We were told to produce an opening sequence of a thriller for our AS coursework, therefore we were put into small groups of four. My response to the brief was to start with the ending then go back to the beginning in order to get the audiences attention about what has happened.Thrillers are supposed to get the audiences on the edge of their seat as the plot builds towards the most intense moments of the thriller. It will give the opportunity to go through an experience and get out the other end alive.Later we decided that our narrative should be anxious and suspenseful. For us to do make it like the way we wanted the group and I have to do the following:
-Storyboarding
-Research on the thriller and the target audience
-Blogging
-Production schedule (organising props and people, time management)
We have watched many opening sequences before we started the project, for example the last years students, pack of thriller openings and the documentary. When I was watching the last year’s groups, some I did not like but some of them were making me watch the rest of it because it created it suspense on me. The documentary we watched was interesting because it teaches us about how to create suspense and how it was to film thriller in the olden days. When I was watching ‘Collateral’ I liked the way they exchanged the suitcases and the shots like POV, mid-shots, long-shot and close-ups made it more interesting. I was planning to use that technique in our thriller but we did not use it because it was a typical storyline but it depends on how well you use the techniques. The technique we used was used by ‘Slum dog Millionaire’ as well which was released recently. I can say that we got that technique from that film because the film has being nominated to win the Oscar, BAFTA and this shows that it was a successful film. It started from the end and went to the beginning throughout the film.
After watching the samples of thriller openings like 28 Days later, The Shining and Collateral we were told to make a pitch to the producers (teachers) in order to see if they will accept our film to be made. The pitch has involved the brief explanation of our narrative, the key images and the props such as candles and the mask. We then talked about our mise-en-scene, camerawork, use of lighting and the sound. Our project is accepted by the producers and is ready to get the shooting start.
The media institution that might distribute our media product would probably be a small independent UK release, because I think this is the audience that it would appeal to, all ages. The reason for this is that thrillers are more attractive in the cinema because the darkness and silence dramatises what you are going to see on the screen. We had the chance to watch the film in the VUE, and the audience who watched it were the sort of audience that the film is targeted at. The audience were pleased and as a reward, we had applause
from them. I think this thriller will work best in
websites like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, because it has all ages and any people who would like to watch it could watch it free. I think it can be successful as an independent release in UK, because there is no competition on thriller films because there are not shown often. I think the thriller can be advertised through trailers in YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. Advertised through these websites has being successful and it is known that as a marketing techniques most informing is the most inviting.
I have learnt a lot about all sorts of technologies from constructing our thriller. My knowledge on the filming has increased it also helped me analyse films in different perspectives. When I meant the word 'different perspectives’, I mean that learnt all sorts of shots like establishing to POV and close-ups. I have learnt a lot on using the Final Cut Pro and it made the work became much easier about all the things that were difficult in the editing process. After Final Cut Pro the next step was to use Soundtrack Pro and it was a quite tough this one was. Soundtrack Pro took most of our time in editing because it was hard to find the correct music for the scene. After adding the music, it really worked well by dramatising some parts of the scenes and creates suspense on the other scenes. All the work we have produced was really enjoying and it really teached us a lot. We were also told to be blogging in order to keep up to date in our work; I have learnt that organisation was the key to the success. Our film was released first in Vimeo website and audiences had an easy access to watch the thriller. After the film was released, there were couple of feedbacks from the people that have watched our film.
To conclude, I think I have progressed a lot from Preliminary task to the Final product we produced. The 'match-cut' exercise was like a draft to our thriller and it really teached us about what to do and not to do in the thriller. I know that the quality of our shots was terrible in the preliminary task but then I have learnt about how to improve on them. We have made the storyboarding in our thriller detailed and drew pictures to annotate them. Before going to the filming, we have organised all the planning and maked sure that we have nothing wrong going so we would not stay baffled in the location we went to. The blogging really helped and all the steps in the Thriller production was fabulous. I think the planning we made before was the key to make it seem easier to produce the thriller. I liked each member of the group and will really like to work with the same people next year in the Music Video production. I am delighted with the final product and I think it was enough to be a good thriller.
I think that seeing it in the cinema made me realise that our film either would be a “made for TV” film or distributed in a number of UK 'art house' cinemas. This is because of the low budget that we would have to make the film a success, and the amateur nature of the project would make it harder to become a big Hollywood movie.
I have learnt a lot about all sorts of technologies from constructing our thriller. My knowledge on the filming has increased it also helped me analyse films in different perspectives. When I meant the word 'different perspectives’, I mean that learnt all sorts of shots like establishing to POV and close-ups. I have learnt a lot on using the Final Cut Pro and it made the work became much easier about all the things that were difficult in the editing process. After Final Cut Pro the next step was to use Soundtrack Pro and it was a quite tough this one was. Soundtrack Pro took most of our time in editing because it was hard to find the correct music for the scene. After adding the music, it really worked well by dramatising some parts of the scenes and creates suspense on the other scenes. All the work we have produced was really enjoying and it really teached us a lot. We were also told to be blogging in order to keep up to date in our work; I have learnt that organisation was the key to the success. Our film was released first in Vimeo website and audiences had an easy access to watch the thriller. After the film was released, there were couple of feedbacks from the people that have watched our film.
To conclude, I think I have progressed a lot from Preliminary task to the Final product we produced. The 'match-cut' exercise was like a draft to our thriller and it really teached us about what to do and not to do in the thriller. I know that the quality of our shots was terrible in the preliminary task but then I have learnt about how to improve on them. We have made the storyboarding in our thriller detailed and drew pictures to annotate them. Before going to the filming, we have organised all the planning and maked sure that we have nothing wrong going so we would not stay baffled in the location we went to. The blogging really helped and all the steps in the Thriller production was fabulous. I think the planning we made before was the key to make it seem easier to produce the thriller. I liked each member of the group and will really like to work with the same people next year in the Music Video production. I am delighted with the final product and I think it was enough to be a good thriller.
I think that seeing it in the cinema made me realise that our film either would be a “made for TV” film or distributed in a number of UK 'art house' cinemas. This is because of the low budget that we would have to make the film a success, and the amateur nature of the project would make it harder to become a big Hollywood movie.
Here is the video that is published on the vimeo;
No comments:
Post a Comment