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

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from it to the full product? from Lucy Hiscox

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film? from Lucy Hiscox

Thriller Opening: Final Cut

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience? from Lucy Hiscox

4. Who would be the audience for your film?

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? - UPDATED

2. How does your film represent particular social groups?

Evaluation from Lucy Hiscox

1. In what ways does your film use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - UPDATED

Mise-en-scene

We wanted to use the mise-en scene within our Thriller opening to create a bleak atmosphere. We have used effects such as low-key lighting, shadows and barren backgrounds to create a desolate image, conforming to the Thriller genre by creating an atmosphere that inspires pessimism and a melancholy theme. Our mise-en-scene also conforms because of the aspects of film noir we have used. This is shown through our positioning of the camera to show shadows, this chiaroscuro effect playing a homage to film noir, and serving as a way to create an effect of isolation and fear. 

This side-by-side view shows the similarities between our film and the classic Thriller genre. The shot from our film opening (left) shows our protagonists shadow in the scene which they wake up after being kidnapped. This shot, much like the shot from a film noir on the right, emphasises the loneliness of the protagonist at this point. 

The positioning of our actors was also something we considered as part of our mise-en-scene, especially with our female character, as her stance at the end of the opening is all the audience have to make deductions about her role within the film and her personality. 

As this character is inspired by the classic film noir femme fetale, we used images from film noir to decide how this character should be positioned.

Similarities can be seen between these two images. Our female character (left), uses a similar stance, also by a door. This, compared with Joan Bennett from 'The Woman in The Window' (1944) on the right, shows that we have intended for our female character to appear as flirtatious and inviting, traits often found within film Noirs femme fetale, and have conformed with the Thriller genre because of this decision. 

Location

Three locations are pictured within our Thriller genre. Our first location in our opening scene is a train station, which conforms to the contemporary Thriller genre because of its connotations, train stations often representing escapism within a film, exploring ideas of loss of hope and a last resort which are themes found within our own Thriller. 

The use of a darkened alleyway as a location also conforms to the Thriller genre, as they are often places that people with dark intentions will wait, much like our antagonist. Thrillers that also show this representation of alleyways include Collateral (2004), and much of film Noir. We found that like with film Noir, we were able to use alleyways to experiment with light and dark in order to create atmosphere, which we found very useful when making our film. 

Costume

Costume within our Thriller opening is something we found important. 

Protagonist:

For our protagonist we wanted his characterisation to show him as an average young man in a cruel world, so used average clothing that did not stand out. Doing this means we did not conform to the Thriller genre, as our costume does little to suggest importance of our character, and instead does the opposite to symbolise his ordinary persona. 

Female character:

The costume of our female character features a dress, complete with a leather jacket. We felt this combination created a modern approach to our character, while maintaining her female image. The use of a dark dress symbolises the inspiration of the iconic femme fetale that we used, as dark colours can have connotations of evil, but a dress still shows her character as seductive. In this way, we have conformed to the Thriller genre as women are often wearing dresses to accentuate features and sexualise them, especially femme fetale. However adding the modern approach of a leather jacket creates a sense of rebelling and power for this character. 

Furthermore, the use of red within our costume also represents the characterisation of this character. Our actress has red hair, useful for us as red is a colour that is often used to symbolise danger and passion within a femme fetale, which is what our character is inspired from. 

This trope is used in films such as Sin City (2005).

This film focuses heavily on red lipstick and clothing, contrasting with the use of black and white for the rest of the film. The use of red hair instead of lipstick or a red dress creates a contemporary quality to our Femme fetale inspired character. We have conformed to the genre conventions because of our use of colour, but because of showing this through hair colour, it means we have been able to add our own modern twist to the iconic use of the colour. 

 Antagonist:

Our antagonists costume is important, as it was needed to show a negative representation of this character, and show the audience he is not to be trusted. We used a black hoodie to show this, making sure the face was covered to create mystery. Black is a colour that often has connotations of corruption and immorality, traits we wanted to come across within our characterisation of our antagonist. Black also helped with our shots of this character, as we wanted him to look like a looming and threatening silhouette, enforcing the idea of mystery. In this way, our antagonists costume does conform with the genre because of the connotations a black hoodie has, often used to present ambiguity and darkness of a character. 


Characters

The characterisation of our protagonist both does and does not conform. He does conform because of the focus that he is an average person in a dark and cruel world, a trait often within many thriller protagonists because it presents an idea to the audience that this could happen to anyone in the real world, creating a tense atmosphere and making the audience sympathise with the character. This type of characterisation is shown within films such as 28 Days Later (2002) which presents an ordinary man who wakes up to a world of destruction, and Heartless (2009) which also presents a young man thrown into a world of darkness he did not know he was connected to. These story-lines create a sense of fear for the audience, and creates the idea that they live within this possibility. We have used this within our plot to create the same sense for our audience, so in this way our protagonist does conform with the Thriller genre. 

However, branches of the Thriller genre, such as film noir, show that our protagonist does not fit entirely with this genre. Film Noir protagonists such as Johnny Kelly in A City That Never Sleeps (1953) and Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly (1955), show protagonists that live within this world of darkness already, often portrayed as detectives or officers of the law, and are familiar with antagonists, much unlike our own character. In this way, our protagonist does not entirely conform to Thriller conventions of classic protagonists, and instead challenges this classic concept. 

Our female character does conform to the Thriller genre, specifically film noir. 
Inspired by the femme fetale which is shown through characterisation, our female character does conform with the classic Thriller genre. This is shown through femme fetales within films such as Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and D.O.A (1950). 

However our female character does also challenge conventions of a femme fetale, as we have adapted the iconic character to be much more contemporary, shown through aspects of costume such as a leather jacket and red hair. 

Props

Props used within our Thriller opening does conform to the genre. We have used items such as an alcohol bottle, wire to restrict protagonist in the kidnapping scene, and a bat that was used to create the effect of the protagonist being attacked. These props inspire themes of violence and mental health issues within our protagonist, and help create themes of immorality and corruption within our film, showing the audience that this is a dark Thriller through these themes. The themes created by use of these props conform with the Thriller genre, as items like these are often found within Thrillers to have the same effect. 

Lighting

All light sources within our Thriller is digetic. We used light to control light and dark, creating an emphasis on darkness in some shots, creating similar bleak themes often found within Thrillers. The low-key lighting used allowed us to control it within shots, as well as inspiring themes of corruption and unhappiness. 

Light behind characters, especially within the shot shown below, creates an effect we were happy with. 

In this shot, the antagonist stands in front of the low-key natural light, blocking it and creating a sense that they are blocking out hope, light often representing themes of hope and happiness. In this way, our lighting does conform with the genre, as a lack of hope is often found within Thrillers, shown through the lack of light. 

This shot is similar in our use of digetic lighting, only the brightness of digetic car headlights reflects on the mystery of the dark figure, the emphasis on the dark silhouette creating ambiguity. 

In this shot, we have used chiaroscuro lighting, this stark contrast of shadow representing loneliness, and also conforming with conventions of Thrillers, particularly film noir. 

Sound

We have used non-digetic sound within scenes to create tension, low and haunting soundtracks often used within Thrillers to create this effect. We also used haunting music to create the same desired effect. 
Digetic sound within our Thriller includes the bang of the protagonist being attacked by the antagonist by a bat. We used a sound effect for this to get the right effect, as we wanted this sound to be sudden after the build up of the suspenseful soundtrack, in order to make our audience jump, and giving a sense of shock and fear before it cuts to black. 

As our protagonist wakes up, we have used a sharp ringing sound, digetic as this is what our protagonist hears as a consequence of being attacked. We have also used a sound effect to create this. This is used to create discomfort for the audience, and show that the protagonist is hurt, and is often used within Thrillers to demonstrate that a character has had a temporary loss of hearing after an attack. An example of this being used is in The Hunger Games (2012) in which the protagonist loses their hearing after an explosion. 

Our sounds conform with the Thriller genre because the effect it creates builds tension or shock, often used within Thrillers to do the same.

Titles

Our Thriller titles conform with our genre, especially our font used for the title 'GONE', which shows a bold and harsh font, emphasising themes of rough harshness and spite. This font is also distorted, an effect often used within Thriller titles to make the audience feel discomfort and to reflect on themes of chaos within a film.

An example of a Thriller that does this is Seven (1995), which opening titles jolt and distort themselves on screen to represent ideas of madness.
In this way our Titles do conform with the Thriller genre because of what they symbolise. 

Editing

Our editing does conform with the Thriller genre. We have used multiple effects of scenes cutting from black, used to create a sense of sudden impact after previous events, and making the audience immediately question what is going to happen. This is often used within Thrillers to create the same effect. 
Towards the end of our opening, the pace of our Thriller quickens as the protagonist faces confusion. This is often used within Thrillers to create a sense of panic and fear, ideas we wanted to get across within our own Thriller. 

Soundscape

Sound is an important part of our Thriller opening, as we want to use it to manipulate the audience into feeling the tension and fear within our opening. To do this I have researched several sounds that we could use for this, using Freesound.


Score


First Score

The first part of this score could work, as it could create a tense atmosphere. However when the second higher pitched cello comes in it changes the sound which could effect the impact of it as a score, as it becomes too instrumental.


Second Score

The first part of this score could also work, however the volume decrease could make it too noticeable for the audience, and change the atmosphere when its not supposed to. However we could cut this before the volume decreases.



Sound Effects


Sound effect for the protagonist being hit over head is important, as this is a sound we want to represent fear after the tense atmosphere of our score. We need this sound to show impact and shock the audience.

Bang 1

This would certainly have impact and shock the audience, however I don't think the sound is right, as the materials together do not sound like a hit, but more like a gunshot.

Bang 2

I do not think this has as much impact, as it is much quieter. I am also not sure if the sound is right, as it sounds too high in pitch and has an echo, like a knock at a door. However if we do decide to use this one we could alter the pitch.

Bang 3

Although this does not have as much impact, I feel the sound of this could work. If we altered the volume and pitch and edited out the echo then this could create enough impact.



After the blackout before our protagonist wakes up, we want the audience ton feel his discomfort so they can engage with the character. To do this we could add a ringing sound, this high pitched sharp noise perhaps making the audience understand his pain. Ringing noises are also often used to show a head injury, so this could show that he is hurt, making the audience feel sympathy for him.


Ringing Sound

Title Sequence

When deciding on font for our title sequence, we wanted something that would reflect the Thriller theme of our film. We used Dafont to find one we felt suited this theme. 
We wanted a font that looked interesting and distorted, but was still readable, as we wanted the audience to feel the uncertain and dark effect of seeing the film title in our chosen font, but wanted to make sure it would be understandable. 

This font was a considered option. I liked how its distorted look made it look unnatural, as I felt that fit well with the tone of our film. I also felt the fact its not solid with block lines could suggest the numb and unsteady emotions of our protagonist throughout this film, and could reflect on the atmosphere of ambiguity and doubtfulness. However after listening to my group, who thought it may be too unreadable, we decided this font may not work with our Thriller film, as it looks quite amateur, and would likely work better with a theme of corruption and technology. 

Although we did like the idea of this font, as its separated letters reminded us of a ransom letter - suitable for our kidnapping theme - we decided it was not right as we felt it did not look professional, and would be better suited to a film with comedic value. 

I like this font as its distorted effect could suggest the scepticism and doubt of our protagonist, as nothing is certain within our film and unpredictability is an aspect we were hoping to touch on in our opening. The fractures and glitch element of this font could relate to the fragility and unease of the protagonist. It could also reflect on the drastic and severe change on the protagonists life. The sharp edges and boldness could perhaps suggest the danger of the world our protagonist has been thrown into. However this font does relate to the theme of technology, so may not be suitable for our kidnapping theme.

This font, although simple, seems effective in its slight distortion. The distortion in the middle of this font makes a sharp edge, which could reflect of the harshness and brutality of the world our protagonist is in. This distortion is also effective because its simplicity means it does not look amateur or juvenile, and is easy to understand. The effect of this font makes it look as if someone has dragged part of it away horizontally from the middle, which we found effective as this could reflect on how the protagonist has been taken away from his life, his previously average and simple life changed, warped and manipulated as he has been placed into an immoral world of crime. The effect of the look on a line being dragged through this font could also reflect the train within our opening, and how it moves fast in a straight line, representing the start of the series of events that ruin the average life of the protagonist. The train is an iconic part of our film as it represents escapism, so the fact this can be reflected within this font is something we found powerful and prominent.

We chose this last font, called 'Blacklisted', for our opening because of what it could represent about the film.

Intertextual References - UPDATED

In our Thriller opening we wanted to include references to other films through things such as costume, lighting and character. 
After doing research on the genre of film Noir, we collectively agreed that we all liked the character of the femme fetale, and wanted to include inspiration from this through our own Thriller. 
Our female character, played by Caitlin Mapes, is inspired by the classic femme fetale, shown through our use of costume and lighting. 
Costume was important because we knew it would give the audience a first impression of the character, so we chose a dark grey dress, completed with a leather jacket and high top boots. This dark combination of clothing felt fitting as we thought it could reflect of the darkness and cynical corruption of this character, traits often found within the classic femme fetale. 

We felt that the use of a leather jacket would give a contemporary twist on the classic character, making her character seem more of a thick-skinned, fierce woman like the femme fetale. This modern twist was particularly inspired by Natasha Romanoff - also known as Black Widow - a character found in Marvel comic books and the Avengers (2012). This fierce character is often seen wearing black leather, a reason why we felt a black leather jacket for our own contemporary femme fetale would have similar connotations. 
Furthermore, our actors red hair was also useful, as red often has connotations of danger and seduction, a colour often found in film noir when considering the femme fetale.

 An example of this is Sin City (2005), a black and white film in which a scene depicting a woman in a red dress and red lipstick contrasts with the grey tone of the surrounding mise-en-scene. This makes the red stand out, suggesting the connotations it has of danger and seduction is important with this character. We wanted to reference this within our own film, but also to keep our modern style. To do this we partly chose our actor because of her red hair, making sure this stood out in the scene by using a harsh light against it so it would contrast with the grey tones, a technique Sin City used.

Lighting was also important when considering our female character, particularly in the scene that they are first introduced to the audience. We wanted make this character a sillouhette, to ensure the theme of mystery and intrigue often found in a femme fetale was applied. To do this we used the harsh light of a cars headlights behind her character, so her slow reveal after she lifts up the garage door in the last scene, is still intertwined with the theme of mystery within her character, as her reveal still does not fully reveal who she is. 

We felt the positioning of her character was also important, as we wanted her to be central within that scene, particularly within the shots that she is revealed. To do this, we positioned her character in the centre, but also slightly to the left. This is because an audience tends to view the screen from left to right, as our eyes are drawn to the left side first. Putting this character slightly on the left means that she is the first thing that the audience will see, showing that she is central to the scene and to the overall plot of our film, much like any femme fetale that is found within film noir. 

Actors - UPDATED

In our film opening, we have five characters. Our protagonist is a male character, as is our antagonist, and a female character features at the end of our opening. At the beginning of the opening are our two remaining characters.
The male protagonist will be played by Laurie Taylor, a 20 year old. He suits the role of our protagonist because he is both tall and male, as well as old enough to fit the age of our character and make it evident he does have a past. He is capable of exhibiting the emotions involved within the character.

Our female character, although not featuring a lot in our opening, was important when considering physical aspects such as height. We decided on Caitlin Mapes, a college student who was formerly a drama student, and has had experience with playing other female flirtatious characters such as Audrey in a Little Shop of Horrors stage production.

Our antagonist is played by Tom Keeble, who we decided suited this role because of his height and build, which allowed him to look threatening.

The two characters at the beginning of the Thriller, played by myself (Lucy Hiscox) and Isabel Hurren - who passes information about the protagonist to my antagonistic character, essential for when the protagonist is inevitably kidnapped. We have chosen to take these roles ourselves as we feel we could do it efficiently, as we have suitable builds for these roles, and knew we could use costume to make ourselves appear mysterious and in a position of power.

Explanation of Planning

Planning our Thriller is an important process, and one we all wanted to be involved in. To save us time and make sure each task was done to the best standard, we separated them, each doing a minimum of three tasks for the group. However to ensure we were all happy with each task, we often discussed ideas with the rest of the group, all helping each other and making sure we achieved ideas we were all happy with before separately doing our allocated tasks. This worked well for us as it allowed us to use our free time to talk about scheduling, actor choice, location and other elements important in the process.

Preliminary Task Feedback

The Title: Gone

gone
  adj.
1. a. Being away from a place; absent or having departed.
    b. Missing or lost.

When creating our film, we found that the title was an important aspect, as it immediately set the tone of our film, and would have an impact on the audience, creating their first impression of the tone, genre and plot. After much thinking, we decided we wanted a simple name, preferably one word that would make the audience intrigued. We thought about how we could foreshadow the plot of the film, and considering the kidnapping theme, we had the idea to name it 'Gone'. 
This name immediately presents the idea of a mystery, suggesting a problem and something wrong. The one word title also suggests a sudden occurrence, emphasising the abrupt kidnapping of the protagonist and the fast pace of the Thriller. 

Shooting Schedule - UPDATED

Storyboard - UPDATED

Costume Design - UPDATED

When planning the opening of our film, we found that costume helps to build the audiences image of a character by subtly showing them their attitude and purpose. 

For our main character, we have chosen simplistic every-day style clothes. These ordinary clothes show that this character is an ordinary man with a simple lifestyle. Doing this makes the audience assume he is a character who is out of place in a cruel and brutal world, as he is a typical and average man.

In our last scene of our opening, our protagonist is shown after being beaten up by his kidnappers. This has not been explicitly said, however the audience can insinuate this due to the make-up we will use on our actor to show a black eye and several cuts and bruises. The purpose of this is to show that he is vulnerable in this moment, further emphasising the idea that he is an amiable man who is caught up in this cruel world. 

However, the beginning scene shows a character who is later revealed to be the twin brother of our main character (same actor as protagonist), so will wear a different style of clothes. This character is dark and intriguing, so to reflect this we have decided to make this character wear dark clothing to portray his cynical and thick-skinned but ultimately cowardly demeanour. 

For our female character, we haven chosen a tight fitting dress. All we see of this character in our opening is their silhouette, so having her in a dress establishes to the audience that she is female. We have also taken inspiration from the classic femme fatale convention of film noir, this character meant to immediately appear seductive and feminine. Doing this makes the audience immediately question whether she is to be trusted, as her cryptic entrance could make her appear as an antagonist, further  assumed by her femininity and seductiveness. We decided to put a modern twist on the traditional use of red for femme fatales, the use of red connotes danger as well as love and passion. In film noir the femme fatale usually has red lipstick or nails, instead of doing this Caitlin had red hair. This is very modern and current whilst paying tribute to film noir.  The leather jacket that she is wearing gives her character an edge and suggests that she is not an overly feminine or emotional character. The black colour of it could also connote mystery and fear, suggesting that she is a dangerous character that shouldn't be challenged. 

For our two characters at the beginning of our Thriller, we have chosen a simple smart attire for actor Isabel Hurren, and a plain black jacket for actor Lucy Hiscox. The prop we used for the scene with these characters is a file, used to pass information about the protagonist. This file makes these characters appear superior and secretive.