My evaluation of my opening sequence of a thriller film as part of my media coursework.

1. By Harry Rebbeck

2. My group and I done a thriller so we had to decide whether it would be a good
idea to challenge or support the conventions of what people would usually
expect to see in the thriller genre.We thought it would be best if we challenged
but also follow the some of the conventions.We challenged the conventions
because we wanted our audience to be surprised and shocked at what they
would be viewing. However we also to listen and follow some of the conventions
so that the viewers will be aware that some things are supposed to be there fit in
to this type of genre.
An example of where my group and I challenged a convention of a thriller was
that in our film opening sequence, our lighting was quite bright, where as you
would usually expect to see quite dark lighting in a thriller. However we thought
that this was a good idea because we wanted the audience to be suspicious and
would want to see who, and why these people were being stalked
We also challenged the lighting convention – we done this by making our
opening sequence in colour, while in many other thriller opening seqences are
very dark e.g. Asylum.
An example of where my group and I did follow a convention of a thriller was the
camera movement we used e.g. we used a lot of pan shots and tracking shots.;
we done this to show that there were other people in the shot but also so we
didn’t see certain characters to try and create some sort of tension.

3.  I think that my group and I developed
on the thriller convention on a hidden
identity. What I mean by this is that the
audience does not know who this
stalker is or why the stalker is doing
what he is doing. We made sure to add
a story in for the stalker such as
pictures of victims/targets, this would
ensure to the audience that this
persons has reasons or the people
behind it are either doing it for some
sort of revenge or just because they
enjoy getting misery out of others.

4. My group and I mainly represented teenagers as irresponsible.This is because they
did not think of the consequences or the possible outcomes/affects that could arise
of what they were planning to do. Because the characters in our film are quite
young.
Sam – 18, male, unemployed, middle class.
This character is represented as an irresponsible person which is a negative representation of people his age.
This was done by making him act like the ring leader of the group and him acting like he doesn’t really care and
making fun of his friends. He was supposed to be a typical teenager, thinking it was a bit fun and not realising
what he was getting themselves in to. We show him first talking about how he’s going to prank his friend which
makes him seem like a not very good person. This character makes the audience feel annoyed because you
wouldn’t really want to get anyone in a situation like that so the audience immediately dislikes him and sides
with other characters – the audience almost doesn’t really want to see much of this character.
Ray – 17, male, student, middle class.
This character is supposed to be the guy the audience want to side with and this is because he is completely
opposite, so he is represented as the responsible one of the group; this is because the first time we see him on
screen he is hesitant about hurting or pranking his friend. He is the vulnerable as he doesn’t really get any say in
what happens. This character is a stereotypical geek, we do this by making him always think of what will go
wrong analysing everything and in way you could say he isn't up for taking risks; he knows right from wrong.
I wanted the audience to side with this character because he is forced in to doing things he doesn’t want to, I
also wanted the audience to feel sorry the character because of this. This character makes the audience
wonder why he is friends with the other two. The audience also sides with him because he cant really stick up
for himself and you feel sorry for this character.
Flynn - 18, Male, student, middle class.
This character is irrespirable also and he also thinks he knows everything, so he is represented quite smug. We
do this by making him talk down to Ray and making him feel worthless. He wouldn’t really fit into one
stereotype because he is not a very nice person to be around but he is also very smart , very knowledgeable
around technology, and this is weird because you wouldn’t really expect a smart person to be nasty. We
intentionally done this because we wanted the audience to constantly question whether they like this character
or not.

5. We also represented a male character as quite a lonely/ character which
contradicted what you would normally see because you would usually think that
the female characters would be dominated by other characters, but in this case
my group and I used a male character for this role.We purposefully done this
because we did not want to follow what was the “norm” when it came to
characters, we wanted to show the audience a different perspective, we had
two different types of male characters one similar to the other character (a
more dominant role) and the other male character took the role of someone
who was over powered by the two other characters. Which made them
vulnerable
Over all my group and I represented the social group of teenagers because our
target audience are 15 – 25 age groups and we concluded that the social groups
in these age gaps would relate to the characters in our horror film.We also
wanted a contrast in our characters because we thought it would widen our
target audience.

6. Realistically my group and I would want a major institution to
help create our film, and a big distributor to promote our film
when it would be re-least to the public, hopefully making it a
world wide film. However as we had no/hardly any budget at all
to help create this film our realistic institution would be
ourselves. We would create it with out own equipment e.g.
camera to film and an editing software e.g. final cut pro and
movie maker. Our realistic distributor would beYouTube or
hopefully Netflix; here a lot of people will see it and possibly
recommend it.
Another possibility would have been family/friends/audience
funding.This is where they would donate money to help fund the
project – in our case a film.The problem with this is that even if
people do donate, it still may not be enough to produce a film of
the scale we would be hoping, this would result in the film not
being made at all. Another problem with this is if not enough
people donate, it would be hard to re fund the people who did (if
the film making did not go ahead). So this strategy is not
completely guaranteed to succeed.

7. Disney Pixar – we wouldn’t really pitch our film to this company because they are
associated with horror genres and we would lose half our audience even though it is a
big distributor. Disney is usually pictured by animated films. So overall we would not
class this as a suitable distributor for our film.
Lionsgate –This would be a suitable distributor for our film because they are well
known for big blockbusters (similar to Universal).This would be good for us as they
could easily promote our film as they are well known and have the money.They are
also quite well known for horror films e.g. Saw.They also have the contacts to make
our film as good as it can be.

8. The target audience for my group and I’s media product
(horror film opening sequence) are to be young teenagers to
young adults (15-25 years old).
These age groups are our target audiences because the type
of characters we have created/decided to portray in our film
have characteristics that the audience of our choice can
relate to.
My group and I also had to think about a suitable target
audience for our film considering it was a horror.What I mean
by this is because it was a thriller we had to think carefully
about every detail our film had e.g. the type of language we
had in our film, so we had to link the two together.
I think the target audience we chose will be good for our film
because I think by the end of the film they would want to see
it again or recommend it.

9. First of all my group and I constructed a questionnaire that would give
the audience an idea of what they could be expecting in our film.This
was because my group and I listened to the response of our
questionnaire e.g. they think that mise en scene is a good way to create
an atmosphere for a good thriller movie.
We also put in some enigma codes e.g. why are these characters being
targeted; this story would keep the audience engaged as they want to
find out why? Also because our film was set in a near enough local area it
gives the sense of reality and that what is happening can happen to
anybody and this gives the audience fear.

10. Narrative:
We wanted address our audience in a way that they could relate the characters and have
an opinion on the film.We found out that they mostly prefer thriller films (equal to
popularity in horror) so this is what we based our film genre on.To try and do this to effect
we carried out a questionnaire to get the correct information for our film however I don’t
think we did this full effect as we didn’t really answer a suitable amount of questions to get
enough information.
We wanted a story that would create tension while the audience was watching, this was
because we didn’t want to think that it was just a movie, we wanted them to think that this
could actually happen, and possibly happen to them.

11. During this process of planning and constructing this
media project I have learnt new information such as
the technology used to create a product such as this;
and also the process that institutions/film companies
have to go through to actually get their film
distributed across the world.
I have learnt how to set up a tripod e.g. how to
connect the camera to the grip.
I have learnt how to set up a blog (blogger) to put all
my findings on.
I have also leant about all different types of camera
shots and the transitions that come with them.
I have also learnt how to edit all of the shots collected
together using editing software e.g. final cut pro and
Microsoft movie maker.

12. Looking back at the preliminary task my group and I did I have I have a learnt all the different
types of rules that come with filming which I didn’t know existed such as the 180 degree rule.
When I did the preliminary I did not follow this rule so when it came to actually filming my
opening sequence I knew what I had to do.
I have also gained knowledge on some professional shots such as tilt up shot, extreme close
ups.This was helpful when it came to our actual shoot because we could vary what we
wanted our audience to see to possibly build up some tension.
I have also learned about the use of sound in a film and the affect it can have to make the
audience have different feeling towards what it happening (diegetic and non diegetic
sound).
Also the camera movements which relate to the editing process; this is because of such rules
as match on action, where we have to edit it to look like the different shots are actually being
shot at the same time and make it look like there is not a lapse in time when edited together.
I also learnt that everything you film must have a purpose other wise what you are filming is
pointless
Over all I think the preliminary task helped me with the progression into filming my actual
film because it made my knowledge on filming a lot better and aloud me to have more ideas
to construct a good film opening that will have an effective impact on whoever views it.