Thriller Evaluation

Before the major parts of the task started, we had already studied films that already exist. This was so we could have a rough idea and understand what is needed (codes and conventions) in order to create a successful thriller opening. There are many thriller openings from which I can choose, some of which are Collateral which is a supernatural thriller, and Arlington Road (1) which is a crime thriller. I thought these were two fairly effective films to start with as most of the camera angles and locations are typical of a thriller movie. The thriller that most gave me ideas was Arlington Road (1). I very much liked the white bright light in the beginning as it looked artificial almost a surreal lighting around the character to suggest there’s something wrong with him.

















We had some problems whilst filming our first idea as there was very poor weather conditions. Out first idea was to film near to Hackney in a park called Downs Park. The setting was going to be in the park where we would have 2 characters dressed up in school uniform. The thriller was going to have flash backs and a mixture of black and white clips. Swings and see saws were going to be used. But due to the weather conditions we had to stop filming half way and prepare a new pitch. We prepared our new pitch and we also had a name for it. Under Construction, this idea was much simpler to our first idea. As we knew we had no more time we had to choose something very simple.

The thriller’s main character is a woman who is obsessed with fire and arson attacks. We have challenged other films as most thriller characters are men. We were going to film in a dark basement which as a group we thought worked well as we had little time left. My thriller has a range of codes and conventions, some are: technical codes- used a range of shots like low angle shots, close ups, extreme close ups, over the shoulder and high angle shots. With the costume, we created our character to wear casual clothing as it would create more realism and suspense. We had a range of shots that worked really well in our thriller; some were the low angle shot of the shoe walking in front of the camera. We also had a range of camera movements, we used pans, tilts and match cuts. We used a pan down at the beginning of the thriller to make our viewers familiar of the setting.
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We created suspense through the match cuts we used, a few that created a lot of suspense was when the arson picked up the matches and struck a match as the viewers would be thinking what she is going to do with the match.
Some very effective shots were the extreme close up of the matches as the shot distance highlights the importance of the matches and maybe highlights a thought in what’s going to happen later on in the thriller. Another shot type that worked very well was the point of view shot of the character walking in from the door. This shot shows us the place she does her secrete work in and it also involves us the audience. One of our very best shots is the close up of the characters face with the candle. The candle and face creates suspense as questions arise, “what is she going to do with the candle?” We included an over the shoulder shot of topaz holding the candle. The camera position also involves the audience in the scene as if someone is there watching her. We used a pan at the beginning of our thriller to familiarise you with the location.










For our sound track we used a range of non-diagetic and diagetic sounds. We used a soundtrack that is non-diagetic sounds which started off with some bird sounds. Bird sounds create a natural atmosphere whereas the sound track creates anxiety. Diagetic sounds we used were footsteps as this give the thriller a natural effect as well as making the audience watch clearly to predict what’s going to happen next. Mise en scene- our character was an obsessive arson that loves fire. Our location was in Hackney, we used an ordinary house to create a superior effect as we don’t know what she does and were she hides. The costume used was grey jeans, black top, high heels and dark sun glasses. Everyday clothing suggesting a normal person, no disguise and we don’t know what she deals with. A few props we used were candles and matches. Matches show hove obsessive she is with fire.


Looking back to our preliminary task, I believe I have learnt a lot of things. I have learnt how to create a match cut and how and why it works well in films. I have learnt to be organized and well prepared as we had to story board our shots. When we had all of our shots storyboarded we then felt ready to film. My group have learned between our first and second practice films that when filming we need to film the same thing from many different angles because then it is possible to include match cuts into the film. It also makes it more interesting for the audience if a variety of angles used. I have also learned that when editing you have to pay such close attention to detail so as to ensure continuity throughout the sequence. Due to not planning very much for the last filming exercise we decided to plan this one carefully, even though the last clip turned out really good we were hesitating and it stressful so we wanted to be more planned and organised. Through planning we came up with a lot of good ideas like setting it in the media storage cupboard and positioning the camera so that it sits in between the shelves so that it looks like the audience are watching something that is secret.

The audience for my thriller would be generally young adults. This is because young adults/ teenagers are the majority to attend to a cinema to watch a film or a thriller. They would be middle class/working class people which are aged around 16-30. They would be unisex, dressed as normal young adults. Clothing would be jeans and a top may be designer. They would shop from New Look for girls and boys JD or Footlocker.

Amy, 20 comes from a family with a good background and works in a part time job in River Island as a supervisor for living standards. She loves going to the cinema with her boyfriend and loves shopping. She shops in Jane Norman and loves the Adidas shop in the west end. She enjoys watching Hollyoaks and listening to pop music.

I would market my film through trailers, cinemas and the internet. The release to the internet would create a viral advertising which then people could show others and they might send to other people which then everyone would know about and want to watch. I would attract my audience with the main star character, she is young and attractive and I am sure young boys would love her. They might also be interested in the thriller because usually the main character is a male and they might think this female character is very successful at acting. They also might be attracted by her costume and props as they might feel the sunglasses are very creepy and suspenseful.








The character in my thriller is aged around 18-24. This is shown by the way she dresses. My thriller represents a particular social group as we see from the props. The sunglasses the character has on creates a particular social group as the sun glasses may look cool and also scary. The character’s clothing also creates the same social group as she is dressed in everyday clothing. Skinny jeans, black leather jacket which is in fashion. The viewers might believe she is cool and fashionable and might enjoy the thriller but be frightened with all the fire and matches. The character in the thriller is a Christian and we can see this from the big red books on the table. She is mixed race which people could believe she deals with terror and fire.












As my thriller has a target audience of 16-30 my movie would be released over the internet, via youtube, myspace face book etc. This would be the best option. If it was to be released in Hollywood Blockbuster as the movie is targeted for young middle/ working class people not much people would attend also because of the age audience. However on the internet and youtube, young watchers would recommend their friends and family to watch it if the film is enjoyed so then they could send the link or advertise even send the sites or make a profile about the film and allow people to write how they find the thriller.








As for the filming, it was quite straight forward, but seeing a program like Final Cut pro being so professional and created for it to be easy to use made me feel very delighted as technology is improving by the day. With final cut pro you could do so many things e.g. log and capture your clips, arrange them onto a sequence, crop clips and insert dissolves. Insert CCTV camera effects and lots more. After every lesson we had to blog on the internet in what we done in lessons and what we learnt. This was the first time I saw a site like Blogger. The site is very useful whilst the filming process as I could record all the processing of the filming on Blogger and edit it, add to it or even delete the blog when I wanted to. Seeing my video on the site Vimeo and Blogger made me feel like a real producer. The internet has widened extremely allowing you to put any video or song even pictures on any site like youtube. And as my thriller has a young target audience I am sure most young adults are going to see even watch it as lots of young adults are constantly on the internet. They may not be on Blogger but I am certain that everyone goes onto Youtube to watches videos and music. Definitely my thriller cannot be missed as it is full of suspense and there are questions arising while you watch it.

Looking back to my preliminary task with the newspaper, us as a group saw we got better and better at filming and producing suspense and anxiety. With the newspaper task we had some problems however we knew that they should not appear in our final thriller. With creating the final thriller opening we have been very strict about the specific target audience as we believe young adults would prefer the thriller rather than middle aged adults. Even with other thrillers it shows me that each film has a different target audience, the change in the target audience is because of how old the character looks and what they wear. Their class and ethnicity is a possibility for the change of the target audience as well. I believe my thriller is a very good thriller with all the camera work and mise en scene. The typewriting effect at the beginning catches your eyes. You might feel quite lost whilst reading the words but then when the thriller begins, everything is revealed and arson is defined fully.

Overall it was hard work, there were times when we as a group got stressed because we felt like we were behind as we had to start again and prepare another pitch, but thankfully everything was completed on time and was finished successfully. We watched our clip in the Vue cinema in Angel Islington with all the other media students. There were some really creative successful thrillers and when they were watching my group’s thriller, everyone was quiet which meant they were trying to figure out what the arson was going to do. Everyone cheered and clapped at our thriller and I also heard some one behind me say “that was really good”. That made me pleased and I can say my thriller would go in to the best top 10 thrillers.