Bellow is an example of a profile of a audience member that we tried to aim our sequence towards and who we agree would enjoy the film the most.
When looking into what our model audience member was, we had to take into account numerous pieces of research, such as our audience survey and our research of average thriller genre fans through the use of YouGov. Our first focus was the gender of our audience member. Whilst our survey showed that the majority of respondents were female, YouGov contradicted the idea that the majority of our audience was female by showing that for the thriller films we searched the majority was, instead, male. For this reason, and as YouGov takes into account a wider audience than our survey did, we decided that it was more accurate to have a male as our model audience member - although we are aimed our film towards both males and females due to the majority being different on our survey and YouGov. We then analysed the different interests, financial statuses and careers audience members of the thriller genre had on YouGov, and found that the majority of the thriller audience were working class and had careers in typical jobs such as manufacturing. In addition, as the majority of the audience was male, we found they had typically masculine interests. We ensured that all of this was taken into account when creating our model audience member, and this therefore resulted in the profile seen above.
This is our audience feedback video for the opening sequence, we asked 5 questions relating to the sequences storyline or shots to see what could have been improved and what was good about out opening sequence that was clear to the audience. The audience found the opening sequence intriguing and knew what type of genre we were trying to link the sequence to from the variation of shot techniques used and the sound which was overlaid on the opening sequence.
Did you notice the dark figure in the background?
All of the audience members stated that they were able to see the dark figure within the shot and that he could be seen easily, however one audience member said that his appearance and positioning in the shot was "subtle leaving us to wonder who he was and why he is important in the sequence"
Although two of the members stated that they were able to see the dark figure and gave an explanation as to what his appearance did to the mood of the sequence one member was only able to say yes and not give a reason as to what effect it had on the shots, this shows that not all of the audience viewers will recognise the meaning or purpose as to why we involved him in the background and can be improved on possibly by incorporating a sound which makes clear that he is not supposed to be there.
Do you think that the soundtrack suited the footage, if so state why?
One member of the audience stated that the soundtrack which was played over the top linked well to what was going on within the sequence, as a result of this I believe that it helps to make the audience relate to the footage as it will seem more realistic to them because there is a radio talking about an event which has happened locally to the characters area. they also said that the sound played over the top of the burning house was good as it related to what was in the shot and that it also increased the tension. Furthermore they claimed that the childish giggle in the nightmare sequence is relatable to that of a horror genre which made this sequence more affect as it helped to foreshadow what was going to happen later on in the opening sequence. this was done intentionally for this purpose as we wanted to make the audience believe that something bad was going to happen in the next scene which allows for the audience to be kept in suspense which is an ideal component of a thriller opening sequence as it provides us to build up a climax with ease making the audience overthink things that are going to happen later on. in relation to the radio soundtrack played over the top none of the audience members were able to relate it to the mood which we wanted to portray towards the audience as it gives the opening sequence a more eery mood to it, also linking back to the house fire none of audience members mentioned the gradual build up of the fire crackling which we wanted to make clear so that the audience get a sense of anxiety as they expect for a big ending to happen which doesn't happen as they are supposed to feel nervy for the rest of the opening sequence.
What did you think about the broken picture frame?
it left them wondering as to why the picture frame was broken, which was the purpose of the shot as it left the audience asking themselves question and lead them into anticipation of what the answer was. the audience will be intrigued as to what the meaning of the broken picture frame is meaning that they have to carry on watching leaving them gripped throughout the opening sequence. secondly the use of the broken picture frame implied that the man had been there before without the main character knowing so, it also comes as a shock to the audience as one member stated that "its scary and comes across shocking", another member said that the broken picture frame leaves the audience to wonder about the story in there head since they are not sure why the picture frame has been broken or who it has been done by. However none of the audience were able to speak about how the shot was fluent and used a shallow focus from the glass to the picture frame to show that it was broken, we used a shallow focused so that the audience would gradually realise what has happened however this didn't prove to be as affective as none of them felt that it had much relevance to the sequences mood
that was trying to be implemented into it. a way we could change or make this more clear is by showing the picture for a longer period of time so that they are left in shock to build up a bigger climax for the ending.
Did the lighting establish a tense atmosphere in the sequence?
The audience said that through the use of low key lighting contrasted a tense mood and atmosphere, the reason as to why they thought it created a tense atmosphere was because the shadows of objects were clearly seen which made each scene seem "eery and spooky". an example that was given of when the low key lighting was effective was in the various close ups at the beginning of the opening sequence as you could see objects but the setting around them was too dark to see where it was. from the feedback we were given I believe that the low key lighting was successfully in contrasting a tense atmosphere as the feedback stated that they found scenes eery or spooky which was the atmosphere we wanted to create for the audience. None of the audience members mentioned how the use of low key lighting helped to portray how early in the morning it was which is vital in our opening sequence since it helps to show how the main character is young working class man who has a stressful life waking up early and having to go to work for most of the day, it also shows how he is living a normal life like other people which we hoped the audience could feel repeatable to.
Did you have a basic understanding of the stories background?
The feedback that we got given back was that all of the members who watched the opening sequence understood what was happening in each scene, they understood the part which we wanted them to understand such as the flashbacks being linked to the main character which one person said. also that the sequences made sense, they didn't seem to be in a mixed up order where they didn't make sense with one another instead the scenes made sense when switching from one to another which gradually built up the storyline allowing for the audience to understand what relevance each shot had to the sequences story. although all of the audience members were able to have a clear understanding of what each scene was about not many of them could state what was happening in the flashbacks only that they had a relevance to the main characters past life, as a result of this we could try to make it more clear that the main character is related to the man in his flat but believes that he died in a house fire which was shown in the flashback. A way we can do this is by showing an object or image of both the main character and the dark figure with an object in the picture which can be seen on the dark figure to make clear who he is or what they thouhgout happened to him,
On Thursday 3rd March again at Jack's house during lesson time at periods 1 and 2. In this filming session we filmed a few new shots for the dream sequence. We returned to school for period 3 in which we viewed our new shots and decided which ones we wanted to use. The ones we decided to use can be viewed below. We used shots of children's toys and a stove, in order to give further hints to the audience of the protagonists age at the time of the fire and to keep the theme of fire running throughout.
On Tuesday we edited all of the shots into the correct order
and cut them to the lengths we wanted. This process took us all of lesson time,
along with research into more complex editing techniques that we wanted to use.
We also added some titles to the beginning of the sequence and a temporary
title at the end showing the name 'Forsaken'. This was our first draft
complete.
By doing this, we identified a few shots that could be
improved and saw opportunities for new shots to be added in certain points such
as in the dream sequence to further the atmosphere we wanted to create. Due to this, we scheduled to film again on Thursday the 3rd of March.
We then filmed again on Saturday 6th February at Jack's
house to finish all the shots we needed in order for us to have a first draft
of the majority of the shots and be able to view and edit them on Tuesday to
assess where were at in the construction process. We included a range of different camera shots and angles, such as close-ups and pans in order to have variety in our opening sequence. At the time we were happy with how the filming went and felt that we had all the shots we needed and were content with the costumes of the characters and mise-en-scene.
Following the successful filming of the first shot, we filmed on Friday the 5th
of February throughout and after media lessons at Jack's house in which we
managed to capture the majority of the desired shots. These shots were in the location of the living room and kitchen. When filming these shots we used a tripod to ensure that the shots were steady and to ensure it would be smooth and easy to watch. For these shots, we wanted to create a dull and dark atmosphere in Billy's house. To do this, we drew the curtains and dimmed the lights.
How our media product represented the social group of a young working class male: Our opening sequence to the thriller film 'Forsaken' represents the young, working class male as having poor punctuality, being messy and disorganised. However, the character is not portrayed in a particularly bad light, and Billy's behaviour is relatable and typical of a young male his age. Through the use of this shot, we start to construct the representation of a young, working class male as being somewhat uncontrollable and sporadic. This is because he is shown sleeping on the couch, even though by the appearance of the house, it would be expected for him to have a bed. He is also shown holding alcohol in this shot, suggesting that he passed out, possibly late at night, after drinking. This, along with the close-up of the pills, adds to the construction of Billy having various problems in his life.
Another representation constructed of white, working class males is that they are lazy and procrastinate. This can be seen in this shot as there are many dirty dishes visible that Billy seems to have neglected and not taken any interest in washing up.
Another representation constructed of white, working class males is that they are routine and live normal or average lives. To develop this idea that our character is average and doesn't live a special or privileged life, the morning routine is shown of our character getting ready. He does this in a normal manner and his clothes are not over extravagant. This helps with the aspect of the audience being able to relate to the character, and how he is just a seemingly ordinary person, but these events still occur.
Our opening sequence conforms to most of the conventions and societal norms depicted of young working class males. This is because the ideas of them being slightly messy, disorganised, uncontrollable and lazy reinforce the idea of our main character, Billy, living a fairly normal lifestyle. This adds to the shock when what happens/has happened in this characters life is revealed and the audience could wonder if this situation could apply to them and what they would do if faced with these situations. How young working class male's are represented in other thrillers
Young working class men are typical represented in thrillers as following a usual routine which they stick to doing throughout the movie scenes. these types of people are usually social towards work colleagues or friends who are around them, they would be social with work colleagues at bars or clubs after work or during a work break. These people are seen to be busy and have not much time to themselves which in thriller genres will usually leave the character becoming distressed leading them into depression since thriller films have conventions which include a charter who is abnormal compared to other characters in the film to give the movie an edge to it.
An example of a young working class man in a thriller movie would be Patrick Bateman in the film American Psycho, the reason this film relates to the stereotypical young working class men is because the main character is a sophisticated man who has a well paid job in New York during the day but in the night he turns into a serial killer who murders random people that anger him either at work or during the day, this reflects the frustration that high end jobs create for people and as you are lead to believe that he is a normal man due to the suit and appearance of him however the film takes an alternative view which makes the thriller more shocking.
Mental Illness Within Society: In our thriller opening sequence When framing our main protagonists ‘Billy’ it is immediately apparent that he is someone who suffers from mental illness when the framing is paired with the prop of the tablets skewed across the coffee table. This may highlight Billy’s over use of drugs and cosmetics that he feels will lift him from the state. The isolation of the tablets within this shot creates a representation on how people who grieve from mental illness are seen as abnormal in comparison to regular society norms that everyone follows. Harmonising this shot with aspects of low-key lighting allows the audience to depict the character as weak and vulnerable in his state, making him unable to sight the fear and danger of the mysterious figure lurking within his home. At the same time, the essence of mental illness or ‘abnormality of mental health’ can be seen in the brothers driven ambition to receive revenge for past events. Using the costume specifically hiding the face of ‘Steven’ allows the mystery of the character to evolve over the time of the sequence. It allows the audience to believe that something may have happened to him in order to cause him to go on this psychotic path of revenge. In other thriller movies The representation of mental illness in thriller movies is typically a negative one, often being used to explain away the reasons behind the antagonist's killings by depicting them to be 'crazy' or 'deranged', in order to create a villain that acts in ways that are not typical human behaviours and therefore make the audience uneasy. Mental illness is often used to be a source of apprehension in thrillers, as characters who suffer from it are displayed as unpredictable and dangerous. One of the most iconic examples of this is the Joker in the Batman series as, though it is never explicitly said that he is mentally ill, it is clear from both his behaviour, costume and the reoccurring mention of his childhood trauma ("You wanna' know how I got these scars?") that he is not mentally stable. The Joker is a character which kills ruthlessly, and often laughs whilst doing it, presenting him to be a cold-blooded killer and, consequently, presenting mentally ill people to be the same.
However, the Joker is not the only character that is a representation of mental illness in thriller movies. There are also several other films which feature mentally ill characters in the role of the villain - such as 'John Doe' in Se7en, who goes on a mass murder spree that follows the seven deadly sins. This is another common trope of mentally ill characters, as they are often presented to be obsessive, often over niche things or topics. For example, John Doe with the seven sins, or the Joker with his scars. These strange obsessions are used to cause the audience to feel uneasy, as they are often strange obsessions that many people do not have, and therefore contribute to the character's strange behaviour. Although having an obsession alone is not necessarily dangerous behaviours, thrillers often turn these obsessions into it -- an example being, once again, John Doe. In addition to these examples, another common issue with the presentation of mentally ill characters is that they are often very two-dimensional when it concerns their mental illness. It is rarely explained what they have, how it was caused, or anything that could be used to allow the audience to understand the character's motives. Whilst understanding the character's motives would not necessarily make them a sympathetic character, and they should not be one, this absence of explanation translates badly on the representation of mentally ill people, as it causes them to be seen in a similar two-dimensional light. They are often defined by their illness, and many people are uneasy around those with mental illness because of the violent mentally ill characters found in movies. However, one example that challenges this in some ways is Kevin Katchadourian from We Need To Talk About Kevin, which closely follows his childhood and relationship with his mother and therefore what caused his issues later in life. However, this challenging of conventions does not extend throughout the whole film as, at the end, he commits a mass murder at his school.
Finally, one last example of the representation of mental illness is Vincent Grey in The Sixth Sense, who is a past patient of Dr. Malcolm Crowe. Unlike the Joker, John Doe and Kevin Katchadourian, Vincent Grey is presented in a less stoic, cold-blooded way, instead being presented as both mentally and emotionally unstable. This therefore presents him in a more sympathetic light, due to the fact he is sobbing and apologising, but it does not change the stereotypical representation of him in the fact that he shoots Crowe. Much like the other characters, Grey is also a dangerous mentally ill person and, regardless of whether he is reluctantly dangerous or not, he still remains an antagonist of the movie. This therefore contributes to the ongoing theme in the presentation of mentally ill people, especially due to the fact that although he is not stoic or cold-blooded he still behaves in an unusual manner -- such as the fact he is not wearing clothes, and that he broke into Crowe's house.
In conclusion, thriller movies predominately present mentally ill characters to be dangerous, unstable people who are often placed into the roles of antagonists and villains. They are used as plot devices to cause the audience to feel uneasy, and often to provide an unpredictability to scenes, all whilst not properly explaining what is wrong with them or what caused them to be that way. Our opening sequence is, as a result, challenging of this convention -- as the protagonist of our film is mentally ill and is not presented to be violent or unpredictable.
To begin the process of starting the construction of our thriller opening sequence 'Forsaken', we had our first scheduled filming session on Tuesday the 2nd of February in which we filmed a shot in DH2 which was of Stephen and would be used for the dream sequence. The shot was short and used low key lighting to shadow the face of the character to leave his identity unknown and therefore create mystery and suspense. The filming of the shot was successful after a few takes, and after reviewing the footage to confirm this, we planned filming times for the rest of the shots.
The video above shows the indent for our original company which is called 'Oracle Studios'. Our design, includes an eye in the middle of a hand and a dark background with little colour. This is because we felt that this could create an eerie and unnatural feel, which correlates with the atmosphere we wish to create for our opening sequence. In addition to this, the monochrome theme used also causes the indent to appear gloomy and serious, which sets the theme and lowkey lighting up for the film to follow. Having an independent production company will effect the way our sequence looks, as the theme and atmosphere created by this ident will be continued throughout the opening sequence. By using our own production company, the visuals and atmosphere created will be unique to our film. It also gives the ability to take the film in any direction we desire as the content will not be limited by existing production companies.
Animatic Feedback: Animatic Feedback | Piktochart Infographic Editor How will this feedback be used?The feedback we have received for our animatic is important in allowing us to take the comments from our animatic and apply them in the production of the final opening sequence. We will ensure that the aspects that people enjoyed will be kept and possibly add more of this aspect into the final opening sequence. Also, acting upon the criticisms, we will try to ensure the sound effects are not over-dramatic and consider reducing the amount of static radio noise. The plot will not be changed considerably as there were no problems with this. We hope to replicate the atmosphere and mood said to be created on the animatic in our final opening sequence.
The video shown above is our animatic which uses a storyboard of our opening sequence to show the order and content of the shots as well as the length of the shots and some of the sound effects we would like to use in our opening sequence. An example of this is the crackling fire when the photograph is burning, or the sound of the radio in the background as the protagonist goes about his daily routine.
My Top 5 Favorite Fonts to use in our Thriller Opening Sequence
Bebas is a simple font that I think would be appropriate to use for titles in our opening sequence as it is clear, bold and easy to read. It doesn't give any hints to what the film is going to be about and therefore conserves mystery which is a necessary theme in the thriller genre. This font will appeal to the target audience of males and females under 25 as it doesn't bring any aspects that they could dislike or not find visually pleasing as it is so simple. Additionally it is similar to fonts that they would have already been seeing all the time and are very common.
Movie Letters is a font that I think would look good for subheading text or anything that isn't as important as the names of the people associated with the film and the name of the film. It adds some variety when used along with another font, allows emphasis to be had on certain words as the font isn't very bold and has an innocence in nature itself and also appears professional. It is conventional as it doesn't give away any themes in the film and appeals to the target audience as it is clean and simplistic.
Monofonto is another simplistic and bold font which I think would be suitable. This font has larger spacing between letters, and has distinctions between capital and lower case letters which adds variety. It has less straight lines than some of the other fonts and has better fluidity. Also, some of the unusual shaping of the letters makes it different and visually appealing. While retaining all of this, it is still easily readable which contributes to it being a successful font. It would fit the thriller genre as because it simple, it doesn't give any of the plot away or give the audience anything to expect which keeps mystery.
Nova Solid is the forth font shown on the list. This font is bolder than the others, has less spaces between the letters and has lots of staight lines and parts of letters coloured in which makes it more interesting. It has a sharp, and possibly violent appearance with the coloured parts adding mystery. Because if this, it would suit the thriller genre and our film well. These aspects would also be enjoyed by our target audience.
Coalition is another font option for titles in our thriller opening sequence. The font is conventional for the genre as it is quite grungy, messy, dark and distorted and suggests violence. It will appeal to the target audience as it makes them anticipate what the extravagant or exiting events in the film are going to be as the font is interesting and abnormal.
Our chosen distribution company is Rogue. Initially founded in 1997, and re-launched in 2004, Rogue is a subsidiary of Relativity Media and is involved in the development of a variety of thriller and horror films, such as Limitless and The Unborn, and will therefore be an appropriate distribution company for our thriller film. These films have a similar target audience to our film and all contain mystery and violence. A common theme that is Incorporated into most films distributed by Rogue is that they are usually dark and eerie, with a deep meaning and contain quite a lot of violence and gore. Our thriller film could be endorsed by Rogue as it shares similar aspects such as these, which are present in the other films that Rogue have distributed. Additionally, the overall look and feel of the ident is quite dark and mysterious, which corresponds with the thriller genre along with our film and sets this desired atmosphere before the film has started. The company is also quite small which is fitting for the type of classic, independent film we are aiming to create.
This is a 25 word pitch of a brief outline to our thriller film. The pitch explains how our film is centred around the life of a boy called Billy who has his life in danger. His brother, Stephen, was declared dead after a house fire over 10 years ago, in which Stephen was unable to be rescued and was the only casualty. It is soon discovered that Stephen is most definately not dead, and also not the same friendly boy that he was remebered as. Stephen, bent on anger that he wasn't saved, now has targeted his own brother Billy in his psychopathic journey of anguish.
Using the results collected from this survey, we can gain further understanding into how to make the film opening appeal to the target audience and be successful. For instance, the results show 71% of participants to be female. This could mean that our opening sequence, although aimed at both genders, could include more aspects that appeal to females as this is the majority of the audience. However it could be argues that this is biased as the survey sample is small and in reality there would usually be more males. Additionally, the survey's results show that some people had most recently watched the film Se7en, and had enjoyed the mystery aspect and how it used lots of tension. This is some aspects that we could integrate into our opening along with possibly making it similar to Se7en. The results also show that slightly more than half of the participants would prefer a female protagonist, this may be because it is something more unusual and not what is usually seen. Another piece of data discovered is that people believe they are most likely to enjoy psychological thrillers the most. We could therefore have our thriller under the psychological sub-genre or include aspects of this sub-genre in order to appeal to the target audience. Also, most people do not want a circular narrative and suggest a setting of either an isolated environment, or a city Furthermore, the findings reveal that the majority of people are comfortable with deaths/murders being shown. Some prefer them to not be too graphic and gory and prefer them to be sad and therefore be more effective. This ideas can also be integrated into our opening and we can be reassured that most people are comfortable with this subject.
