My Finished Thriller - Animus

This is the final cut of my thriller opening, Animus.
Hope you enjoy it!

Preliminary Task

This is what me and my group made for our preliminary task.

Hope your enjoy it!

Evaluation Question 7 - "Looking back at the Preliminary task, what do you think you have learned in the process from it?"

Preliminary Task vs. Final Cut

I have learnt so many techniques in order to better the quality of videos, knowing how different factors such as camera handling, locations used, usage of sound and mise en scene and a good storyline can effect the outcome of a media text.

Camera Handling

The camera handling was good in both the preliminary and the final cut as we used a tripod to steady the camera while taking shots although as we rushed through the filming during the preliminary task, not taking time to take more takes of each shot; some of the shots appear uneven with some tilting diagonally when compared to the final cut.  Most of the shots used in the preliminary task were simple shot/reverse shots and didn’t give much of a drive to the storyline.

Also, the amount of camera angle shots used in the preliminary task was very limited, over the course I started to realise how using camera angles can enhance the effective of the shot and started to use them more in subsequent clips.

Location

I also realised that thrillers often use multiple urban locations to enhance the storyline by creating this real idea of chase through these multiple locations. Not knowing where the protagonist next in this adventure, give viewers a sense of tension and suspense throughout the film.

We used multiple urban location to enhance this idea of a chance between the protagonist and antagonist

We only restricted ourselves to using one location for our preliminary. 

We made sure when filming the final cut that this would happen as in the preliminary we only focused the action at one location which made it hard to keep up the tension and suspense thrillers are known for.

Sound

During the course, I also learnt how diegetic and non-diegetic sounds could be used to force certain emotions out of the viewers when watching certain scenes. In our preliminary task, there was only one piece of non-diegetic music but this is barely noticeable whereas there are several pieces of non-diegetic music to stimulate the crowd.

Mise En Scene

We also learnt that using mise en scene is also a good way of getting viewers to identify the characters within the film. The costumes, make-up and props used within the media text can be vital in gripping viewers into watching our opening.

In the preliminary, we didn’t not really focus on that much on these things and that affected the storyline drastically as it was really hard to realise who was who in the storyline.  Like the police officer is hardly wearing clothes that suggest he is a character of power and importance.

The protagonist looks more relatable 

This character hardly looks like a policeman, does he? 

But, in the final cut, we focused more on this making each character wear certain costumes to make it easier to identify factors such as the character’s status, class and power.  For example the protagonist is the typical ‘everyman’, causally dressing whereas the antagonists are dressed in formal attire, suggesting their serious and smart nature over the protagonist.

Story-line

The story-line used in the preliminary task was good at first but was poorly executed. After watching and researching several thrillers, I learnt bout several conventions that make thrillers so famous such as the usage of macguffins and enigma codes, in the final cut; I made sure that these conventions were implemented into it.

Evaluation Question 6 - "What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?"

Evaluation Question 5 - "How did you attract/address your audience?"

Evaluation Question 4 - "Who would be the audience for your media product?"

Evaluation Question 3 - "What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?"

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Evaluation Question 2 - "How does your media product represent particular social groups?"

Evaluation Question 1 - "In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"

In my thriller opening, we have used, develop and challenged
the forms and conventions that have been seen in so many thrillers.
In my opening sequence, many techniques such as the usage of a macguffin, suspense, a cliff hanger and the creation of an enigma code helped create the experience that differentiates thrillers from other genres.

The Macguffin

The usage of a macguffin, in this case a letter, helped to provide a drive to the story line and set up the plot as characters want to know the contents of the letter but are not shown.
It helps in connecting the characters together as all they have one thing to do with this mysterious letter.

There are many thrillers which use macguffins as maintaing the storyline but in reality have little or no narrative explantion.

For example in Casablanca (1942), the letters of transit are used as a macguffin as it is the major object that the protagonist pursues and provides a story line to see how he obtains it.





The Letters of Transit from Casablanca (1942)

The Usage of Enigma Codes

An enigma is a question, character or action, which is thrown into the thriller to make audiences think and answer why it was done.
 It is usually hard to explain or answer at first but gradually the answer is revealed throughtout the thriller.

Actions such as the passing of the letter to the protagonist and the bounding of him also create this enigma as questions are raised as to why these actions have occured and only the film will help answer these questions.

The Filming of Scenes in Black and White and The Usage of Low Key Lighting

The filming of scenes in black and white creates the effect of a flashblack, creating sense of time and space disorentation, a dive into a character's past could explain why he's in that particular situation.

The usage of low key lighting, especially on the antagonist, show his dark and evil side. 

It makes the antagonist more feared by the viewer as you won't be able to see him; not knowing his real intentions and goals also adds to the mystery of the character.

Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is often potrayed
has low key lighting to show his dark and evil side. 

Just like Norman Bates, The Boss also has low key lighing portrayed on him to show his dark and evil side.

The quest set for the protagonist is usually one that is forced upon him, he can not back out of it

The events that the protagonist find themselves in are often caused by external forces out of their control and put into situations that will find hard to back out of. 

They often have to solve the issue at hand or kill the protagonist in order to get of the situation.

A good example of this is in the film North by Northwest where
Roger Thornhill is put into a situation out of his control
and the only way to get out of the events is to solve it.

The Use of a Cliffhanger

 This means that the future for charcters after the events in the story is unresolved or certain;this leaves the audience eager to know what will happen next.

The sequence ends at a gunshot thinking that the protagonist has been killed leaving the viewer with an
enigma which has to be solved.

 

The opening sequence of Memento also employs a cliffhanger in a sense
as it not known who committed the murder. 

Place Appropriate

Our thriller is set in an urban and every-day setting like most thrillers of today; it helps in creating the idea of a realistic situation where any ordianary citizen could be drawn into the situation the protagonist is as he/she is in realistic settings.

A good example is the Bourne film series,
which three films are all held in urban
settings.



Just like the Bourne film series, our film opening is also features
urban settings, which helps create realism of the events occurring.