Evaluation: Question 7

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product.

The first and most important thing we learnt from our preliminary is about the 180 degree rule as this was our biggest problem with our preliminary. The problem we had within our preliminary task can be seen when Louise and myself are having a conversation. The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline that states two characters must have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera crosses this imaginary line, then the characters on screen appear to the audience as if they have swapped places with each other. Although we didn’t have a conversation in our final product it was important just to keep it in mind.

The second thing we also learnt is to get as many shots as you can for every scene and get as many shots from as many angles as you can. This is means that when you get back to the editing suite you will be able to choose from a variety of different shots and angles to make your final product.

The third thing for myself was the editing using the iMac and the software iMovie, as the editing for the preliminary was basic and simple being a short task.
The editing for our product was more complex and time consuming as each shot had to be edited separately before being played with other shots already edited to make sure that they played and ran smoothly together, on top of this transitions had to be added to allow us to get our finished product.

Evaluation: Question 6

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We learnt to use many different types of technology while constructing this product. One of the technologies we learnt to use was the camera, this was difficult for me to get used to using as I had already been using a HD camera for a few months to complete another project for another lesson. The difficulties of learning to use this camera could be seen when we looked back at the footage that we had taken where in many shots we had forgotten to turn the camera off, both when retaking shots and changing positions to get other shots.

The easiest equipment for me to use was the iMacs and the iMovie software as I had been using them for a few months before for another project that I was completing. When first using the iMacs it was confusing as I was not used to this type of operating system; though after a while both the iMac and the iMovie software became easier for me to use, so during the constructing of this project the continuity editing became easier with more practice, though I still had problems when adding some of the transitions onto shots.


Blogger- Used to write our blogs and contains details infromation of the before, during and after the making of our product.
iMovie- Used to edit the footage that we had shot, this included slide transitions, video effects and any sound effects.
Youtube- To embed our thriller onto our blog and for people who don't follow our blogs to watch our thriller.
Still digital cameras- To take pictures of our storyboard to make our animatic.
One True Media- Allowed me to create a montage of some of the thriller films that I had seen during the making of our product.

Evaluation: Question 5

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Our audience was attracted through us advertising the film through word of mouth. Once our film had been uploaded to youtube, we told friends and family the basic storyline of the film we had made and asked them to view it. We were able to get others to view our product also by them being told by others as our product isn't what you would think a typical thriller to be as the audience isn't quite sure about what’s happening, this draws the audience in as they want to know what’s going on and why these things are happening to her, hopefully they then tell some more people that they know that they saw a short opening for a film they really enjoyed and that they think they might enjoy.

Our Thriller holds the audiences attention as our thriller isn't what they would think a typical thriller would be, and they want to know why she's in the bath and what that has got to do with a thriller. The audience would want to watch our film to try and understand what's happening within our thriller and what it's all about, some may even watch it as they identify (to a certain extent) with our main character.

The audience would want to continue watching the initial opening two minutes of our thriller because they want to find out what happened to the main character in the past, who her abuser is, what her life and family is like and if she will ever try to get revenge.

Evaluation: Question 4

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our product is aimed at 15-18 year olds and maybe older, as this is the age group where Thriller and Horror films tend to do the best. This is because teenagers like to be scared and be put on the edge of their seats, they also like a film with a good story line, plot and twists. This is a film for both men and women of this age range as abuse can happen to anyone of any sex, but also for both men and women that are above the age of 21 as once again abuse is something that can happen to anyone and our film gives everyone a chance to see what happens, when some has been abused and keeps it bottled up for a very long time.

Click here to take survey

Evaluation: Question 3

Question 3: What kind if media instituiton might distribute your media product and why.

Our film is a small British film where the actors and the film makers of our product are not well known, therefore it is very unlikely that we would get the backing of huge distribution companies such as Universal Pictures and 2oth Century Fox, we would probably get the backing of a smaller British distribution company such as Artificial Eye and Shorts International.

Many fims made in Britain aren't released as they don't have good distributors, the job of the distributor is to get the film released into cinemas or get put straight onto DVD. Along with the possibility of using Artificial Eye and Shorts International, Film 4 would also be a good company to distribute our product as they are trying to develop the British Film Industry with new and fresh talent. One scheme in the UK that we could use to distribute our Thriller through the Microwave Scheme like the film 'Shifty', this scheme was set up to widen participation and access for young London-based film makers.

Evaluation: Question 2

Question 2: How does your medioa product represent particular social groups?

I would say that our product represents teenagers (15-18) but also young adults of 20 and maybe some younger children.

Our film is about a girl what has been abused in the past, therefore I feel that our product could represent anyone both over the age of 20 and some under the age of 15 as abuse can happen to anyone of any age. In our product we have been successful in showing our product the effects that abuse can have on anyone the older they get through the flashbacks, we have also been able to show that the more the girl is trying to forget what happend the more she sees the flashbacks.

Our film dosen't use typical steriotypes such as 'The Scary Killer in a Hoody' we had never planned or even thought of having a 'Hoodie' in our thriller, as this is something that we would expect people to include in their thriller and often not do very good. This was proved to us when we watched some thrillers that other students had been made where they had a 'Hoodie' as their antagonist.

Evaluation: Question 1

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products.

Our film is a Thriller as it does use conventions that can be found it many Thrillers such as:

• Having an extraordinary event happening in an ordinary situation
• Jeopardy and violent confrontations as standard to plot elements
• Real life situation in out storyline- Child abuse

Our Thriller is about a young girl who is haunted by her abusive past at the hands of her older brother, we see her as see goes through her normal routine as she is plagued by images from her past, we also have a few flashbacks within our opening sequence that show glimpse's of Hayley's past at the hands of her abusive brother.

We were influenced by three films 'Les Diaboliques', 'Fatal Attraction' and 'What Lies Beneath'.

'Les Diaboliques'



'Our Thriller'



What Lies Beneath- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lCDk2uOHU
Fatal Attraction- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSlq0gCH0Q
Les Diaboliques- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-jeKweu8eg



Another convention of a typical Thriller that can be found in our opening is there is a complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions. If our opening two minutes was to be continued to make a complete film the flashbacks from Hayley's past would continue and worsen but we would also take a closer look at her past, why she's seeing the things she sees, her family members and what she feels and how she deals with what happened. By taking a closer look at each of these things the will begin to feel sympathetic towards Hayley, but the closer we go into her home life the audience will see that nothing is the way it has been portrayed.

A third thriller convention that can be found in our opening scene and in typical Thriller films is that our opening scene begins from the point of view of our "Protagonist" like films such as The Birds, Marnie, Psycho, Torn Curtain and Vertigo all directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

The Birds- This begins with Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) making her way into a pet store.

Marnie- This begins as Marnie (Tippi Hedren) is trying to disappear after stealing from her previous job.

Psycho- This begins as Marian Crane (Janet Leigh) makes her way to California after stealing from her employer.

Torn Curtain- This begins with Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) and Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) at a convention in Copenhagen.

Vertigo- This begins with John 'Scottie' Ferguson (James Stewart) on the heels of a criminal on the top of a building. Below you can see stills from the films mentioned above.

Discussion of appropriate technical competencies: Part 2

Holding a shot steady- An important part of film making is making sure that the camera is steady and the camera movement is smooth, using a tripod allows you to get steady shot of what you are filming, when making a film it is important to avoid jerkey movements as this can put the auidence off the film although this only depends on what type of film your making.
There are many different ways of holding a shot steady one way is to use a tripod with a panning arm, the further away you stand from the arm the smoother the movement will be.

You can get smooth camera movements without using a tripod but again the technique needs to be correct.

http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/movingimages/advice/basic-guide-to-shooting-video/


In our opening-

• We were able to get steady shots by using the tripod when we were filming scenes from outside Hayley's house.

Editing

Straight Cuts- One shot moves instantaneously to the next wihout attracting the audiences attention, this helps retain reality and is the most common and invisible form of transition.


Jump Cuts- This is a cut in film editing where two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary slightly. This makes the character in the shots appear to have jumped position.



Cross-cutting- This is an editing technique that is most often used to establish action that is occuring at the same time in two different locations.
An example of this can be seen here: http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T112/Lonedale2/index.htm


Fast-cutting- This is an editing technique which is several consecutive shots of a brief duration, this type of editing can be used to convey a lot of information very quickly often conveying chaos.


Slow-cutting- This is an editing technique where shots are used of long duration.



Used varied shot transitions

Dissolve- A dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another.

Fade Out- This is when a image gradually darkens.

Wipe- This is a gradual transition form one image to another, where one image is replaced by another by a distinct edge that forms a shape.

Using sound with images

Contrapuntal sound- This is where sound does not fit the image, such as a happy family on the beach and a sad song is playing.

Parallel Sound- This is where the sound fit the image, such as a happy family on the beach and an upbeat song is playing.

My Thriller Montage

Discussion of appropriate technical competencies

Using a variety of shot distances

Mid-shots- These enable us to see more of the body and the set, but still be close enough to see facial expressions. Below you can see examples of mid-shots from Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and The Birds.



Close-Ups- These show the expression and the emotion of a character in detail. Below you can see examples of close-ups from Robert Schwentke's Flighplan and Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie.

Extreme Close-Up- This is a very tight shot menaing that only a small part of the shot is the main focus. Below you can see examples from Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

Long Shots- These show us the complete setting and where the action is or will be taking place.


Extreme Long Shot- These show us the complete setting and where the action is or will be taking place.






Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-Scéne is a French term meaning 'what is put into the scene or frame'. Mise-en-Scene includes things such as:

Settings & Props- Setting is important as this is where the action will be taking place, it can also be used to manipulate the audience by building certain expectations. A prop is anything that is used or held by an actor for the use in furthering the story line or plot.
In our opening-

• A Bathroom
• Bath
  
• Bedroom
• Bed
• Hayley's House
• Hayley's Garden
  

Costume & Make-Up- Costume is important as it can be an instant indicator to the audience of what a character's personality or job etc. is. Make-up is important as it is used to highlight facial features.
In our opening-

• Towel
• Pyjamas
  

Facial Expressions & Body Language- Thses are very important when it comes to making a film good facial expression and body lanuguage can help convey certain emotions to the audience and good facial and body language can makie a character more interesting to the audience.
In our opening-

• Hayley uses a number of different facial expressions and different types of body movemnets to help create the effect that she is being traumatised by her past.
  

Lighting & Colour- Lighting is important as it make a particular scene look realistic or make it look more dramatic, the lighting for our opening scene was quite dark to give the opening scene darker feel.

Finished Opening Sequence of Our Thriller

This is the finished opening sequence 2 mins of our thriller, after a whole day of filming and just under a week of editing and this is the final product and I hope you enjoy it.

Editing Friday 26th March - Wednesday 31st March

The editing for our Thriller was done by myself and began on Friday 26th March, this was the day after all the filming had been finished. The first thing we did was to upload all the footage that we had onto iMovie then from every clip we had imported we had to cut out all the extra clips inbetween, which included footage of an Elvis impersonator.

We then began editing the clips in the order that we wanted them to appear, we started with the shots that were taken outside of the house and Hayley's sister, after this we began editing the part of the open

ing with Hayley in the bath, then the ending with Hayley seeing her sister, falling onto her bed and the flashbacks. After the each scene had been edited to flow with the next we began including transitions and effects to make the flow of the film even better, cross-dissovles were used to show short passages of time without having to show them to the audience and fades were used to show both the starting and the ending of the opening sequence.

We used a black and white effect on all of our flashback shot to show the audience that they have gone back to the past.

After we had completed the editing we went through the opening sequence with our teachers to see what they thought of it and what things they think should be included, they told us what they liked and disliked about the sequence and also what transitions and effects should be added and taken away.

Changes to Animatic video

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Changes made to our Animatic

As our thriller must be a minimum of 2 mins long when filming began we added a few more scenes and shots into the middle of the storyboard.

Instead of starting the beginning of the film going ny going straight to Hayley being in the bath we deceide to have some shots from outside Hayley's house and also a few shots of Hayley's sister outside. The scenes of Hayley in the bath we have left the same as on the storyboard but after Hayley gets out of the bath we added in the next scene where Hayley and her sister are staring at each other, we decided to add this scene to make it seem as if Hayley has seen a ghost of her past she then we then also have shots of Hayley walking past her sister and a few of a picture of death. The storyboard then goes back to how it was planned with Hayley falling back onto the bed and having another flashback.

We decided to add this section in the middle of the opening as sit would make the opening longer and it would also make it mire dramatic to try and get the audience to ask questions such as, "Who is that girl?", "Why is she seeing her?". By adding these scenes in we have also added three Thriller conventions, tension, mystery and suspense.

First Day of Filming

Thursday 25th March- Filming the Thriller

This was our first day filiming of our thriller and it went very well as after roughly 4 hours of filming we managed to get a number of shots from more than one angle for our film, this has enabled us to begin editing on Friday 26th March.

For the filiming of our thriller we meet at Hayley's house during our break at 11.30 before we beagn filming we did another practice run of what we actually wanted to film, after filming the practice run we got the shots that we needed from outside Hayley's house for these shots we needed Hayley's sister to play a younger version of her. We then got the shots that were needed for our flashbacks where we see Hayley as a young girl being abused by a family member, we got two different types of abusing shots as it is only the opening two minutes of a thriller.

The next shots we got were the hardest and the most important scenes within our thriller as they were the shots that required Hayley to be in the bath. Firstly we had to get a couple of shots of Hayley before she went under water; we then had to get shots of her actually going under water, we have a lot of these shots as it was hard for Hayley to get under the water because of it going up her nose finally after figuring out how to get her to stay under water for the length of time that we needed we got shots of her going under the water and waiting for a few seconds before shooting back up.


The last set of shots involved Hayley and her sister, where we see Hayley and her sister looking at each other after Hayley has come out of the bath. We then got shots of Hayley falling back onto her bed, again we got this shot from a variety of angles.

Health and Safety Assesment

Health and Safety Risk Assessment

1. No filming in inappropriate locations.
2. Check safety of locations e.g. roads.
3. Minimise risk of theft of equipment.
4. When filming on location ensure teacher or responsible adult know where you are and have telephone number and when you will return.
5. Check all equipment is working before you leave.
6. Ensure you have permission for filming if necessary.
7. Always film with at least one other person.
8. Ensure you have the permission of those you are filming.

Before filming began we had to check the environment in which we were filming to make sure that it was safeand that none of us were to get injured. For us we had to be especially careful as we would be filming in the bathroom and in the bedroom where we would have to make sure that there was no water on the floor to reduce the risk of Louise, Hayley or myself slipping. We would also have to be careful when Hayley is to fall back on the bed as she could hit her head on something that was left on her bed and if Hayley was to get injured we would have to stop filming and find someone else.

Construction of the Production

Friday 19th March- Practice Run

For the practice run we filmed Hayley doing each of the scenes fully clothed this was to give us a rough idea of the shots we would want to use and would make sure that everything would run smoothly so that there are no problems or obstacles that we will need to overcome when we actually film the scene on Thursday.

Music

The music for our film will be done by Haykey's brother's band, but just in case we don't have enough time time to get the recording we will have to request a peice of music from either Moby Gratis (http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html) but receiving confirmation from Mobygratis usually takes either 5 working days or 2 weeks, so again we will make sure that we have a backup which we will get from Free Play Music (http://www.freeplaymusic.com/).

For the opening two minutes of our thriller we have chosen a piece of music called Things to Come which Hayley found on Free Play Music.

Filming update

We began our filming on Friday 19th, March and we will continue to film our on Wednesday 24th, March during our Media lesson and on Thursday 25th, March in our own time by doing this and by me also as the editor coming back in my own time to edit the film will allow us to meet our deadline of April 1st, 2010.

The film is set at Hayley's house where we will be filming our bath scene during our own time on Thursday; this scene has to be filmed right as Hayley will need to under water and if it goes wrong it will mean we will have to wait for Hayley to dry her hair for us to try again,

The film is set at Hayley's house and on Thursday we will begin to film our bath scene to make sure that this scene is filmed perfect first time round we will discuss what needs to be shot and how it should be shot and to also make sure we get it right we will be doing a practice run of what and how to get the shots we want.

Planning of our Production

In our group we have been discussing different idea's for how we can put together the opening scenes of our Thriller. So far we have thought about the types of shots that can be used, a rough storyline, a few ideas of locations and backgrounds, what conventions of the Thriller we will be including and what how we want it to be edited.

Group Members and Roles

• Hayley Skinsley- Actress
• Louise Vann- Cinematography
• Jaye Parker- Editor

Cast

• Hayley Skinsley- Girl Now
• Hayley's Little Sister- Girl in Flashback
• Hayley's dad/brother

Using Hayley's family will be efficient for us as a group as they will be on hand when we are actually filming, as we will be at their house.

Settings

• House of Hayley Skinsley
• Bedroom
• Bathroom
• Street
  

(Hayley's House)




These settings are again efficient for us as a group as Hayley is member or our group.

Equipment

• Camera
• Tape
• Tripod
• Bed
• Bath

Shots

• Point of view shots
• Long shots
• Over the shoulder shots

Animatic Storyboard "Girl In Der Badewanne"

The animatic is the animation of the pictures from our storyboard editied together to give an idea of what our openng sequence will look like. The animatic was edited by me (Jaye Parker), and then checked by the other two members of my group Louise Vann and Hayley Skinsley.

The Shining (1980)

The Shining was written by Stephen King (novel) and Stanley Kubrick, directed by Stanley Kubrick and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelly Duvall and Danny Lloyd.
A novelist Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) gets a job as a caretaker at Overlook Hotel and he brings his wife Wendy (Shelly Duvall) and his son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to keep him company throughput the long isloated nights. After a snow storm blocks in the family, Jacks sons Danny discovers that the hotel is haunted and along with his writers block Jack begins has a complete mental breakdown and the situation takes a sinister turn for the worst.


From the opening of this film we can already see one of the very important convention within the Thriller genre: isolation. The first shot we see is of a lake surrounded by mountains, there is then either a dissolve or an overlap showing a car driving down a curving mountian road surrounded by a forest. We then see that same car driving on a hillside where in the distance we can again see mountains, we continue to see the car making it way along roads at the edges of cliffs, the camera continues to move and follow the car as the characters continue to where they are going. After a few more shots of the car traveling alongside snowed covered mountains and forests we see the hotel that they are heading to and by using this opening sequence the film has used a Thriller convention of isolation.

The Crying Game (1992)

The Crying Game was written and directed by Neil Jordan and stars Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Rea and Jaye Davidson.
The film is about an unlikely friendship between an Fergus (Stephen Rea) IRA volunteer and Jody (Forest Whitaker) a kidnapped British soldier, but when the hostage taking goes horribly wrong Fergus seeks out Jody's lover Dill (Jaye Davidson).


The Crying Game begins a extreme long shot of fairground where the camera continues to pan around the fairground, before we are taken to the fairground where we meet Jody and Jude (Miranda Richardson). After winning Jude a teddy, they go away from the fairground where they begin to get physical only she is in on the plot to kidnapp him and helps to men to get a bag over his head and take him back to their camp.



(Please ignore the music as it has been changed.)

Target Audience

Films are rated by the BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification), the majority of thrillers are have the age certificate of 15 and 18, this is usually because some of the footage is either not appropriate for people below these ages. In films with an 18 certificate the scenes within the film are more likely to contain extreme violence, or scenes of a sexual nature. Rating the films these means that only people aged 15 and above can watch and rent a 15 movie and only people aged 18 and above can watch and rent a 18 movie and no one younger. Although this may be films may receive a different rating when they are released on DVD.


- Universal- There is nothing unsuitable for children, the film should be suitabe for audiences aged 4 and up.
- General viewing though some scenes may be unsuitable for young viewers, therfor parents are advised to accompany younger children to view.

- Suitable for those aged 12 and over though some scenes may be unsuitable for viewers under 12. This certificate only exsists in cinemas and no one younger than 12 may see a 12A rated film unless accompanied by an adult.

- The 12 criteria is the same for 12A.

- Suitable for 15 years and over, no one under the age of 15 may see a 15 film in the cinema.

- Only suitable for adults, no one under the age of 18 may see an 18 film in the cinema.

- Are to be shown in specially licensed cinemas or licensed sex shops and only to those aged 18 and above. It is a legally restricted classification due to it's explicit sexual or fetish material using adults.

Memento (2000)

I had seen a few clips of Memento in media lessons and so asked to borrow the film to watch and write about it on my blog. Memento was directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan and stars Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano.
The film stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby as a man with anterograde amnesia which makes him unable to create new memories, use his notes and tattoos to try and find the man who raped and killed his wife.

The film begins with a photo of blood, tiles and what appears to be a head in the bottom left-hand corner of it, we then see the person holding the photo shake it giving the impression that they are trying to develop the photo as the person continues to shake the photo we see that it begins to lose quality like it is undeveloped prompting the audience to question what's happening it's after this that we see the film is being played backwards as Leonard puts the picture back into the camera and we begin to understand what's happening as the film continues to play backwards we see that Leonard has in fact shot Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) in the back of the head.


This film compared to the others was very confusing as it consisted of two different types of films one in black and white and the other in colour; as the black and white scenes are played in chronological order and the colour in reverse chronological area, the scenes are played alternately until they both meet at the end of the film.

The suspense in this film comes from the main character where they must resolve conflicts with their owns minds, this is usally to understand what happened to them.

Preliminary Exercise

For our media coursework we must work in groups my group is made up myself, Hayley Sknisley and Louise Vann. For part of our media coursework we have to create a preliminary exercise to show that we have a clear understanding of how to use the camera and editing software on the iMacs. This enables us to show that we know how use a variety of shots such as long shots, wide shots and over-the-shoulder shots as well as allowing us to experiment with the different transitions within iMovie. For our actual thriller opening Louise will be our cinematographer, Hayley will be our actress and I will be the editor.

180 Degree Rule

This is the basic guideline in basic film making which says that two people within the same scene should have the same left/right relationship to each other, if the camera passes this imaginary line it creates a reverse angle. Looking at our preliminary exercise I can see that we will need to avoid crossing the imaginary line as we haven't been able to in our exercise.

Conventions of a Thriller

In our Media lessons we have learning about the different conventions of thrillers, and in every lesson we have identified that:

• There are extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations
• A protagonist who is systematically, disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by an antagonist
• There is a complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions
• A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved
• The protagonist has a flaw that is exploited by the antagonist
• There is a crime at the core of the narrative which is often murder but not always
• There are themes of Identity, Mirroring and Voyeurism
• There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril

• Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements
• Time is an enemy- race against time
• Moral choices are often faced by the protagonist
• Other characters may doubt the main characters beliefs and motives
  

Enigmas

A problem created by disruption. In thriller it is commonly something the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the film finishes and the narrative resolved.

Red Herring

Used to divert the audiences attention from the truth and often creates suspense.

Cliffhanger
This is when the main character is in a precarius situation or has been confronted with a shocking revelation, this is used to entice the audience to keep them watching so they can

Flightplan (2005)

After watching Panic Room thought I'd watch Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, directed by Robert Schwentke and written by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray.
Kyle Pratt (Foster) is a bereaved woman who with her 8-year old daughter are flying home from Berlin to America with the body of her late husband, when at 30,000 her daugher disappears and no one remembers ever seeing her board the plane, Kyle must discover the truth as she fights to serach the plane and look for her daughter.

The film begins with Klye Pratt at the train station where it then cuts to her entering a mortuary and she is asked if she would like a moment alone before the casket is closed. We are taken back to Kyle at the train station where her husband arrives and the leave on the train, again we are taken to the mortuary where we see Kyle move closer to the casket. We then see Kyle and her husabnd walking through the streets of Germany before we are again taken to the mortuary, where the Mortuary Director asks Kyle to enter a code to secure the casket. Fiannly we get to the appartment of Kyle and her husband when she asks to sit in the yard when we cut to the mortuary where before the casket is closed we see that her husband is lying in the casket.

From this small extract we can see that the protagonist has a flaw and there will have to be moral choices that the charagter has to make. The opening sequence can be seen below.

Panic Room (2002)

Just finished watching the thriller "Panic Room", directed by David Fincher, written by David Koepp and starring Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker and Kristen Stewart. The film tells the story of Meg Altman (Foster) recently divorced from her husband and her daughter Sarah (Stewart) hiding out in the panic room of their four-storey brownstone townhouse after an invasion by three armed robbers, but what they desire is in that very room.

The opening sequence begins with a shot of Meg and Sarah walking through the streets Manhattan to view the Townstone property, we then see them as they are taken on a tour of the house where we learn a few important details about the previous disabled owner, his children and his estate.
As they continue on the tour they are taken to the Master Suite where the majority of the film is based; Meg notices that the room is smaller than it should be prompting the estate agent to show her the panic room, he then proceeds to tell her that should there be a break-in during the night they would be fully protected as the panic room contains a buried phone line, a security system, health and first aid kits and most importantly it is surrounded by concrete and a four-inch-thick steel door.


From this extract again we can see some conventions of thrillers, such as mystery from the previous owner and his family.

The Long Good Friday (1980)

To help me with this coursework I recently watched a British thiller called "The Long Good Friday" (1980), it was directed by John Mackenzie and written by Brian Keeffe. The film stars Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren and is about Harold Shand (Hoskins) who is an old fashioned London gangster who aspires to be a legitimate business man, but his world slowly starts to crumble in front of him after a series of murders and bombs as he tries to figure out who's after him on this long good friday.


The film begins with Colin (Paul Freeman) carrying a suitcase of money and taking some for himself before delivering it to another man, we then see that the same suitcase is brought to a house where three men check the proceed to check the contents of the bag and count the money. Meanwhile we also see Colin in the pub with two other men, but back at the house when the men begin to pack away the money they are surrond by a group of armed men, we then see that the two men with Colin are later attacked by another group of armed men.

The beginning of this film goes on for a little longer, but just from watching this small extract I have already been able to identify some conventions such as suspense and mystery. The film is also an antagonistic driven plot as we see Bob Hoskin's character trying to overcome a variety of obstacles. The opening sequence can be seen below.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 and was an English filmmaker who specialised in the techniques of suspense and psychological thrillers. He has directed more than fifty feature films including Psycho, Rebecca, Dial M For Murder, Rear Window and The Birds. After a career spanning six decades Alfred Hitchcock is still one of the most popular and most recognised filmmakers. Alfred Hitchcock's films have becpme the benchmark for psychological thrillers.
Alfred Hitchcock has said that thrillers allow you "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like"


Rebecca


Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcocks first American movie set in England based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier is a 1940 psychological gothic melodrama thriller starring Laurence Olivier as Maxim De Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife and Judith Anderson as his housekeeper Mrs Danvers. The film explores the fears of a naive young bride who enters, along with having to deal with him she must deal with his predatory housekeeper and the legacy of his late first wife which maintains a grip on both her husband and his servants.

Information from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032976/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_(1940_film)

More research

There are a number of directors who focus mainly on thrillers including Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski and Stanley Kubrick.


Brian De Palma was born on September 11, 1940 and is an American film director who has made films such as Carrie, Dressed To Kill, Scarface and The Untouchables. His career has spanned over 40 years and he is best known for his thriller and suspense films. He has made films such as.

Roman Polanski was born on August 18, 1933 and is a french director and producer. Over the years Roan has become a critically acclaimed director of both commercial and art house films. He has made a number of films including The Ninth Gate, Frantic, Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion.

Stanley Kubrick was born July 26, 1928 and was an American director and producer. He has made a number of films including The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and The Killing. He is the widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative, accomplished and influential filmmakers in the history of film and cinema.