Audience

When it comes to creating a media text, learning about your audience is vital due to the fact that if your product does not appeal to a certain type of consumer - they'll not consume it.
For example, if I was a big-deal movie director who'd blown their budget on a product that nobody wants to watch then production companies may never wish to invest in me again if I wa sa financial liability.

Online survey:

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Public Survey

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 12
Online Survey - 2
Public Survey - 10

Countries:
UK: 11
USA: 1 (Online Survey)

(My film is directed at a Western audience, which means that the participants than decided to take part in my survey were all in the cultural regions that I wished to target.)

Gender
Male Participants: 4
Female Participants: 8

(I tried to approach as many people as I could on the streets of Mansfield, but it appeared that women were the most likely to take part in my survey - This may have created a gender bias)

Occupation
Full-Time Students: 8
Part-Time Employed Student: 1
Full-Time Student/Part-Time Employment: 1
Employed: 2

(This tells me that Students and young people will be who I wish to target - and shall do so with pop culture references - i.e. intertextuality - and a modern soundtrack)

What factors would persuade you to watch a Thriller movie? (The smallest number is the most important factor)
Actor(s): 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5 = 33
Review(s): 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5 = 38
Director: 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 = 42
Artistic Content: 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 = 40
Subject Matter: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5 = 27

( Subject Matter seemed to be the most important quality for a film, whereas the Director was the least important. This tells me that the public would rather watch a thriller movie for the plot, genre traits and context as opposed to other factors such as reviews and artistic content. )

Which film was the most influential to the Thriller genre?
Psycho: 9
The Shining: 2
The Hunger Games: 1

( I will need to re-watch psycho and examine the opening - as well as look at the wildcard entry Hunger Games )

Why?
Psycho:
Shower Scene - 3
Sound - 2
The Shining:
Sound - 1
Plot - 1

The words 'Influential' and 'Iconic' were frequently used, although I can't directly replicate those qualities without sounding like a tit.

The soundtrack and score for both films were key points of what made them influential; specifically in Psycho, the shower Scene stayed with a lot of people. Therefore, I shall examine the movie as well as this specific scene in my next entry and will try to reference it in my own project.

Directors & Lighting

The reason that I've been tampering with ISO and light levels is due to the fact that I'd like to channel directors such as Gaspar Noé, Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Enter the Void. Noe

Although this movie isn't a Thriller, it possesses a lot fo the 'arthouse' features that are present in 'Drive', which, if included in my film opening, would be a way in which I develop the Thriller genre.

Low level lighting, lots of attention on colours and neon

The film is almost one big continual tracking shot; I loved the flashback scene wherein the protagonist enters a a dorm room to see an acquaintance's miniature city make of lights. Aside from the CGI effect of the protagonist floating about the city/"void" once dead, I would like to incorporate the moody colours schemes and minimalist plot.

Soderbergh's Side Effects is a medical thriller orientated around a girl who kills her husband after being prescribed drugs from her unwitting psychiatrist. The lighting throughout the film is low key and if you look closely at the laptop screen in the screencaps, the ISO levels have made the lighting emanating from it lessen. The overhead lighting in the hallways grow lightly and the colours in each shot are usually dominated by one key colour tone; either yellow or red.

David Fincher's Zodiac is set around real life events involving the investigation into San Francisco's Zodiac killer in the 1970s. The lighting is either dim and warm or light and sterile. In the newspaper offices, the beams of the structure or white and yellow; the colour is at a higher saturation, which looks pretty cool. Therefore if I were to film in a location which an obviously predominant colour scheme, I will do everything in my power to increase the vividity of it.

Refn's latest film Only God Forgives is pure eye candy but is seen by some to have no key substance. The plot is, on the surface, simple. However for an action thriller, the movie takes an oddly anti-violence take on a classic revenge story. This is besides the point--the movie's cinematographer is the colourblind Larry Smith, which makes his work on the lighting immediately more impressive. Most of the movie is filmed in Thailand at night, hence the use of colourful club lights, street signs and neon-everything. Everything glows, giving the film a dream-like feel at night, whereas in the day there's a touch more realism.

ISO

Due to the fact that I wasn't able to alter the CANON EOS 1100D's ISO or shutter speed, the picture was grainy and the lightness of the image changed immediately after it drifted into different light level of the room (pardon the mess, by the way). Therefore, my media teacher recommended that I use the CANON DSLR EOS 600D (which also had a flippable screen which was more practical for shooting). With it, I decided to tamper witht he ISO and found that less noise and grained was visible in the footage if compared with the former. However, a lot of the light was lost.

Here is me toggling through different ISO settings. The shutter speed is kept on 30 so that more light can enter the lens, as it's exposed to the scene for a longer time. If the shutter speed was higher, there would be flickering lights in the video where the lighting is pulsing as the shutter speed tries to quickly take it in.

If I choose to use a low ISO for my filming, I will have to make sure that my set is well lit. This may be an issues if I wish to film in The Pit due to the darkness of the building. If I did, it would be wise to consider investing in floodlights and borrowing the LED rotolights from school.

Possible Locations

Free locations

School:

First of all, I wanted to look at a stairwell that's usually used during fire drills but the doors were locked when I tried to enter. I wanted to shoot there because there were no school displays - only images photographs like any other lobby. Instead I settled for the resource centre (An ICT suite for post 16 students), as the colours were bright and the area was usually well it. There is a nook where the toilets are hidden, and various signs; the walls are green and it could look interesting if the walls were cleared and additional lighting was added, especially for tracking shots following a protagonist in my potential film opening or just for a close-up of a hand opening a door.

Home:

Despite how small our home is, it's more or less well kept due to my dirt-phobic mother, and is a controlled environment where I can shoot for free (and there's access to food for my actors as payment)

Bathroom - As you can see, the bathroom is small but the beige granite surfaces are reminiscent of the peculiar designs for rooms seen in The Shining and Only God Forgives (see Refn blog post). If cleared of household objects and products for the filming, it would be an interesting place to film in and bright enough due to the spotlights overhead.

Master Bedroom - Blue décor that would look interesting under pink lighting at night. The feature walls of blue floras would be a nice juxtapose to my actors and the addition of music and flashing lights could create an artificial club scene if the actors prop themselves against the wall and drink from cups(?)

Hallway - White walls, brown carpet. The blankness of the hallways could act as a canvas for various lighting techniques and would be a good place to explore match-on action and a variety of shots. Not all scenes have to be filmed at home so an actor could be seen entering one of the tangent rooms and the setting could be in a completely different building/location. Said location could possibly be....

The Pit (for hire)

The Pit Studio UK

£45 Half-day, £75 full day

Nottingham


I have yet to explore the Pit firsthand but their facebook photos look promising in regards to location. The bare brickwork and dilapidated feel is befitting to the genre (i.e. Se7en, Reservoir Dogs). This location is often used by photographers, though I think that it would be a very interesting setting for a film opening, even if it's used for just a few seconds.

ALGORITHM

Genre: Conspiracy Thriller
Director: Jonathan Schiefer
IMDB synopsis: A freelance computer hacker discovers a mysterious government computer program. He breaks into the program and is thrust into a revolution.
( If the tubechop video is not working, the movie is watchable here )


Camera Angles: 
Birds eye/High angle, made black and white to appear as though the audience at watching the events through CCTV footage.
High angle - sorting out SIM cards
Tilt down/Establishing - Phone company building
Front-Tracking/Side-tracking - Hacker moving towards the fence door
Close-up - Lock-picking
Deep shot - background, hacker working + foreground, fence. Almost voyeuristic
Long shot - Hacker moving towards phone company
Long shot - Hacker in corridor setting down bag. Rule of thirds evident
Mid-shot - simple cut, same action going on
Establishing shot - House

Cuts: 
Simple cuts, no fade-ins or other such business. Sometimes the clips are cut during the same shot to speed up lapses in time For example, the hacker is seen walking away from the camera, and then the clip is cut to where he's walked away a little further.

Lighting/Color: 
Low saturation with a green-grey tint. Low contrast also. Natural lighting.

Sound: 
Dialog during the interrogation scene. The rest of the film features the running score of tense, piano music. The hacker voices over the opening to address the reader about his motives.

Costumes:
Interrogation Scene - Smart suited agents and a prisoner in light coloured scrubs
Hacker - Dark casual clothing. Browns and greens, masculine.

Font/Credits: 
Various production companies featured at the very beginning. The title font is slip and simple

Silence of the Lambs

Costumes:
Grey jumper, white trainers and blue tracksuit bottoms. The man who runs after her wears a windbreaker and an F.B.I. cap which obviously alludes to the viewer where the scene is taking place. A variety of uniforms are shown: polo necks, chinos, and interestingly whilst Starling enters the lift, she is surrounded by tall men in red polo shirts which illustrates the point that Starling doesn't fit in with the average gun-toting Quantico student.

Lighting:
Natural lighting in the woods, but somewhat murky due to the season and fog. Inside the lighting is artificial and clean in key with the school environment.

Titles/Credits: 
Black Arial font outlined with white for impact. If flashes on the centre of the screen.

Camera Angles: 
Tracking shot, which follows the agent running. After she climbs up the wall, the camera stays put to watch her leave into the distance. It then catched up with her as the instructor runs to her. This is all in one shot. Tilt down of a signpost with various motivational phrases on it; the camera then pans left to follow the agent once more. Establishing deep long shot of Quantico building. Slowly, the camera zooms into the building to follow the protagonist yet again. Mid-tracking shot of the girl walking down the hallway, and then away from the camera. Final mid shot of Starling in the lift.

Cuts:
Clean cuts, not transitions. A narrative is created through the cutting that's linear. Everything is focused on Starling.

Technical Specs: 
Panavision
35mm
Titles added in the editing process

Sound: 
Non-diegetic - Soundtrack orchestra
Diegetic - minimal dialog, footsteps in the woods, background ambience of chatter at the academy

Steadishots

In order to channel Kubrick's Shining in my film opening, I decided to explore different ways to achieve a fluid shot whilst in motion, which is usually accomplished with either a Shoulder Rig or a Steadicam. These products are apparatus that are attached to the camera in order to keep it steady. Like a moveable tripod but perhaps a few hundred pounds more expensive. Therefore I did what any penniless student would do: I fled to a youtube tutorial.

Before I even began to accomplish constructing the rigs, I decided to do some tests shots: handheld, attached to a grip and the attached to the tripod.

Handheld: 

Very shaky and my footsteps were clearly visible. It was hard to keep the picture smooth.

Grip: 

It may have been due to the confined space of my landing, but I similarly struggled to keep the camera steady because the heavy metal made my arm ache when I tried to raise it to eye level. However, it may be useful for low angle tracking shots of footsteps or quick, close-proximity close ups.

Tripod: 

By holding onto the centre of one of the tripod legs and arm used for moving the camera head (tightly fastened), I managed to get a steadier shot than the previous ones.

Handling the shoulder rig is pretty awkward due to the fact that it's extremely heavy, However, I feel like the equipment has made a smoother shot than if compared to the handheld shot in the previous video.

Drive

According to its Wikipedia page, Drive is a 2011 American neo-noir arthouse crime thriller film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (who is coincidentally one of my favourite directors). The film centres around a protagonist simply named "Driver" or "Kid". He is a stunt man by day and a getaway driver by night.

Costumes:
The protagonist wears a white driving jacket, black driving gloves, jeans and a white shirt.

Lighting:
Low key lighting. A vast amount of the light sources are artificial due to the fac tthat the film prodiminantly takes place outside at night. Thus, streetlights, car headlights and neon strobing give the film a dream-like, synthetic atmospheric, similarly seen in films such as American Gigolo and Taxi Driver.

Titles/Credits:
Pink text similar again to American Gigolo, possibly due to the fact that it's trying to emanate an 80s action thriller sort of movie. The font is mistral and looks hand-written. This is an odd choice for a modern action thriller, which will usually use bold, capital letters with a simple Arial style.

Camera Angles:
--Establishing shot of the Miami Skyline, slow sweep, possibly achieved with a helicopter or drone, much like The Shining.
--Low angle shot of Ryan Gosling in the car, looking out the window: a camera man may be holding the camera towards him on one of the seats. The shot shows him to be powerful.
--Over the shoulder whilst the protagonist is driving, scanning the streets as he does so.
--POV shot of The Driver driving, a clear view of the dashboard, rear-view mirror and his arm steering the wheel. The street whizzes by.
--Mid-shot of the protagonist's side profile
--Bird's eye view of the car being tracked as it moves.
--Pan right of car being driven into the car park
--Low over the shoulder mid shot of protagonist walking towards the lift, followed by camera. Perhaps a steadicam used to stabilise the shot.
--Deep shot of girl walking out elevator and the Driver walking into his apartment.
--Tracking shot of the back of driver's head as he walks into room.
--Pan left as he moves back towards the door

Cuts:
No effects are used for transitions. The cutting is clean and follows on from one another in a narrative fashion. Each cut changes in key with the music.

Technical Specs:
Sound - Dolby Digital
Cameras - Arri Alexa, Cooke S4, Zeiss Master Prime and Angenieux Optimo Lenses

Sound:
Soundtrack - Nightcall by Kavinsky

Big Top

Big Top is a short film directed by Toby Everett. It stars Emmett Scanlan and Brian Fortune. Although it is not a film opening, the structure is not dissimilar to one.
Costumes: 
Actor one wears a black top with red braces, and sports a moustache. Actor 2 is wearing a dark khaki jacket, and of course there's the clown. The younger antagonist wears light colours and glasses as a child, whereas after his interaction with a clown, he wears dark clothing and has slicked his hair back. I like the simplicity of these costumes.
Lighting: 
Low key lighting, very artificial. There is a green tinge to the lighting in the basement area which makes the environment seem cold; also, the red braces of the antagonist stand out more in comparison. In the 'Big Top' tent, there is a spotlight where the clown stands, which directs the audience's attentions immediately to the beam.
Titles/Credits: 
The title credits fade on and off of the screen at the very beginning. Bold, caps lock, white.
Camera Angles: 
Birds eye, Mid shot, Over shoulder, High angle, Low angle
Cuts:
Clean, math-on action, no fancy transitions
Sound:
Circus music and dialog, as well as a generally tense violin not for added atmosphere.

Se7en

Costumes:
No actual person shown in the titles. Bandages on hands.
Lighting: 
Low key, very dark and grimy. Possibly a mixture or natural artificial. The colours have obviously had their saturation lessened so the colours are not as bright as they could be. The only colours that really pop are red, yellow, black and white.
Titles/Credits:
Handwritten in a messy font. However, there are some flashes of Arial font which have a grainy overlay to keep in key with the distressed look of the opening as well as the movie.
Camera Angles: 
The camera angles are mostly low angle and focus on the turning of pages and an individual doing various things in the construction of a scrapbooks. There are extreme close-ups of his hands, a sewing needle and tweezers. Also, the opening ends with an establishing shot of New York city.
Cuts: 
Quick cuts transition one distressing image to another, along with the flash of white, scribbly letters and numbers and a black background for some of the titles, as though the movie has been made on standard 35mm film. There is also a fade from black for some clips and an overlay transition at 0:28 where a textbook is being opened, and the image fades onto a hand twitching over another book, cast in shadow.
Technical Specs:
A lot of the title sequence effects and overlays have been added on in the editing progress. it would be wise for me to look for a variety of plug-in if I wish to do a similar style of title sequence for my thriller.
Sound:
Soundtrack - Closer to God (Precursor) by Nine Inch Nails

The Shining

What kind of film student would I be if I didn't mention the mac daddy of all Thrillers?The Shining was directed by Stanley Kubrick and based off of a same-titled Stephen King novel.

Costumes:
No costumes are displayed during the opening sequence. All we see is a car driving down a winding country road.

Lighting: 
Natural, sunny lighting. No use of additional equipment to create it artificially: one of the many perks of filming in America, maybe.

Titles/Credits:
Warner Bros emblem
Blue Arial font which pans upwards over the screen, as though the ending credits of a film are being reversed.

Camera Angles:
Smooth, continual tracking shot which follows the car, potentially accomplished by a drone or a helicopter.

Cuts:
Simple cuts which seamlessly transitions from one area of countryside to the next.

Technical Specs:
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
35mm

Sound:
Eerie music created on a keyboard, occasional hammerings of a symbol and a faint rustling which increases and decreases; also, the voices of others that sounds like ghosts wailing or red Indians chanting. This non-diegetic sound effectively adds to building a sense of unease in the reader.

Thriller

Due to the fact that last year's attempt at a film opening did not meet my expectations, I have decided to re-do my media text in order to obtain a higher grade but to also use the skills that I have learned over the past year and a half to create a better product that I can be proud to put my name to. Instead of sticking with Post-Apocalypse, I have decided to create an opening for a Thriller.

According to TV Tropes, A thriller is a genre in visual media and literature which focuses on action, fast pacing, tension, and suspense. They can fit into any genre; the genre is plot driven above all else, so it's quite common to see Psychological Thrillers such as Shutter Island or Conspiracy Thrillers like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Sub-genres include:
Action Thriller
Conspiracy Thriller
Crime Thriller
Disaster Thriller
Eco-Thriller
Forensic Thriller
Legal Thriller
Medical Thriller
Mystery Thriller
Political Thriller
Psychological Thriller
Religious Thriller
Romantic Thriller
Spy Thriller
Supernatural Thriller
Techno-Thriller