Section 1: Background to the Thriller Genre

Thriller Definition: from Film Studies dictionary

"Thriller is a loose genre term referring to any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major aspect of its Naratve"

Theory About Thrillers

G.K. Chesterton - The Transformed City

. Chesterton - Early 20th century writer of thriller stories

. Argued that thrillers took 'Urban Settings' and transformed them into exciting locations for dramatic stories

. E.G? - Seven, The Dark knight, The Bourne Identity, Miami Vice, Sin City

Northrop Frye - Heroic Romance

. Frye argued that thrillers were stories that took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations

. E.G? - Spiderman, The Negotiator, War of the Worlds

John Cawelti - The Exotic

. Cawelti argued that thrillers took the elements of ordinary life and added an exotic element

. So Basically it adding 'Exotic' to Everyday Life (Mystery)

. E.G? - James bond, Wanted, Mr & Mrs Smith

W.H. Matthews - Mazes and Labyrinths

. Matthews writes about how human beings have a fascination for physical puzzles - often seen in mazes and labyrinths

. Thrillers often use the idea of a mysterious quest ina coonfined location that feels like a Labyrinths

. Labyrinths - greek mythology where the 'Minotaur' was confined

. E.G? - National Treasure, Davinci Code, Saw, Resident Evil, Indiana jones, The Mummy, The Lord of the Ring

Pascal Bonitzer - Partial vision

. Bonitzer discusses how in thriller the audience is given a partial view of things - with important details being obscured

. So the audience should only know so much

. E.G? - Cloverfield, Pandorum

Noel Carroll - Question and Answer

. Argues that thrillers are structured around a series of questions for which the audience is led to want the answers

. E.G? - The Strangers, X-Men The Last Stand

Roland Barthes - Enigma Codes

. Barthes analysed all narratives in the terms of codes that operate moment by moment

. Enigma Code - moment in narrative that leads the audience to ask questions

. Thrillers, enigma code are very important intelling the story in a suspenseful way

. This definition incorprates both W.H. Matthews and Noel Carroll

. E.G? - The Strangers, X-men The Last Stand, National Treasure, Davinci Code, Saw

Section 2: Research into Examples of Thriller Opening Scenes

Analysis on Opening Thriller Sequences
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1. Red Eye

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Structure of film is based round a girl that you see pictures of in a wallet and photos on the table next to keys. Then you have the mysterious man that takes the wallet from the table. Further on the man removes the credit cards from the wallet and looks at the picture of the girl in thee photo. Might have domestic story in the film, signify identity theft and that the characters hide important things in fish crates.

THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Codes are making us ask questions e.g. Who is the girl in the photos? Who are the woman and man in the photo? Who do those keys belong to? Then you start to ask if is this house where this girl lives? When the wallet gets taken you ask why someone has taken the wallet & who? The close up of the wallet shows use two initials, so what do they stand for? Why are we getting close up of fish in the oopening sequuence? We see photos of buildings with close ups on them, does that mean that these building are targets? Plus we see blueprints, so what are they for? Once we see the mysterious man remove the credit cards we wonder why? However he looks at a thumbnail photo of the girl in the wallet, why is this man interested in her? Box is shown near the end taken out of a fish crate, whats in the metal box?

CAMERAWORK

In this opening scene there are lots of close ups, which don't show certain characters faces to build suspense and too make sure we don't know who the character is yet. We have a forward tracking shot to the wallet showing that its important. Get given over the shoulder shots on the characters to make them mysterious because you can't see their faces. Again you have forward tracking shot heading in to henchman opening fish crate. At the end of the opening sequence there is a low angle shot looking up at a high rised building.

MISE-EN-SCENE

First thing that you can notice in the opening sequence is that all characters are acting suspicious, like they are hiding something or planning something. When we see the photos on the side table, we can see a picture of a girl in graduate clothes telling us she is successful as well as eduacated and pretty. Another photo of her playing sports implying that she can defend herself and that she is strong. Further on we get a mysterious third photo which could be her parents. In the home there is a normal domestic setting, in addition we see random hennchman immediatly and it showing their faces informing us that there isn't any important characters being shown in the sequence. Followed by props of photos of buildings and blueprints which is suspicious. After that a mysterious man force opens a letter which illustrates this character as an angry person. Also implying that he is savage and maybe in a rush. We can see the man in the setting of a hotel with him holding the prop of the wallet and the photo within the wallet. In addition the henchman all look frantic and in a rush to get the metal box out of the fish crate. The setting of the film we assume that its based on is on a plane because of the title RED EYE - meaning long plane travel.

SOUND

Music in the opening scene are very dramatic and kinda spooky, as it goes on in the scene the music gets louder. Red eye title, when we see it you can hear a plane leering on a run way while some sounds change in volume to give more impact. Henchman taking crate apart you can hear the ice being cleared away quickly making us know that they are in a rush. In addition to the music, it sounds really mysterious and its a really generic thriller sound track. Also the music turns kinda earie after titles (fading) to give a creepy feel. Diegetic sound is used when the man puts his keys and wallet on the table with incorporated non-diegetic sound which is music. When doors close they give us the traditional creeking door also with the shower being turned on with non-synchronous sound meaning that the sound you can hear but can't see the noise being made. Also the noise hits with the action of the music which leads to a cressendo - builds up and then suddenly stops. The music in the opening scene you can hear cerebral music that tells us that someone is thinking.

EDITING

Almost all the edit points were all cuts and we had one scene were it dissolved to give a different effect. That includes very long takes and slow editing, we had takes seconds between 6-12 secoonds with some less or more than that.

GRAPHICS

The graphics at the beginning can give off meanings depending on the fonts size and colour of the titles and texts. During the titles in this film you can see the bold lettering and simple text instead of fancy text as well the text moving into the distance building mytery, and the text colour black and white is showing binary opposition of good and evil. However the main titles colour is red giving us the sense and meaning of danger passion etc... Finally there was no background. Just plain and simple.

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2. State of Play

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Structure of this movie could be a political thriller because you get a scene showing Washington, with a unknown man being chased by a mystery chaser. Could have frantic chases and characters in the narrative because of the man being chased by a pursuer who in the end of the opening sequence gets killed.

THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Codes we get looking at this beginning sequence is who is this man who is running and why is he running as well as who from? Then when the runner is shot dead the question arises that why did the black coated man shoot the runner guy, plus who iis he and what has he got in that metal breifcase that he is holding? Before all that why was the runner so frantiic and scared?

CAMERAWORK

At the start of the sequence you are given an arial shot to show us the audience where this film it set. Then we just have still shots of the area until we see a man running from someone. Also we have pan shots of the running man crossing the road irresponsibly as well as in the alley way with the pizz man getting shot and a pan of him coming past the killer. Also steady can is used. Through out the sequecne you can see a point of view shot (POV) from what looks like the chaser looking from a bit of the distance of the man who is running from the chaser. Plus we have low angle and high angle shots of the runner jumping off great height obstacles just to get away from the chaser, desparation. Finall y we have a close up of the runners face to show his emotions and teeth and then we can label him on our opinion of the type of person he might be, e.g. drug addict, slum etc. Near the very end of the opening scene you have a still shot at the end that doesn't follow the killer to build up mystery and to tell us that we are not going to be folowing his side of the story in this film. Then a forward tracking shot to the pizza man who ahs been shot to sygnify he is still alive.

MISE-EN-SCENE

Setting of the film is Washington annd it suggests that this thriller is going to be a political thriller. Then we get the setting of the busy street telling us that the city is always very busy and crowded. We have the composition of pedestrians in the streets and then we get an old couple which shows a fragile people in the city and then they get hit into by the man who is running and he knocks them over. Where the man runs into a shop with fragile antiques and then breaks them while he runs through them. That makes the setting erratic and anxious. After the man finishs going through the alleys, he hise in a bigger alley behind rubbish and barrel tanks, in a dark and griity setting. Once the man is hidden you can see his yellow teeth which can imply to us, the audience that he might be a drug dealer or user or even part of a gang. The chaser is then revealed in black dark clothing signifying that he doesn't want to be notice especially since his gun (prop) has a silencer attached to it. The composition of the chaser shooting the chaser makes him out as an executioner. Then we get a guy in pizza delivery clothing so we obviously know that the man on the bicycle is a pizza boy. When the pizz boy sees whaats haapened he speeds up on his bike. Then the chaser has to run away so he can't get caught by anyone else so he has to remain secret to characters that are in the film.

SOUND

In this pening sequence we have a lot of diegetic sound being used to set the scene. The diegetic sounds through the scene are from the old people getting hit into and you can see them be bumped into. Then we can see the runner get hit by the motoor scooter and since we can see and hear what has happened that makes us feel his pain. We can then also see the antiques smashing with the smashing noises as well as the runner running and skidding across the floor and banging into barrels he hides behind. All those components build up suspense to a asynchronous bullet sound hitting the runner, then it becomes synchronous once we see the shooter firing the bullet from the gun. To the noises start off erratic and then come to a sudden stop to end the struggle. That struggle comes from the runner from us hearing him grunting and makes sounds of pin, but they come to a stop once he is killed, which signifies he is now silent and even relieve of his fear. Back to the sounds creating the scene, we can hear helicopter sounds and police sirens which can connote the city is a danger zone and has a lot of crime. Throughout the sound we have non-diegetic sound which is like music because it doens't come from the natural world. The music in the sequence sounds mysterious and anonymous to make characters seem secretive. The music sounds like a thriller type music.

EDITING

You have in the editing of this sequence, long takes and this helps build up the scene at this is at the beginning of the opening sequence of the movie. But when we see the man running across the round you have very short takes and this helps build up speed of the scene and sets the pace.

GRAPHICS

Universal titles as well as other working titles and logos to show us who has created the movie. The setting of the movie is the background for the titles when they pop out. Then later the title "State Of Play" appears in a black and white background and falshes 'red' and 'blue'. The colour 'blue' can signify a sense of calm and the 'red' can give us a sense of danger. Also they both could represent the 'American Flag'.

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3. Strangers on a Train

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

The beginning of the sequence in this thriller gives us the narrative that maybe to men who have just met are going to help eachother kill someone. So you've got a successful sports man who maybe wants to kill his wife. Then we have a in your face man who wants to kill his dad. Then we a led to think that the narrative might be the two men swapping eachothers murder victims. Two characters are a man and Bruno who is telling the man about his plan of murder. Emphasizes that the murder will be a murder with the man humoring Bruno about his "great" plan! So we all know that Bruno then thinks the man is on board with the idea. Plus fame and celebrity commentary - civilians have power over famous people because they can know more about you than you know yourself because of papparazzi etc...

THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

So now we ask questions on why did Bruno just tell a complete stranger about his murder and why did he choose him? Plus how long has he been planning this type of crime for? Why does't bruno like his Dad, what happened between them when he lived with his father? Once the beginning sequence ends we ask whats going to happen next? Conventions - we get the music change in the sequence then it sounds more like a thriller tune from a happy and humorous tune. When we are put in the train we get a creepy sensual guy suddenly having a meeting on the train. Further more the sounf was non-conventional and the sequence relied on the dialogue.

CAMERAWORK

The camera at the beggining of opening sequence you get are wide shot of an arch building into train station implying that something big is going to happen. Then we get given a low level shot of Bruno's bright white shoes showing he is anonynous at this time, same with the other low level shot of the other man with the black shoes. Since they used the same shot on both of them could show that both their lives are going to intwine with eachother. Once they are on the train you get a point of view (POV) shot from Bruno's perspective and now his plan has come into action. Then we see both characters that are now not anonynous anymore with a two shot, showing a connection between them and that the fates have now collided.

MISE-EN-SCENE

The start of scene we have a setting showing an arch building of the grand train station which is then showing a grand concept in the narrative plot. Just by the setting of the area we can tell this movie is set in America. Soon after we get the american cabs that are also anonymous so shows mystery in the film. Then we get Brunos outrageous shoes that a bright white which reflects his personality of wild, creepy and in your face. The other man we get a prop of a tennis racket telling the ausience that he plays tennis and he had plain shoes reflecting that he is more bland, normal and straight forward than Bruno is. In the scene when every one is going through to get on the train we get slightly confused because we can see Bruno with his shoes but we can't see the other man meaning he blends in with the crowd and Bruno is like a light in the dark. The setting of the train shows the composition of every one on the trains and they are all strangers to eachother. That setting of every one being strangers to eachother highlights that humanity goes on with life with strangers. Further on we get the view of the train tracks, this is a metaphor to tell us that these two mens paths are going to intwine and cross into eachother. Adding on to that we have the train turning probably showing what the men are going to do is going to turn for the worst. Then we have Bruno with his stupid to weare for his Mum letting audience know he's a mummies boy. Also just before they start to talk to eachother they met buy their feet touching, was this accidental or fate, we can only guess and thats when their identities are finally revealed as well.

SOUND

For starters the music is epic and grand and not at all scary and creepy as well as a bit of romance which is strange because its supposed to be a thriller. So its not typically thriller music. However the music changes when shoes come out the cabs - gives off a "Tom & Jerry" feel. So this music implies that Bruno is probably and excitable person since the music came on when he got out of the cab first which could also mean that his character could be very annoying also. Both characters are moving with music and that builds up tension. Again since they are moving together with music their lives are connected somehow. Finally the music starts to turn more triller like when Bruno gets onto the train and now its mysterious. Then the dialogue of Bruno, "I do admire people who do things" signifying that he like people who seize the moment rather than leave it. So it basically means that he wishes that he could have gone through with murdering his dad. Before that Bruno said that "I don't talk much" but its a lie because he does nothing but talk that signifies him as an outgoing person and a bit of a nutter.

EDITING

Quick cut editing of both characters walking into the same station signifying that both Bruno's life and the mans life are going to intwine. Also reverse shot editing to show a conversation between the two characters.

GRAPHICS

The titles are big, bold and obviously whire becaue its a Black and White movie. The lettering is squared and has drop shadows and old fashioned text since its an old film. Plus there is a mixture of bold title text and hand writing title text.

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4. The Dark Knight

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

The narrative structire you get from the opening scene of The Dark Knight is that the city is full of crime and that the main villain in the film that the narrative is based on is a guy who calls himself the Joker who seems to be a very disturbed and crazy man.

THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

There are lots of questions in this opening scene, you want to know who is the Joker? Why are all the mob theives killing eachother while they are robbing a bank? Why does the villain put a fake grenade in the bankers mouth? Why do they need the money from the bank? What have they set out to acheive from robbing the bank? Why is Gotham City in such a state of criminal actions?

CAMERAWORK

The opening scene of The Dark Knight Starts off with an ariel shot of tall buildings in the city with the ariel shot getting closer to the windows of a certain building. This ariel shot is leading the audience to where the action is. You see a tracking shot being used with the camera tilting slowly down to a man in a siut with a clown mask in his hands. The camera gets closer to the mask signifying that this man might be a bit of a clown and since its a mask that he could be getting ready to commit a crime. We have got another ariel shot of two criminals zip lining from one building to another with wide shot looking down at them which is showing how high they are up in the air and what lengths they are going to just to commit a crime. Camera in car to watch the criminals have a conversation - 3 shot & Close ups. You have pan shots to keep up with the criminals quickly heading into the bank. You have fast tracking shots moving back from the front of the criminals to emphasize how quickly they have taken over the bank. Close ups of grenades to signify danger. Wide shots to see the area they are in which is a bank. We have close ups and medium shots to see movements and reactions e.g. the banker. High angle shots to look down at the money to show they have stolen a lot of it. High angle shot looking doown at banker signifying he is weak and vulnerable. Close up and high angle of jokers face signifying he's in control.

MISE-EN-SCENE

Setting of a city area so its going to be a highly populated place. Criminals have masks to hide their identity telling us they are going to do a crime. They have equipment thats going to help them rob the bank and get on the roof of the bank. Clothes are not bright in colour and they are wearing gloves so they don't want to be noticed or caught. Guy with a clown mask at the side of his leg, clowns are funny but the clown mask looks sad. So it can describe this man as a humerous person but in the wrong kind of way. He also has a bag which could contain stuff that is going to help him rob the bank. Pedestrians walking every where like normal day in the city life - busy. A van he gets into which looks old and worn out tells us they are not really reach maybe want low profile and that this is their get away car. Guns so they are criminals and they need fire power to help them to complete their crime. More equipment to hack into bank security systems which tells us they came prepared and that this crime was planned. Setting looks like what you expect a bank to loo, clean, organized and little tables and pens and main desks to sort out your banking life. Technical wiring for the banks security and the man hacking into the systems implies that these criminals are smart. Props of grenades which is an immediate sign of danger. Big metal vault telling us that this is where the money is and it needs to be protected and kept safe. Prop of a vault opener that the criminal has showing that he has come prepared. Banker wearing suit showing that he is a well paid man and that he is very proffesional. Bags ready so we immediately know they are going to take something from the vault. See props of lots of money and deposit boxes so we know that the criminal is inside the vault. Plus the vault looks very organized. School bus crashes into bank and only the last criminal standing knows about it telling us that he is deceiving everyone. Joker with face paints on tells us that he is a bit wweird and strange because he is a grown man and kids are the ones usually getting the faces painted for fun. All the school busses coming at the same time shows that he planned this crime to start and end ay specific times.

SOUND

First of all you have gun shots that are synchronous sounds. Music starts of mysterious. Then the music gets a faster beat and thats letting us know some action is going to take place. That is mixed with mysterious earie noise to let mystery build. Now the action starts because the beat kicks in. Then it builds up as if the tension in staring to build. With the music you have diegetic sound incorporated like the guy zip lining, cars skidding, doors closing, smashing windows smashing and buildings smashing.

EDITING

The whole opening of the scene its just cut editing that has some fast cut editing to build up suspense and some long takes to show whats happening in the area. But thats pretty much everything on editing.

GRAPHICS

The only graphics that are on the opening sequence is the company logos which seem to be tinted blue like the bat symbol that is formed from smoke which is the title without using text. The tint blue can mean neutral and you can link that to the movie that everyone in the world innocent and guilty people are all the same.

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5. Vancancy

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

The narrative we get is a couple are travelling and they need to rest after a long trip and they are on a road he took as a short cut which we the audience immediately think is going to lead into danger. E.g. empty motel that no one goes to and the owners might be psychopathes.

THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Questions on where are the couple going? Why are they driving so late? and gives us conventions that the movie is going to be dark and evil because of the dark setting and that it will be near a motel because they seem to want to stop and rest.

CAMERAWORK

You have close ups of characters face to show the expressions on there face and to watch them have a conversation. Long ariel shot too see the area and a car driving on the road. Low camera on the floor to see the car come round the corner of the road with a tracking shot going back to show the raccoon on the road which we don't realise is there until we see it and they nearly crash.

MISE-EN-SCENE

Got woodlands that indiicates that they are kind of in the midddle of knowhere and its also very dark so its dangerous to drive in and the dark is scary. You have the couple wearing plainclothes which just ells us that they are travelling and they don't have to wear anything special.

SOUND

The sound is of night time sounds such as crickets and the odd tree making noises and that helps the scenary that its late and that its time for bed. Plus the car skidding noise indicates us that they are in danger because we think they are going to get hurt from crashing the car. Then you have music that builds up tension and danger and then does a quick cresendo to when thee guy sees the raccoon onn the road and tries to dodge the raccoon.

EDITING

You have the graphics text fading into a video transition to the cars number plate. There are edit cuts to show a conversation (reverse editing) and the cuts go faster when they are about to crash.

GRAPHICS

The text is big and bold and use the colours of red yellow and white. The red can stand for blood and death and the white could give us the sign of her is the light to heaven because you might die. Since the text has a chaotic composition this could tell us that there might be characters in the film that a weird and very abnormal and crazy.

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6. The Shining

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

From th opening scene from the shining we get a narrative that we get from the area is that its going to have a lot going on because of the connotations of the space there is in the camera shot. Since we see so many shots of the different areas like snow, grass, mountains etc. This can signify there is going to be a lot of changes and twist in the story. Since we can see such a large are that looks reaaly deserted, it connotes isolation. Since the opening scene is so long of the same thing that signifies that whatever is going to happen is going to seem like a long and traumatic time for the characters.

THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

The Shining has codes like why are we following that yellow car?, who is in the yellow car?, where are they? where are they going?, so those questions are building up anticipation on whats going to happen in the movie. The conventions of the movie show that this is going to be a very mysterious and maybe even scary film because we don't know what going to happen and people don't like that.

CAMERAWORK

The only camera work we get in the shining opening sequence is an ariel shot that if following a yellow car. So this could only connote that this narrative might have involved with the paranormal since the camera is so high in the sky where heaven is, and thats where ghostd are.

MISE-EN-SCENE

First of all the area is very big and this connotes freedom and also isolation from the population of the world. Adding to that we see a car on a round with lots of trees around the area and that again connotes isolation and also fear. Since its sunny the area looks warm and that can signify the people in the car to be warm and happy people. However when the scenery changes to the mountains that can present them as rigid and maybe tough people to get along with. Then we see a yellow car which connotes the people in the car are bright and happy people and I said about the sunny day. But soon after we get and area where snow is everywhere, this can signify that a massive change is going to happen to the peopel in the car in personality or even death (cold bodies). Then we see a big house which presents the people in the car as rich or that they are coming here for a holiday.

SOUND

The sound has a minor key and played by organs. This gives a ghost feel to the atmosphere because pipe organs a played in churches and the dead are buried and become spirits. So the music gives connotations of evil and fear, as the music carries on we can hear an eerie noise which can signify the paranormal might be following the car. Near the end we hear a strange noise maybe played by strings, it sounds kind of like a creepy scream, this give connotations of fear and danger. Music in non-diegetic sound.

EDITING

There is one dissolve cut to another area which could signify a disturbance to the car we end up following with the long takes that are being use which can also connotae the long drive the people are having to reach their destination. We also get cuts that show the same car but in different areas, this is showing the journey and since the areas change this can signify a lot is going to change to the whoever is in the car.

GRAPHICS

The text colour is blue, this colour has connotations of serenity and infinity however also can connote sadness. That can tell us that this movie might have a twist in emotions and change of the atmosphere mood. Also they use an effect that makes the text move up and out of the camera view. This can again connotes different personalities or area moods changing all the time that most likely keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

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Section 3: Brainstorm of Ideas for your Film

Six Ideas we came up with while Brain Storming

Before me and my group could start our filming for our thriller we had to have a brainstorm first to get an idea on what our theiller sequence is going to be about. So we all got our note pads out and our pens and started discussing different storylines that we could possibly do. So through out the brain storm we cam up with 6 Ideas and they were:

Title - Tracks - This idea was based near a train station, since if we want to record near a train station we could have because that area would be available to us. The idea was that two people, a mother and a daughter are waiting for a train on one side of the platforms while another mysterious person on the other side of the stations platforms would be on the oother side just staring at the little girl.

Title - My Diary - Idea was that the sequence would have a mysterious man writing a diary and then we would see flashbacks of events that have happened in the past, which is a murder. The narrative of this thriller is about a guy stalking a girl and in the end he kills her which he then writes a diary about what he has done hence the flashback, but also we wants to see louds of diarys around him showing he has done this type of action a few times.

Title - Obssession - This was based on one boy in a school/college who is obsessed with one girl he sees everyday while they are in school/college. One day his obssession grows and then he keeps bothering her and stalking her, harrassing her and also hurting her. Soon its starts to get violent which gets all her friends around hurt by this obssessed person.

Title - Culture/Religion - we didn't give this idea and official name, but its based around crimes being caused by an ordinary persons religion, like being gods messeger and helping doing his deeds or some one doing deeds for the sake of his family heritages culture and beleifs.

Title - Conspiracy - Idea was about a consiracy about some ones murder, meaning that theres more then what the eye can see. So some one in the thriller sees the murder but doesn't beleive what has happened and whats to dig up the real dirt from the case. Which then will land her is a bad situation of regret and horror when she is getting hunt down and stopped from finding out the truth on this conspiracy.

Title - Drug Related - Couldn't think of a suitable title, but we came up of a thriller that was drug related, but coundln't think of what the entire narrative of the thriller be. Just knew that it would have cops and detectives in the thriller because its and every day crime that is alwayd under investigation in th real world.

Final Idea

Our final decision for our thriller came together by looking at all the ideas we came up with and then we put them all togther to make our final idea for our thriller. We got the idea of using a drug in our thriller from the drug related crime thriller, we won't a little consiracy, we won't a charcter to be obssessed, but with different intentions & we also wanted the criminal in the thriller to be writing a diary of his actions and intentions. But with coming up with the sequence we had to make sure we had the time to shoot the thriller and if we have the props, so were there were problems we had to changed them to the best of our own resources.

Section 4: Audience Research - and Research into BBFC Film Classification System

Graphs From Our Questionaires

Our audience research was to ask them questions about the Thriller genre and once we collected the information on our questionaires we came up with these graphs

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3. What do you look for in a Thriller?

This was an explaination anwser and people would say that they like to be thrilled, suspense, murder, action, guns, blood, twists, to be scared and a goood plot.

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6. What is your Favorite Thriller Movie?

Well we got a lot of different answers for this particular question because everyone has different tastes in different types of thrillers. We got thrillers like: Se7en, Red Eye, James Bond, The Dark Knight and 23.

7. What happens in your Favorite Thriller?

With this question we couldn't do a pie chart beacue it was more of an explanation question. So people would just fill in basically on the narrative of their favorite thriller movie.

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11. Which thriller film were you impressed with?

This question to find out what movies that pedestrians were impressed with when they watched them. Examples: Bourne Identity, Batman and Vantage Point.

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16. Where would be your Ideal setting for a Thriller?

Again we got mixed answers from the tastes of different people, some settings they said were in the city, in dark and creepy places, decay urban city and some people didn't mind where it would be set.

17. In your ideal thriller movie, what would happen?

This questions was designed to see how different people think how a thriller should be in their own imagination. The answers just an explanation on their ideal thriller.

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19. Who would be your ideal actor/actress to star in a thriller movie?

We got a mixture of different actors, some who a re big names and some who are fairly famous. Names of actors we got were: Angelina Jolie, Tom Hanks, Kirsten Belle, Milla Jovovich, Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Bruce Willis and more.

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Film Classification System

Title:

INCOGNITO

Target Audience:

Our Target audience are viewers who are 15 years of age and over and the picture is an example of 15+ year teenagers

Film Classification:

We gave our film a Certificate of 15 because our Target Audience are the ages of 15 and over and our film has really sinister and disturbing points near the end of the film were it gets really violent with weapons and knives being used, with blood and violence and unnatural behaviour.

This is the exact meaning of this Certificate when you see it on DVDs, Cinemas etc.... "Suitable for 15 years and over, No-one younger than 15 may see a '15' film in the Cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a '15' rated video work."

Section 5: Treatment

Treatment for Incognito
Incognito will be an unusual film with a twisted plot. It is a trail of betrayal and exploiting trust, that portrays serious consequences of jealousy.
Concept
A rich man struggling from stress is betrayed as his brother swaps his medication in order to be with his wife – however things take an unexpected turn as his intentions soon start to change.
Synopsis
Beginning: Starts with with Daniel, Clare & John in a living room, Daniel has gone to see his brother to get more medicine for his illness. But Clare has spiked his drink with a drug and John is distarcting Daniel. Daniel dies at the beginning but then you see John in a secret room in an angry mood with photo hangups in the room. Then we see flashback of what he has been doing to plan against Daniel with Clare.
Middle: 2 weeks before the death of Daniel we can see Clare and daniel getting married and playing happy couple together. Through out their marraige Johns jealousy increases and he starts stalking Clare and trying to convince her that they should kill Daniel and get everything he owns. She is horrified at first but then she agrres with the misdeed. Now they are making Daniel paranoid as well as making him sick with spiking his drinks. Finally Daniel is killed and John and Clare inherit everything.
End: Clare is enjoying her new life in the end but wonders why isn't John enjoying the inheritance. Plus she doesn't know where he is. John is starting to loose his mind and his greed is growing and he wants all Daniels belongings to himself and does not want to share with Clare. So he hunts Clare with bloodlust and murder on his hands. Clare runs in fear and regret for the misdeed she commited. Clare is murdered in the end, but John is arrested and convicted of both murders because the evidence allicates him. In the end the whole plan was a disaster.
Opening Scene

Starts with a glass of wine on a table that you see getting spiked by someone, then that person brings that drink to one of the male figures that is talking to another male figure. Then we see the female figure pass the wine to the man in the suit and he then drinks it, and then puts the glass back onto the table. Then we see the male doctor figure in the background of a secret room with hang ups of photos with the male figure looking upset. Then we see flashbacks of the man's past of him exchanging items with a female figure and seeing him writing a diary and ends with two photos, one being crossed out and one being circled. That includes the starting credits throughout the sequence.
Target Audience
The film should have a strong appeal for a wide audience, ranging from 18-27 years old yet the film is not an 18 certicate. It would appeal to audiences who enjoy suspense and twisted plots. The seriousness of the story will also appeal to older audiences as well as it has a different approach to them as the plot is of a different kind.
For this reason, the film will have a 15 certificate: as scenes of violence and drugs will be used, as well as bad language. This will help portray the characters attitudes and help the viewer understand the characters more.
Other Details
There will be no recognisable stars in the plot, as this will make the plot less revealing. Locations will be ordinary with sets such as the characters houses and the hospital etc.

Synopsis Detailed
The beginning of the film starts with Clare Redford spiking Daniel Redford’s (her husband) drink while Daniel receives a prescription from his brother Doctor John Redford, which is just to distract Daniel so Clare can spike Daniels drink. Then Clare picks up the wine and walks to Daniel and passes him the drink. Next Daniel drinks the wine and doesn’t realise its spiked, followed by a cut to a secret room that Doctor John has occupied with photo hang ups of Daniel and Clare with John looking through documents and prescriptions. John is upset and on edge in the background of the setting then John starts thinking back to what crime he has done and then we see a flashback of his misdeeds. The flashbacks are of him exchanging drugs and money with Clare and then we have two photos of Daniel crossed out in red marker pen and Clare photo circled. Now John has got rid of his brother, he now wants to get rid of Clare for his own selfish needs.
So its two weeks later before Johns & Clare’s crime was committed, at this time we get to see Daniel and Clare getting married. After that we see that they are living a happy and loving marriage with a great home and a lot of money. But John is jealous of his older brother Daniel because he has a beautiful wife a successful carrier as a well known business and John can’t stand his success even though John is a Doctor. So John stalks Clare and starts trying to convince Clare that they should kill Daniel so that they could both take all his money and success for themselves. At first Clare is horrified at the thought that John would want to kill his own brother. Once she rolls the idea in her head and s lot of convincing she decides to help John kill her husband and his brother. Throughout the middle of the moving they are having secret meetings and are planning on how to kill Daniel. They start by making him paranoid with death threats from an anonymous character. Also Clare is adding to the plan by spiking all Daniels drink with drinks that she has to buy from John so he can pay for them so that the missing drugs don’t look like they are being stolen. Throughout the spiking of the drink Daniel starts to get sick. Daniel sees his brother to get medicine to make him better and John exploits Daniels trust to give him medicine that Daniel believes will make him better and Daniel doesn’t ask about the medicine he is given because he trust his brother so much. As days go by his health keeps degenerating and Clare telling him that he will be better soon. Once Daniel goes to another appointment to see his brother, it his is last. John distracts Daniel while Clare adds another pill in another drink of Daniels and gives it him to drink to celebrate that he is starting to get better apparently. Suddenly Daniel falls to the ground and dies but not yet until seeing Clare with John, then they walk off and leave him to die.
Near the end of the film Daniels death was never looked into in depth and was classed as a mix up of prescriptions’, so no one has no idea what really happened to this big successful man. Now Clare is enjoying her new business and living the sweet life, but John is nowhere to be seen and Clare is getting worried and suspicious. John is starting to go mentally insane and is turning even more selfish and greedy because he wants all his brothers’ money and his business company. At an instant John goes to Clare’s with blood lust and murder on his hands. So John starts chasing Clare in her home and Clare is in tears with regret and sorrow of Daniels death. In the end Clare is brutally murdered. Then John is arrested and is convicted of Clare’s murder and they find documents on Daniel and plans on the death of him and they assume that only John planned both murders.

Section 6: Character Outlines and Script

Character Outlines

In our Thriller we have three main charatcers which are:

Dr John Redford (Brother of Daniel) .......... played by LOUIS SMITH

Daniel Redford (Husband of Clares) ........ played by DANIEL BOARDMAN

Clare Redford (Wife of Daniel) .......... played by JESSICA SHIRLEY

Dr John Redford

The Doctor is a scheming character that is after one thing, he is after his brothers fame and Daniels hard working fortune and he will ddo anything to get his hands on it. John in this film becomes and unstable character and starts becoming irrational and selfish and gets cosumed by his own greed.

Clare Redford

Clare is actually the most loving and caring person you'll meet, but she is harrassed and in the end persuaded by John to help kill Daniel for his money. At first she seems like a character that knows right from wrong but ends up becoming a deluded character and becomes a coniving women.

Daniel Redford

Poor husband, he is one of the most sucessful men alive from his pesurverance and his dedication to working hard, he is a confident yet a kind and gentle man. Who cares for his wife a lot. Daniel ends up getting ill when his brother keeps giving him an unknown drug that is suppose to make him better, and Clare is helping John pay for this medicine and making sure Daniel takes the medicine in order to kill him off discretely, so "till death do us part" seems very ironic in this thriller.

Script

Living Room Scene - No Dialogue

Clare: Spike the glass of wine

Daniel & John: Talking in the background

Clare: Pick up the glass and take it the Daniel

John: Pass Daniel the prescrition for the medicine

Daniel: Receive the prescription for the medicine

Clare: Stand next to Daniel and put your hand on his shoulder and pass the wine to him

Daniel: Receive the wine from Clare

Daniel: Drink the wine

(time passes by)

Daniel: Walk to table and put down the empty glass

Clare & John: Stand togther and look at Daniel when he turns around and falls

Daniel: Hand falls to the floor

Secret Room Scene - No Dialogue

John: Standing at desk shufferling papers round and photos as well

John: Writing in a diary about his life

John: Stand and look into the camera and then blink hard

John: Pick up the pen and and cross out Daniel in the photo and pick up the camra and look at his next target Clare

Outside Scene - No Dialogue

Clare & John: Walk up to eachother

Clare: Passes money to John

John: Takes money and takes out an envelope and gives it to Clare

Clare: Takes the 'Confidential' envelope

Clare & John: They both walk away in opposite directions

Section 7: Production Material - Storyboards & Shotlists

StoryBoards - Storyboard has changed slightly while we have been filming

Storyboard Descriptions


Shot 1 – Establishment Shot

Shot 2 – Shallow focus of a glass of wine with a pill being dropped into the wine (spiked)

Shot 3 – Deep or shallow focus (DOF) to see two male figures in the background talking, while wine glass is been picked up by womanly hand and taken to them

Shot 4 – Over the shoulder the shot over man in suit with womanly figure

Shot 5 – extreme close-up – shallow or deep focuses, and then woman passes drink to man

Shot 6 – Text with black background – Perplex Productions, PP

Shot 7 – Wide shot of a secret room of the doctor with photo hang ups in the room with the doctor looking through his documents in the far back of the room

Shot 8 – Extreme Close-up of the man drinking the spiked wine

Shot 9 – Blackout then actors name – Doctor Actor

Shot 10 – Close-up of doctor writing in a diary with ghosting effect

Shot 11 – Blackout and Actresses name in black background

Shot 12 – Close-up of man putting empty wine glass on a table

Shot 13 – Black and White background with another actor’s name

Shot 14 – Two tracking shot coming from left to right and right to left of prescriptions and photos and they fade into each other.

Shot 15 – Close up of the doctor’s diary writing something in it with a ghosting effect.

Shot 16 – Point of view shot of the man looking at the female figure with the camera starting to shake and blur and blinking effect and then a collapse to the floor to show the man has been drugged.

Shot 17 – White and Black background with ‘Edited By’ title and names

Shot 18 – Close up of Doctor turning diary pages back to start with them turning blank to show flashback

Shot 19 – White and Black background with ‘Written By’ title and names

Shot 20 – Extreme close up of the doctors eye with a quick fade into white to signify a flashback

Shot 21 – wide shot in Black and white effect and making the cheque in colour with the woman and a man exchanging items.

Shot 22 – Close up of exchange in black and white and the item is only in colour

Shot 23 – Wide shot again in white and black exchanging a package to the woman with package in colour

Shot 24 – Close up of packet in colour being exchange

Shot 25 – Close up of arm dropping to signify the man has died

Shot 26 – White and Black background and title ‘Incognito’

Shot 27 – Close up of two photos of manly figure crossed out and womanly figure circled

Shot 28 – White and Black background with title ‘Directed By’ and names

Section 8: Recce and Location Sheets

Recce

Well we didn't have alot of Ideas on locations but we tried to make sure that thee locations we used where realistically within our power to get to. We had one location of a big building as the establishing shot but we all couldn't get there to gether. We needed rooms for the actors to be in which wasn't really hard because it just had to be a living rooom and somewhere outside. For the secret hidden room we wanted a bigger room than the one we had to use so we could use a bigger table. But we all had to quickly sort out when we can all meet and start filming. Time was running out so we had to get one of us to start filming with or without the entire group. So one person from our group took the camera and filmed every thing from their house, which was the living room and another sitting room as the secret room. For the outside scene thy went outside from the house to where a main road was to make the scene seem more public.

Location Sheet

Production Group: Perplex Productions

Production Name (working title): 'Incognito'

Name of Location: Runcorn, Cheshire, UK

Area: Palacefields

Date of filming: 7/12/2009.

Section 9: Production Schedule

Name of Film: Incognito
Directors: Matthew Boardman
Producers: Keayan Mistry & Amy Brown
Client:

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Date Production Start: 04/11/2009

Treatment started: 08/12/2009 Completed: 09/12/2009

Shooting Started: 07/12/2009 13:00pm Completed: 07/12/2009 15:00pm

Post Production: Completed:

Rough Cut Submitted: 22/01/2010

Final Show Tape Completed:

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Location (Equipment Required):

At the location the equipment that were required was the camera and the tripod because we was outside and recording on a uneven hump.

Transport Required:

Bus to the Location of the entire Film production from Priestley college to Runcorn Palacefields

Crewing Requirements:

There wasn't really crewing requirments except of someone hoding an umbrella over the camera to protect it from the rain when we were outside

Actions:

The actors would have their own actions - Jessica: Walk up to Daniel giving the glass of wine to him. Daniel will take that why the actor Louis will give him a prescription and Daniel receives it. Daniel drinks the juice and he will work back to the table and put the glass down then be on the floor to make his hand fall like he was dead. Louis acting manic and crazy and writing in the notebook as if it was his journal as well as looking into the camera. Then Louis and Jessica would go out side and walk to eachother as if it was a meeting and pass props to eachother decretely and then walk away as if they never even encountered.

Props:

We had a number od props we had to use and they were - Paracetemal to be the misterious drug that is killing Daniel - Crystal wine glass to make it look expensive and to put the wine in - rasberry juice to be the wine Daniel drinks - Camera to have a picture of the next victim on it - Photos to show someone is spying on someones personal life. -Scissors to show he have been cutting up paper - Lamp to give a different lighting effect - Notebook to make into a secret diary/journal for Doctors secret plans - Perscription to give to Daniel to get his medicine - Envelope so it can hold something confidential inside it - Money put together to pay the Doctor - String to hang the photos from the ceiling - Marker for the Doctor to cross out the victim on the photo.

Section 10: Edit Decision List

Production Group: Perplex Producitons

Production Title: Incognito

Counter Number - Shot 1
Shot Description - Establishing Shot of a House in the Evening
Shot Length - 00:00:03:11
Good Take: Yes/No - NO

Counter Number - Shot 2
Shot Description - Shallow focus of glass of wine being spiked
Shot Length - 00:00:04:02
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 3
Shot Description - More in depth focus to see men in background, also woman picking up wine
Shot Length - 00:00:01:12
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 4
Shot Description - Close up of a presription being passed
Shot Length - 00:00:02:13
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 5
Shot description - Woman passing drink to man in the suit - 2 shot & Medium shot
Shot Length - 00:00:04:05
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 6
Shot Description - Black Background and White Text
Shot Length - 00:00:02:09
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 7
Shot Description - Doctor in dark room acting frantic and photos hanging from a ceiling
Shot Length - 00:00:12:03
Good Take: Yes//No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 8
Shot Description - Extreme close up of man in suit drinking the wine
Shot Length - 00:00:03:23
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 9
Shot Description - Black Background and White Text
Shot Length - 00:00:01:07
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 10
Shot description - Doctor writing in a diary - Close up with Ghosting Effect
Shot Length - 00:00:11:05
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 11
Shot Description - Black Background with white text
Shot Length - 00:00:01:07
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 12
Shot Description - Man in suit walking and putting down glass
Shot Length - 00:00:05:21
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 13
Shot Description - Black Background with white text
Shot Length - 00:00:01:07
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 14a-b
Shot Description - Tracking Shot, Left to Right faded together with tracking shot, Right to Left
Shot Length - 00:00:06:31
Good Take: Yes/No - NO: too jumpy

Counter Number - Shot 15
Shot Description - Doctor still writing in diary with Ghosting Effect
Shot Length - 00:00:10:16
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 16
Shot Description - POV Shot of man collapsing with an effect that blurs his vision
Shot Length - 00:00:05:02
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 17
Shot Description - Black Background with white text
Shot Length - 00:00:02:17
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 18
Shot Description - Diary being flipped the the front of diary by has been faded with another flipped diary that is empty to give the feeling of time going back - Close up and Ghosting effect
Shot Length - 00:00:03:16
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 19
Shot Description - Black Background and White Text 'Written By'
Shot length - 00:00:02:17
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 20
Shot Description - Extreme close up of Doctors eye with a dip to white effect to signify a flashback
Shot Length - 00:00:03:18
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 21
Shot Description - Wide shot of guy and girl walking to eachother with a black and white effect
Shot Length - 00:00:04:05
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 22
Shot Description - Girl passing money to the guy with effect where you can only see the colour of her painted nail and the rest of the colours are BOW
Shot Length - 00:00:01:11
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 23
Shot Description - Guy receiving money and guy giving girl a envelope with BOW effect
Shot Length - 00:00:04:16
Goood Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - 24
Shot Description - Close up of the guys hand passing the girl a 'confidential' envelope with the same effect as shot 22
Shot Length - 00:00:01:21
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 25
Shot Description - Extreme close up of Doctors eye opening after flashback
Shot Length - 00:00:01:24
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 26
Shot Description - Man in the suit hand falls to the floor to show he is dead and we extended the film to slow down the hand fall to dramatise death
Shot Length - 00:00:03:05
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 27
Shot Description - Black Background and White Text 'Directed By'
Shot Length - 00:00:04:16
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 28
Shot Description - Doctor crossing his victim out of a photo and now looking at his new victim in a camera with a blur effect to hide the next victim. Gradual zoom into the camera screen
Shot Length - 00:00:08:50
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Counter Number - Shot 29
Shot Description - Black Background with a green title 'Incognito' with a blurry brush effect and then if fades into the title becoming fully clear to read
Shot Length - 00:00:06:16
Good Take: Yes/No - YES

Section 11: Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback

So we have shown an audience our opening thriller sequence 'Incognito' and the audience were very impressed and we mostly got positive comments. We had people say they liked on how we used the camera's position to hide the charatcers faces because they said if gave mystery which made then want to know who the characters are. They also like the close up of the eye that went into the flashback because they felt like they were watching the flashback, even when they saw the black and white effect because they immediately knew they were in a recall of a memory with the effect, pretty much said it really worked. The scene where the glass is picked up and then later put down we had a comment that he liked the fact that the character put his glass back in the same composition the wine glass was in at the start of the sequence. Further more they like the setting of the secret room the doctor was in, majority enjoyed the photos hanging from the ceiling which looked creepy and the actor in the back of the room acting erratic and they thought it worked very well. Then we had someone recall the meeting of the woman and man and said that they knew it was a secret meeting because of the way they met up together.

Even though our group got positive comments we also got negative comments that were very useful and helpful to use to think about if we ever did this project again. Some people didn't think the oink coloured nail paint didn't work because it made the film look childish, which I had to agree with because we initially wanted red the connote lust and passion etc. I then asked if anyone notice any editing problems, then thy comments on the tracking shot that looked jumpy which was one of the problems that we had to roll with in the end product. We got comments on the acting, we were told that the actors shouldn't have been so stiff and should have met up with each other simultaneously which would have made it more dramatic. Another editing prblem was the glass of wine at the beginning because the camera moved and made the glass look as if it has moved so we had a bit of continuity problems.

All in one I felt that our entire thriller worked well together to get across most meanings we wanted to and the compliments will raise our confidence to do well as well as the critisim to bring us down a bit to push us to go the extra mile and make us better at our work.

Section 12: Analysis of Completed Sequence

Evaluation



Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

To make our thriller opening scene we had to come up with ideas, so we though about movies that inspired us to use the techniques they used and put it in our thriller in a creative way.

"SE7EN"

The photo at the top is from my thriller opening sequence and the photo below is from the opening sequence of 'SE7EN'. We used the similar effect from seven because it gives off connotations of insanity and being unstable and that is what we were trying to get across with our character in our Thriller.


"SIN CITY"

Photo shot below SIN CITY title is from our thriller sequence and you can see we have only shown the colour in the woman figures nails. Below that is a scene from sin city with the same effect. I liked that we did this effect but we didn't get across the meaning of lust, passion and death because our actress had pink nails and that gave off her being girly but still not as effective like the sin city use of colour.

Theories of Thriller that are incorporated into our Thriller Film "INCOGNITO"

When we started our thriller we wanted to make sure it fitted into the genre of Thriller films, so we would look back at section one in our blog and remind ourselves on the theories on thrillers. First of all our thriller refers to the argument of 'Northrop Frye' and his theory on thrillers having a 'Heroic Romance' in them. Frye argued that thrillers stories took ordinary people and threw them into extraordinary situations. Incognito narrative has a similar convention, reason being is that the characters in Incognito all get put into extraordinary situation that involves planning, murder and violence. However the heroic part of the romance in our thriller does not apply.

Also I can say that Incognito can fit into the theory of 'John Cawelti' - 'The Exotic'. The story of Incognito connotes the exotic feel with the character 'Clare Redfield' planning to kill her husband after being brainwashed, we all know that's not everyday life.

Furthermore the opening sequence of our Thriller sequence is like the theory of 'Partial Vision' of 'Pascal Bonitzer's' theory. Bonitzer discussed that the audience are only given a partial view of the narrative and whats going on in certain scenes, such as important details being obscured. You see the opening sequence of Incognito hides the identities of all the characters and you can only guess what is going to happen in the narrative by looking at the sequence and looking in detail at the Mise en Scene and try to put the little details of the narrative together to get the whole narrative structure.

Plus our thrillers leaves the audience asking a number of questions or 'Enigma Codes' as 'Roland Barthes' would call them. Our sequence does exactly what Barthes analysed a thriller narrative to be, with our sequence it makes our audience ask questions like: "Why did they Kill him," What are they Planning" and more. As Barthes said all these questions are important in constructing and telling the story of the thriller.

So with all these theories about thrillers in our movie informs the consumers that our sequence genre which is thriller.

My Thriller Breakdown

The Narrative you get from our thriller is two people conspiring against one man but we don't know who the characters are. however we know the narrative of the thriller is going to be a sneaky and conniving thriller because of the drink being spiked without the guy in the suit knowing. Plus we know there is going to be a anger and danger in the thriller by the madness of the stranger in the dark room. That's the narrative you get from the opening scene, the whole narrative is Clare is married to Daniel Redfield who is a successful businessman and is rich, Daniel has a brother called John who is jealous of his brother even though he is a respectable doctor. Soon his anger becomes extreme it leads him to convince Clare to kill Daniel for his money too. Read full synopsis in section .........

So we used a lot of different techniques to get certain meanings across so the audience would know we have made a thriller and to make it look interesting to watch. First off all we used a range of camera shots. We use close up shots on the wine glass to show the wine being spiked which indicates someone being drugged. With all the shots we made sure we cut out the heads of the characters so you can't see their identity which gave connotations of mystery. Also had a wide shot of the secret room so you could see the abnormality of the settings with the photos hanging down and the actor acting frantically. Also we used a number of effects to give off different meanings. Like the ghosting effect which connoted confusion and even abnormal behaviour. Furthmore, we used the editing with the effect dip to white to connote a flashback and then we used the black and white effect which emphasizes the flashback. There are close ups of the characters passing important props and the close ups connotes their importance. The graphics we had where in white with our names from a group. These was to show the directed by, edited by etc. Then the title Incognito was in the colour green and this was to give connotations to the audience of jelousy, envy and money. The blur before the text goes into focus signifies the confusion of the characters in the thriller. Furthermore the Jazz music is diegetic sound because its what the characters are listening to in the lounge. While the dark music is non-diegetic sound and it gives the connotations of evil and conspiracy.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?




Daniel Redford - He is the guy wearing the suit. We have represented Daniel Redford in our film as a wealthy man as you can tell by him wearing a suit and dressing in a professional manner. Even though you can't see his face you can see that he is fairly young and very successful with a very attractive wife next to. That represents him as a handsome person and that people envy his success. That's how we wanted to present Daniel Redford.

Clare Redford: On the same screen shot you can see Clare Redford, Daniel Redford's wife. She represents the attractive and beautiful rich girls that are usually married to the rich guy. Also showing that she has a great sense of style and that she takes care of her body that gives her the supermodel body that the media thirst on in the news, film, etc........








John Redford: The screen shot shows Dr Redford in a shirt and a pair of pants with long hair. He represents the brothers out their who feel less important than their brothers and begin to hate them with a vengeance. Presented as the less handsome of the other brother with a more brittle figure. Long hair showing he does not care so much about the control of his hair and that he doesn't really care on how he presents himself. So he basically puts on formal clothes but does not look well presented. Plus you can see that John
Redford wears glasses so it presents John as the brother with all the imperfections.

In this scene we have presented Clare and John as your everyday pedestrian in modern day clothes. So this can show that anybody around you can be capable of sinning. This shows that they are trying to blend in and cover their identity like gangs on the streets with the hoodies like Clare Redford is wearing.

Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In these modern times we have a lot of distributors for High budget films and even low budget films. You have people who like to distribute low budget films which can lead to new creative directors being discovered as well as actors and actresses. That includes editors and even writers too. In the media low budgets films can end up being turned out to high budget films and a chance for people to be discovered that's how the media works, it looks for the next big thing that can inspire and even change the ways are seen.

Here are a few examples of low budget companies that would be willing to fund our these type of media based project:

- Yorkshire Media Production Agency

- The London Production Fund

- British Film Institute

- Isle of Man Film Commission

- East Midlands Arts Board

- First Take Films

For more look on this website:

http://www.filmcentre.co.uk/faqs_fund.htm

Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience for our Media Product is for people the age of 15 years and over and you can see who are our audience by taking a look of the photo above. These type of people fit the target audience because young adults can look at the characters in the thriller and see who they thrive to become as they get older e.g. Daniel Redford the successful business man. The adults fit the audience because the photo shows that very kind and very normal people could change and become a monster like the Character Dr John Redford.

What are the Audience Like?

Before we had to create our idea for our film we had to take into account what our target audience like to see when they are watching films. Well first of all near the age of 15 I would say that boys would like to see action, blood, horror and things that can make them jump. As for girls at this age they would like to see romance, horror but without gore, friendship etc. So I think that both females and males would enjoy our film because it has blood in the film, has a little romance, has loads of twists with a bit of jumpy and disturbing scenes in the film synopsis.

To be specific about the type of audience going to see our film 'Incognito' I would say they are a patient film viewer who likes to see lots of twist and backstabbing characters. Plus that they are very curious by asking questions throughout the film in their heads that they want answered, which will make them more intrigued to carry on watching the film. Also I would say they would like to see doomed romances and plans that end in disaster where it ends up in a bit of a bloodbath. Which includes them liking to be a little scared for the adrenaline rush.

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We used our audience research to make sure a film would live up to what people expect of a thriller film. We made sure that we made our opening sequence suspenseful and to make the opening scene make the audience ask a lot of questions as well. We did want it to be violent because the audience like a bit off violence in the thriller but that was not in our opening scene but is through the film if it was fully made so we can only hope if this was a real movie that this opening sequence would want the audience to watch more. We liked to use a lot of effects as well but not in the use of blood but computer graphics because they usually intrigue the viewers.





Q6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

1. Video Effects - Our group use a few effects in our thriller to give meanings to different scenes. We used 'Black and White' effect on the meeting scene of the woman and man to give the feeling of a flashback. 'Colour change' on the close of them passing the money and envelope to show the colour of the woman's nails and leave the rest of the colour in black and white. We used 'Ghosting' effect to give a creepy feel to the doctor writing in the diary. Finally we used blur twice to make the victim look like his vision was going in the POV shot and to hide the doctors next victim when He looks at the camera.

2. Video Transitions - 'Dip to White' to make the close of the doctors eye to make a feel of him having a flashback. 'Dip to Black' to fade into the black title background to make the at beginning of sequence to the first titles.

3. Audio Transitions - 'Constant Gain' to make the music gain power and then kick into the music so it didn't just appear out of nowhere. 'Constant Power' because the music was to short for the thriller so we had to take a copy of a section of the 'DARK' music and then add it to the end of the music to extend it and used the constant power to make it sound continuous.

4. New Item - 'Black Video' to the opening to build to the establishing shot and to put the text on the black background with white text and the background brings of the white text.

5. Source (Effect controls) - This is where we would see the source of the filming we did. Where we can capture accurately the scenes. 'Effect Control' is where we adjusted the effects that we added to the film.

6. Captured Shots - This is where all the rough captured shots we had taken when we where capturing the scenes from the tape after filming. We added music in there and the black video which we then dragged into the source box to watch and capture the scene accurately.

7. Razor Tool - We used this tool to cut up scene to either separate the scenes to put them in different places or so that we could give them effect and they can flow together with a blur near the end of the same scene.

8. Capture Tools (in/out) - Used these tools to put what part of the scenes are in and which parts of the scenes are out. We had to make sure they are accurate so the thriller doesn't have continuity problems.

9. Program - This is the media player where we would watch the thriller to check and see how we could make it better.

10. Video (1,2,3) - This is where we put our clips together. We used all three layers to help with the ghosting affect. We also changed the speed setting on one of the clips in the sequence.

11. Audio (1,2,3) - We put our diegetic and non-diegetic sound here and we did cut some parts of the diegtic sound out because we didn't need them.

Capture

Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?