Thursday, 7 April 2011

Overall Evaluation

Overall, I enjoyed the thriller film project, it was both interested and challanging. I found out how difficult it is to actually come up with different parts of a film from scratch and planning them out, and then filming them. We changed certain things such as the location. We added certain parts, as we didn't have enough footage, for example, the love-letter, laptop and mobile phone shots. These shots added time and also more to the storyline. They also added a more modern factor, as laptops and mobile phones were included, and these linked to the style of music that was playing throughout. I focused on the said music, creating a merge between old-fashioned piano and strings music, and modern-day effected drumbeats and synthesizer music.
I would improve just a few things, for example, maybe going for a more unusual plot rather than sticking with a murderous passion storyline where the husband cheats on the wife, and so the wife kills the husband. I would also improve some of the shots, as they are unsteady in places, and in one certain shot where the femme fatal character is pouring the 'whiskey' into the glass, you can actually see the bottle, and it is quite clearly not the whiskey bottle that was in the shot before. So, I would take more time to get the shots right so everything was realistic and believable.
Something else I would improve is to keep it more like an opening to a thriller move, as it should have been, rather than trying to create the whole movie, which is more what it looks like. To do this I would space the title credits (Starring..., Directed and Produced by...) out in the film more, rather than just having them at the end. I would also create some sort of film company, and put the name of the movie last, so it is more obvious that it is just an opening to a movie, rather than the whole movie in two minutes.
I think the results are fairly good, and the people we surveyed found the film quite enjoyable, with only minor improvements needed, such as less chaotic and more atmospheric music needed, and better lighting. I am pleased with the end product and I hope to do something similar in the future. The thriller genre was an interesting theme to research and try to recreate, and I enjoyed looking into various factors and working out what makes a decent thriller film, such as the mise-en-scene, the editing and sound, and various ways in which a thriller and a horror differ - a horror film concentrates more on the gore and violence, whereas a thriller film is more based on the suspense and tension created due to different situations.
I think there are certain things that make our thriller film slightly unique, for example, it is black and white, which is more unusual nowadays than it used to be, as colour is used in nearly all movies, as we tried to recreate the Film Noir style. It mixes old-fashioned (Film Noir, etc) with modern-day (the technology and music).
Overall, I enjoyed the project very much.

Monday, 4 April 2011

Post-Thriller Film Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire for when the audience have watched the film.

1) Is it clear that our film is from a thriller genre?

2) What sub-genre of thriller do you think this sequence comes under?
 Murderous passion    Psycho-traumatic   Innocent on the run
 Film Noir                   Political thriller

3) Would you consider watching all of this film at the cinema?

4) What did you think of the lighting in our thriller film?

5) Did you think the lighting was effective in creating a sinister atmosphere?

6) Did you think the music in this clip went well with the thriller genre?

7) Did tou think the camera shots were effective in creating suspense and tension?

8) What would the target audience of our thriller be?

9) What would you do to improve this thriller?

10) What was your favourite part of our thriller film and why?

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Still Shots From Peliminary Thriller Filming

Alice and Kirsty discussing ideas

Kirsty

Alice

Alice looking at the recoring

Kirsty filming Pippa's death scene

Kirsty filming

Script For Thriller Film

Alice walks up the steps, through the house, and up the indoor staircase and into the study where she finds her husband, Connor, sat at the desk.

Alice:
Hey, sweetie. Can I fix you a drink?

Connor:
Hmm...

Alice then goes into the kitchen area puts two pills in a glass before pouring whiskey in. She then returns to the study and places the drink on the desk in front of Connor.
Alice:
Cheers, sweetie.
Alice then walks off, and the last shot is of Connor sprawled on the desk as he empty glass rolls.

Group Meeting - 30th March 2011

- Work on thriller film evaluation
- Edit in extra clips
- Add and edit the music over the film