Looking back at our preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since completing my preliminary task I have learnt so many skills that makes creating, editing and even evaluating my media products possible. As I had not studied Media before I was new to all the equipment but after practice and spending time getting used to the different resources I realised it would be easy.
In my preliminary task, we did not use transitions of effects on any shots, so when we did with the final media product it made such a difference to the final piece. Also learning to add music to Imovie projects using Garageband was a skill that I developed and I effectively added music to our thriller film making it much more interesting and nail-biting to watch, which is always a benefit.
Live Type is another software that I did not know how to use before this year of Media and it is a great program to be able to use as it allows your work to look more professional and appropriate to watch.

If I could go back and adapt the work I did on my preliminary task I would work on the different camera shots and angles to make it more interesting and varied for the audience. I would perhaps add appropriate titles to the task using the software called LiveType which is a great program and looks great on our thriller film, this also gives the task a more professional look.

This is a copy of my film with my tags explaining the technical decisions I made when creating my Thriller Opening Sequence.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

As I did not do Media Studies last year at GCSE level, this year constructing my A Level opening sequence I learnt about all the different technologies available.When filming shots for the sequence we had to use the brand new cameras which I had not used before, and I think that I managed to use them effectively to get a great range of different shots. Once it came to the editing part of the product, it gave me a chance to use the Imovie program for the very first time, I also learnt how to import sounds which was crucial for adding the music to our thriller.
The camera is what we used to construct all the different shots to make our thriller film, and to create really effective shots we used a tripod. For the tracking shot across the character's bed we used the tripod to guarantee that it was effective when it was converyed to the audience.
The next logo to to the right of the image of the camera is the logo for the programme LiveType. This cna be used to add titles to your piece of work, giving it a more professional look. When making our thriller films we decided not to use this porgramme and instead use the Imovie software to create titles. However I do still know how to use this software and before the end of the year in Media I will probably end up using this effectively.
The orange logo at the bottom left of the contact sheet is Blogger, this is the website where we all made blogs to portray all the work we have completed. This is vital for the course.
The Imovie logo is the last one and most probably the most important. This is the software that we used to ake our thriller film. We used this software to add in the titles of the jobs and roles and then edited the film to make sure it had it's own spin on it, and make it attract our target audience as easily as possible.

How did you attract/address the audience?

The first way to attract an audience to watch your film is to have a main character that is the same or a similar age to the people viewing your media product, this makes it easier for them to aspire to be like that character and then they can relate.
We made sure that our character was portrayed as quite wealthy and had a busy lifestyle so we made sure that he was wearing a suit and was leaving for work, most people between the ages of 16-18 have jobs so can relate to these activities. The fact that he is seen in London is also a good feature that would attract the audience as they may live locally and even if they do not then they have probably visited the Centre of London.
Having the setting of our film in London makes it different from most other thrillers and therefore will make the audience feel familiarized as they know that surrounding.

The synopsis of our film would appeal to our target audience as it doesn't contain too much violence, just hints at it with the use of the flashback and the scene in the bathroom.

I showed my thriller to a group of my peers and their comments and thoughts are shown below;

'I really like the use of editing by the use of camera effects to enhance their meaning to the audience of a flash back'

'The variety of camera angles within the many locations adds interest to the audience and emphasises the moods of each character for example a close up enhances the females shocked facial expression'

Below is a Voiceover with our thriller film which explains the decisions that we made when we were in the process of creating our thriller film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I would say that my thriller is a certificate 15 as it is a thriller however the viewer does not see any violence or blood/gore. It references to violence but none is seen, therefore the certificate 15 is appropriate.
The main actor in the sequence is about 18 years old so having this character starring in the film will attract a lot of young people to watch this film, maybe the audience can feel that they can relate to the main character if he is at a similar age.



Paranoia would mostly attract young guys that are 16-18 years old. This would be the type of guy that would enjoy our thriller.

This is Joe Spencer and he is 17 years old. He attends College and studies Engineering which he would like to pursue in the future as his job. He dresses fairly straightforward- jacket and jeans. He is into sports with his friends as plays football for Charlton Athletic. His favourite genre of music would be 'Rock' type of music as his favourite artists are bands. This could ties in with our thriller film as the music is seen to become quite angry and intense. He watches a wide variety of films in a range of genres but thrillers are his favourite. 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' and 'Memento' are his favourites which is where the ideas of the synopsis of our opening sequence came from.

In his spare time he is at training with his football team and down the gym doing endurance training. He watches films after his matches as they give him a chance to relax.

His favourite TV programmes are Friends, Scrubs, Family Guy, American Dad and Match of the Day. These are on a range of channels from E4 to BBC 3 and BBC1.

I think our film would appeal to this guy as he would be able to relate to the main character (Nathan) quite easily and thriller films are his favourite type of film genre.

What type of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Vertigo Films is a British company that I think maybe interested to distribute my media product. Our film is set in Central London which is the capital city of England. They have done many films such as Shrooms, The Firm and Streetdance 3D which all appeal to a wide range of different audiences. The film that they have made which is mostly likely to be linked with our film is Shrooms, as this is a Thriller film too.



Another example of a British company is Working Title. They produced the film Fargo which we studied in class and completed posts on. The film Fargo is also a thriller.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In the opening sequence that I have created there is only really one main character who is a young male. He is a businessman who takes pride in his appearance as he is wearing a smart grey suit. The fact that he has neat hair as well could perhaps show to the viewers that he is a vain character and by the choice of costume that Nathan wears, wealthy. This uses stereotypes as most people think wealthy people are very independent and selfish and Nathan portrays the character in the same way.
The fact that he takes pride in his appearance is apparent in the sequence before he leaves the house as he looks at himself in the mirror and seems pleased with what he sees.
This character can be related to easily as he wakes up and is getting ready for work by participating in everyday activities.

Also the fact that our victim is a woman is also a stereotype as women in society are seen as weak and vulnerable to men.

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

While making my media product, other sequences like Memento influenced me to use different camera shots but more particularly the black and white shots with increased pace to show that they are there for flash back purposes. This makes it easier for the viewers to understand the opening sequence and then can maybe familiarize themselves with the characters.
The casting of the characters in our film could also be linked to the man in Memento 'Leonard' as both characters are seen as harmless and innocent until later revealed in the film.

Also another film that could be linked closely to is Dexter. Both our film and the original show a character getting prepared for the day ahead. Although both films do this in different ways they are both very much effective. The film that we created perhaps causes curiosity to the viewers as they perhaps prepare questions about our main character whereas Dexter does this in a more sinister way.

Questionaire about Thriller Films.

This questionnaire is about thrillers, and will help students who study media produce their film opening sequence. We thank you for your participation in this questionnaire. Circle your answer when appropriate.

1. What is your age?

a. 17 - 21 b. 22 – 25 c. 26 – 30 d. 30+

2. What is your gender?

a. Male b. Female

3. How regularly do you watch thrillers?

a. Once a year b. Once a month c. Once a week d. More than once a week

4. a. Can you name a thriller that you enjoyed and why you enjoyed it so much?

5. What type of thriller do you enjoy?

a. Psychological thriller b. Mystery thriller c. Crime thriller

d. Horror thriller e. Other (please specify) ………………………

6. What type of location would be effective to film a thriller?

a. City

b. Town

c. Countryside

d. Underground

e. None of the above

7. Do you prefer a slow paced lead into the film or a faster paced action scene to begin with?

a. Slow paced b. Fast paced c. Don’t mind

8. What elements of a thriller appeal to you?

a. Tension b. Mystery c. Violence d. Twist in the plot e. None (please specify) ………………………………….

Results from the Questionaire.

This was taken from a question on our Questionaire that was ' What type of effect would be the best for an opening sequence of a thriller'. As you can see from the pie chart the majority of the people that filled in our Questionaire decided that the Countryside would be an effective location to use when filming a thriller. The town was also a common choice for when shooting shots for a film in the thriller genre. This could perhaps be the fact that towns are always busy places and would create more of a chaotic feel to the film and maybe gives the character or criminal no way of escaping. However the town would have many lights which would perhaps go against the dark atmosphere of a thriller film.

The idea of using an Underground station to shoot shots for a thriller because they are all very similar and not much variety from one to the next. Also most Underground station are not very spacious meaning that filming in this type of place would have been difficult but not impossible.

Storyboards for our thriller