in her home doing stereotypical teenage behaviour which includes watching television, reading magazines or being on their mobile phones. She is shown reading the magazine because as explained before, as well as being a prop which represents an activity a teenager does it is a key element in explaining our story line. 

The second screen shot is a close up of the girls face and this was filmed to show the girl ‘jump’ after hearing a bang upstairs. Close up shots can give an element of suspense and this close up was used to show the emotion on the girls face and show her concern while it also allowed us to show the audience the girls simple makeup. Both shots were filmed in the living room of her home to show the girl being comfortable while the lighting was bright which parallels with the use of light makeup and clothing for the girl. All of this represents the peace of mind the girl is feeling while relaxing at home and the white and brightness represents her innocence and purity.

The only  other character in our opening titles is played by the same actress and is essentially still the teenage girl just a split side to her personality. Our thriller is called ‘Alter-ego’ and the alter-ego character is meant to portray the mentally unstable part of the teenage girls mind who is insecure and angry about not looking like some of the women do in the media. 

This character is not evil however we decided a dark costume would portray her emotions and actions well; she wears all black to display the darkness and her corrupted mind. The makeup used has been made to look smudged and distressed and is also very dark which is in contrast to the teenage girls makeup. She has dark make-up around the eyes and around her face to denote bruising or tiredness. The alter-ego represents the emotions which the teenage girl is feeling and is meant to show the damaged part of the girls mind which makes the alter-ego another victim.

The alter ego’s props are pages and posters from magazines which have been pinned to the teenage girls wall. We tried to be creative in revealing the title of our film and so had the alter-ego character rip the posters off of the wall and reveal the title underneath. The ripping off the posters is another representation of the girls anger and tipping point after feeling insecure and depressed for a long time. From the mental health website named 'YoungMinds' a statistic tells us that: "The number of young people aged 15-16 with depression doubled between the 1980s and 2000's." A reason for this could be because the way women were portrayed in media greatly changed in the 80s with revealing images of women while the computer program Photoshop was released in 1990. 

Shot number one is a high angle shot to make the alter-ego appear vulnerable. This is because the alter-ego is the damaged part of the teenage girls mind and has been corrupted from pressure from the media. She is crouched on the floor which is a protective position and the shot maintains continuity as the teenage girl has just pulled back the door to reveal the alter-ego and the shot is taken from where her eye level would be looking down. 

Shot number two is an extreme close up of the alter-ego’s eyes; this shot appears quite quickly twice during the sequence. We used this shot to reveal the emotional pain which the character is feeling, it also gives the audience a look at the makeup used on the character which is in great contrast to the teenage girl; it is very dark and the eyes appear tired and sunken. Both of these shots were filmed in the teenage girls bedroom and the room is stereotypical of a teenage girl because it is pink and is filled with photos and makeup on the dressing table. The shots were filmed in the bedroom because the alter-ego is part of the teenage girl and so is only seen in the girls most intimate and private place: her bedroom. The lighting is also significantly darker than the shots of the teenage girl which denotes the sadness and darkness surrounding the character.

The character Jill Roberts from the horror-thriller ‘Scream 4’ is similar to both our characters the alter-ego and the girl. The character Jill is also a young teenage girl and appears to be innocent through out the whole film. Her innocent nature in the film is similar to that of our teenage girl character however the costume choices are quite different as we chose to represent our innocent character with light coloured clothing.

 This is because visual innocence was important in our thriller as the teenage girl has no lines to say in our opening titles, whereas in ‘Scream 4’ Jill Roberts innocence was shown through her acting through out the film. 

At the end of ‘Scream 4’ it is revealed that Jill Roberts is actually the serial killer and has been killing her cousins friends. Although our alter-ego character does not kill anyone, they are similar because of their darker nature. Our characters and the character of Jill Roberts do contrast because Jill Roberts does not have a split personality, she is only acting innocent in the film and then shows her darker side in the ending. However our alter-ego character is meant to be a side of the teenage girl which she cannot control.

Similarly to our teenage girl character wanting to be like the women shown by the media, the character Jill Roberts from ‘Scream 4’ aspires to be exactly like her cousin Sidney Prescott accept Jill is prepared to kill her cousin to take her place. The role of Jill Roberts is a psychopathic teenager who is deluded and violent while our alter-ego character is vulnerable and insecure. 

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Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A thriller is a genre of film which uses suspense, tension and excitement as its main elements to interest the audience. There are many different types of thriller sub genre including Action Thrillers, Crime Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers, Sci-fi Thrillers, Religious Thrillers, Paranormal Thrillers and Film Noir. 

The sub genre which we chose was a Psychological thriller and this is because we did research in the form of Vox Pops and the results showed psychological thrillers to be popular and we thought the genre would be interesting to explore. For example you can use different camera shots and angles to confuse an audience or make them uncomfortable or you can use different filters to distort images and make them abnormal to a regular persons sight. From a psychological thriller, an audience can expect non-diegetic sounds which compliment the unnatural aspects of the film and hints towards mental instability. The results from our Vox Pops also told us that sound is also a very important instrument used to create suspense. The plot of the films are always very dramatic and have lots of twists. This keeps the audience interested and has them constantly asking questions. 

Usually a psychological thriller contains elements of horror which include suspense and tension to make the audience uncomfortable. They also sometimes use minimal injuries or gore but these tend to be a hallucination or something the protagonist has done because they have been driven mad by their minds. These films have a way of making the audience question whether the protagonist really is mentally ill or whether they are being tricked in some way. 

Elements of the genre which we used were suspenseful music which hints to the audience that something is going to happen and also builds tension which the our protagonist, the teenage girl, is walking up to her bedroom. We also included diegetic in the beginning when the girl hears a bang from upstairs and then later pauses at the bottom of the stairs after hearing a door creak. The effect of these sounds is that over the top of the eerie music there are also conventional sounds from horror or psychological films and in real life when people hear these sounds, they naturally are afraid and investigate them. We also used tilted angle shots at the beginning of the titles which confuses the audience as it is an unnatural position to see things in. Another element which we used was the main protagonist being the mentally ill character however we developed the idea further and used one person acting as two roles. The ‘alter-ego’ shown at the end of the titles is an alternate side to her personality or the ‘alter-ego’ could also be a figment of the girls imagination and the girl thinks she is actually doing things like ripping up the magazines. An element which we challenged however was using a young person as the protagonist. 

Usually in psychological films, the protagonist is played by an adult and only 3 out of the list of top 100 psychological thrillers on IMBD had young people as the protagonist and even in those films, the protagonist was a boy. Using a girl allowed us to explore the idea of the media dictating what a young girl should look like and in our thriller titles, the pressure of this is too much for the young girl and cause her to be mentally ill. 

Conventions of thriller film opening titles include the use of shots and angles. Extreme long shots are commonly used to establish the surroundings and set the scene of the film while mid shots, close ups and over the shoulder shots are used through out the films as typical shots to show characters in their surroundings, their emotions and conversing with another character. Extreme close ups are sometimes used in thriller films to add suspense, uncertainty and make the audience unnerved. Point of view shots are sometimes used in crime thrillers as these can be in the point of view of the killer to create mystery or in the point of view of the victim to create realisation. High angle or low angle shots are commonly used as these can make certain characters look powerful and others look weak. This is important as there are usually very strong characters in thriller films who create all the action and suspense and of course there are the characters who they defeat and put down. These types of shots are commonly used in the film ‘Taken’. Below are three screen shots. One shows an example of a point of view shot, from the view of the victim; it is also a low angle shot. The next two shots are close up shots which are used commonly in the film ‘Taken’ to show the emotion in detail on the actors faces.

Tilt shots are commonly used in psychological thrillers as they are unnatural and unnerve the audience while they can also be used in action or crime thrillers to show evidence on boards or on the floor and weapons. Fast paced editing is essential in thriller films as this is what primarily causes the thrill. The use of many different shots which are fast paced and edited well creates an exciting scene for the audience as they sit on the edge of their seat trying to keep track of the different things happening in each shot.

In ‘Sherlock Holmes’ the fight scene is edited very quickly to express his skill as a fighter:

These types of shots influenced our thriller because we used a point of view shot as the girl saw her alter-ego which created a sense of realisation and also made the alter ego look vulnerable. We also were influenced by the use of close up shots which we thought would be effective in our psychological thriller to show the expressions of our characters and their feelings. The fast paced editing of Sherlock Holmes influenced us to make our shots which were meant to show suspense be more exciting for the audience after the shots were edited in a quick series. We developed the fast paced edit by using extreme close ups inbetween the series of shots which added more interesting and intriguing shots for the audience to see while also introducing enigmas and made the audience more intrigued and excited.

Mise en scene is very particular to each genre. The costume is reliant upon the time period and the setting of the film. For example, film noir films are usually set in cities and are typically from the 1950’s so this would give an impression that the male characters would wear a pork-pie hat and a businessman suit. Usually thriller films have dark lighting or a filter which darkens them which creates a suspenseful atmosphere and questions for the audience. In the film ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ a dark lighting is used to express the intense nature of the film:

Conventionally, men are the protagonists in thriller films and the protagonist is usually the hero who is the films focus while there is also the damsel in distress who is the hero’s job to save. There is usually an antagonist who is the villain in the film who is skilful, smart and often psychologically disturbed. Props are widely ranged including weapons for crime thrillers and everyday household objects for psychological thrillers. ‘The Bone Collector’ is a film which uses many props as, being a crime thriller it needs props to use as weapons and evidence of a crime:

These things influenced our thriller because we wanted our thriller to be disturbing and dark which meant we could use the aspect of lighting to make the shots more dim and suspenseful for the audience. We also wanted to challenge the conventions of a typical thriller film. Instead of having a hero and a villain we decided to make them the same character. The girl and the alter-ego are played by the same person and are effectively the same character. The only character in our opening titles is both the protagonist and antagonist because the girl has a split personality. The props used in our thriller film were household objects because the setting is the girls home and to add a sense of realism we wanted all the props to be what you can find in a typical family home.

The narrative of thriller films are similar as in the beginning we are introduced to the protagonist and given information about them such as their personality/where they live/work etc. We are also given the initial problem of the film and the protagonist is involved in it some way. Mystery can be involved and the audience begins to feel excitement to solve it. You are also introduced to any villains or suspects and the audience becomes interested to find out the results at the end of the film. The middle of the film is when the protagonist begins to solve the problem and the film reaches its climax. This is when the audience is on the edge of their seat in suspense and sometimes other problems can be caused at this point which the protagonist needs to solve by the end of the film. The end to the film is when all the problems are solved and the antagonist is revealed if it has not been already. However at the end of some films such as psychological, crime or supernatural thrillers some questions are left unanswered and the film ends with a cliff hanger. Our thriller opening titles challenge the typical thriller because the initial problem is revealed straight away although it still creates an enigma for the audience because they do not know exactly why the girl has an alter-ego and whether it is all in her mind or not.

Diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used through out all films and in thriller films non-diegetic sound is used to tell the audience what emotions they should be feeling in a particular scene. Non-diegetic sound is also very useful to create tension and suspense which is what thriller films are all about. Diegetic sound is commonly used in crime films when sounds such as guns and knives are used and a pivotal points in the films. Sometimes these sounds are enhanced and made louder during editing if they are important so that the audience definitely hears them. In our thriller film we used diegetic sound such as the banging from upstairs and the creaking door and these added suspense to our thriller. Pitch is important in thriller films such as a low pitch to create mystery and tension and a high pitch in horror films to make the audience jump. We used a piece of non-diegetic sound which had a low pitch which caused tension and the use of a higher pitched piano at points during the music which is an uncomfortable and sinister sound which can make the audience uncomfortable and tense. Usually fast paced music is used in thriller films such as action films and this is because it matches the action happening on the screen; this is synchronous sound. In psychological thrillers the use of silences is common as these are effective in making the audience reflect on what has happened in a scene or it can create more tension as a pause during music. 

However sometimes asynchronous sound is used and is especially effective in horror thriller films when there is joyful music playing while someone is getting murdered. This is effective because it shows the killer as a sadist and reveals more about the character while also making the audience uncomfortable. In the film ‘Shutter Island’ asynchronous music is used to make the protagonist look like a sadist. Calm and orchestral music is heard as he moves a gun away from a wounded man using his boot, so that the man cannot end his own suffering:

The piece of music we used called 'Creepy music box' also gave an asynchronous effect to our thriller opening because the music sounds like a child's music box while also sounding quite sinister. While the shots of the alter-ego crouching on the floor are shown and while the alter-ego rips posters off of the wall the music is still playing which creates an uncomfortable feeling because a piece of music which should sound innocent has been contorted and is playing while malignant actions are taking place.

A thriller opening sequence will use these conventions such as extreme close ups or point of view shots are used to add mystery and not give too much detail away. The opening sequences will contain fast paced editing straight away to capture the audiences attention and creates thrill before the real action has begun. The mise en scene is very important in an opening sequence as it sets up the theme of the film and suggests ideas about the films plot and characters. Darker lighting is commonly used to create a mysterious atmosphere and also hint towards the dark nature that thriller films usually have. Sometimes the structure of the shots are not chronological. For example flashbacks or even future shots are sometimes used in the opening to intrigue the audience and can give a background information to help the audience understand why something is happening or why a character now acts a certain way. The shots from the future can make the audience excited to watch the film as they want to find out how the characters got to that point and what caused them to act that way. Dual narratives can also be used in an opening to create an enigma for the audience as they know the two story lines will collide at some point in the film but they do not know for what reason yet. An opening will almost always have sound which excites the audience and give them a hint of the action which will occur in the film. The film ‘Skyfall’ is a good example of this as the opening titles contain images of the action the audience could expect to be in the film, such as blood, guns and tombstones. The song accompanying the titles is very slow and dramatic signalling that the film will also be the same.

One thriller opening titles which I studied was the ‘Dexter’ opening titles. In a way these titles broke some of the conventions of thriller titles. The sequence was very well lit and the colours were very bright. However the main colour expressed was red which conventionally suggests blood and hints towards violence or murder in the actual programme. Something else which was unconventional was that the opening titles revealed to you straight away who the main killer of the programme was. This was made clear by extreme close up shots of the protagonist killing insects, cutting himself, dripping blood and doing simple actions like making coffee or tying his laces with angry force. This is unconventional because usually a TV programme or film tries to conceal the killer until the end to create mystery for the audience and make them want to keep watching until the end. Although we are told quickly that the protagonist is actually the killer, the programme is still intriguing because it is unconventional for the main character to act so normal but be a killer too. In this way ‘Dexter’ is quite similar to the film ‘American Psycho’ as it is revealed to us that the main protagonist is the killer at the beginning of ‘American Psycho’ too. The music in ‘Dexter’ uses the piano, bassoon and some string instruments such as the violin which creates a strangely upbeat song. However the song has a sinister element due to the electric instruments which give the song a metallic sound. There are also diegetic sounds behind the music such as the man eating or the razor dragging across his skin. These sounds are unnaturally loud which makes the audience uncomfortable because the actions are quite personal. In conclusion, the sound used in ‘Dexter’ does follow convention as it sets up a sinister and uncomfortable atmosphere for the programme. This means that the 'Dexter' opening titles do not follow all the conventions of what a typical thriller would possess and challenges most of the conventions. However it still gives the same effects that a thriller should which is suspense, excitement and tension.

‘Se7en’ was a real thriller film which inspired our opening titles. We chose ‘Se7en’ as it successfully expressed the mood and themes of the whole film. The use of close up shots was very effective as you could see the detail of props and it also allowed the titles to flow much better. The fact that the actors face is not seen throughout the titles was very effective as they are the killer and it was a mystery but we were not creating a crime/mystery thriller so although it was effective for the film ‘Se7en’ we decided against the idea for our own thriller. 

                                       

Although you can only see the actor’s hands in the opening titles, this does reveal a lot about his character. The fingernails are dirty and there a bandages on his fingers and this reveals that the character hurt themselves while the dirty fingernails shows that they have been doing something unusual or wrong. Realising that the use of costume/make up has created a character for the antagonist in ‘Se7en’, it inspired us to use make-up and costume in a way that reveals the characters personality well in our own thriller. Below is an image of the make-up we used on the alter-ego's face which was inspired by the dirty fingers of the actor in 'Se7en'. The dark eyes look sunken and tired which reflects how the character is not mentally healthy.

The dark lighting and filters in ‘Se7en’ were also an inspiration to us. If it had been filmed in a brighter place or had no filter over it then the dark and gritty mood would not have been expressed. The lighting in these titles are dark and full of shadows which clearly denotes that the rest of the film will be quite twisted and dark in terms of themes. The lighting flickers and the denotion of black spots makes it look old and corrupted. This is effective because it could indicate that the actor’s mind is corrupted and that they are mentally ill.

Filters are used and these include sepia or black & white. The filters change with the light and flicker on and off and this distorts some shots and makes them look disturbing or unnatural. We liked this idea because we were creating a psychological thriller and the effect of the filters relates to the way a mentally ill persons mind would feel like and also clearly indicates to the audience that something is not right and it makes the shots feel gritty and uncomfortable. Below are three screen shots from ‘Se7en’ which show the filters and lighting:

The colours used in ‘Se7en’ were also an inspiration to us. They were a clear indication of what the audience could expect from the film. The use of colour is important as the colours are mostly grey, black or brown and this reveals the general theme of the film which is sinister and disturbing. However at different points in the titles sudden bursts of dull red appear and this could connote any murder or blood shed shown in the film. We decided that colour would be a good way to show the themes of our titles and also express the personalities of the characters by showing one in lighter clothes as good and one in darker clothes as evil. We would also use fake blood as the colour in our titles while everything else was a duller colour.

The typography used in a film is important as it gives the film its personality and can distinguish its genre. In ‘Se7en’ the typography is always on a black background and looks as though it has been scratched into something which connotes anger. The shot of the title appears very quickly however it appears more than once but in a different size and place on the screen. The flickering of the titles suggests indecisiveness and instability which is also shown by the look of the typography. As we were creating a psychological thriller this was appealing and we tried to choose typography that also effected the psychological damage we were trying to portray in our thriller.

Our thriller title is similar to that on ‘Se7en’ because it is short and directly links to the plot of the film. ‘Se7en’ is about the seven deadly sins and a murderer using the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi whereas out thriller is about a young teenage girl who develops an ‘Alter-Ego’ due to the pressures about body image in the media. From the title of our film the audience would correctly guess that one character in the film has an alter-ego and the girl is the only actor in the titles so this would cause the audience to believe that she is has the split personality. Furthermore the appearance of our title is quite conventional and, in appearance, is quite similar to that of ‘Se7en’. ‘Se7en’s titles are gritty and look like they have been scratched into something while appearing on the screen quickly and jittery. This links to the way the character in ‘Se7en’ is mentally ill and is unstable. Our title appears by the ‘Alter-Ego’ ripping off the posters on her bedroom wall and revealing the title underneath. The way she does this shows she is losing her mind as the posters have droplets of blood on them and she’s ripping them off angrily. The actual typography is similar to a magazine or newspaper font and the edges of the title are ripped like the magazine props we used. This links the appearance of our title strongly with the narrative and props in out thriller.

The location of our thriller film is in a Victorian style family home which is quite unconventional as most thrillers are set either outside in a town or city or even in a more modern house. Se7en was set in a fictitious city which suited its story of a murderer in a larger setting. However our location was very accessible to our whole group and we needed a teenage girls bedroom as our setting to show how the girls private bedroom is where her alter-ego comes out because she does not want other people to see her emotionally damaged.

As previously stated the costumes and props used in ‘Se7en’ did influence our own choices. Although you never see the full costume of the antagonist shown in the ‘Se7en’ opening titles, you do see their hands which reveal a lot about their character. The fingernails are filthy and the fingers are wrapped in bandages which hints towards the character doing something unusual or wrong to get themselves hurt. Although the costume is very minimal, it tells a lot about the character which is what influenced us to think carefully about make up and costume. Our character of the teenage girl is wearing a white jumper and white/grey patterned skirt. The colour white usually indicates purity and innocence while her make up is also very minimal and pure. However for her alter-ego we wanted to drastically change the make up and costume in a way that you would be able to tell straight away it is meant to be a different character even though it’s the same person. The alter-ego wore a black jumper, black skirt and tights while the make up around the eyes was smudged and she had very dark red lipstick on which she smudges. This change to darkness was meant to indicate that the alter-ego character is quite sinister and the smudges of make up should have shown that she is emotional and mentally ill. The white and pure costume the girl wears is quite typical of an innocent character in a thriller film while the dark costume of her alter-ego is also very conventional as evil character usually wear dark clothes also. Other thriller films with teenage girls as the main characters are 'Scream 4' and 'Hanna'. In 'Scream 4' the main character is Jill Roberts a psychopathic girl and in 'Hanna' the main character is Hanna a 16 year old who was raised to be an assassin. However apart from these films, there are not many other thriller films which have a teenage girl as the main  character and in this case our use of a teenage girl seems unconventional.

The camerawork used in our thriller opening is quite conventional as we use a range of close ups/extreme close ups which are common in thrillers to show clues or express intense emotion. Long shots are not commonly used in thrillers because it delays the characters emotion to be seen by the audience. Our shot list reveals the range of shots we used in our opening which ranges from extreme close ups to long shots with low angle and tilt shots too. Similar to ‘Se7en’ we used extreme close up shots to make the opening flow better and add detailed interest for the audience. 

Our editing is quite conventional of a thriller, especially at the beginning of our titles. The editing is faced paced to gain and maintain audience interest. ‘Se7en’ also uses this technique during the sequence of titles with close up or extreme close up shots of props. We took inspiration from this and used magazines and fake blood as our props to use in a fast paced edited sequence.

The narrative of our thriller is unique but portrayed in a conventional way. Our thriller is about a teenage girl who reads fashion magazines and feels pressure from the media to look a certain way. She is mentally effected by this and this causes her to create an ‘alter-ego’ who is her darker self which feels anger at the media and magazines for making her feel this way. We thought this was a very modern and current idea however we presented it in a conventional way in which the girl is home alone, hears sounds coming from upstairs and finds her alter-ego in the corner of her bedroom. We kept in mind that the opening titles will only by around two minutes so we wanted to get across what the film would be about without giving too much away. The audience is left wondering whether the other girl is just in her imagination and what is happening to the girl. It is similar to the film ‘Se7en’ because in the opening titles you know that this person is the killer and is killing people who match the seven deadly sins. The audience is left wondering whether he has killed anyone, whether he will and whether he will get caught. Similarly the audience after watching out thriller opening may wonder whether the girl will get rid of her alter-ego and whether anyone will find out about it.

The genre of our thriller is psychological and is suggested by the darker filter which had been edited into the titles. This filter suggests a dark theme to the film while creating shadows and a sinister atmosphere. The music also reflects the genre as it almost sounds like a little girls rhyme however the piano used in the music makes an unsettling feeling for the listener. The music reflects the way the girl should still be innocent like the way she was when she was younger however she has been corrupted by the media so the song has a dark theme. The props used such as ripped magazines and fake blood suggest a psychological theme because they suggest something is seriously wrong and unusual while the body language of the alter-ego crouched in the corner of her bedroom portrays a psychological theme as she has her hands covering her face which implies that she is upset and something is wrong with her mind. ‘Se7en’ also uses music to set up its genre which sounds quite corrupted and chaotic like the characters mind and his actions. It also uses props as a key way to show the characters motives and strange behaviour. They use razor blades, newspaper cuttings and drawings to express the characters motives and insanity. This reveals that music and props are a conventional way for a film to express it’s genre in the opening titles.

The characters of our thriller are set up by establishing who the protagonist is with a long shot of the girl sat at home reading a women’s magazine. We felt that this greatly portrays the ‘normal’ teenage girl and what she does while at home relaxing. The alter-ego is the same character but it is a split side to the girls personality which only she can see. This is shown by the teenage girl finding her alter ego in her bedroom towards the end of the titles. This is different to ‘Se7en’ because you are not introduced to any specific characters in the opening titles apart from the killer but the identity of the killer is left a mystery. In a way, the way we have introduced the characters is not conventional because we have revealed that the alter-ego and the girl are the same person. However an enigma is still created for the audience in the same way that it is in ‘Se7en’ because the audience will be asking why these things are happening and they will wonder what the result of the film will be. This challenged conventions because we have revealed something very significant in the first few minutes of the film which in a conventional thriller, would be done further into the film to be expressed as the initial problem which needs to be solved. 

Below is a 'Prezi' presentation expressing the main points of question 1: