Our targeted audience was people aged 15 and above. We chose this age group as most thriller films’ certificate are for people aged 15 and above and I’m familiar with the choices that 15 year olds would make as I’m in a similar age group to them. I also watched many thriller films to get an awareness of the codes and conventions of this genre. The questionnaire we produced was required to find out the types of films our selected audience watched. The results revealed that the three most preferred genres were comedies, thrillers and romantics. The three most popular sub-genres within the thriller-genre were murder, comedy and deceit. We decided that even though the audience preferred more comedy, it would be hard to achieve in a thriller sequence so we didn’t go along with this idea. The other two sub-genres had been linked and taken into consideration.
Part 2: Planning the Production
Overall, the group brainstormed and came up with a few ideas, but we decided to expand on a few. At the early stages of the project, but the majority of the ideas were identical to so many classics, so we decided we wanted something with a bit more edge. We opted for something that was not so repetitive in today’s film society, so it would seem that we didn’t copy another film, merely use selective scenes from other films and incorporating it into ours. The synopsis we ended with came after many changes. Abbas thought of this idea and we both came with suggestions of how we could make this sequence successful and more creative. We felt we could do this by cutting out more of the violence, and inputting more mind-games and twists, the reason we did this is because we can keep the audiences minds engaged more into the thriller and also by having more twists and turns we are keeping to the codes and conventions of a thriller film.
The pre-production consisted of the synopsis writing and storyboarding. They equally linked together which is why one without the other wouldn’t have worked and the final outcome would have been poor. From the synopsis, the whole film’s story was outlined, I found it slightly difficult at first to translate the synopsis into a storyboard, and this was due to thinking of what our actual opening sequence would include and how much of the story we could give away. I was in charge of the storyboarding, so once the group thought of the ideas, I planned and sketched the storyboard roughly to what we wanted in the opening sequence. I annotated it with what camera shots would be used and what camera angles it would be filmed at. Once this was done, we felt confident enough to begin to film the opening sequence as we had a lot to start from.
The location was to be in a house of my uncles, which was luckily free, it had the suitable atmosphere which we wished to create, but then I was informed that I could no longer use this house as it would longer be free. Fortunately we came up with a contingency plan and a friend of mine was fine with the group using her house to film. As for actors a few changes were made as to who was available at the time and who was right for the parts. We initially decided that a friend of Abbas’s would take the role of the serial killer, but when we were ready to start filming we found out that his friend had gone on holiday. Again we had to come up with an immediate plan as we could not waste anymore time, so Abbas agreed to be the killer, as we couldn’t find another suitable actor. We thought music would have been another simple aspect as we would decide on one song to be played throughout the opening sequence because we didn’t want any non-diegetic sounds to be played – as it wouldn’t have fitted in with the sequence. Finding a song that was suitable for a thriller was quite hard, as it had to fit in with our sequence and flow well. Towards the end of deadline, Abbas found a song that seemed to fit well with the script of the thriller. Most of the song was synthesized meaning that most on the music was created on a computer, it also used string violins, sound effects and vocals, for e.g. after Abbas opens the book you can hear a scream and a crackling noise. It was important that we had the right music as the audience needed to connect with both the film and the music from the beginning so they would be intrigued and wanting to see more.
Part 3: Constructing the production – technical decisions and revisions
Before we began our filming we had to produce a filming schedule which included the location, actors and time available for the production. The first changes that were made from the pre-production were when we arrived at our first location, Fatima’s house. The rooms we were going to use had to be altered slightly as the mise-en-scene wasn’t suitable for the shooting. As well the some room changes, we had to make sure the lighting and space were suited to help with the thriller theme come along. We worked with the codes and conventions of a thriller movie by adding special and gloomy settings to create an atmosphere that would be mystifying which connotes to the fact that this is a thriller not a comedy. The literal denotation was that the house was dark and had dim lighting which simply just shows us a house made from bricks with low dimmed lights. On the other hand the connotation of this was that the audience would not be able to figure out many things about the killer as the low lighting represents him trying to hide things and also gives out mysterious ideologies of the killer and gives deeper signs of the killer trying to hide his brutal past which may have caused him becoming into a serial killer.
When we started filming for the sequence, for each shot we filmed we had different camera shots and angles. Extra-long shots (ELS), mid-length shots (MS) and close-up shots (CU) were the most popular and were used various times throughout our sequence. Referring to our synopsis we didn’t want a number of similar shots all through the sequence as this wouldn’t give the film any depth or meaning. We decided to have our establishing shot of Mavera (the victim) and I in a busy town centre, as it seemed like the right point to begin the story.
The storyboard changed dramatically throughout the course of shooting the sequence, the first major changes were implied when camera shots to fit the storyboard weren’t corresponding to the way we wanted the story to be told, after filming the first few sequences we played it back and realised it was too confusing for the audience to understand. It looked a lot simpler as to what was going to happen; which we didn’t want, so a new plan was put to test to produce a sequence where is the series of shots would confuse the audience into thinking suspicion of a character that wasn’t really the killer.
During post-production, we began using Adobe Premier; our editing program. The whole stage of editing had a massive impact onto what the final outcome of our film sequence would be. We chose to slow down the film down at a certain moment i.e. when the killer walks past the victim, thus highlighting the fact that suspense is created by delaying the action. I personally found it hard to work with the program and it took a lot of practice to make sure the editing was up to a good standard. The audience should acknowledge that in film language this is a significant part of the film.
Part 4: Evaluation of the finished production
We thought that our shooting schedule would be easy going as we had our roles defined within the group previously. But along the way we came up with many drawbacks i.e. time management, location, and actors. When we were shooting under the tunnel – we realised that lighting was poor as we had to film under the tunnel and there wasn’t much natural lighting present. So we had to retake this shoot various times until we got it right. We booked the camera equipment from college, and Abbas had acquired previous experience of working with cameras, so after we all practiced shooting we realised that Abbas could handle the camera the best, and so he was in charge of filming the main part of the film. Saima and I were in charge of filming the remainder of the shots i.e. when Abbas was acting.
One of the main comments from the feedback was that ‘we used a wide-range of camera shots’, I take this as a positive ride as it made it more interesting for viewers to watch. Another comment that came back regularly was that audience thought the ‘editing was good and that it flowed well’, another comment I saw as positive as it may have helped them to understand the film a little more.
In comparison to the brief, we met the demands almost too how they were stated, as in the opening of a thriller sequence which we worked on by not giving too much away. As for the timing we went slightly over the sequence running a total of two and a half minutes. I believe one of the main strengths for the film was our soundtrack and it helped pull the whole sequence together and make it into a reality. I think that this was one of the main reasons that our film was successful and fit into the thriller genre well.
The sequence has been tested out on the students that meet the target audience the feedback we got helped us to understand what other’s thought of it and how it linked to being a ‘real thriller’. If I was to do the thriller sequence again, I’d spend more time producing a structured screenplay, this would involve the group coming together and working with a storyboard to show certain sequences in slight more detail. I’d keep the soundtrack the same as I felt it worked very well with the storyline, and had the most positive feedback from the audience.
As a group I felt some of us did not work as hard as the others in the group. We had throw backs due to certain members of the group not taking their role seriously i.e. not giving much input, feedback, not meeting up with the rest of the group. I feel that we would have succeeded better if we stuck to our schedule, not wasted time, and if we constructed our time appropriately. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience as it has helped me learn a lot about the lengths I could reach if I wished to go into directing or editing later or in life.
