Final Draft Of Power Point

Below I have embedded the final draft of my powerpoint:

Thriller Final Presentation

Final Cut Of Thriller Opening Sequence

Below I have embedded my final draft of my thriller.

Since my first draft of my thriller I have made numerous changes to try and hopefully improve my final product. The first thing I did was to create a second rough cut, which I have embedded below. I made quite a few changes to create it as I tried to address every issue that people thought I needed corrected. The first issue that I attempted to address is the problem of people not understanding the opening titles because they do not know that ‘Seb’ is now in a mental home. To try and rectify this problem, I took a photo of the outside of the building and then overlaid the words ‘Mental Asylum’. I then tried to create newspaper headlines with videos replacing pictures. I used the headlines of ‘One Surviving Youth Put In Mental Institute’ and ‘Two Youths Disappear In Freak Ouija Board Incident,’ the idea behind this was to give the audience a bit more of an insight into the story. I also shortened the opening credits considerably by cutting out the ward signs with the names overlapping them. I simply had rolling credits at the end. I had introduced non-diegetic sound, which run through most of the clip, while introducing the non-diegetic sound I had completely removed the diegetic sound until it got to the parts with speech. I also introduced jump cuts to try and quicken the pace, and also to cut down the overall time of the piece. I then cut down the scenes with the Ouija board so that there were only two questions asked. Then at the end I decided to use an L-cut to emphasize the Ouija board moving on its own and also to create the enigma that you can hear screams in the background but you do not know what is actually happening.

The second rough cut was designed to trial the new ideas, hence why the video was fairly disjointed, especially around the newspaper articles. After I had finished it, I then got a variety of people to watch it and I took their feedback on board, ready to create the final product. After the second rough cut I pretty much started from the beginning in regards to editing, using pieces from both my cuts, and also some unseen footage. The comments I got back from my second rough cut clearly suggested that I should cut out the newspaper articles at the beginning, and also that some footage did not match the mise-en-scene (the doctor for example wearing Nike trainers) and some of the footage was of a very low quality and needed to be either corrected or scrapped. Also the writing of ‘Mental Asylum’ took away from the seriousness of the piece. I also needed to cut down the length of some of the scenes, and introduce more diegetic sound instead of relying only on non-diegetic sound, e.g. when the car pulls up. I was also advised to take out the scrolling credits at the end, as the piece is meant to be the beginning to a thriller movie and obviously you do not have scrolling credits at the start of a movie. It was also suggested that I should take out the non-diegetic music at the end as it does not match with the action in the scene and also because there would be no scrolling credits at the end, therefore nothing for the music to accompany.

When it came to editing my final cut I tried my best to conform to all of the advice that I received. I started off the clip differently to both of my previous cuts, using an L-cut to introduce the non-diegetic sound with a black screen at the start. I then used the same picture as I did in my second cut (of the front of the building), however I changed the writing so that it read ‘Psychiatric Wing’ instead of ‘Mental Asylum,’ I also changed the font to make it seem more serious, however personally I am still not very happy with it as I still think that it looks very tacky, however in the time given I could not rectify it anymore. I then overlapped the cast’s names over the next few scenes and also my name, in order to replace the scrolling credits that I also cut out from the end. I also faded out the non-diegetic sound earlier and introduced diegetic sound back from the car engine. I then began to cut down the length of the scenes in order to quicken the pace of the narrative. I also broke down the scenes with the Ouija board so that while the Ouija board was moving there were more reaction shots in order to show how the characters are being affected. The final thing that I introduced was at the end, instead of it being in complete silence, I introduced a pacing heart beat, this is meant to mimic the heart beat of the characters, to try and build up more tension, then to finish it I faded the scene through black into ‘CJL Productions’ and then faded it out again. Overall I am quite pleased with my thriller, however I feel that I could have done a lot more to improve it.

My Second Rough Cut

Below I have embedded my second rough cut of my thriller. Hopefully it is an improvement from my first cut. There is still work to do at the beginning, tweeking some things so that it flows better and also there are some small cuts that need to happen to ensure that the pace of the piece is kept in order to create an intense atmosphere.

Changes To Rough Cut

I recieved a level 2 on my coursework with a mark of thirty three out of sixty, I was not suprised by this grade as I knew that my rough cut was of a very low standard and a lot could be improved in it. I recieved feedback from both my teacher and an industry professional on my rough cut and I recieved a lot of constructive criticisms that I can now use to recreate a much higher quality final cut. I got feedback on both how the plot plays out in the story and how it was edited.

In regards to the plot line I need to:

• Establish the plot quicker so that I draw the audience in and do not bore them.
• I also need to establish a better connection between the ‘masked man’ aka the doctor and the youths who play the Ouija board.
• I need to establish a better connection between the titles and the plot line as it is currently unclear.
• Need to establish that Seb is in the mental hospital.
• Cut out a lot of the dialogue to increase the pace of the film so that it does not drag on and start to bore the viewer.
• This rough cut needs to get the action quicker/establish intrigue sooner.

In regards to camera I need to:

• Hold the shots steady so that the camera does not shake so much.
• I need to varie shot distances and types.
• I need to incorparate more close ups and extreme close ups.

In regards to editing I need to:

• Re-adjust the lighting so that it returns to its original state so that the characters can be seen clearly.
• Use transitions that establish a sense of pace.
• I need to use more L-cuts to introduce sound (digetic)
• I need to establish the atmosphere more by using non-digetic sounds.
• Cut down the length of a lot of the shots so that it does not drag on.

To rectify these issues I am going to almost start from scratch, adapting only a few shots into the final cut. I have chosen to take this route as this way I can take all of the criticism on board to hopefully create a much higher quality final cut. The reason that I am starting from scratch is that I am going to use mostly shots that were not in the rough cut, and also the ones in the rough cut have being tampered with to give the illusion that it was darker than it originally was, which overall just reduced the quality of the picture. I am also going to rework the titles to try and establish a better connection between the doctor and the youths and also in the titles I am going to try and increase the pace of the film. One of the other key issures that I need to address is the non-digetic sound, as I did not place in any non-diegetic sound in the rough cut, apart from that over the titles. This was something that I was aware that I needed to do as I knew that digetic sound alone is not good enough to build up the tension.

Rough Script used during filming

This is the rough script that was used during the filming. I have only included the scenes used in the rough cut.

Rough Cut Shooting Script

Research Into How Different Genders Are Portrayed In Films Aimed At Women And Films Aimed At Men

Methodology

To ensure that I can retrieve accurate and reliable results I have chosen to analyze films that have received good ratings, as these are obviously the films that have appealed most to the target audience. I have chosen to look at two different films aimed at women, out of these two, one was made and produced in America (He’s just not that into you) and were written by American writers, and the other one (Notting Hill) was made and produced in England, written by English writers. I chose to do one of each so I could then get an equal range of films for the men’s. Also there is quite a diverse difference in humour between America and England, and the ways in which different genders are presented could also be altered by the writer’s origin. Below are the names of the films that I have chosen to analyze for the audience of women.

• He’s Just Not That Into You.
• Notting Hill.

I then began to look at the male stereotypes and as men are stereotypically more into action and adventure I picked two thriller films, one English and one American. I did this in order to mirror the way in which I picked the women’s films, to make it more a fair study. The two films I settled on analyzing are:

• Scarface.
• Train spotting.

After analyzing the scripts of these films and comparing the representation of male and females, I will then look at a script for “Friends,” which although not a film, has a very wide audience, covering both genders, and after twenty fives years on air it is still one of the most popular sitcoms in the world, playing twenty-four hours a day, some where in the world.

From there I will then analyze the results. I have chosen to do it in this way as I think it will give me a wide scope of style models to look at giving me an accurate representation of the way that genders are shown on TV, concentrating on characters portrayal in movies.

Analysis

After looking at the various different scripts I found a clear-cut difference in the style of writing and the way that the characters are represented.

In the script of ‘He’s Just Not That in to you,’ the scene that I have chosen to analyze is of the two characters Beth and Neil talking on his boat. In regards to the context of the piece, it is set towards the end of the film and after having split due to different views of marriage, the two characters have realized that despite their differences they still want to be together. The audience of this piece as a romantic comedy is primarily middle-aged females, which also due to the title may also be single or if they can relate to the issue being brought up. The purpose of the scene is primarily to entertain, however the film in general also is in some way to inform as it gives lots of different scenarios educating women on how men stereotypically work, and how to know whether they are interested in you or whether they are ‘just not that into you.’

In regards to the graphology, and the use of location, the script describes the setting of Neil’s boat to be ‘pretty messy’ with ‘a lot of clothes strewn around’ which is a stereotypical trait of men.

The use of lexis and grammar in the piece shows Beth is clearly the dominant character and throughout the scene she is leading the conversation. She uses a lot of imperative sentences such as ‘I’m not done’ and ‘you’re what I want’, also Beth interrupts Neil causing a slight overlap in speech. However instead of carrying on talking Neil stops, therefore showing Beth’s dominance in the conversation. This could be because it is aimed at an audience made out of predominantly women, and women would not want to see the female being controlled and lead by the male, it is also good encouragement for women that they do not need to feel inferior to men. Both characters use mainly first and second person singular pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘I’, this is mainly because of the fact that they are discussing their relationship, which only involves them. This is not stereotypical as women are meant to seek intimacy and men independence, suggesting that women use more collective pronouns and men use more singular pronouns which obviously is not the case in this scene. Neil uses a lot of mental verbs and intensifiers throughout the scene such as ‘I really care about your dad’ and ‘I really love you’, both of these traits go against the stereotype, as men are stereotypically not as emotional and they do not use mental verbs that express emotion, they are more factual and stereotypically it is females that use intensifiers in their speech and writing.

The discourse structure is the usual script format, and in regards to the pragmatics of the piece, Beth is clearly the dominant character and the male is almost portrayed as inferior as he basically following the lead of Beth throughout the conversation.

In the script of ‘Notting Hill’ the scene I have picked to analyze is at one of the turning points in the film, meaning that the reactions of the characters at this point are crucial to the film. In this scene, the female character, Anna, has come to try and win back the male character, William. However as she had previously treated him badly, he politely declines. The audience of the piece is a predominantly British audience, made up mainly of middle-aged women and like ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ the purpose of this film is to entertain, and naturally for the film company to earn money through appearances and through the revenue that the film produces.

Anna, the female character is the one who initiates the conversation with the basic phatic language ‘hi’, which suggests that she is in control of the situation. She uses a lot of simple imperative sentences such as ‘you disappeared’ and ‘it’s all nonsense’, which in my opinion sets the tone for the remainder of the scene, she uses the impersonal pronoun ‘you’ to condemn William (the male character). This, unlike the stereotypical view of the male being dominant, leads William to almost fall under Anna’s control, causing him to first back channel and then apologize for some thing which in relation to the context was not his fault, these character traits would appeal to a female audience as it would be a refreshing and more modern take on equality if the woman was allowed to be dominant. It also gives out a good message to women that they do not have to be controlled by men. Anna does not respond to his apology in anyway, and simply dismisses it and carries on with the conversation, using interrogative sentences such as ‘how have you been?’ this trait however is stereotypically linked with females as it is inquiring into emotional aspects of the personality. This brings Anna’s character down to earth, and also makes her seem more likeable to the viewer as she obviously still cares about him, giving a more positive view of females. Like in ‘He’s just not that into you’ both William and Anna use first and second person singular pronouns in order to address each other, which yet again opposes Deborah Tannen’s theory. There is some taboo language used by Martin, this shown when he says that he ‘is a bit of an ass’, this agrees with Robin Lackoff’s theory, as she claimed that women are less likely to use taboo words than men are. Also throughout the scene, there are a lot of pauses in the characters speech, especially in Anna’s dialogue, this could be a sign of insecurity and feeling of being inferior to William, which agrees with Zimmerman and West’s theory.

There is an underlying sense of comedy throughout this scene, however not in the sense of jokes, it is more the actions and awkwardness of the characters, especially Martin, who mistakes Anna for a Demi Moore.

The way the characters act in this scene creates a sense of awkwardness, but you still feel that there is obviously a lot of emotion in the scene, this would stereotypically appeal to women as women are more about emotion and men are more about action. The posture of Anna is quite strong, and she stands her ground whereas William’s stance presents him as very unsure as he looks like he is almost cowering away from the situation. This relates to the target audience as it almost brings his character more down to earth, and to women it is refreshing to see a male who is not worried about looking ‘hard’ or trying to impress people. Also it shows that just because you are famous, it does not mean that you are immune to reality, which I think is an important message due to celebrity hype that surrounds us nowadays.

I then moved on to look at a scene from the script of ‘Trainspotting.’ In this scene Renton, the male, is trying to ‘chat up’ Diane, however rather unsuccessfully. The audience to this film is predominantly British males aged from their late teens upwards and the purpose of it is the same as the previous two (to entertain the audience and to bring in revenue from the films earnings).

The scene is set at night outside a nightclub, this could be considered as quite a dangerous place for a woman to be at night so you would expect the female to be quite jumpy and nervous when a man approaches her, however Dianne stays calm and does not seem at all phased.

The use of lexis and semantics in this piece clearly illustrates the differences between the two characters. Renton speaks in a very formal manner using phrases such as ‘excuse me.’ He also uses pre-modified adjectives such as ‘stylish manner’; this is a trait that is stereotypically linked with women. He also uses a lot of interrogative sentences such as ‘What’s your name’ and ‘where are you going?’ This shows to the audience that he is obviously interested in her and is trying to get her to talk to him. Diane on the other hand is very blunt in her responses, using mostly declarative simple sentences, a lot of which are of a non-standard sentence structure, such as one-word answers like ‘Diane’ and ‘thanks.’ Also sentences such as ‘I’m going home,’ makes her seem very blunt and uninterested, this goes against logic as you would stereotypically think that men would prefer to see the male character being dominant in the conversation.

There is a very sarcastic tone brought to light by Diane as she is obviously not at all interested in Renton. This sarcasm also leads to there being an underlying sense of comedy, which although it is not presented by the male, it still appeals to men in general. The sarcasm is not only presented through her tone of voice, it is also her wording, this is especially seen when Renton asks ‘where’s that?’ (Referring to her house) and she replies with ‘where I live’.

The second film aimed at a predominantly male audience was Scarface. The scene that I have chosen is between Tony Montana, a mob boss who has no qualms over who or what he kills, and his mother (‘mama’), who can not understand why he has turned out the way he has. Although this is an American film, it is aimed at both British and American men who like gangster/mob films. The purpose of this film is identical to the others mentioned.

The actions in this scene clearly separate the different characteristics of males and females. In the actors direction his face is described to be ‘filling with the old wrath’ suggesting that this anger issue has been an issue for a while now. He also ‘grips his mother by the shoulders,’ this can be seen as stereotypical of a male as men are meant to be more violent, and also more likely to take action. This idea is also backed up by the fact that although ‘Mama is angry and ravaged with worry,’ she makes no attempts of violence, and she stays reasonably calm throughout the situation.

There is a lot of grammatical errors throughout this script for example ‘she don’t tell me where.’ This is because the two characters are not native English speakers. Tony uses many interrogative sentences throughout the scene and it is almost as if it was an interview and his mother was the suspect. He also uses imperative sentences, ordering his mother around; this can be seen in sentences such as ‘tell me.’ There are a mixture of personal pronouns used, however most often it was ‘she’ that was used, referring to another woman who is obviously close to Tony. Tony interrupts Mama twice in this small bit of script, however ‘mama,’ unlike in some other scenes, stops talking and is totally submissive towards him. This is most likely the case as men stereotypically, and almost sub-consciously want the male to be portrayed as the stronger sex, and also because of Tony’s status, the viewer would not want to see him drop his guard at all.

The use of punctuation in this script also gives out a sense of urgency and annoyance, this is due to the repeated use of exclamation marks such as ‘where’s this house, tell me!’ It also in my opinion seems as if ‘mama’ is trying to convey an important point to Tony, and he is simply not listening to her at all. This point may be because a male audience would stereotypically not want to see a lot of ‘emotional’ scenes, they would rather see action, with emotion just being the underlying thing holding the plot together.

The final piece that I analyzed was one of the final scenes from the last episode of ‘Friends.’ The scene is the reconciliation between the two characters, Ross and Rachel, who have had an on/off relationship since the second season of the programme (there are ten seasons). The scene begins with Ross hearing an answer phone message from Rachel, as previously Ross had gone to the airport to try and convince her to stay in New York and she had turned him down. The scene then leads on to Rachel returning and taking up Ross’s offer and the couple eventually getting back together. The audience to this piece is both males and females of between the ages of twelve to fifty and inside the scene the audience is either Rachel or Ross depending on which one is speaking at the time. There are many purposes to this programme and this scene. Firstly as it was aired in the last episode, it was vital that the storyline ended in an appropriate manner, which both entertained and fulfilled the viewer’s expectations. Also, from Warner Brother’s point of view, the purpose of it was of course, to make money and pull in high ratings.

In regards to Lexis and grammar, both Ross and Rachel used a lot of mental verbs, the most prominent being ‘I love you’, men stereotypically do not use mental verbs as men are more about ‘action’ and women are more about ‘emotional’. However because of the nature of the scene and the fact that it is in essence a love scene, it is expected by the audience that Ross would use this type of language, as it is obvious to the viewer that he is in love with her. Rachel also uses intensifiers such as ‘really,’ to emphasize what she is saying, this is stereotypical of a woman and is used in this context as Rachel is almost in the wrong as she turned Ross down previously and now she had to make it up to him, therefore making what she is saying a realistic and prominent as possible. Both Ross and Rachel use multiple tag questions such as ‘me neither, okay?’ ‘You and me, alright?’ and ‘this is where I wanna be okay?’ Tag questions are another trait stereotypically linked to women, however in these circumstances Ross and Rachel are trying to get their point across and are both slightly nervous, and also they both feel the need to ensure that the other person is agreeing with what they are saying, it also in my opinion helps the actors speech flow, as it almost acts as a voiced pause. It also helps the viewer to relate to the characters as it makes them both seem more sincere, also the purpose of the script is to also make the scene as realistic as possible, and in reality hardly anyone can deliver an improvised speech off of the top of there head without looking for reassurance from the other person, or using some form of voiced pause.  For the same reasons there is a lot of repetition and self-correction in the dialogue. The first instance of repetition is by Rachel when she is leaving the answer phone message, she repeats ‘I love you’ at least four times. This is for many reasons, firstly she is still in shock over Ross’s previous outburst that caused her plane to be evacuated, also as it is the point at which she realizes that she is in fact still in love with Ross, and her repetition is almost her convincing herself that she does. Also as the purpose of this programme is to entertain, it also has an essence of comedy in the way that the line was delivered. Both characters (Ross and Rachel) also use a lot of self correction such as ‘we are- we’re done being stupid’ this makes the whole scene more realistic as everyone corrects themselves in their speech, especially when it is it meant to be delivered as a completely improvised speech. It is almost all first and second person personal pronouns, this is because the scene centers on Ross and Rachel and no one else, therefore there is no need to use third person pronouns etc. There is a lot of abbreviations/clipping’s such as ‘Okay, ‘cause this is where I wanna be okay?’, this is because it is written with the intention of it being spoken and generally speech is more informal, meaning that people are more likely to say ‘I can’t,’ than to say ‘I can not’. The text is made up of mostly interrogative and declarative sentences, although the interrogative sentences are usually because of the use of tag questions at the end of a declarative sentence, most of the sentences are also simple or compound sentences as it is not designed to sound very well written, it is just written to sound like normal spoken dialogue to make it seem realistic to the viewer. The use of ‘and’ as a continuer/conjunction is also very notable, in relation to context, a lot of people use ‘and’ automatically as it is one of the first conjunctions people learn, and it the first thing that comes into your head when you are speaking. Also the audience of the piece is meant to be all classes and a wide spread of ages therefore using very advanced language would not be suitable. A lot of modal verbs are also used such as ‘I should’ and ‘I wanna,’ both of which were said by Rachel. The use of ‘I should’ is very stereotypical of a woman as women stereotypically use more hedges, however the use of ‘I wanna’ is more demanding, therefore more stereotypical of a male. Also the use of the word ‘Miss’ by the airhostess is stereotypical of a female as it very formal and polite. However, also as an airhostess it is her duty to be polite to Rachel as she is a paying customer.

In regards to the pragmatics of the piece, there is always an underlying sense of urgency especially at the beginning. This effect on the characters also makes us, as the audience feels more on edge and wants them to reconcile and for them to have their own happy ending. Also although it is a serious scene, the nature of the show means that some comedy elements need to be introduced. The most comical moment of the scene is a line delivered by Ross- another stereotypical trait of males. The line ‘unless we’re on a break,’ is a very context dependant joke, and you need to have had a good grasp of previous storylines to understand it, however the audience is primarily ‘Friends’ fans who have followed the storyline through the years, therefore they would understand it.

There is not a lot to mention about the discourse structure of the piece as it is formatted as a script, which has not effect on the ways the lines are delivered. Although there are no pictures as such, in the actual footage of the scene, both Ross and Rachel are very emotional; this is stereotypical of Rachel, both as a character and a woman. However Ross also gets very emotion, which is a trait that is not linked with males. Nevertheless, as it is the outcome that Ross has wanted for the last ten seasons, it is understandable to the viewer why he is crying, and it also makes his character seem more realistic and down to earth.

In denouement, the two variations of films give different perspectives of men and women. In films with a predominantly male audience, females are represented more in relation to their stereotype, and in the case of ‘Scarface’ so are males, I think that this is because the stereotypes are mostly negative towards women as they were generated by men. Whereas in the films aimed at a predominantly female audience neither male of females are represented in accordance to their stereotypes. The men seem to be just as emotional as the women and the women are just as strong as the men.

Rough Draft Of Powerpoint

Rough Draft Of Powerpoint

Editing Processes/Programmes

For the editing I used four programmes in particular, Final Cut, iMovie, Live Type and Garageband. The reason that I am using multiple programmes is because, in my opinion, they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. Firstly I used iMovie in order to created the illusion that the Ouija board was moving on its own. To do this without using a green screen or a very advanced level editing, I had to set up the tripod with my digital camera on the top of it. Then I placed the Ouija board so it is was all in shot with a silver bracelet on top of it. I then took around eight hundred pictures from exactly the same angle with the bracelet moving a small distance each time. When I came to editing it together I found that in general it worked well however there were naturally some slight movements of the camera, which makes it quite jumpy. On iMovie I imported all of the pictures in the correct order so that they spelt out ‘Death’, I then added a ‘vignette’ effect, as my bedroom floor is a light pine wood colour, which does not resemble the warehouse floor. I gave each photo a playtime of 0.1 seconds so it all moved through quickly, but still emphasizing the spelling. I also created the scrolling credits on iMovie, naming all the cast and crew involved in the pre/post production.

To create the opening credits at the beginning of the movie I have had to firstly edit and the cut the background video which will be playing behind the credits. Once completed I then imported it into ‘LiveType’. It was from there that I started inserting the lettering and wording. The advantages of using LiveType are that it allows you to move the lettering any where in the screen and you also have more control over timing and the order in which the letters appear and fade. You can also add separate effects on each letter. To create the effect that accompanies the title. I inserted various different shapes of bars and then I set various tracks and effects for them to follow to make it look more visually exciting and also to try and advance the effects used.

One thing in particular that I am worried about during the editing is keeping the continuity of the piece, especially because of the complexity of the inside of the warehouse, and the actors actions. Also, because it was necessary to film in the light in order to pick up the actors movements, throughout the editing I have to create the effect of darkness in order to give the piece a certain ambience and to make it more mysterious. Also I am very conscious of whether the plot is too complicated to follow when it hasn’t being explained to you, therefore I have being asking my friends at various points through editing whether the story makes sense to them.

Once I had completed editing the piece into my first draft I found that it was a grand total of around 7 ½ minutes long, which was obviously too long so my next task was to cut as much of it out as possible but still leaving the gist of the story there. This was in my opinion the hardest part of the editing process as I had to put my self in the position of someone who had never seen it before, and from there work out how I could cut it down with the story still making sense. I decided at this point that I would need to get other peoples point of view on the issue and ask them what bits in there opinion served no particular purpose in the story and could be cut out. Below I have embedded the 7 ½ minute first cut.

Firstly I consulted five people who were not involved in the creation of the video. All of whom agreed that instead of the flashback beginning from the car scene, it should begin with ‘Jack’ finding the Ouija board and then the scenes between ‘Jack’ running off and ‘Lauren’ disappearing should be cut down considerably. Also 2 of the people suggested that the opening credits should be cut down as well as they ‘drag on too much’.

To create the rough cut I firstly considered the criticism received from my friends and then I started to cut it down. My first step was to speed up and cut down the credits. I went from the opening credits being 50 seconds to a much shorter 15 seconds. From there I started cutting out large chunks of the action so that I was left with the actions from the moment that ‘Jack’ finds the Ouija board to when ‘Lauren’ sees ‘Jack’ in the window. I then put it together with the closing credits, which I speeded up also. These were the steps that I took to get me to my first rough cut.

Below I have inserted a video of various different screen shots from the editing process.

Costume/Props/Setting/Mise-en-scene

Beer bottles

To give the impression that to some extent the youths have being drinking, I supplied 3 beer bottles full of water for the actors to walk in with. I also filmed a cut shot of the beer bottles being knocked together by ‘Lauren’ and ‘Jack’. Also in order to adhere to copyright restrictions, the actors tried to cover the logo of the beer so not to reveal the brand.

Car

We used my car to film for two reasons, firstly because that is the only car that I can legally drive, and secondly because it could be considered as a ‘typical’ youths car.

Ouija Board

To create the effect of the Ouija board, I researched them on Google and then found a picture, which clearly shows one of them. I then turned this picture into a PDF in order to print it off on a higher quality ‘Zerox’ printer. I printed it off onto card so that it was more durable and looked more ‘wooden’.

Rubber Gloves

Fortunately I already had some rubber gloves from a lifeguarding/first aid course that I did earlier last year, so I thought that it would be rather apt to use them.

Ward signs/door signs

To save money, I created the ward signs and the doctors name plate on Microsoft publisher. I printed them out on sheets of card in order to make them look more solid and realistic. I then simply used a clear tape to hold them up on a blank wall of the factory and then filmed each separate sign for around ten seconds.

Bracelet

I stumbled across the bracelet by fluke to be honest. When I began to take photos for the ‘Death’ sequence on the Ouija board I knew that I had to use something that was clear enough to see through, but also something that was not too large. So after a while of searching my house from top to bottom I decided that the best option would be the bracelet.

Estate agent board

In order to use the estate agent which reads ‘job done’ in my final cut, I had to seek permission from ‘Spencer’s estate agents. This was to avoid my mum being sued if they did by some chance see the video on ‘YouTube.’

Costume

The costumes of the three main protagonists are their normal clothes. I gave the actors a brief to wear their normal clothes that look semi-smart but are okay to get dirty (due to the conditions that we are filming in). The reasoning behind this is that my target audience is people the same age as the actors (15-21) and to allow the audience to relate to the characters, the characters need to look and act as normal as possible. Also in relation to the thriller conventions, one of the main ones that I would like my thriller to meet up to is extraordinary events in ordinary situations and therefore what is happening on screen needs to look as normal and believable as possible. Luckily finding a doctor’s uniform including the mask was easy as they were my dad’s. I chose for the mask and trousers to be concentrated on, as the colour and style of the them are a stereotypical portrayal of a doctor’s uniform.

Mise-en-scene

During the making of my thriller my main aim in regards to the mise-en-scene was simply to make it as realistic as possible. The setting was meant to be a factory ergo as a working factory it was about as realistic as I could get. However there were some things that needed to be altered in order to get a good quality shot. I used a lot of artificial lighting so that the camera could pick up on the actions happening.

The actors clothing was their own as in my opinion it would be more realistic to let them wear their normal clothes than for me to provide what I would find ‘normal’ as my normal would differ from what other people would consider as usual. Sarah, who played Lauren was wearing a small amount of make-up which like the clothing was just her normal. The same applied with hair, however I did back comb Reece’s (Seb’s) hair for the first scene in which he is supposedly in the mental home. The reason behind this was to make him look very rough and scruffy. The props I used were also meant to look as realistic as possible, the importance of realism was paramount in my opinion as ‘extraordinary events in an ordinary situation’ is one of the main conventions of a thriller.

Setting

My opening to the thriller is set in my mum’s factory in Dagenham. Originally it was going to be set in her Warehouse that is opposite her factory, but due to icy conditions I decided that it would be safer (and warmer for the actors) if we filmed in the factory. As a printing business, it also meant that we had lots of obstacles inside which both helped and hindered us. Firstly because of the amount of machinery inside, it meant that keeping the continuity inside would be harder and also there were more hazards that we had to be aware of e.g. Heavy-duty machinery and many piles of estate agent boards to navigate around. However there were still many advantages of filming in there. We could use machinery such as the forklift to get establishing shots (via standing on the roof of it). Also it gave a greater variety of shots, as there were many different places inside of the warehouse that we could film in. Additionally in regards to sound, due to the size of it, there is a slight echo that is created, especially with loud noises.

Rough Cut Thriller

Below is a very rough cut of the opening to my thriller. At the moment I am not happy with the cut and I am aware that I need to develop it a lot further, especially developing the use of non-diegetic sound, instead of just relying on diegetic sound.

There are four characters in this thriller. The three main protagonists are Lauren, Seb and Jack, a group of teens who are foolish enough to break into a factory and play an Ouija board. There is then Dr. Theads, only his feet and the side of his face are revealed, this conforms to the thriller conventions, as one of the thriller conventions is that it creates enigmas, and from this character it raises the questions:

• Who is this man?
• What significance does he have to the story?
• Is he an antagonist or protagonist?

There is also an antagonist, however as it is not seen, it is really a pigment of your imagination therefore the antagonist could be considered as many different things, this creates the enigma:

• What/who is the antagonist?

The thriller begins with seeing alternate shots of ward signs and shots of Dr. Thead’s and things surrounding the hospital such as the door with Dr. Thead’s name label on it. The mise-en-scene echoes the protagonist’s plight at the start but sub-consciously. The wards signs appear in an order that spells out the word ‘death’ and also the name Dr. Theads is an anagram of Dr. ‘Deaths’. Also in the opening credits the noise of the heartbeat is meant to mirror the protagonists psychological state as the heart beat is racing at a fast tempo, which suggests that the person heartbeat is scared. From the end of the credits it fades into a flashback in which Jack discovers the Ouija board, this could be seen as the moment in which the characters are drawn into a web of intrigue by the antagonist and are disempowered, as from the moment that they decided to play it they are under control of whatever the antagonist is. From there they begin to play the Ouija board, however the characteristics of the characters in my opinion change as at the beginning the character of Jack seems to be more in control, and he acts as more of dominant character who is braver. However at the first sign of trouble Jack flees leaving Lauren and Seb alone. The story then proceeds to Lauren finding Jacks coat with the bracelet used to play the Ouija board around it. She then sees Jack at the window. This creates yet more enigmas:

• How did his jacket get there?
• Was there something going on between Jack and Lauren to make Lauren so emotional?
• How did the bracelet get onto the jacket?
• Is he still alive?
• What happened to him?
• Who did it to him?
• What is going to happen to the other two?
• If Seb was the only one seen in the mental home, what happened to Lauren?