Final

Georgia's thriller evalutation

The film we produced was called “false suspect” it is not only a thriller but a physcologicial thriller. A physiological thriller is a sub –genre of thriller. A physiological thriller relates to processes of the mind. In order to help me learn more about the thriller genre I watched a movie named “The secret Window” this is a physiological thriller starring the well-known actor Johnny Depp .By watching this film I was able to have a deeper look into what made a successful physiological thriller and the conventions of a thriller in general. The movie showed me that in order to create a good thriller editing and sound were extremely important. The music gives tension to the film when it’s appropriate and the  editing   creates lighting and shadows  which is very effective. The story is often kept hidden from the audience this creates mystery and suspense. A physiological thriller focuses on the mind ,at the start of the film there are a number of establishing shots which we then blurred and made darker on final cut pro.These shots were used so that the audience could see how Megan felt and how life was from her perspective at that point. We filmed these shots with Megan looking out the window of her car again looking into Megan’s mind. The Establishing shots were filmed at different angles as we wanted to be experimental and create more distorted and abstract images to show how lost Megan felt.

We filmed our thriller on Boundary Road ,on one side of the road the street appears to be  beautiful,quiet with residential housing. However on the other  side of the road are urban gritty flats and houses. This street was an interesting place to film, and the differences between the two streets proved to be a nice contrast. We decided to film on the urban and gritty side of the street, we chose to film there because we felt that this side of the street represented how Megan felt, slightly on edge. Also because Megan was just beginning Uni and is only eighteen she is unable to afford expensive accommodation.

Luckily it was the perfect day for filming our thriller the weather was perfect it was cold, damp and slightly windy. The atmosphere was perfect a faint fog was cast over the street; this helped immensely in terms of sticking to our thriller conventions, as the atmosphere was dark and dramatic.

When filming Megan inside the flat we filmed at different angles  to see how different we could make Megan and Jemma look to the audience. In order to create shadows we used the mirror which we put under Megan’s face when she was sat down this cast different shades of shadow on her face. This gave a dramatic and tense effect. When filming we tried to stick to as many thriller conventions as possible.

The social group we represented through our film was early teens to young adults. Megan and Jemma are both eighteen year olds ,we felt this was the perfect age to cast them as because they are old enough to have responsibility’s however are still young and naïve in some aspects. Therefor e it was an easy age for younger teens to relate to and young adults. Teenagers are the main consumers of film and television therefore appealing to them would prove a successful in terms of marketing our movie. Both teenage girls are attractive and wear nice clothing in particular Jemma whose fashion sense is a mix of bright colour and edge,teenage girls could aspire to dress or be like Megan or Jemma. Megan is about to begin her first term at Uni ,she feels scared and nervous which many teenagers feel when having to leave their homes ,therefore we are representing teenagers in society today that feel the pressure and anxiety of education.

The Media institution that might distribute our Media product is the Uk film council as this is a British film which also uses British actress’s. The Uk film council is a Government backed agency for only Uk films ensuring that the economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively represented at home and abroad. The Uk film council wants to make sure that the Uk enjoy watching their films. The company I have chosen to produce my film is DreamWorks .DreamWorks Studios produces and distributes films, video games and television programming. It has produced and distributed more than ten films with box office grosses totalling more than one hundred million each. Dreamworks began in 1994 as an ambitious attempt by Steven Spielbeg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. I think this would be a good company to use for distributing our film because it is very successful well known and does not only distribute film showing it appeals to a wide audience of many different ages.

In order to attract and address our audience we chose the thriller genre ,there were many aspects we had to take into consideration such as music and editting. We also had to follow the traditionial thriller conventions such as effective editting and music. For example Jemma who plays Megan's best friend wore brightly coloured and fashionable clothing inspired by Alexa Chung. This made her stand out and appeal to young people and teenagers.We added a number of effects to our film ,such as blur and darkening some shots. This made the scenes appear more dramatic and creepy.

To make our product we used a HD Sanyo Xacti camera, this is a good quality camera. We also used final cut pro to edit our film. Final cut pro is used by many successful industries using it was sometimes a difficult but all interesting experience. We used final cut pro to cut out different parts of our film also to add sound or music over the top or under the dialogue. Using Final cut pro was sometimes a difficult but we used shortcuts in order to make using it an easier process. We also added to affects to our film from the editing tool. Overall I enjoyed my experience with using Final Cut pro and learnt a lot of interesting techniques. We also used BlogSpot a site where you could create your own Blog ,we wrote about our process of filming on the blog we created and also uploaded pictures of the film to show the viewers the progress we were making in filming. We also uploaded slideshows ,our storyboard  and pictures. This sometimes proved challenging working out how to upload our work onto the Blog. We posted our film on Youtube ,the creation of the Blog and uploading our film to Youtube was so that we could attract viewers to look and become interested in our project.

Hollys Thriller Evaluation

Our Media product is a Thriller film called 'False Suspect' being produced in the UK by a UK production team. All the actors starring in the film are British, even though they are from diverse parts of Britain. We want this film to fit all the criteria needed for a UK film council backing, as we need their money in order to properly finance it. Our Media product is not just a thriller but a psychological thriller, this means there are certain codes and conventions that we need to stick to but also put our own twist.
Psychological Thriller is a sub genre of the Thriller. In a film of this genre it will often incorporate elements from the mystery and drama genre, in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. 

Before we even began thinking of our storyline we watched films such as Rear Window by Hitchcock and Psycho by Stephen King. Its important that you acknowledge and appreciate the original masters of any craft. I soon realised from watching these films that in order to effectively grip the audience from the beginning of your film is to not reveal too much. There is no point telling the audience the whole story in the first two minutes, however on the opposite side of the scale you don't want to tell them too little. Its important that the audience are hooked enough to want to watch more.

We started brainstorming ideas which were all too bold, too wordy to be openings. We needed to find some inspiration from a modern film, since our audience aren't going to be like they were when Hitchcock was around. Todays audience are far more sophisticated when it comes to technology, and can spot a hook when it in put on front of them. Our opening had to be subtle and focus on location and character, more then story. I watched the film Donnie Darko which is a psychological thriller much like our own. I noticed that the beginning focused on a single character sat just watching the sunset for 3 minutes, while i liked the style of it, i wanted something more. 

When we had reached a compromise on our opening we began to storyboard it, then put it into motion. Filming our opening wasn't a long process but it was a difficult one, some of our storyboard shots had to be altered in order to create a more fluid pace. The codes and conventions of thriller in terms of camera angles and shots, is that they can be obscure. Watching the opening of 39 steps by Hitchcock showed me that you can just film feet and shadows to set up a storyline. In this way we wanted to be experimental with our  shots, I tried filming Reannas character Megans face with a mirror underneath it

This created shadows, and made her face look ghost like, however we couldn't use it because it didnt fit in with our storyboard. So we filmed her holding the mirror up instead which is what we originally planned, because it showed her split personality. Using a mirror is very much a convention of the psychological thriller genre and also the horror genre. We used a lot of canted angles to convey this.

Our characters also stick much to the convention of the thriller convention, our main protagonist Megan being much like a female Donnie Darko. She is disturbed, doesn't ever wear a readable expression, you never know what is going on with her. Whereas her friend Jemma is the relief of the film with a happy go lucky nature, her acting style is much more light hearted comedy then thriller. Its important though that we had this contrast in character and acting style as this film is all about contrasts.

Our media product has to represent different social groups in order to hook our target audience which is people from ages 15-25.  To do this we have two caucasian actresses with two very different personalitys. One of the characters fits in with society and the other is an outcast, we wanted people in the audience to relate with them. The setting of this project also reflects different social group with a clear divide between rich and poor. Our film highlights the struggle going on in parts of London where the rich live amongst the lower class, and fear them. Big houses putting up large iron gates to keep there house like a fortress where no one can get in. The underlying theme of the social divide in London, brings another dimension to our piece and stops it from being just another pyscological thriller, it gives it depth.
We are appealing to late teens to early adults because they are the biggest consumers today of all things digital. To appeal to this audience we used two young british acrtesses who girls would be inspired by and guys could be attracted to, we know the importance of image in films today. Having a certain actor or actress in your project will sell more films then having an unknown. However our film is British and we wanted our actresses to be British, it wasnt just about image for us but also about talent. Also our film  has themes and addresses issue that all modern young adults can relate to. Leaving home for the first time, struggling to fit in and the pressures of society. 


As we are hopefully to recieve funding from the UK film council, we need a film distrubution company that will be able to take our film to the next level and market it appropriatly. Instead of the usual large distribution corporations like Universal, Warner Brothers or Paramount, we need someone who is use to handling small independent films. A company that will be able to not only get our film attention in Britain but also hopefully in America. The best distribution company for this would be IFC films, an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by Rainbow Media. It distributes independent films and documentaries. In 2009 it released Fishtank a British film funded by the UK film council much like ours, it was shown at Cannes and eventually wont the BAFTA for best British Film. This film went in the direction that we would like our film to go. IFC understand a modern audience and how to target them with a range of techniques including distributing films to Itunes. IFC understand that the best way to sell films is not at the cinema anymore, its all about being online which is where the majority of the world now consumes films and TV. 


To construct our film we had to use a wide of range of different technologies from cameras to computers.  
Before we even made our film we had to put all our ideas and developments on a blog. Usually whenever we do any sort of writing its on paper or word, not on a website. Media is about being current in terms of technology, technology is always changing and everything is online now. It makes sense then that our work should be online. Using Blogspot was straightforward, as it is much like Facebook or twitter where you put up your updates. However unlike those sites our posts had to be detailed, including pictures,slideshows and videos. It was difficult at first to get to grips with how to add in those files, eventually we worked out how to incorporate those factors. This gave our blog an added visual element, that shows tells the reader not just what we did but also shows them. 


After our pre production was complete we began to film our Thriller using a HD Sanyo Xacti camera. Its important that our camera is HD as this film will be shown at the theatres and needs to be a good quality. Plus with all the HD channels on the TV nowadays its important our film is adaptable to that. In order to keep our camera still while filming we used a tripod when panning or zooming in on a subject. It also helped when just filming ordinary shots to just keep the camera still. With the tri-pod you can make it higher or lower to change the angles of what your filming, it was tricky at first to work it all out but after the initial hesitations it became a useful and effective tool to have.
To edit and refine our final product we used Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is a professional industry tool created by apple and used mainly by independent film makers, like ourselves. Most recently Final Cut Pro has been used to make award winning films such as 'The Social Network' and 'True Grit'. It is not an easy programme to use with many advanced options such as video,audio and editing transitions. With so many options its easy to feel overwhelmed of what to add to particular shots and easy to get carried away. Its important that if you add any transitions it looks natural to the action going on. learning how to un-link clips was also a challenge, as certain shots required the sound to be taken away and replaced with different audio. Also whenever a transition is added to a clip it had to be rendered which was a long process but a vital one. Learning how to use Final Cut Pro was extremely difficult but once we discovered short-cuts it became a lot quicker and easier to naivgate. Being able to use Final Cut Pro if definitely a useful skill, that we can put into practice again and again.

Editing Analysis

The process of editing was an exciting challenge, having never used Final Cut Pro before, we were given the chance to learn a new and useful skill. This software is usually only used by industry professionals, it isn't designed to be easy with lots of audio, video and editing transitions. To begin with i made three bins and split our clips into either 'location,interior exterior' shots. This made it easier to decide which clips to use at certain points. I began with using the locations shots to set up our film and let the audience know where our film is set. As our film is of the phycological thriller genre we needed to create a sense of mystery and building tension at the beginning. It also needs to come across that this character isn't normal in terms of fitting in with society. In terms of editing what we did to set up the story was to desaturate the colours of the clips of the inside of the car with Megan looking outside, this is because we are looking at Megan from our perspective (audience perspective) We wanted the audience to see that Megan's whole existence is mundane. We were going to make it black and white, but black and white suggests an air of glamour, that this character does not have. Instead we set the desaturation amount to 38 which means that some colours still come through, there just diluted which is what life is like for Megan. We then change perspective to looking out the window, we are seeing Megan's point of view.  In the editing we had to show that there was a clear difference between what we see and what Megan sees.  We experimented using video transitions such as blur, glow and stylise. However these all seemed too chaotic and took away from what we were seeing. So instead we decided that the best idea was to contrast with the desaturated perspective the audience have of Megan, making everything she sees overly saturated. We wanted her to look outside and see the road withe flats on it like everything is too bright, too harsh. By editing it this way we are showing the audience that Megan will not be able to cope with the outside world, she is not properly equipped to cope with it.

From this we then move on to the exterior shots of the flat where they are meant to live, from this point it began to get sufficiently more difficult. We had to create a flow of movement, its very easy to edit clips together but to make it naturalistic when switching angles/ perspectives is difficult. The first few times we edited the exterior shots together didn't work because the cuts were too quick in between clips which took away from the suspense of the film. The audience had to be taken in slowly. I tried making the clips longer and even that didn't work, it was still too quick. We found a solution to this problem by slowing the clips down by about 60-70 percent. This made a more natural flow, however some shots still looked misplaced. Going from long shots to close ups were a particular issue, as it looked fake and stilted. What we did on shots like this was added in a short cross dissolve which is the most commonly used transition as it looks naturalistic and is just a way to gloss over sharp jolts in between clips. Through editing these clips, we soon discovered how hard it is to stick to your original storyboard. When you plan your storyboard, the images are just still on the page, you just plan what in your mind will make sense. However once these images are on screen and moving, you soon realise that certain shots wont work in relation to others and will not describe the characters psyche explicitly. Some changes had to be made such as adding in more shots of the flats to show more of Megan's perspective, how she feels overwhelmed. In the editing we showed an image of Megan looking up at the flats then cut to a shot of her perspective looking up at them. We also realised we had too many exterior shots, and theres no way we could use them all, as we only have two minutes to set up our story. We decided we had to pick only the most vital shots, setting up our characters and setting up the plot.  For example in the exterior shots we knew that it was important to show the audience Jemma getting the box out the car, with the sticker 'fragile' on it. This is because the box is important, not only does it symbolise Megan's fragile state of mind, its also used later in the film when Megan takes the mirror out of the box. To show that this scene is important we didn't edit it at all, we left the whole clip as it was. It is quite a long clip in comparison with others. This also builds up the tension as it delays the impending action. We then showed Jemma and Megan walking towards the flats, we edited this so we see them from behind, as if someone else is watching them, then cut it to where we see a side shot of them walking to it. By editing it this way we wanted to show how worried Megan is about moving into these flats. She is feeling so many emotions right now and the audience need to be aware of this in order to sympathise with her character.

We had a lot of interior shots as this is where the main bulk of action takes place. We had already decided at this point in the editing that the whole film was going to be slightly desaturated to create a mundane appearance. This desaturation shows that there is no hope in the film of prosperity. In the interior shots we experimented with showing lots of extreme close up as an intertextuality to Hitchcock films. The first shot you see is a hand turning a door handle, creating suspense, we then see Megan's face and her hand turn on the light switch. Hands are claimed to tell you everything about a person, there past and there future. Megan's past is bleak and her future is looking bleak too.  In our editing we wanted the hands to stand out, to show Megan's cautiousness at opening the door, at turning the lights on and what is to happen. One particular scene that we filmed in the room that was difficult to film was Megan sat on the bed looking at herself in the mirror, then cutting to Jemma talking and finally Megan's reaction to what Jemma's said. This is an important clue into what happens later, the girl who lived theres clothes are still in the wardrobe, which is a key plot point. We couldn't afford to cut or miss any dialogue out. We first show Megan looking in the mirror looking at her reflection, we wanted to show the difference between what we see and what she sees. We added a video transition to this clip of an echo, glow and blur, which creates a disorientation effect. This tells the audience that she is losing grip of herself, she is confused about who she is. Then we see Jemma looking in the wardrobe which has no video transition added, she is opposite to Megan in the way that she is has a normal state of mind, she has a firm grip on reality. When Jemma speaks we then cut to a reaction shot of Megan, she pulls the mirror away from her and is back in reality, forced to now deal with her current situation. Most people would question why those clothes are in the wardrobe but Megan decides to go look out the window, still clutching the mirror like it holds answers to questions. Megan looks out the window and sees the stalker, this was the hardest part to edit because it involved shot reverse shot. We had to show Megan looking out the window, seeing the stalker and then a reaction shot. We first showed a side shot of Megan looking out and then cut to a shot of the stalker. With reaction shots its important that you keep everything at eye level, otherwise it will lose the effect you want to create. These shot reverse shots are meant to be quick and act as a crescendo of tension and panic. We added a video transition onto the clip of the stalker where it begins to go shaky, so it feels like Megan is shaking in panic at what she is seeing (add in what effect you put to achieve this) After this Megan drops the mirror which is significant as it shows that her questions will go unanswered and also that bad luck is around the corner. When we filmed the dropping of the mirror we experimented with lots of angles to try and get it right. We couldn't actually drop the mirror and let it smash, so we improvised. When editing what we did was first show a side shot of Megan holding the mirror and then dropping it, we then unlinked the audio from the clip and added in the audio of a previously recorded sound of the mirror hitting the ground. At no point do you see Megan actually drop the mirror, but you know that she has. 

The final part of the film is Megan showing Jemma that there is someone at the window which again involves a shot reverse shot. We edited so that we first see Megan looking out the window then showed her perspective of the outside which like before is shaky and blurred, however there is no stalker there. We then cut to Jemma looking out the window and her perspective of the outside, which unlike Megan's is not shaky and blurred. Once again we wanted to show the contrast between the twos perspective of life.  The final image we see is the stalker looking up at the window. Showing he was there all along, we didnt add any transitions to this, we wanted it to be still and show the poignancy of it.

awnsers of focus group

These are the questions that we asked our focus group.

1. What genre would you place my movie in and why?
2. Give a brief explanation of your interpretation of the narrative.
3. What did you like and dislike?
4. What would you change?
5. Who do you think the target audience would be?


1. The majority of my focus group (ages ranged from 14-18) felt the first 2 minutes of my thriller, felt that it applied to the conventions of the thriller/horror/mystery genre.  As the colours are desaturated, lighting is low key and the setting is mundane creating a sinister environment. Most of them agreed that they liked the ambiguity of the figure at the window, as it not only makes the audience feel involved by the dramatic irony used in the audience seeing the figure and jemma's character not seeing it. Not only is it haunting but it also makes you want to find out who the figure is. Which is a key part of Thriller genre.


2. The group explained that they thought the narrative was about two girls moving into a new house and then one of them sees a strange stalker outside the window. While this is effectively the plot, underneath it is a subplot of the protagonist Megan suffering from a mental illness which makes her believe she is being stalked. We tried to make this subtly noticeable in the opening by distorting Megan point of view shots. Some of the focus group didn't understand why we had used these shots as the reason for them wont develop till towards the end of the film.


3. Everyone liked the slow moving pace of the introduction, they didn't feel as if they were being rushed into any of the action. They said that the beginning of the film set up the narrative of for the rest of the film with lucidity. However they thought that perhaps there could have been more dialogue to set up characters and character relationships.


4.  The general response to our opening was positive, the focus group suggested it might have been interesting if we explored the stalkers point of view, perhaps film it from his perspective spying on the girls. As this would create even more suspense and tension as to his identity, which is critical to any thriller film.


5. Our target audience for this film is boys and girls ages 15-24. Who are one of the largest consumer groups of films. The film has a wide appeal with its young cast, exciting storyline and relatable locations to people in the UK. As an independent film filmed locally, it is likely to have a better response from a British audience but with the right marketing, distributor and buzz it could transcend to America and other countries. 

Music Analysis

For our opening to fully take the viewer into this world and to set up the impending action, it was critical that we found the appropriate music. We searched through a lot of music, all of it instrumental as music with singing in it, would distract from our images. However we soon discovered how difficult it was to find the right piece of music that fitted our film. However we did choose Christophe Beck's Main Titles a soundtrack from the well known thriller named the Sentinel we used the soundtrack named "Main Titles" we thought this was the perfect choice for our movie because it is quite slow however quickens up its pace halfway.The music is exciting ,thrilling and slightly eerie. The piece of music is instrumental ,"Main Titles" is the perfect piece for our film because it creates a good amount of tension.The music helped our film to run smoothly and created atmoshpere for our scenes. We used the music mainly at the begining of the film when Megan is looking out of the window and you can see the world from her perspective ,the music helped to makeher perception of the world more distorted and blurred.The music helped to make the establishing shots more  exciting and interesting for the viewer.The music used was conventional for our thriller it created suspensce and was fast in the right moments. Christophe Beckc created a long list of soundtracks for the film the "Sentinel" but what attracted us to "Main titles" was that it was a good fit to Megan's character and her personality. Overall when we watched the film back the music fit perfectly and helped to make the film more viewable and interesting.

The changed Storyboard.

This our changed storyboard after we finished completeing our film.We noticed we had to make some changes to our story during the filming so we re-did the storyboard after we had finished filming.

Title Brainstorm

Title Brainstorm

 Before anyone sees a film, the first thing they look at is the title of it. On the title alone you can make your script go from the bottom of the reading pile to the top. Your title could make someone want to see your film over another. However when it comes to choosing your title it should be short, simple and sum up what the film is about. To inspire us to come up with the title of our film we looked at current movie titles.

 All of these titles are short and simple but also enigmatic. They make you want to find out more, such as     who is 'Number Four' ??? What is being referred to in 'Unknown' ??? However 'Hall Pass' has the tagline 'Good for one week' which tells you that is is probably being aimed at a less sophisticated audience.
Our film is being aimed at 15-24 year olds, this is quite a wide market, our film has to appeal to late teens  to early adults. Our film has to get the attention of these significantly different stages of life. A title is a good place to begin, we need something that not only summarises what our film is about but also catches the eye. So we made a brainstorm of titles.....

The Boundary

                  Boundaries

                               Who's There?

                                               The Stalker

                                                            False Suspect

                                                                           The Border

                                                                                        Borderlines

We did a survey with people within our target ages of which title they thought worked best in terms of our storyline, characters and location. Here is what they had to say....

Blaine Fleet  Age 15 " I like 'The Boundary' because its catchy and sounds specific, the other tittles sound too general. They could relate to anything. I like the idea that the title could relate not just to the road name but also to the boundary between normal and crazy..."

Georgia Legg Age  18 "False Suspect is my favourite out of the group because it is the most intriguing, it makes me want to watch more and find out who the suspect is..."    


Kate Townsend Age 22 " They are all good titles however False Suspect relates best to the thriller genre. This is because it implies that their is a red herring involved. Red herrings are often used in Thriller films to create suspense and intensify the mystery"

....And the tittle of our thriller is

False Suspect                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                         

Second Day of Filming Analysis

On Sunday the 6th of February we re-filmed our exterior shots as well as added in our car shots. We started at 12 and were finished by 3. We began the day by filming the car scenes, since none of us can legally drive i got my mum to drive the car while we filmed Reanna in the back of the car. We drove up and down the road multiple times, as the speed bumps kept messing up our shots. We only had a short amount of time to get this right. We also filmed Reanna's character Megan with her face up against the window as we drove into the Ainsworth Estate part of the road. Switching between the cameras perspective filming Megan looking out the window, and her perspective of what she is seeing. This is the roughest area of the road, the reason we filmed there was to show the contrast between Megan and the concrete jungle of flats. These flats not only create mise en scene but are iconographic of London. Our audience has to establish that we are in London, because if we were to market this film we want it to appeal to a vast audience. Which could include america, they need to identify that this is London, but instead of going for the typical tourist sights we wanted to create a more realistic portrait of London. By having these council owned flats and also the nicer houses of London, we are showing the divide in current North West London. Megan herself has probably only visited London two or three times before this on day trips, and now she is been thrown into this environment. Its not the London you see in Richard Curtis film, its gritty and you need to be tough to survive. Megan isn't tough, she has been brought up in the countryside and she has already suffered from episodes of depression, this move could send her off the edge.

The divide on Boundary Road between lower class and upper class

Boundary road's Ainsworth Estate

An example of an upper class house on the road

Megans Flat block

Once we had got all the car shots we the re-filmed the exterior shots of Megan and Jemma that we had done the day before. This time i still stayed close as possible with the storyboard, but also experimented with different angles to capture the story such as side angles and high angles, to make the viewer see the different statuses not just between the two characters but also between Megan and the flats shes moving into. I wanted the audience to see the power struggle between the two.

High angle of Jemma and Reanna our actresses makes them look vulnerable

Long shot shows there tense body language

 Extreme mid-shot from a side perspective shows there eyeline and also the location

Low angle of the flat makes it appear large and daunting.

After a successful shoot, we went back and re watched the footage. Thankfully this time the exterior shots were composed and not as shaky or blurred. The establish shots filmed in the car though shaky, gave it a realistic effect, one of the actresses said it had a very 'paranormal activity' vibe to it. Though our film is a thriller and has a script, we do want it to be believable, the storyline has elements that everyone can relate to. Its important that this believability is conveyed in our filming style, otherwise the audience wont be probably immersed in Megan's struggle between sanity and insanity, reality and the hypothetical. 

With all our shots done, its now time to edit it, and turn it into a proper film opening.

-Holly

First day of filming analysis

On Saturday the fifth of February we filmed our interior shots and and some exterior shots.We began filming at twelve o'clock and continued filming until five o'clock when it started getting dark. The scenes we filmed that day were Megan and Jemma arriving outside Megan's new flat. Also Megan and Jemma inside the flat.
We avoided filming any establishing shots and it was a very windy day with low visibility. Because of this it was hard to keep the camera still even when using a tri-pod. However the darkness of the sky and gloomy atmosphere worked to our advantage, as this is a psychological thriller and we want our audience to feel nervous.

The inside shots also proved a challenge, because the room we used for Megan's bedroom proved too small to be able to film the long shots on our storyboard. So we changed these shots to mid shots and also used tricks such as standing on a chair to film the main actresses. By doing this we created high angle shots that made Megan appear overwhelmed by the room, even though the viewer can see its not that big. Using high angles shows the viewer how different Megan's perspective is to a normal persons.

Another challenge was filming Megan drop the mirror when she sees the man outside the flat. We couldn't actually drop a mirror, otherwise it would just smash and not be able to be re-used again. So instead we filmed her hands drop the mirror at a side angle, so you see her hands drop it but you don't see the mirror touch the floor. We placed a mirror under our actress's feet so that when she dropped the mirror it didn't smash.

In our opening there is a lot of focus on mirrors, we see Megan holding a mirror and looking at herself, clearly not comfortable with her reflection. We filmed this at a side angle, to show her split personality, there is Megan and then what she sees of herself. Megan has low self esteem, she is not comfortable in her own skin. We wanted the audience to see her inner struggle to accept herself. However the tragedy of our film is that she cant achieve happiness because of her mental instability. This is shown when she drops the mirror, smashing a mirror symbolises bad luck, in the case of our film it foretells that bad things are about to happen to our main protagonist Megan. Many recent horror films have used the technique of using mirrors to create tension , this is the same technique we used in our film even though it is a thriller.

We finished the day filming the stalker outside the window, which required a lot of shot reverse shot. It was difficult because there was only one camera. So we had to keep switching perspective, which required whoever was filming Megan's perspective from the window to then go outside and film the stalkers perspective. Hopefully once its edited it will look better though.

After this we were finished for the day, i went home and looked through the footage on the laptop. When i re played the footage on the camera i discovered that some of our exterior shots were shaky and blurred. We also noticed that in some shots certain items disrupted the continuity of the film. In order to correct these minor faults we will re-film these on tomorrow on Sunday the sixth of February.

Analysis of Jemmas Car and Car Scene

When we decided that we wanted to film Megan sat in a car with Jemma driving. We had to pick a car that portrayed Jemmas lifestyle, she's 18, middle class and probably been only driving a year. We decided that a fiat 500 would be most practical, they are chic, feminine and easy to drive. Jemma is from a family that pamper her and would have got the car for her, unlike Megan who are middle class but don't splash out on lavish gifts. They spend a lot of time telling her the value of money, most of there money has gone on saving up for Megan to go to university and for her to live in london. Another reason we had Jemma drive it and not Megan is because, we wanted to be able to film Megan looking out the window, the windows in the back are small and its going to be hard filming Megan looking out of them. Especially since we cant fit a tripod in the back to stand the camera on, keeping my hand still while holding the camera is going to be a real difficulty. Its important we get these shots though as we want to show the viewer Megans initial perspective of her new home. We are taking the audience gradually into Megans world. They need to feel like there on the journey with her

Before we filmed the car scene properly we did some test shots of our actress Reanna sat in the back of the car being driven up and down the road. i liked the way her face was just a dark outline compared to the outside of the car. This way the focus was more on the setting then on Megan, however the audience were still aware of her presence and that this was her journey not just physically but mentally. The whole film is essentially about Megan's journey from slightly stable to extremely unstable. The scene with her in the car represents this is a more physical form, that is more obvious for the audience to pick up and take on board.  However just as i suspected it was difficult to keep the camera still, especially since the road is covered in speed humps, which shook the camera every time we went over them.
After the test shoot, we went back and looked at the footage, i was nervous that that it wouldn't come out well and that we may well have to change beginning of the storyboard all together.  Lucky enough the shots wernt too bad, sure they went completely smooth, but surprisingly the stiltedness of them gave them a more realistic edge. Suddenly these images wernt part of a film, they were what Megan was actually seeing. Though when we actually film it we will have to make some alterations to lighting, as Megans face is far too dark. This can be solved by using a torch or when editing, lightening up the images more.

Location Shot Analysis

We chose to film our exterior scenes in an urban environment we decided that London was the perfect place to film ,this is because it has a large range of diverse areas.We chose to film in North West London towards Kilburn. Our film took place on Boundary road which is in between St.Johns Wood and Kilburn. This was an interesting street to film on one side of the street there were gritty flats privately owned and owned by the council. On the other side of the street there were large five bedroom houses with gardens which made an interesting contrast , we also felt it represented Megan's personality on some days she appears to be normal and on other days she is damaged.

Here is a photo of Boundary Road on one side of the street you can see iron gates and security protecting sumptuous houses  and on the other side you can see blocks of flats.The road appears to be busy environment, this could be overwhelming for someone like Megan who is not used to a big city. The traffic and cars would make her feel out of place and vulnerable, making her condition worse.  This photo was taken around sundown and as you can see it creates quite a haunting image. The bright light of the sky contrasting with the lifelessness of the trees, and grey colours of houses on the street. When filming these would be ideal conditions, we should aim to film establishing shots around this time. In order to set the appropriate mood.

These are some of the flats that are near Megan's flat. They look menacing and create a feeling of danger. The flats are almost like a prison where you feel trapped and cant get out of, which is how Megan is feeling towards the end of the film. These flats are ideal to be filmed as part of the establish shots at the beginning, setting up the Mise en Scene for our film. Perhaps we could have Megan sitting in the car with her face up against the window looking out at them, making her look vulnerable and scared of her new urban environment. This would foretells the audience that danger is not far around the corner

We chose these flats because the whole row of the flats look the same until you get to the one on the end. Which stands out, like Megan does in comparison to other girls, other girls like her happy go lucky friend Jemma. These flats are also privately owned and represent Megan as coming from a middle class background. Megan would be renting the floor of one of these. She would probably have a small bedroom, kitchen and lounge area. Across from the flats is a mass of decaying trees, that creates a chilling effect on the viewer. The lack of life the trees possess show that there is not much chance of survival on the street this creating fear in the audience. Whenever Megan looks out of her bedroom window she is reminded that life on the street does not grow or prosper, this increases her feelings of depression and panic. The colours of the flats on that side of the road are not particularly colourful and do not give of a warm inviting feeling to the viewers.

This was the set of flats stand out in terms of shape and colour in comparison to the rest of the flats on the street. The flat is a large block of concrete with small windows creating claustrophobic effect. This claustrophobic effect is needed to act as a catalyst for Megan's breakdown. The entrance to the block of the flats a long dark doorway which shows Megan's descent into inner darkness. we would film the flat at a low angle making it appear larger then it is and intimidating. The edges of the windows are black and bold making the flat stand out more ,this drawing more attention to the flat which Megan may not want or like.

Clothing Analysis

We decided right from the very beginning that we wanted Reanna's character Megan to be very simplistic when it comes to clothing. She is a tomboy and doesn't care much about her clothing. Its more about what is easiest to put on and takes the less amount of time. Reanna is a student, she cares more about getting work done and appearing sensible then her appearance. She is a feminist and believes women will be judged on there brains and not there appearance, growing up in a family where emphasis was put on achieving through hard work. This combination of jeans and plain T-shirt, paired with a cardigan is perfect for the character. The colours are all dull which shows how she is feeling numb on the inside. It also makes her appearance congruent with her new setting, which is important because the audience must see the similarities between Megan and the street she is living on. We got these clothes from high street shops like Next and Dorothy Perkins, showing she doesn't have much clue about fashion. She hasn't got an individual sense of style or identity. We kept her make up simple, and her hair down. This shows she doesn't spend time on personal grooming, she is the type of girl who gets out of bed, brushes her teeth and leaves.

The binary opposite of Megan is Jemma, easy going and bold when it comes to clothes. Jemma isn't the type of girl you would find at your normal shops like Topshop, she prefers vintage shopping and would probably be found in places like Spitalfields Market or Alfies on Church Street. However Jemma like Megan is not from London, so her clothes have to represent a realistic depiction of a girl from somewhere like Reading or Oxford where there wouldn't be lots of vintage shops, so she wouldn't be able to dress too crazy like she would probably like to. So we came up with a compromise of red jeans and a black lace jumper paired with black combat boots. Not too crazy but still quite loud and inspired by more 80's fashion. We chose to do this because the 80's were about expressing your own identity, this is something that Megan doesn't have. We needed Jemma to bring light to the shade of the film, otherwise it would no longer be a thriller, it would be too macabre. We made Jemma's make up match her clothes, with winged eyeliner and bright red lipstick. This shows that unlike Megan she cares about her appearance and that she takes pride in it.

Georgia's powerpoint textual analysis

Media thriller presentation

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Holly's powerpoint textual anaylsis

39 steps

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My analysis of the first 3 minutes of the '39 steps' by Hitchcock

First storyboard

This our storyboard for our film, it includes a number of varying shots. Including but not limited to establish shots, mid-shots and long-shots

Black Swan Analysis

'Black Swan' information

When we began planning our thriller not only did we look at previous thrillers but we also wanted to see what was a successful psychological thriller in the current market. The obvious choice was the critically acclaimed 'Black Swan' an American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis.  The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to play both the innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. One dancer, Nina (Portman), is a perfect fit for the White Swan, while Lily (Kunis) has a personality that matches the Black Swan. When the two compete for the parts, Nina finds a dark side to herself.

The film itself has grossed over 100 million pounds, lots of positive reviews and has gained Natalie Portman her first Oscar for best actress. But what is it about this film that makes it so compelling? Is it the explicit themes of the film, the realistic acting or the storytelling from Darren Aronofsky? I believe it to be a combination of all three.

Themes of 'Black Swan' how they are conveyed through the acting and Aronofskys storytelling

Darren Aronofsky who's previous films include 'Requiem for a dream' and 'The Wrestler' usually focus on the destructive nature of obsession.  'Black Swan' is no different as we see the main character Nina
push herself to unbearable measures to achieve her dream of playing the lead in 'Swan Lake'. Her need for perfection drives her to insanity and eventually to suicide. Aronofsky captures Nina's borderline personality disorder through the metaphor of the Black and White swan. Usually people coping with this disorder see the world in Black and White. Though Aronofsky filmed 'Black Swan' in a muted palate with a light graininess effect, the contrasting colours of the black and white come through clearly. Aronofsky also captures the image and identity crisis Nina is facing through his use of reflection not just through mirrors but illusions that Nina sees of herself. Another symptom of BPD is destroying relationships with friends, family and colleagues. Aronofsky shows this through Nina's paranoia of fellow dancer Lily stealing her role, and eventual paranoia that her own mother wants to destroy her. This film is in no way meant to be realistic though it is of the psychological thriller genre, it is also a melodrama. However Aronofsky makes it all seem somehow natural, he does this through a crescendo of hysteria from Nina's character.  He starts the film with Nina seeming as though she is just a hard working ballet dancer, luring the audience into false security that this film is just a biography of a stressed dancer. By the end you realise that it is more then that, it is a journey of sexual discovery and a battle between the rational ego and the hedonistic id.

Themes of our film and how they will be conveyed through acting and our storytelling

Watching 'Black Swan' a film much like our own in the way it focuses on a female protagonist with a disturbed mental state, definitely did influence some of our decisions.  We had already decided before we watched 'Black Swan' that we wanted to use mirrors as a way of expressing Megan's (our lead character) split personality. However from watching 'Black Swan' we had a clearer idea of exactly how we wanted it come across on screen. Unlike 'Black Swan' we didn't want our quality of film to be glossy, were not showing a high culture art like ballet, we are showing real everyday mundane life. However we liked the muted colours used and look forward to experimenting with that in our editing of the film. The way the film shows BPD in an over sensationalised way is appropriate to the mise en scene of the competitive dance world but to the gritty mise en scene of our film, it would incongruent.  Our lead character isn't obsessive or a perfectionist, she is passive and a realist. Instead of showing frantic episodes like 'Black Swan' our main character would go in a downward spiral much slower and with more self control. From the beginning the audience will know our lead character isnt normal, it will be up to the audience to throughout the film pinpoint exactly is wrong with her.

Meet our actors

As soon as we came up with the pitch for our Thriller, I had two actresses in mind for the parts. The main girl Megan needed to look innocent and naieve which would make it more dramatic for later on in the film when she goes mad. The audience need to empathise with the character and her situation. In order to play this character, the actress needs suffecient experience to bring out all the different layers of her personality. The person I  thought of immediatly is Reanna Calvert a 17 year old London based actress. She attended The Sylvia Young Theatre School between the ages of 9 and 16, during her time at the school she starred in musicals including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Billy Elliot. Since leaving Sylvia Young she is working as a full time dance teacher, and is still on the audition circuit.

Megan has just the natural look were going for. We want her to appear uncomplicated and normal, to surpise the audience later on. Her clothing will mostly consist of jeans and tshrits, shes concious of her body and never wears anything too feminine. You could say that she is more of a tomboy. Her make up is also very natural and fresh.

In our opening Megan is accompanied by her friend Jemma in moving into her new flat. I wanted the two characters to be contrasting. Jemmas character is far more bold and daring, she is not shy like Megan. This means she takes risk in her style and grooming as well. The girl playing Jemma needs to be someone who is confident and able to make the character fun. There is no one better for this part then 16 year old Jemma

Mckenzie Brown. Originally from Hull and moved down at the age of 12 to attend the Sylvia Young Theatre School. She has starred in TV shows such as 'The Amazing Mrs Pritchard' and M.I high. And at the age of 13 won the coveted role of Tiara Gold in High School Musical 3, beating thousands of hopefuls. Having now left Sylvia Young she is currently in a developing band under the watch of some of the industrys biggest names.

Jemma is perfect to play the role as she has an edgy look that is right for the roles vibrant personality. She is Megans main support system in the film and is the one who always lightens the mood. Her clothes will reflect this by being bright bold colours, she never wears trousers only skirts and dresses. Her look is inspired by people like Fearne Cotton and Alexa Chung.