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.
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.
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