Directors Commentary

Evaluation

As a group, we have been working for a while on our thriller opening. As we wanted it to look like a professional one, we used some of the conventions that a real one would supply. This essay will look at the conventions that real thriller openings have used, and how I have applied these to my thriller opening. An example that I will be using to look at the conventions that the real media has used, is 'The Shining'. As in 'The Shining', my thriller has suspenseful music, because of this suspense the audience would want to watch more of the film to overcome this emotion. In addition, I think that the music makes the audience feel sympathy for the characters involved.

Another convention I have used is the lack of identification of the perpetrator. The person who is following Elaine is not shown. This creates suspense, as the audience cannot identify the villain, by not showing this persons face it adds to the suspense. We see an excellent example of this in 'The Shining' when the camera is following the little boy, riding on his bike, along the corridor.

I have also used the convention of using the camera shots as if it is in the point of view of somebody watching the character, which there is nobody actually watching at all, for the audience it feels like they are following this vulnerable person. When Elaine is walking out to the road, she is not aware of anything and she does not know that somebody is following her until the camera is in the point of view of the real villain, which is in the car. Also in 'The Shining', there is nobody following the little boy but because we are behind him it feels like there is somebody there.

In my media product, the character that we have used represents itself in a vulnerable way. The character that we have used is a female and straightaway the audience may suggest that a male is inside of the car that is following her. My media product represents the females as vulnerable and very scared of the opposite sex. Usually we see examples of this in real thrillers.

Because my media product is not professional and the top directors and software did not make it, I think that if we did spend so much money and distributed it internationally then I do not think that we would make much money. Therefore, I think that if we first released it over the internet via YouTube then we could get a rough overview of how many people will view it at the cinemas before we make any expenditure. However, if it was professional I think that the distribution company that would most suit the media product will have to be The Working Title.

The demographic descriptions that my target audience fit are the achievers. My character, Elaine looks like a businessperson, and they would consider her as themselves. I would think that they would also be of middle class females who are aged 25-49. As an example I have here, Elena, who is 28 years old and works in a tourism agency, she loves to socialise with friends and often goes to the cinema with them. I think that she will be a perfect candidate for an audience for my thriller.

The best way to advertise my media product will be to use the face of my main character, which is Elaine. Because the target audience for my thriller will be middle class business women, when they see the face of my character they might want to consider seeing my film. I would want to advertise my film on the internet for a start because many business women use the internet nowadays for lots of different reasons. If they watch the trailer on YouTube then they can decide to watch the whole film.

In the process of constructing my media product, I had many opportunities to widen my knowledge about using technology. I have firstly learnt how to use the camera. I now know how to record, change a tape and how to change a battery of a camera. I have also learnt how to use a few software’s; Final Cut Pro was the one I used to do the editing of my thriller. Another software I now have knowledge on is Sound Track Pro, I have used this software to construct a very suspenseful piece of music.

Another level of technology I have learnt to use, in the process of making the media product, is the internet. Obviously, I knew how to use the internet previously but I did not know how to blog and did not know what blog actually meant. This has opened a completely new step for me about the usage of the internet, and I am now very familiar of the website blogger.com.

From now when I look back at the preliminary task that we were assigned to complete, I feel that I have learnt a lot more. I also think that I did not know much about the 'match cut' exercise when we were told to do it in class, before the media product was briefed to us. After having this experience to do a thriller, I now feel that I know a lot better in doing 'match cuts', storyboarding, planning, filming, editing and post production, (which is my evaluation that you are now reading), If I were to do this kind of task again then I would try to plan better and try to stick to it. Some of the feedback I got from other classmates who watched my film at the cinema said that it was very suspenseful and they wanted to watch it more at the start because they wanted to know where Elaine was going to go. I now also think that practising is the key to success.

On Thursdays media lesson it was the last lesson for us to complete our thriller opening. Two of my groupmates were not in, which were, Aziza and Elaine so, I had to complete our thriller with Jamie. Firstly, Jamie and I added the finishing touches to our music, we were a little bit confused and didnt know if the other two would agree with our choices but then at the end we decided that we would go with our own choices and if the other two disagree then it is their own fault for not arriving for our last lesson before the deadline. After we added the finishing touches to the music we thought of a title for our thriller and added this too, to our final masterpiece. Now that the making of our thriller openings are over, I feel a little sad because it was a very good experience for me because I got an insight of what it would feel like if I decided to work for the media industry in the future.

On mondays lesson, as a group, we decided that we would carry on doing the music and sound effects for our thriller. We also decided that we would carry on doing this for the rest of this week because we think that after our choice of shots, the music is the most important part of the film when trying to create suspense. Using the software Sound Track Pro, we tried to use the most effective suspense creators. We firstly put a base music which would be playing throughout the whole film, then as the viewer keeps watching and understands what is going on, (when the car starts to follow Elaine), we used a music which makes your heart want to escape from your body. We could only do this much in a single lesson because searching for the right song is quite tricky, as I said earlier, we will be carrying this onto thursdays lesson and hopefully be adding more details, such as, footsteps, running, breathing, gasping etc.

The Shining

The shining builds up a lot of tension because of the music and also because of the point of view of the camera. The music is a very high pitched violin and when the boy is about to open the door the music keeps on increasing in volume and then decreasing, which shows us the audience that something bad is going to happen, it also raises the level of anticipation. When he does open the door the music changes which shows us that there is going to be a change, which will surprise us. The camera is at a very low level, the audience is with the child and we are behind him which shows that something bad will happen. The anticipation the little child feels is then transferred to us which makes us feel very vulnerable. The little boy takes up most of the screen time. When the boy arrives at the door 237 we are shown this very clearly, which shows the audience that it is not a good number. The editing is very fast when we are shown the two girls. The location is a hotel corridor, it is not bright but well lit.

In todays lesson we started to create music for our thriller using the software Sound Track Pro. The credits for our film were previously done on mondays lesson. I think that the music that we have produced does create tension because it starts off on a normal pace then as the film plays on and the viewer starts to realise what is going on the music starts to get louder at the points of suspense. Annabelle, our subject teacher, watched our thriller so far and thought that it was very good and she told us that it does create the tension that is needed, she also pointed out some improvements, one was to cut and shorten one of the clips because she thought it went on for too long and Elaine, our character looked very small on screen. She also suggested that we should use some of the music techniques that would make the viewer think that everything is ok when the music suddenly stops, but then they would come to realise that it was a false resolution when they carry on watching the thriller to the end. I think that Annabelle's suggestion for the music is very professional and we would use the suggestion.

Today it was the last filming session for our group, because Elaine isn't going to be in next week regarding rehearsals the school play which she is taking part in. We were planning to film in Liverpool Street Station today but we havn't yet recieved an email from them, so instead we decided to film Elaine walking out onto the road again because last time we filmed this part Aziza and I were visible in the background reflection. The filming for today took us one hour so for the rest of the lesson we did a bit of logging and editing using Final Cut Pro. Today for filming we used a panning shot and a long shot.

In todays media lesson we filmed the part where we used Mickey our technicians car. We did low angle shots of the car. We pannes the car. We did a point of view shot of Mickey watching Elaine, while he was in the car. Another point of view shot of Mickey while Elaine looks over her shoulder and realizes that the car is really close to her. A medium shot of Elaine while she is running and she bumps into Aziza when he is trying to run away from Mickey who was following her. And also a panning shot of Mickey in the car who is following Elaine up the road. I think that our filming and the shots that we used have all went very well and I am quite proud of the work that we have produced as a group. The things that we are also planning to do is to film inside Liverpool Street Station, that will only be done when we recieve an e-mail from them, which as you can tell we haven't and it has been a week. Also to finish the editing, then produce our music track using SoundTrackPro and to finish off to create our credits.

On Thursdays media lesson we began to film our thriller opening. On Monday as a group we had decided to film in Liverpool Street Station but on Thursday morning we found out that we needed permission to film there. So the media technician Mickey sent an e-mail and we have to wait at least a week to recieve a reply. So then we decided that we should film the other parts of our thriller opening. We started to film in a quite street near our college. Jamie was the cameraman. We filmed long shots and low angle shots of Elaine walking down some stairs. We also panned her walking out on to the street and medium shots of her running away scared of the car which has been following her, while she bumps into another person, which was Aziza from our group. While filming this part of our thriller opening their was a challenge that we had to face which was the rain. So we had to hold up an umbrella for the camera to avoid it from getting wet and damaged. The filming was a very good experience.

On mondays lesson we were given a sound tutorial. It consists of watching clips from James Bond films. We also did a soundtrack using the software SoundTrackPro on our practice thrillers.

On 12/01/09's lesson, firstly Rebecca went through what a pitch means with us. This week Elaine was missing in our group, we had to still carry on doing the plan for our real thriller. This lesson I also found out that we cannot use any Copyright music and that we have to make our own music using the SoungTrackPro software. We started to plan our thiller, we as a group liked the idea of an illegal cab kidnapping and raping a girl. To get some more ideas we watched some of the last year thrillers. Everyone in our group got a role each and mine is to complete a storyboard to show to the class and to write down who the target audience of our thriller opening is.

The task we were given for our practice filming session was to film a thriller opening using two characters and at least 20 shots. The shots that i think were the most successful were the panning and low angle shots. The editing was perfect, the continuity of it was very successful and it actually made sense. I think that we did manage to create an element of suspense because at the start we only filmed my legs going up the stairs and started to follow where we were going, so the audience may be drawn into it to see where this person may be goingto. We didn't forget to do anything, like filming extra five seconds before and after each shot which is very useful while editing. I think that this practice filming session was very useful because we will be much more comfortable and knowledgeable while doing the real thing.

On the 18/12/08, Gez's lesson we watched a few previous works of thriller openings. We also looked at what we should consider when actually doing our thriller openings, which were, the target audinces and how important they are and also how important the actors are.

On the 15/12/08, Rebecca's lesson we analysed six different clips, each from different thriller films. The best one i thought was 'The Shining'. It has had a huge influence on ideas for my own thriller. The greatest idea was that music plays a big role in building up tension. When we watched it without the music it did not build any tension.

On 04/12/08's lesson we have done a practice filming session. The task we were given for our practice filming session was to film someone reading a newspaper in a thrilling and exciting way. We had to do a minimum of 12 shots. The props we used were a newspaper and a newspaper reader. We were given a lesson to plan it and a lesson to film it. We as a group were happy with the camerawork. I personally think that the most successful shot was the panning shot. The editing went ok and I think that our short film did make sense. What I learned bout mise en scene was that it is not very easy to control somebody when you are filming them. I think that we did manage to create an element of suspense, I think that what created this suspense was when we were filming our newspaper reader at the start when he was just walking, I think that people would want to know where he is going. We did not forget to do anything. There was no conversations used in our thriller. The practice filming session has helped me to become much more familiar with the camera, it was a very good experience, so I think that it will help me a lot when we do our real ones.

Todays lesson was a continuation of mondays. We printed out our digital storyboard. As two members of my group was not in we had to join another group, which made us change our whole storyboard so we had to go along with theirs. Mickey, the technician showed us a short DVD of how to use the camera, then we signed a little form saying that we have been taught an intro, just to make everything on the safe side. We used what we thought was the most effective shots, which were, high angle shot, close up shot, panning and tracking. This was it for today.

Todays lesson we were taught an editing tutorial, which was by Micket the media technician. We were using 'Final Cut Pro'. We played around with some of the clips and we worked out how to put a sequence of clips in order by cutting and editing. We were then put into groups for our thriller. In my group there is me, Jamie, Aziza and Elaine. After we were put into groups we had to plan out our thriller so instead of using the storyboard sheet, me and my group decided to do a digital storyboard. That was all we did in this lesson.