Our Opening Thriller

Kill Cam Final from David Poulton on Vimeo.

Watch in HD with headphones for best viewing.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Task 1 Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

The antagonist of the thriller, played by Joseph Badom, 

is based largely on the character 'Chris Partlow' from 

the HBO series "The Wire." Partlow is shown as a 

ruthless killer throughout the series, we would develop

our antagonist in a similar fashion to the character of Chris Partlow. 

Partlow is also shown to be extremely precise throughout most of the series, another charateristic that would be reflected by our antagonist.

What kind of media institution might distribute our film, and why?

We feel as though an independent U.K film company such as Vertigo Films would be perfect to distribute our film.

Although Vertigo is an independent film company, it has many links with various other film companies, and businesses bared in other media, such as Warner Bros. and Rockstar Games.

By having synergies within various other forms of media, Vertigo have allowed themselves to reach out to a far greater audience, and they have gained the ability to act more like a conglomerate, rather than a small, independent company.

we also considered an art-house film company for our distribution. 20th Century Fox’s branch devoted to art-house films, Fox Searchlight, was considered, if we were to decide on trying to get the film distributed by an art-house company. With Fox Seachlight being directly linked to 20th Century Fox, the commercial appeal for our film would be greatly enhanced.

Although the idea of our thriller being distributed by a company such as Fox Searchlight seemed more lucrative than having the film distributed by a company like Vertigo, we decided to opt for having the film distributed by an independent U.K company. The choice was down to the fact that we believe Vertigo and other such companies are more than capable of gaining a large enough fan base for the film, and also to show support for the U.K industry, which is very much in the shadow of Hollywood.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is what our target audience would look like. Around the age of 18-25 and lives in London.

He/she would dress straight forward, jeans and a top.

He/she enjoys going out on the weekends, clubbing and shopping with pocket money or money earned from a part-time job. He/she would shop in places like Burton, River island, H & M,  and Topshop.

He/she would enjoy films like Snatch, Mean Girls and Mammi Mia.

They would also enjoy watching TV shows such as Friends, One tree hill, Scrubs, Hollyoaks and Eastenders. The main channels would be E4, Comedy central, channel 4 and BBC1.

The music they would listen to would be anything in the charts, with occasional indie music and dubstep.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We used a tripod to make sure the camera remains still while shooting the footage.

We used Logic Pro as it is far superior to the likes of Garageband.

We shot in HD, although we did not anticipate the quality of the lens, which was grainy in darkness.

We used an Apple Mac for its wide variety of programs.

We used Final Cut to edit the footage.

We also used Vimeo to upload the opening as it much higher quality than other video upload sites.

Looking back at your pre-lim task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

 





The screenshots, taken from our preliminary task as well as our thriller opening, show that we have gained a greater knowledge of the technical aspect of film making. Making the progression from the prelim task to the finished thriller opening we have managed to incorporate a greater number camera shots and angles, while still using the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot, reverse shot.

On top of incorporating more camera shots and angles, we also managed to use editing to greater effect, using cuts at different speeds and using fades to move between the cuts. Special effects were also incorporated in our thriller opening, where there was not room to use them to creative effect in the preliminary task. We feel that the use of special effects helped the enhance the creation of dramatic tension within the thriller opening. The screenshots convey out progression from a technical point of view within the creation of film, throughout the entire production process.

Setting/Location

This is the location we chose for the main action to take place. This is a loft conversion in a semi-detached house in south east london.

IT has enough room to film, and is a typical teenage boys room.

Planning - Final Idea

We decided on using our third idea.

It is based around 2 friends and their love for a very famous online game. They are stalked by a serial killer who hunts for victims through online games. "Tom" is his next victim and gets taken, With "Dan" confused and looking for answers, it leads him to an underworld of obsessed virtual gamers who play their online games in reality.

Our inspiration for this is from a horror "Stay Alive" and a non-thriller "Snatch" for the use of an underworld plot. I also took inspiration from the game-turned-film Final Fantasy which is a sci-fi, i liked the way the characters lived in a different world, and wanted to reflect that into a "gamers world." "The Beach" also gave me inspiration in the way that the characters lived far away from the "normal world" and i wanted to use this in my own plot. As the film is a thriller i wanted to keep the suspense, but i also wanted to show the killer at the start, as he is not the main antogonist.

Planning - Opening thriller script

Stage directions:

Dan is sitting on a bed in a barely-lit room playing a fist person shooter on an xbox.

(Talking on headset)

Dan: Awh Ike your shit man, oh hey you alright Tom?

Tom: Alright Dan, yeah im good how are you?

Dan: I'm doing good what you up to?

Tom: Just chillin' got a free house, no-ones in.

Dan: Awh sweet, can i come over later then?

Tom: (unenthusiastically) yeah sure if you want

Dan: Alright cool man, see you soon

(the chair Tom was previously sitting on is empty and  mysteriously moving

(Talking over headset)

Dan: Tom? Tom?! TOM?!?!

(Dan walks down the stairs in a house, his phone rings, he gets to the bottom of the stairs and answers it)

Dan: Hello?

(Heavy breathing is heard down the phone)

Dan: oh it must be the wrong number.

(Dan leaves the house, the camera switches to Toms room showing Tom being dragged out of his room, the camera fades and there's a mysterious man looking at the camera as he closes the door.)

                              End Scene

Thriller Film Title

This is a screenshot of the survey we used to see what various people liked best in a title for a thriller.

The most votes was "Killcan" closely followed by "Virtual Obsession"

We chose these initial names as we wanted the audience to know this film involved online gaming.

Thriller Conventions

.A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not necessarily).
.A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions.
.A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved.
.A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.
.Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations.
.Themes of identity.
.Themes of mirroring.
.Themes of voyeurism.
.Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist.
.Titles often reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist’s psychological state.
.There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.
.Mise en scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonist’s plight.