Thriller Evaluation

1. Beckie Jacobs
Evaluation Activity 1.
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
The Title of the Film and Font and Style Used.
Jessaminewas not our firstchoiceof the Title of our Thriller.This is becausewe came up with around five
different traditional and quitelongnames that we could call thedoll.We decided to make the title of our
Thriller the dolls namebecausefrom getting ideas from previous Thriller movies such as Annabelle,we
thought that itwould make itmore effective and fitted the
codes and conventions of a normal thriller which is makingan
eerie and creepy titlethat people would be drawn to and would
want to see. To decide what our dolls namewas goingto be we
asked our class and a few from the year above who previously
had to make a Thriller whatthey thought would be the best and
most engaging name that they thought would look good and
match with our plot. The five names that were potential titles
were Jessamine, Anastasia,Arabellaand Elizabeth.Itcame to
our attention that everyone loved the name Jessamine.They
said this becauseitlooked original and they had never heard of this name before. We took this on board and
decided that Jessaminewould be the most effective Titlebecause itbrings mystery as well the name being
quite different and engaging. The Font we used for the title was chosen was called ‘Adobe Calson Pro’we
chose this becauseitwas a simplefont and we thought it worked well with the white background and
smudged black and grey edges. This was chosen as the background for the Thriller titlebecausethe contrast
from white to black could connotean innocent young girl beingtaken over by darkness and evil which is what
our Thriller is about.
Setting and Location.
The chosen Settings and Locations that we filmed in for our
Thriller were one of our group member’s houses Charley
Bristowand South Weald Park in Brentwood. We chose these
locations becausethe forests and the bridge in South Weald
were a great placeto filmbecausewe were ableto broaden
our ideas even more and we came up with more scenes that
we could add such as the doll fallingfromthe top of the
bridge which then became the most iconic sceneof our
Thriller.For the doll to drop dramatically likeitdid,we
needed a placewhere there was a high drop and at the bottom we placed sticks
and thorns to create a better impactat the end of the drop. We shot most of our
footage in a house. This is becauseafter lookingatprevious and successful Thrillers
we can tell that what they all had in common was that they were based in the
protagonists home. The audiencewatching will beableto relateto the setting
because they can imaginewhat is happeningin their own home which can make
them even more on edge and uncomfortable which is what we are aimingto
achieveas it fits the codes and conventions of a Thriller becausea home connotes
safety and security and our thriller shatters the idea of this because of the things
occurring throughout insidethe home which challenges the codes and
conventions. The forest then connotes the feeling of isolation and danger which is

2. Beckie Jacobs
what we showed through the girl hidingin amongstthe trees and dirtwhich helped portrayed her vulnerability
and isolation fromthe world.
Costumes and Props.
The costumes and props used in our Thriller were all planned
and based around the idea of children and possession.The
props we used that showed childlikebehaviour were the
rockinghorse, the swingand most importantly the doll. These
met the codes and conventions of a thriller becausea swing
connotes happiness and enjoyment which we twisted and made
the swinggo back and forth on its own in slowmotion and
edited into black and white. This now shows this playground toy as dark and creepy. The rockinghorseis quite
an old fashioned toy and another thing that people link with children becauseitis another playground or
nursery toy however by it rockingon its own with a shadownext to it on the wall itbecomes more of a ghostly
figure which makes the house that it is in,unsafeand haunted which then matches the codes and conventions
of a typical thriller.Theiconic prop which is the doll was the most important prop we used and our costume
and prop designers Beckie Jacobs and Charley Bristowhad to make the doll look as unnatural and old
fashioned as possible.Wedid this by ruiningthe doll and cutting pieces out of itand placingpins around it.
This made the doll look unhappy and disturbingwhich matches the codes and conventi ons of props in a thriller
likeAnnabelle. We asked potential audiences what they thought of the doll and how they feel and the
feedback we got back from it was ‘it looks terrifying’, ‘it is makingme feel
uncomfortable’ and ‘that’s very disturbingto look at’ this was what we
wanted the doll to portray and so follows and develops the codes and
conventions of a typical thriller becausewe made the doll more original and
different to other dolls likeAnnabellewhich is a plastic Victorian doll
whereas ours is a soft toy and we were ableto make itour own. For the
characters,we justthe costumes for the parents around funerals which
consists of jeans and a black top for the father whom was played by Nick
Wyatt and a patterned black and grey dress for the mother whom was
played by Charley Bristow. The colour black connotes death, dark and evil.
The reason we chose such dark colours for the parents is becausewe are
trying to show that even after their daughter has died, they are still
consumed with darkness in their home. The colour black also matches the
codes and conventions of a thriller becauseof what the colour represents
and how most thrillers usethe colour black to portray what their emotions
are. The young girl who has been possessed by Jessamine the doll and
played by Beckie Jacobs wears a white blouseand black skirt. We decided to use a mixture of white which
connotes purity and innocencebecause she is a young girl however the black coloured skirtand tights also
show once again how the innocence is beingtaken over by darkness which is the connotation of black.The
make-up used for the girl is whitepowder to make her skin look very ghostly and non-naturalisticwith areas
that are black which were the lips and around the eyes. The black around the eyes created a possessed look on
the girl and showed the audience that she wasn’t any regular littlegirl.This
followed the codes and conventions of a thriller becausethe make-up made the
character look chillingand frightening which is whatall horror thrillerswantto
make a successful filmand match its genre.
Camerawork and Editing.

3. Beckie Jacobs
When filmingJessaminewe made Matt Murphy the main person getting
all of the footage. When filmingwe used the IPhone 6 which had a good
camera lens and was ableto get some excellent slowmotion footage such
as the doll fallingdown and the swingmoving back and forwards.The slow
motion we used was very effective because ithelped build the tension and
suspensethroughout the opening which uses thriller conventions because
every thriller needs a good opening so that people would want to see the
whole movie. When filming,we also used match on shots which linked all
of the footage together without this,the filmwould look too disjointed
and unprofessional.If we did not have the match on shots then the
tension would not be as effective because the audiencewould then become
either bored or very confused and so it would not be meeting the codes and
conventions. When we came to edit all of our shots together, we looked back at
our firststoryboard and noticed a lot of changes from this to our final cutand we
can see how our thriller has improved from then. Our titlesequence had to match
the codes and conventions of a thriller otherwiseitwould not make sense what
genre the filmis.The title sequence we used was subtleand brought each of the
names and roles of everyone who helped us make the filmin slowly and were
spread across theopening. We also made our entire filminto black and white
instead of leavingithow itwas. By usingblack and white throughout the cut, it
made the entire feeling of the opening more effective as the dark colours showto
the audience that itis not a happy movie however the black white challenges the
codes and conventions of thrillers becausein other thriller movies thatare out in
the moment usenatural lightingor ata lowlighting.We were unsure on whether
to followon what we thought so we asked for potential viewers opinions. They thought that the black and
white throughout makes the filmlook likea Thriller and makes it look more sinister and scary.
Storyline, How the Opening Sets it Up and the Genre.
The story is abouta young girl called Beckie becomes possessed when given a doll for her 10th birthday which
she named Jessamine.Throughout the filmwe see Beckie doingunusual things that you would not see regular
children do. The young girl runs away from her family home to livein the woods with Jessamineher new
companion.The story continues flashingback to her parents where we see them packingaway there child’s
bedroom and lookingback through old photos. The story is shown through Jessamines perspectiveand we see
that gradually theDoll consumes Beckie and lives insideher. The iconic sceneis when Beckie walks up onto a
high bridge and drops the doll over the top of itwhich shows that the doll is notneeded anymore and from
then on, more horror and sinister shots surround thethriller makingthe audience feel uncomfortable and on
edge. This storylinefollows thecodes and conventions of a thriller becauseof the choiceof characters we
made such as Jessamineand Beckie whom are both evil and sinister.The opening of the story shows a panning
of the family housewhere they all liveand mostof the story unfolds insi dethe house. This challenges the
codes and conventions of a thriller becausein previous thrillers,the openings go straightto makingthe
audiencefeel on edge and jumpy however this thriller we bringthe suspensein slowly by the house portraying
safety and security which changes to becoming haunted and dark making the audienceconnect with the
location and feel uncomfortableand on edge in their own home. The genre of our filmis a Horror Thriller and
we show this through the music and shots that match the codes and conventions. The music builds up the
tension which links in with the eerie feel of the Thriller.
How Characters are Introduced.

4. Beckie Jacobs
The parents who are played by Charley Bristowand Nick Wyatt are introduced into Jessaminewhen lookingat
baby photos of their deceased child Beckie. This shotover the shoulder with them flickingthrough different
images portrayingthat they are closeto the child and are
feeling remorse and heartbreak. The death of Beckie is only
shown through her parents as we thought this would be
more original and mysterious than actually seeingBeckiedie
as italso leaves itup to the audience to decide what
happened to their daughter. The characters areboth
wearing dark colours which portray their feelings of sadness
and possibly loneliness. Although the parents arenot the
protagonists,they play an important part when linkingall
the unanswered questions together. The actual protagonist
Beckie who is played by Beckie Jacobs is firstintroduced lookingthrough the front door and postinga mystery
letter for her parents to see. You cannot see the character properly however the shadowand blurred effect
also leaves a mystery as to why shehas returned or also who the figure is.The next time we see Beckie, she is
accompanied by Jessamine.Jessamineis what the entire film
is based around and the only time we see the doll is with
Beckie, showinghow they arealways attached to each other
which portrays a bond and an evil relationship which follows
the codes and conventions of a thriller.