Final Cut

Titles

we picked out 3 main titles that we wanted to use, we wanted them to fit in with our thrillers style so we wanted it to be scary and sort of abstract. we found our title fonts on final cut.
here are our three choices:

cracked
cell 63
onyx

in the end we decided to choose cracked because we thought it stood out over the rest, and it looks the best.

Another Student Thriller Analysis

I like this thriller, as it avoids giving a view of the character's face, which leads to the wonderful aspect of mystery, also there is the element of potential voyeurism, with the viewing of him taking apart and reloading the handgun. The predominant use of low shots and over the shoulder shots, also relate to the dark atmosphere, although there does not seem to be a great deal of editing within this sequence.
Although the shot of the girl at the end with the gunshot, looks slightly improfessional, as it reveals the victim, and what happens to her, from the antagonist's point of view, sadly unravelling all of the suspense created by the mystery of not knowing who the antagonist is.
Apart from that the camerawork, is the best part of this sequence, and what we aim to attain, focusing on mainly low shots, as we already have a vaguely revealing (but mostly concealing) shot of the antagonist's face.

Final Cut Almost Done/Analysis Of Project So Far

We have almost finished our Final Cut of our Thriller Opening sequence, with the editing and footage finished, the soundtrack finalised, completed, and input into the roughcut, we have remastered, and refined certain parts, despite the unfortunate aspect of repetition, which has been minimised (but not too minimised due to the small amount of footage we have). All that is required now is the Cast/Crew names to be posted into the Final Cut; As well as the most important part of the Thriller; The Title.
As of yet the title is a mystery, but in the last blog, where the Final Cut is to be posted, the title will be revealed within the sequence, as the Final Cut Deadline Is Tomorrow.

Evaluation Questions:

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We have continued, thoroughly, with the aspect of mystery in mind, as we want the viewer's interest sustained by cluelessness, with an intent as to think further upon, wanting more. We've used a variety of shots and camera angles to make abstract objects give a sense of mystery.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The media product refrains from relating to particular social groups, as it sustains mystery through the convention of isolation, and lack of clarity as to the identity of the person in the media product, and there is a greater mystery as to who the victim is to be.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A media institution which respected the appropriateness of the camera angles, such as low angles etc, and how the editing filters the viewing to a more sharper, darker scene, adding to the atmosphere of the product.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience could be anyone, it probably wouldn't be suitable for younger people, due to nature of the thriller genre, as well as the complex representation and conventions used throughout the media product.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We thoroughly used the convention of mystery, briefly relating to the cliché convention of murder (as it is overused), which will give the 'thrill' aspect to our media product. Also we have not included a 'victim' as a specific person, as if someone is killed in the beginning of a thriller film, there is little that the story can develop to, without becoming too cliché, however we decided it would be more effective if we left a specific victim absent from the opening sequence, as it gives the element of potential voyeurism and mystery, making the viewer want more.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
The simplicity of Mac products, giving professional quality movies, and sountracks, with such easy use. The cameras were fairly easy to use, giving a nice, clear shot, which can seem professional, if used with a tripod, at a particular angle.
Also the compatibility of all of the Mac products, is really helpful, as we can combine our footage, with a our soundtrack, mixing them together for our Final Cut.

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learnt that there needs to be a lot of thought placed into the story line, locations, conventions, costumes, and everything else. The thought processes never can be too careful, for example, if you are wearing all black to give a dark aspect to the thriller, but you don't cover your hands, it'll look improfessional. Also, when a whole body is in a shot, it can look completely improfessional, which is why it is better to isolate certain parts of the body for footage, which also adds mystery, especially if you just see a gloved hand picking something up.
Also, Editing takes much longer than we'd had in mind, however it makes it look far more professional, and appropriate to our genre (Thriller).
Overall i have learnt quite a lot in the progression period from the preliminary task, as it provokes and helps develop ideas, as well as helps you to learn from mistakes.

Roughcut

This is our roughcut, of which we are currently happy with, as we have finished most of the editing and have ordered our shots.
We are currently writing the soundtrack for our thriller, relating to random, dark, intense noises, which will work well with our flashes of abstract images.

Mise En Scene

We attempted to keep the lighting to a minimum, to reflect the sinister aspect of the Thriller genre. Otherwise we would use our editing to sharpen the contrast, and keep the brightness quite low.
For Costumes, we wore black/ark clothing to add a dark nature to the 'thrill' of our thriller.
For locations, we decided carefully that we would film behind the stage, on college grounds, avoiding any obvious shots which gave away that we were at college, as well as a shot under the bridge, to sustain the sinister atmosphere.
For props, we used abstract object to outline the mystery of the thriller opening sequence.

Teacher feedback

Your blog is looking very good.
Some images of your props would improve it further.
Add some other thriller openings that you are influenced by. Your blog should reflect the mise en scene you are trying to communicate so use images to help illustrate this.
Keep up the good work guys.

Editing Intentions

So far the only effects we have, is when the lighter is flickering, like candlelight, to add suspense to the newspaper scene, however we intend to distort, remaster, darken, and add various effects to enhance the sinister aspects to our current footage, which at this stage, has been cut and ordered appropriately.

Camerawork

We began planning the camerwork we'd use on the storyboard sheets, deciding that it'd be best to begin with an Establishing shot, which we used again, combined with a long shot, in the bridge, there are other shots we used, such as over the shoulder shots for the newspaper cutting, a low shot for the CCTV camera, a medium shot for the chair in the dark room, another low down shot for the rattling chains, and finally a close up shot for the face of the concealed character, who has just cut up the newspaper words.

Use of Conventions

There are many thriller-based conventions which all add to the build of suspense for the viewer, however if one convention is overly used, especially in just the opening sequence it can devalue the appeal to viewer, as it will not give the desired effect for the viewer to be uncertain as to the events of the thriller, wanting more.
Overall we did our best to keep the convention of 'murder' to a minimum, as it is too cliché, and looks improfessional, if it is the basis for the entirety of an opening sequence, however to maximise the mysteriousness, we would leave the conventions opening, suggesting murder, and other conventions, which would provoke the viewer to wonder what is happening, entising them to want to find out, wanting more than just the opening sequence.

Filming

We allocated one day for filming, of which we acquired all of our necessary material, with additional shots, as we gained inspiration from further ideas which we had.
We began by filming in areas of the college grounds, however we refused to choose open-area shots, as we didn't want it to be even slightly obvious that we had filmed on college grounds, as it removes the professional aspect of our Thriller.
We avoided having any shots revealing faces, or uncovered parts of the body, as is easy for it to look improfessional, as our whole body may not be professional, on camera, however if we isolate and conceal parts of the body, it adds suspicion and suspense.
After we had filmed on the college grounds, we went to find the bridge, so that we could have a sinister shot, of a mysterious, hooded character emerging from under the bridge.
In the aspect of our filming, we attempted, and kept in mind, that we needed to sustain the conventions of the Thriller genre, and while we wouldn't depend on it, we would mainly use editing to add to the main conventions.

Background Music To Animatic

The background music created and used specifically for the Thriller Animatic needed to be dark, sinister sounds, rather than an instrumental-based soundtrack, which could potentially remove the 'thrill' of our storyline. This is mainly due to the limited supply of instrumentals at our disposal, in addition to us not finding many appropriate ones.
As of yet, we still are undecided (however are still in favour) as to whether we will use the Animatic Soundtrack for the Final Thriller Opening Sequence.
Our Thriller Soundtrack, so far sounds far more sinisterly appropriate, than others, in the sense that it adds the suspense with abient, abstract noises with an unknown origin, fitting with a continuous display of abstract objects and actions.
Also, the way the soundtrack builds up, and subsides at certain points during the sequence adds suspense, to maximise the effect and overall viewers' response to our Thriller Opening Sequence.

Student Thriller Analysis

This thriller is pretty improfessional as they use the same chain shot all the time.
Also, they use the colege site, filming random people, with improfessional acting which looks fairly amateur.
It is obvious that the desgners of this thriller have tried to aim for similar conventions as us, however using inappropriate camera shots to reflect the supposedly sinister atmosphere. Also this group have too much footage of abstract objects and locations, which don't even relate to the element of murder, mystery, or anything sinister. Sadly there is little sign of editing, which could have changed this raw footage, into a dark, mysterious thriller, making people wonder what the character is doing, supported by such a sharp, dark atmosphere.
Overall the repetition of shots, and various other lack of potential, make this sequence less efficient at being a thriller.

Influences

We are heavily influenced by the opening sequence of the film 'Seven', as we have already analysed, in our other post, in any case, we like the idea of abstract objects, in a sequence which may suggest a particular convention of the thriller genre, for example, murder.

Props, Costumes and Locations

Props:
Scissors
Newspaper
Chair
Rope
Phone
Costumes:
Dark, Long, Hooded Coat,
Gloves
Locations:
Under The Bridge,
A Dark Room,
A Corridor

Evaluation:
We have decided that it is better to use minimal acting, as it is hard to produce a professional-like thriller opening sequence with amateur acting ability, if we use the whole of our bodies in the shot.

Response to Animatics

The overall concern of our ideas, suggested by our animatics was that there was a general uncertainty about where we would shoot, and what props we would need, however we shortly managed to discuss and finalise where we could shoot, who would supply certain props, and when we would be taking our camera out from College.
Also we still need to decide upon our Film Title.

Animatics

Animatics are a sequence of stills, creating a storyline, which when collated in the right order, create an animation of the story.
We have drawn and finished animating our stills, adding a soundtrack sketch of what our final thriller opening sequence might be like, obviously with real footage, editted to as professional level as we can attain.

thriller ideas

When we were analyzing 'seven' we decided to come up with the same sort of idea, an opening with no real story line. we liked the idea of the viewer not knowing whats going to happen next. we looked at the idea of abstract objects like chains and scissors, instead of doing lots of acting, we chose doing this idea because it is stereotypical for lots of acting to be used in a thriller opening. we didn't really like the idea of knives and guns to be used in our thriller because its quite a boring and everyone uses

analysis of seven

The conventions used in this opening scene clearly shows that this is a thriller for example, many of the camera shots are extreme close ups which gives the audience no sense of whats around or the location, keeps the audience thinking. There are quick snap shots of what the man is is doing with his hands and only with his hands which gives a suspicious effect, eerie sound effects drawing the audience in and keeping suspense through out. The main effect that keeps this opening scene a thriller, is the director does not show why the man is doing this or what he is planning, this is what keeps the audience on edge and drawing them to carry on watching.

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