1) In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
(BH) - Kai Engel: Morbid Imagination
(BI) - Toilet scene in Witness (1985)
Runaway - Final Production
Sunday, 17 April 2016
Saturday, 16 April 2016
Evaluation - Question 3
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Friday, 15 April 2016
Evaluation - Question 7
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt n the presentation from it to the the full product?
Evaluation Rough Drafts - Question 7
7) Looking
Back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
presentation from it to the full product?
Revisions: Formatting needs to be addressed and proof read, i.e errors with coding system.
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Monday, 11 April 2016
Evaluation - Question 6
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Friday, 1 April 2016
Thursday, 24 March 2016
Potential Thriller fonts
(A) No Country for Old Men (2007)
(B) Se7en (1995)
(C) Usual Suspects (1995)
(D) Essex Boys (2000)
0:00 - 1:20
Saturday, 19 March 2016
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Thriller Editing - Edit #2
Areas to improve:
- Add a soundtrack
- Make it clearer the shots in the forest are a flashback/ nightmare
- Duel narrative: Shots of Holly have a jumbled narrative. I.e there are shots of her in the woods and next time it cuts back to her she is inside, cleaning a gun.
Monday, 14 March 2016
Evaluation Rough Drafts - Question 2
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My thriller primarily challenges stereotypes surrounding gender. For the majority of films within the industry, including the Thriller genre, the main character is normally played by a male. Famous male leads in the Thriller genre include: Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949), Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed (2006), Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (1999) and Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in Collateral (2004).
Having said that there are examples of Thrillers that crop up on occasions and challenge the patriarchal nature of the industry. Great examples of these Thrillers include: Thelma and Louise (1991), Debra Winger in Black Widow (1987), Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet (1986) and Kathleen Turner in Body Heat (1981).
All these characters are examples of femme fatales, powerful, dangerous and deviant women. Femme fatales blossomed during the film-noir era after WW2. Women had to take a more important role in society, playing roles such as manufacturing munitions that were typically done by men. This shift in gender equality sparked many iconic femme fatales in the film-noir and Thriller genre. Including: Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) in I Wake Up Screaming (1941), Vera (Ann Savage) in Detour (1945), Carmen Sternwood (Martha Vickers) and Vivian Sternwood Rutledge (Lauren Bacall) in The Big Sleep (1946) and Helen Trent (Claire Trevor) in Born to Kill (1947). 
The pivotal moment in my Thriller is when the character of Holly (the Killer) takes down her hood and reveals the fact she is a women. Up until this point, her identity has remained a secret which meant she was a thrilling enigma character to the audience. When the hood comes down and the gun comes up, the audience are stunned. I challenge the representation of women in my thriller by unexpectedly giving "Holly" the power in the film and (to put it in clichéd way) puts the women in 'the drivers seat'.
My thriller primarily challenges stereotypes surrounding gender. For the majority of films within the industry, including the Thriller genre, the main character is normally played by a male. Famous male leads in the Thriller genre include: Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949), Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed (2006), Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (1999) and Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in Collateral (2004).
Having said that there are examples of Thrillers that crop up on occasions and challenge the patriarchal nature of the industry. Great examples of these Thrillers include: Thelma and Louise (1991), Debra Winger in Black Widow (1987), Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet (1986) and Kathleen Turner in Body Heat (1981).
The pivotal moment in my Thriller is when the character of Holly (the Killer) takes down her hood and reveals the fact she is a women. Up until this point, her identity has remained a secret which meant she was a thrilling enigma character to the audience. When the hood comes down and the gun comes up, the audience are stunned. I challenge the representation of women in my thriller by unexpectedly giving "Holly" the power in the film and (to put it in clichéd way) puts the women in 'the drivers seat'.
Sunday, 13 March 2016
Evaluation Rough Drafts - Question 1
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My opening to a Thriller attempts to challenge certain conventions of the Thriller genre but uses archetypal techniques and mise-en-scene to establish it firmly within the genre. The title of our Thriller is "Runaway". This informs the audience on the nature of our film and hints at what the synopsis could entail. This wouldn't be the first thriller to have a title relating to the film, for example Se7en (1995) involves the seven deadly sins which the killer uses on his victims. In my opinion when you hear a film is called "Runaway" you expect it to be a tense and suspenseful picture. Whats more, the word runaway connotes ideas of pursuit and chase - common to the genre. For example, in The Third Man (1949) and Reservoir Dogs (1992)
One of the locations of our Thriller is a forest in Reepham, Norfolk. What we liked about this woods was that the trees had been planted in lines which gave us an interesting geometric aesthetic and a vanishing point, similar to the poignant end of The Third Man and A Touch of Frost (Season 15 released: 2010). This creates a sense of direction and the trees were arranged in a track like formation - consolidating idea of chase and "Runaway".
Our Second location is a regular kitchen. We used a parallel edit betweens the normal house scene to flashbacks in the forest. We wanted to achieve as much normality as we could in the cramped space to make the binary opposites more effective and have a greater impact.. Furthermore, having the character of Billy 'trapped' in the kitchen is a metaphor for how he feels and the effect his flashbacks/ nightmares are having on him - the simplest tasks can cause distress for Billy and the audience. Breaking the apparent normality is thrilling for the viewers of this genre.
Claustrophobic and trapped spaces are very common in the genre and is something i have explored in depth previously on my blog.
At the start of my Thriller, we have included part of a quote from John Lennon:
"Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?"
Using a quote at the start of my Thriller was inspired by Quentin Tarantino. He often includes quotes at the start of his film like in Kill Bill Vol 1. This quote in particular had relevance to my Thriller because in the opening, Billy gets caught up in his nightmares and they turn out to be reality. This is a very chilling concept and something that this quote and my final production use to thrill the audience.
Like mentioned in my planning, I included several inter-textual references in my thriller. This was to again consolidate the genre of my production. For example, my thriller shares the characteristic of having women in the powerful position with Thelma and Louise and uses a femme fatale like in Gilda (1946). These inter-textual references can be seen on one of my planning posts previously on my blog.
The biggest inspiration for my Thriller was from the Danish version of "The Killing". It entails: "Police detective Sarah Lund investigates difficult cases with personal and political consequences" and created Søren Sveistrup. What I liked about this was the pace achieved through quick edits but
My opening to a Thriller attempts to challenge certain conventions of the Thriller genre but uses archetypal techniques and mise-en-scene to establish it firmly within the genre. The title of our Thriller is "Runaway". This informs the audience on the nature of our film and hints at what the synopsis could entail. This wouldn't be the first thriller to have a title relating to the film, for example Se7en (1995) involves the seven deadly sins which the killer uses on his victims. In my opinion when you hear a film is called "Runaway" you expect it to be a tense and suspenseful picture. Whats more, the word runaway connotes ideas of pursuit and chase - common to the genre. For example, in The Third Man (1949) and Reservoir Dogs (1992)
One of the locations of our Thriller is a forest in Reepham, Norfolk. What we liked about this woods was that the trees had been planted in lines which gave us an interesting geometric aesthetic and a vanishing point, similar to the poignant end of The Third Man and A Touch of Frost (Season 15 released: 2010). This creates a sense of direction and the trees were arranged in a track like formation - consolidating idea of chase and "Runaway".
Our Second location is a regular kitchen. We used a parallel edit betweens the normal house scene to flashbacks in the forest. We wanted to achieve as much normality as we could in the cramped space to make the binary opposites more effective and have a greater impact.. Furthermore, having the character of Billy 'trapped' in the kitchen is a metaphor for how he feels and the effect his flashbacks/ nightmares are having on him - the simplest tasks can cause distress for Billy and the audience. Breaking the apparent normality is thrilling for the viewers of this genre. Claustrophobic and trapped spaces are very common in the genre and is something i have explored in depth previously on my blog.
At the start of my Thriller, we have included part of a quote from John Lennon:
"Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?"
Using a quote at the start of my Thriller was inspired by Quentin Tarantino. He often includes quotes at the start of his film like in Kill Bill Vol 1. This quote in particular had relevance to my Thriller because in the opening, Billy gets caught up in his nightmares and they turn out to be reality. This is a very chilling concept and something that this quote and my final production use to thrill the audience.
Like mentioned in my planning, I included several inter-textual references in my thriller. This was to again consolidate the genre of my production. For example, my thriller shares the characteristic of having women in the powerful position with Thelma and Louise and uses a femme fatale like in Gilda (1946). These inter-textual references can be seen on one of my planning posts previously on my blog.
The biggest inspiration for my Thriller was from the Danish version of "The Killing". It entails: "Police detective Sarah Lund investigates difficult cases with personal and political consequences" and created Søren Sveistrup. What I liked about this was the pace achieved through quick edits but
also having trees inbetween the characters and the camera - acting as barriers between the audience and the action serving to provide metaphoric connotations. This is something I have used in my Thriller.
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Thriller Planning - Soundtrack
Soundtrack Potential #1 - Ofelia's Dream:
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/ofelias-dream
Soundtrack Potential #2 - Future Gladiator
Soundtrack Potential #3 - Morbid Imagination:
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/Chapter_One__Cold
Soundtrack Potential #4 - Indian Tension:#
http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/ofelias-dream
Soundtrack Potential #2 - Future Gladiator
Soundtrack Potential #3 - Morbid Imagination:
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/Chapter_One__Cold
Soundtrack Potential #4 - Indian Tension:#
Monday, 7 March 2016
Thriller Editing - First Edit #1
Below is our first rough edit of our final Thriller Production.
Areas for improvement:
1) We have found several options for a soundtrack and they will be on our blogs soon. At the minute, our edit just features diegetic sound so we need to get the non-diegetic music into the edit as soon as possible
2) Our edit at the moment has a distinct lack of pace. What we should be aiming for is the pace achieved in the opening of Danny Boyles: Shallow Grave (1994) (see below) . To achieve this we will reduce the length of and if necessary remove entirely some clips to give our edit more pace and intensity.
3) We believe our edit isn't powerful enough for the opening to a feature film. We think the idea may be too simple, but we're are still sitting on the fence. We are going to try adding a claustrophobic space i.e. a kitchen that we can cut back to and from the scene in the woods. We believe this will have a greater impact on the audience and something we will storyboard and experiment with soon.
Areas for improvement:
1) We have found several options for a soundtrack and they will be on our blogs soon. At the minute, our edit just features diegetic sound so we need to get the non-diegetic music into the edit as soon as possible
2) Our edit at the moment has a distinct lack of pace. What we should be aiming for is the pace achieved in the opening of Danny Boyles: Shallow Grave (1994) (see below) . To achieve this we will reduce the length of and if necessary remove entirely some clips to give our edit more pace and intensity.
3) We believe our edit isn't powerful enough for the opening to a feature film. We think the idea may be too simple, but we're are still sitting on the fence. We are going to try adding a claustrophobic space i.e. a kitchen that we can cut back to and from the scene in the woods. We believe this will have a greater impact on the audience and something we will storyboard and experiment with soon.
Monday, 29 February 2016
Thriller Planning - Inter-Textual References.
Throughout the planning process, we have tried to incorporate as many inter-textual references as possible.
1) Thelma and Louise 1991
Females are in dominant position like the murderer. This challenges the common conventions of the genre. Thelma and Louise are great examples of femme fatales which are an example of an archetypal Thriller character and certainly one we wish to incorporate in our final production.
2) Heavenly Creatures 1994
What we liked about Peter Jacksons Heavenly creatures was the muddy, dirty and isolated location. This inspired our choice of location and we have decided on a forest on the outskirts of Norwich. We enjoyed the tranquility that Jackson creates in this scene and the end result is more much Thrilling when the two girls murder the woman. This is an unexpected twist that heavily contradicted the peacuful environment - something we wish to achieve in our productions.
3) Kill Bill Vol. 1
1) Thelma and Louise 1991
Females are in dominant position like the murderer. This challenges the common conventions of the genre. Thelma and Louise are great examples of femme fatales which are an example of an archetypal Thriller character and certainly one we wish to incorporate in our final production.
2) Heavenly Creatures 1994
What we liked about Peter Jacksons Heavenly creatures was the muddy, dirty and isolated location. This inspired our choice of location and we have decided on a forest on the outskirts of Norwich. We enjoyed the tranquility that Jackson creates in this scene and the end result is more much Thrilling when the two girls murder the woman. This is an unexpected twist that heavily contradicted the peacuful environment - something we wish to achieve in our productions.
3) Kill Bill Vol. 1
What we liked about this extract is the intense sound bridge of heavy breathing at the start. This immediately makes the audience suspicious and cautious. We plan on using this but instead give the audience some relief when they find out the heavy breathing is just from a jogger. Once again this extract challenges Thriller conventions
by giving using a powerful femme fatale.
4) The Killing (Danish)
Arguably the most influential and inspiring Thriller extract comes from the trailer to Series 1 of the Danish version of the brilliant " The Killing". What we liked about this is the intensity achieved during the shots of the girl running through the woods. We aim to put our own spin on this. Shooting in the dark is difficult to do well and something that requires professional experience. We considered shooting in the dark but suspected lighting would be a difficult challenge that would take up too much time and money to overcome, also we didn't have access to spotlights or other sources of bright, artificial light like professionals do. So one of our ideas is to eminate this trailer during the day with a jogger running through the woods, with the right kind of editing we believe a similar effect can be achieved.
Arguably the most influential and inspiring Thriller extract comes from the trailer to Series 1 of the Danish version of the brilliant " The Killing". What we liked about this is the intensity achieved during the shots of the girl running through the woods. We aim to put our own spin on this. Shooting in the dark is difficult to do well and something that requires professional experience. We considered shooting in the dark but suspected lighting would be a difficult challenge that would take up too much time and money to overcome, also we didn't have access to spotlights or other sources of bright, artificial light like professionals do. So one of our ideas is to eminate this trailer during the day with a jogger running through the woods, with the right kind of editing we believe a similar effect can be achieved.
Thriller Planning - Props
The Props we are planning on using in our Thrillers are:
1) A Pair of In-Ear Headphones.
2) A Gun (Pistol)
1) A Pair of In-Ear Headphones.
2) A Gun (Pistol)
Sunday, 28 February 2016
Thriller Planning - Characters
We plan to keep our Thriller relatively simply on the character side of things.
1) The Jogger - "Billy".
This character is an innocent, unsuspecting young adult thats gone out on a run. The name Billy was inspired by Billy Reynolds from Essex Boys (2000). We liked the innocent connotations and the fact that its a name commonly associated with younger people in todays society so we thought it would fit the actors appearance well. Billy is going to be
played by Louis Coles.
1) The Jogger - "Billy".
This character is an innocent, unsuspecting young adult thats gone out on a run. The name Billy was inspired by Billy Reynolds from Essex Boys (2000). We liked the innocent connotations and the fact that its a name commonly associated with younger people in todays society so we thought it would fit the actors appearance well. Billy is going to be
played by Louis Coles.
2) The Murderer - "Holly".
This character is a young women who follows Billy into the woods and eventually shoots him. The name of this character was inspired by "Holly Martins" from the Third Man. We wanted to challenge conventions of the genre by using a girl as the powerful character out of the two, known as a femme-fatale. Similar to Gilda in Gilda (1946) and Alexandra from Black Widow (1987). This challenge is reinforced by the fact we have taken a famous character from an iconic Thriller (Holly Martins) and put a completely different spin on it by making them a girl. Holly will wear dark clothes with a hood up to conceal her identity and keep the character as an enigma. This character is going to be played by Ella Saunders.
Thriller Planning - Locations
Locations
Our Thriller will be shot in two locations within the town of Reepham, Norfolk. The first is a small, victorian-era house that is a converted horse stable on a small farm estate.
The second location is an eery forest ten minutes walk out of reepham. The trees line up ti create interesting geometry and we can use them to create a vanishing point similar to Essex Boys and the end of The Third Man.
Our Thriller will be shot in two locations within the town of Reepham, Norfolk. The first is a small, victorian-era house that is a converted horse stable on a small farm estate.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Thriller Idea #2 - With Storyboards
After filming some practise shots centered around our 1st idea, we though it was too complex so we sought to re-plan a simpler, easier to understand task. In this one, the jogger would be running through the woods and we cut to a killer preparing a gun (cleaning and putting gloves on etc). Then the killer would come to the forest and shoot the jogger, the incentive is unknown to the audience. Below are the storyboards of this idea.
Thriller Idea #1 - With Storyboards
Our first idea was that the jogger would be running in the woods and stumble across a dead body in the woods. He would check his phone to see his phone has no service and run back to his house to use the landline, only to find the murderer waiting for him. Below are the initial storyboards we used to begin to plan this idea.
Thriller Ideas Mind maps.
Here, you can see the initial mind maps our group constructed when discussing what we could shoot for the opening of our Thriller.
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
Friday, 12 February 2016
Saturday, 2 January 2016
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