Pie Charts

Pie Charts

Our group decied to use pie charts to show our results for our questionaire, as we felt that this is the clearest way to display the information we found out about thriller films. It is the easiest form of chart to read information quickly and easily and is visibly the most affective form of research.

Questionnaires

Questionnaire

 

 

 

 

Questionaires are a very good way for the public to voice their own opion on a topic. Our questionaire covered many of basic questions which would be asked and these are all important in the making of our thriller film. Our questionaire helped us as a group a lot as it showed us the different types of themes and how much blood and gory people enjoyed watching. Many of the answers were different as we asked a group of people who varied in age, ranging from 12 to mid 40s. This helped us to understand the difference between what a 12 year old would expect to see in a thriller to what a 30 year old would. Also by doing this it helped us to know what sort of age group we are looking at making our thriller for and what would be appropriate to include. Our questionaire gave us an insight to the preffered themes and story lines of a thriller and what would be best for us to do.

 

Here is an example of our questionaire which we asked 40 people their answers;

 

1. Are you male or female?

Tick the selected box below

  Male     Female

2. How old are you?

Tick the selected box below

  15-18     19-21     22-25       26+

3. Within a thriller film, what would you see is your preferred age certificate?

Tick the selected box below

 

    12           15          18

4. What advertisement would you say attracts you into a thriller the most?

Tick the selected box below

    TV      Posters    Recomm- Other

                               endation     

5. What are you expectations of a thriller film?

Circle your choice below

Flashbacks, main characters as hero, protagonist/ antagonist (goodie/baddie), night scenes, car involvement, weapons, blood or other

6. What type of sound would you say works best within a thriller film?

Circle your choice below

Tension building, suspense sound, various sound effects, horror sounds or other

7. What characters do you intend to watch within a thriller film?

Circle your choice below

One main character, 2 characters (male/female), group of main characters, young characters, old characters

8. What well-known actors are expected to be seen in a thriller movie? Make a lost of the selected actors below

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9. What setting within a thriller film would you say is most effective?

Circle your choice

A creepy house, graveyard, outdoors, haunted room, street, alley way or other

10. What other genres do you think works well when combined with a thriller film?

Tick the selected box below

 

Comedy  Action/  Crime     Other

              Adventure

11. Would you prefer a thriller film to start with a story line and work its way through to the main plot or start with a scary opening and use flashbacks throughout the rest of the film?

Complete your answer on the dotted lines below

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

We chose to survey 40 people in total as this gave us a wide range of people of male and female of all different ages, this way we can see what would have been appropriate for a person of 12 or a person of 30. It made it clear to see what people expect to see and what they preffer to watch in a thriller. We shared this information within our group and it made it easier for us to decide of a theme and age group which we would aim our thriller for.

Vox Pops

Vox Pops

We decided to use vox pops as part of our research for out thriller film as we felt it was the best way to find out exactly what people expect from thriller films. We can easily recall the information that was given to us from the people that we interviewed from the recordings.

 We were able to ask all different people from a varity of different ages ranging from 12 to 40. Each individual gave us a different opinion on what they prefer to see in a thriller film, this helps us to consider all the different points and make our thriller film sutible for all audiences. If we can take into account everyones different opinion then we can make our thiller film want to be seen by everyone, the vox pops showed us that because everyone has their own opinion of what they think is best in a thriller, it would be best for us to try to include all different aspects of thrillers including violence and gory scenes but also including paranormal activity involvinng spirits and demons, but insuring that we dont over crowd the thriller and make it loose sense and the auduience are unable to understand the story line of the thriller.

Narrative theory

• In media terms, narrative is the coherence / organization given to a series of facts. As humans we need to have a clear structure and things in a particular order to make sense of things. in everything we see and do we expect there to be a beginning a middle and an end. 

there are 3 main theories which are;

Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic, who was around in the 1920s believes that narratives are not important fir the story line, he equilibriums and disequilibrium. Every narrative should have a beginning , middle and an end narrative.

Aristotle claims that shorelines should be completely about themes and that characters and narratives are not important.

Our groups narrative theory links in closest with Todorov and how its not all about the characters but focuses more on equilibriums and disequilibrium with the story having a beginning middle and end. Our plan for our opening scene is a sleepover with 4 friends when they decide to do an Ouija board but it turns wrong and things start to happen. The lights start to flicker on and off and people start to hear things. The opening scene will end there but we have planned the future of the film in that one of the friends continues to become haunted and in the ends commits suicide due to them not being able to take anymore.

Our group will be using various techniques including cinematography, sounds, mise-en-scene and edits to create a detailed opening scene. The scene is meant to scare the audience and spook them out and intrigue them to want to watch more to find out what will happen to the 4 teenagers. 

group narrative

Our groups ideas.



Brittanys Idea 

A group of girls are all together in a house having a night in watching tele when one of the girls suggest a ouija board. They set it up and look on the internet how to set it up, it tells them that they must pray before playing the game however they all ignore this and continue to start the game. Once they begin to play the game it starts to move slowely and spells out names that are familiar to one of the girls. They immediatly move the glass to ' goodbye ' but the glass moves itself to 'no'. They begin to panic and all take their fingers of  the glass except for one, This is bad and brakes the protective chain around them. They all begin to notice strange things happen like banging doors and and lights flicker on and off and eventually all the electricity turns of in the house. They have been locked in the house and the keys have been moved from the side and they find them selves trapped in the house with whatever it is that is doing these things. Then they are all sitting still and listening and then shadows move across the room infront of them.
    The advantages of this idea is that the setting is easy to use and there is nothing that is particually hard to create the strange activity in the house. However the disadvantages of this are that .....

Taylers Idea

A man has been kidnapped and taken and put in a room alone. If he is not saved or found his way pur of the room within the 6 hours he is given by his kidnapper then a new form of spider will be released upon him where it will eat and kill him. The charachter in the room will be a man who has been part of a gang and robbed and killed inocent people and this is now his karma. The enigma behind the man captured, Carter ( the kidnapper ) is one of the people that was a victin to the gang but survived the incedent and is now getting his own back on him.
    The dissadvantages of this idea are that taylers idea is that it would be hard to find a life size spider that is capable of killing and eating someone alive. However the advantages of this are that even though it is very hard to create, if it was possible it would be a very good thriller as its quite an original idea and can keep the audience on edge.

Wills Idea

There is a group of friends of 4 people which consists of 2 girls and 2 boys. After a while one of the girls brittany begins to fall in love with one of the boys Tayler. Once Brittany begins to realise that Tayler doesnt feel the same for her it angers her and makes her upset. It turns Brittany insane trying to find out how she can win tayler. When she realises there is no way for her to get him her twisted thoughts turn to how she can hurt him how he has hurt her. She decides to make a voodoo doll of tayler and that way she knows whenever he hurts her she can hurt him just as bad. Brittany hurts Tayler and breaks his arms and legs and brittany recives great joy from hurting the person she loves. her ideas start to evolve and she starts to plan bigger and worse things for tayler.

   The disadvantages of this is that we cant break Taylers arms and legs, but the advantages of this is that it would be scary to see how her thoughts are evolving and becoming more sick and twisted as the film goes on.

My Idea

I think that our thriller film should be about a demon which has possesed a house and plays with the lives of the 4 people living in it. The House is home to a family of 4 young people all of similar ages, however the demon has decided to particually target one of the youngest girls living there as she comes across as the most vulnerable. When her family members start to notice her acting in strange ways and notice odd things happening in the house hold, they decide to set up a ouija board. When they do it without the youngest girl nothing happens but there are loud noises coming from upstairs in the house and the wind picks up and blows through the house and there are objects flying around the room. When the family end the game and get the youngest girl to join in, the glass starts moving spelling out kates name and names that are familliar to her and the strange goings on in the house begin to fall into place. They realise that kate is possesed by the demon and it wants a clean pure soal to take over and make it its own. The family try to do everything in their power to help their sister and take her for exorcisms but nothing seems to be clearing the demon from inside her body, are they too late ?

















 

individual narative

My thriller film idea.

 

 

 

I think that our thriller film should be about a demon which has possesed a house and plays with the lives of the 4 people living in it. The House is home to a family of 4 young people all of similar ages, however the demon has decided to particually target one of the youngest girls living there as she comes across as the most vulnerable. When her family members start to notice her acting in strange ways and notice odd things happening in the house hold, they decide to set up a ouija board. When they do it without the youngest girl nothing happens but there are loud noises coming from upstairs in the house and the wind picks up and blows through the house and there are objects flying around the room. When the family end the game and get the youngest girl to join in, the glass starts moving spelling out kates name and names that are familliar to her and the strange goings on in the house begin to fall into place. They realise that kate is possesed by the demon and it wants a clean pure soal to take over and make it its own. The family try to do everything in their power to help their sister and take her for exorcisms but nothing seems to be clearing the demon from inside her body, are they too late ?

 

 

 The film should be shot in a nice ordinary house which will decieve the audience into beliving that the house is safe and nothing is going to happen. The charachters have to be shown as much stronger than the weakest girl as it has to clearly portray why the demon has chosen to posses the youngest one. I got my idea from the paranormal activity films as i feel that these films are filmed in a realistic way and are in my opinion the easist to re create.


My idea is conventional to a thriller film as it will keep the audience on the edge of their seats at all tmes as they will be waiting to see what happens to the charachters once the ouija board has gone wrong. The fact that me and Brit cant see the demon but the audience can creates a sense of panic and wngages the audience as they may feel the sudden urge to help us and tell us to get out of the room as they are aware of the danger we are in, meanwhile we are oblivius as to what is happening around us.

 

 

Age Certificate

Age Certificates

Age certificates are important so they can set a guideline for the ages appropriate to watch it so it does not manipulate a child's mind. There are many different aspects which need to be taken into account when making a film in a particular classification. Some of these points are, discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour language, nudity, sex, violence and video games.

  

The lowest certificate there is is a 'U'. This film should be sutible for very young children of the ages 4 and over. The film should include none of the different aspects above other than if for example discrination was to be used, it would only be acceptable if it was cleary being shown as wrong. It should be sutible for a small child to be able to view the film alone without any parental supervision. The films should be set within a positive moral and must not manipulate a childs mind, however it is impossible to be able to know what could either upset or anger an individual child.


The next certificate is a 'PG' this means that the film may be sutible for the child to watch alone over the age of 8 however a parent may want to look at the contents of the film beforehand to decide weather they feel comfortable with their child viewing it. There can be only very mild bad language, drugs or drug abuse can only be used if portraying an anti- drug message. moderate violence may be used however only acceptable if it used for an educational reason for example history or may be used for comedy refrences.

The next two are '12' and '12a'. They both use the same catergoric critera however the only difference is a child below the age of 12 can view a '12a' film as long as an adult is accompanying them and has said they feel that the contents of the film is sutible for a younger child, this catergory only exists in the cinema. A '12' film means that no one below the age of 12 can view the film with or without the permission of an adult or parent, as the contents of the film is seen as unsuitable for any one below the age of 12.

The next certificate is a '15'. This certificate means that in a cinema no one below the age of 15 can view the film or any one below 15 will be able to buy or rent a film with this certificate. The different aspects become much more flexible and the contents of the film will become more graphic. Drugs are allowed to be shown taken however the film must not promote them or encourage them in any way. It must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour. Strong threat and mennace is allowed however it may not be sexualised. Any dangerous behaviour is allowed but must not focus on any parts which may be copied for example hanging, suicide or self harming. Any weapons that are easily accesable must not be promoted or focused on.  There may be frequent use of strong lanuage however if it is constantly repeated or if the language is portraying aggresivness then it is likely to be seen as unacceptable. There may be sexual scenes as long as they dont go into to much detail.

The final certificates are '18' and 'R18' there is very little difference between the two. Adult should be able to choose their own entertainment and there is not much that is unnaceptable however there may be some exceptions which could be where the material is in breach of the criminal law or has been created through the commision of a criminal offence. Where the film can bring a risk of harm to an indiviual or society. Where there are more explicit images which cannot be justified by the context.
'R18' should only be shown in specially lisenced cinemas or supplyed only in lisenced sex shops to adults over the age of 18 only.

Every film is specifically chosen age certificates due to the contents of the film. For example the 'Saw' films are rated at an 18, this is because the contents contains violence and gory scenes and is very disturbing for the audience. Whereas the 'Paranormal activity films' are rated at a 15 because they are still not sutible for

What is a thriller film?

What is a thriller film?

Codes and conventions.
Enigma - A mystery is always set in a thriller
Representation of characters - victims are represented as being weak
Violence - when people are being killed
Dramatic irony- audience knows the victim is going to get attached the sound goes up
lighting- low key lighting creates shadows, high key lighting creates a happy scene
Editing - to build suspense and tension
Iconography- props, weapons, chains, ropes
Non - diegetic sounds - Creates tension, hear sound when you cant hear where its coming from
mirrors- To show persons reflections


there are many different conventions which all together create the whole idea of a thriller film. The different conventions are all essential for the making of a thriller film. Normally in thriller films there is dark lighting and settings which are not clear to us which creates a sense of suspension throughout the film. There is always a narrative and story line which makes it easy to follow whats happening. There is nearly always an aspect of violence as this is one of the main conventions in a thriller film. Jumpy sounds are used and load and bold music to make the audience scared and on edge. The clothes in thriller films are important as it can diffrerentiate between the victim and the killer, generally the victim would be in white which shows innocence and the killers identity is usually hidden.

  An example of one of the conventions is shown in the opening scene to the first saw film, this particular convention was low key lighting. The first scene shows the man waking up in a dark room and he is unable to identify his whereabouts. This gives the audience a feeling of uncertainty and builds a tension. This convention is important in a thriller film becasue it can create an eery setting.

Another convention that is shown in the saw opening was violence. There is a man laying dead in the middle of the floor and this creates an enigma as nobody in the room knows why he is there. this is important for thriller films to include violence so early on in the film because it can create the whole atmosphere as to what the film will be about and so the audience will know that it will include more violence.

The final convention that i analysed was Iconograhy. There are many props used in the opening scene, There is a gun in the middle of the floor and both of the charachters are chained up to objects in the room which they wake up in. Neither of the men know why they are there or why there are weapons in the blood stained room. This creates an atmosphere of tension as the charachters have no idea why they are there and niether do the audience. This is important because the props can say alot about the genre of the film, and what is going to happen next.


Our opening scene of our thriller






                  

Editing

Analysis of  The Strangers scene.

The editing of a film is very important. There are so many edits in every single film that you wont even realise that you are watching them. The edits in a film make it interesting and will focus the audiences attention on the most important subject in the scene. The editing of a film can show the difference between an action shot when there is a lot going on and the shots are very fast to relaxed scene when the editing is very slow.

In The Strangers scene that i was analysing the first thing i noticed was the slow editing as the woman was walking toward the door. The creates an uneasy atmosphere with suspence and tension which is quickly bulding as she moves close to the door. The slow editing in the scene makes the audience aware that there may be something not very nice waiting for her on the other side of the door and the anticipation is building to see wheather or not she is going to open the door. Slow editing is used a lot in thrillers as this is mainly the best way to create a scene that is supposed to scare the audience as the slower the editing is the more the audience are left waiting to see what is going to happen next.

The next shot i picked up on was a reaction shot. This was when the women had told the person to leave her front door and after she heard no noise her first reaction was to go and check outside the window to make sure that the person had left. This is a good shot to have used because the audience are waiting to see if something is going to be behind the curtain as she lifts it to look out. A reaction shot is used a lot in thrillers because they are a good way of interacting with the audience by showing exactly how the subject is feeling or what they are going to do next to what happened in the scene.

Another edit that i saw was the jump cut. The girl drops the alarm and then the shot jumps to the door. Alarms mean panic so even having the alarm in her hands the audience are already thinking that something is bad is about to happen. As the shot changes to there door gives the audience the impression that whatever was behind the door is back and makes the audience nervous as to what is going to happen next. Jump shots are used in thrillers because they are very quick and it makes it very dramatic when there is a lot going on in the scene.

I have realised that editing is very important in thrillers because it can make the difference between creating an intersting and dramatic scene or a boring and dull scene.

Mise-en-scene

Prom night scene

mise-en-scene is a french term for everything in the scene. There are 5 main elements of mise-en-scene. they are important for thriller films because it helps the audience to understand the narritives.

For prom night the setting is in a hotel which is not a typical setting for a thriller film because generally a hotel would mean that people were having a good tike and enjoy them selves which contradicts what is about to happen. this may fool the audience into believing that nothing bad is going to happen which then leaves the audience unprepared for the following events.


the costumes hair and make up of the characters are very appropriate to the scene which is happening. The identification of the killer is hidden throughout the first part of the scene and dressed in black which is different to everyone else in the scene as everyone else is in prom outfits and are seen to be having a good time. the identification of the killer is hidden because it creates an atmosphere of suspense for the audience.

the facial expressions of the killer serious and concentrated because he has told himself that he has to kill the girl. the facial expressions of the girl are clearly panicked and upset which differentiates the girl who is in danger to the killer. the fact that his facial expressions are so clear and stern makes the audience uneasy.

The colour which is used throughout the scene is it is dark outside and which that alone creates an eery atmosphere. the killers face is mostly covered by flashing lights. the flashing lights are blue which automatically triggers painc through the audience as flashing blue lights are gereally associtated with police and fire brigade.