Feedback on our Final Project

Positives

• The magnifying glass was effective because it shows the audience what to focus on
• Good Logo
• Music is effective and created suspense
• Shot variety was good

Negatives

• Music was quite repetitive
• The shots were quite repetitive
• Could use quicker shots to create more suspense
• Quite long - needed to be sped up to add more suspense to the whole opening

We think that our feedback was quite good overall and we do agree with what we need to improve to make our thriller opening better.

T2-52 Final Video

Font for Credits

For our thriller opening, we used the website DaFont. There was a range of different types of fonts to choose from, with different group fonts to choose from. The font type is called "Payday" and looks like this:





We think that the credits match our genre of film because of the way that the font looks, its creepy and bold, so that it stands out and doesn't blend in too much with the film. We will be editing the credits in along with the music and video.

What we liked in another groups Thriller Opening and what we need to do to improve our Thriller.

We really like the credits that were used in T2-51's opening because it looked proffesional and really reinforced that what we were watching was a thriller due to the font type and colour. We need to make our credits flow more into our thriller and edit the clips more to re-inforce a more creepy and thriller like vibe.

We agree with our feedback on the credits, music and making some of our clips shorter to give it more tention, as we want to create a realy effective thriller opening. we like our font type for the credits but we need to edit them in better and fit them into the clips so it looks more proffesional. We need to create some really effective music, which we will focus on next week as this is part of the mise-en-scene that creates the thriller atmosphere to our opening. Finally, we may shorten some of our clips to create more tention and suspense which was suggested by other groups.

Feedback from T2-53

The clips were too long so therefore it didn't build any tension. In our opinion we would shorten the clips to make it more snappy and to use video filters and transitions to vary the look of the shots. We liked the magnifying class as it was unique and stands out. Also a good range of shot types were used.

feedback from T2-54

We found your film interesting. We felt that if the shots were more snappy and quicker it could build a little more suspense. The credits were extremely effective as it fits in with the conventions of a thriller. The editing made it continuous which made it clear to the audience what was going on. Overall, it was good to watch 

T2-49 comments

The opening was good, but it was quite long, the cuts were long so tension wasn't created, if sound was included the opening would be tenser and grab your attention more.

The narrative was centered around a murder, although the actual murder wasn't shown. The credits didn't fit, didn't give us much information e.g. the name of the film, who did what etc. and they were very randomly placed with one near the beginning and one right at the end.

T2-50

The sound needs to be included to create or pertray the mood of the shot/clip.
The range of camera angles and distences were good.
The pans were good because they showed a lot of information in one shot.
The opening sequence was too long and as it seemed to show similar clips towards the end, it seemed too much the same, tedious. As you got a rough idea of the plot with the clips before.
The ident was good but it was quite basic, could have been adapted by using motion key.

Feed back from T2-51

• Sound needs to be included because we were unaware how to react towards the character and whether he was the protagonist or the antagonist.
• Clips between credits should be shorter as the clips didn't capture your attention enough
• Shots were clever how we saw the character looking over notes and evidence.
• Repeating important clips and jumps within one shot were clever and added excitment to it and made you think about what he was doing and made you question why.
• The colours were dull which worked well as most thrillers use dull colouring and lighting to set the mood.

rough cut- shallow grave

Thriller Opening Deadlines

Monday 7th March
9am - Filming Deadline

Wednesday 9th March
12:20pm - Rough Cut Deadline

Thursday 10th March
Watching each others rough cuts - offering each other advice

Wednesday 16th  March
12:20pm - Final Cut Deadline

Monday 21st March
9am - Draft Evaluation Due in via Email

Props for our Thriller opening

We have used google earth to find two maps - one satellite and one road map to use in our thriller opening. We shall draw red lines over the map and crosses as "suspected routes" that the 'murderer' in our thriller could have taken as escape routes.






We are also going to use an image that will be classed as our victim and blown up quite big, so that the audience can see clearly that they are dead. This is the image below that we are going to use:



We are also going to have a couple of images of fingerprints in our thriller to make it more realistic. We found these on google which we are going to use:

Costume for our Thriller Opening

This picture shows the costume that the detective will be wearing in the thriller opening. The particular focus is the coat because its is not too stereotypical but quite smart.

Top Tips for Filming

We have a few top tips that we have come across when filming.

• ALWAYS know exactly what and where you are filming -  this way you know if anything will interupt or make an unwanted sound whilst filming.
• check the location first so you can asses any problems you may come across. This way when it comes to the day of your filming it should all run smoothly.
• The best way to keep a steady picture is to use a tripod so that it keeps the camera still and still and focused.
• Check the weather. Depending on the weather you may or may not be able to film outside, if it rains and the camera gets wet then you may have to be buying a new camera.
• Try to know what you are going to film as this way there is no last minute filming in an unknown area that you have not checked, also knowing what you are filming means it wont take more time than needed and things wont get complicated.
• Make a shotlist and stick to it. This way you have a clear plan of what you have to do, and its practicaly a visual check list of your shots.

Target Audience For Our Thriller

Our target audience age is from 15 and up. Not just because we have certified that this is our certificate age for our film, but also because younger people would probably not appreciate or find it as interesting as older people would. The film is aimed at both male and female, as there is no particular gender selected for watching this film as it is not a romance or an action packed man film, it has been made for both genders to watch. People who are most interested in crime thrillers, or crime stories are more likely to enjoy the film more because its something they enjoy watching and could relate to real life news that they are interested in.
We think that the film will appeal to our target audience because a lot of 15 year olds enjoy thrillers because they like the tention and thrill that thrillers give to an audience when they watch. our thriller will appeal to our target audience because the story line isn't too complicated to understand and it's creative, which appeals to a younger audience.

The most similar crime thrillers that relate to our film that our target audience would like are "murder by numbers" due to the story line of a murder, and "Identity", which has a very similar opening to our thriller.

Test Footage

We think that our test shooting went really well. Although we didn't add transitions in the editing, the way we filmed the scenes worked really well.
There are a few things that we are going to change in our footage when we shoot the real thing - such as having a male detecive instead if a female, photographs as 'evidence' and the fact that the detective will have a glass of water and pills and be in a kitchen, rather than in a bathroom where they are sloshing water into their face.
this is our test footage below, we have added titles throughout to annotate the clips where we need to change things or to show what we think has worked best. We didn't add any sound or effects to the footage as this task was only to think mainly about what type of shots we were going to use and how they have worked.

Childrens film Evaluation

After watching our Children's Film we spotted a number of things that we could improve on in our Thriller project.

Such as;
- Allowing more time to edit the clips together.

- Making sure the shots run smoothly and link together well.

- The use of the match on action shot wasn't smooth which affected the continuity of the opening sequence. 

-  The music was not empathetic; allow more time to compose any music or soundtrack needed and to make sure it fits in with the appropriate scene.

- To develop and make our titles more complex and enable them to link with the genre or plot well.
(The points marked in red are the things that I feel I really need to concentrate on and improve for my thriller opening sequence)



However in our clip we also managed to spot any skills or aspects that was positive within our opening sequence:
- The acting from the characters within the clip was realistic.
- There was a good amount of simple dialogue which helped to represent the storyline.

- The credits were colourful; links well to the children's film genre.
- The storyline wasn't too complicated for the target audience.

- We used a variety of shot distances including close up, establishing shot, long shots and pans.

(The points marked in green is what I feel were my strengths in my childrens opening sequence)

Looking back at our Childrens Film

We had to look back at our childrens film and analyse the good things about it and things we needed to change to make it better.

3 things we would like to change are:

•  The sound throughout the film, worked quite well, but could have been better by flowing more and blending in with the scenes.
• It was easy for us to make out the story line, but it may not have been as easy for others to follow and so we could have made it slightly easier to understand.
• We used a lot of the same transitions, and so it would have been more interesting to use a varied type.

3 things we like about our childrens film:

• We matched the sound to certain moments in the film, like the laughing of the bullies and also the shutting of the door, which were exactly in time.
• We feel as though we framed the shots well because we included all the props, and the settings in the scenes, making it easier to understand where Betty is.
• We shot appropriate material to the certificate and rules set by the teacher.

This is the link to our childrens film and blog below:
http://52longroadchildrensfilm10.blogspot.com/ :-)


The group who watched our chidren's film told us three positive things about our childrens film and 2 negatives.
The three positives are;

• All the shots flowed well and were edited together nicely
• The mise-en-scene was well created
• The music was good and linked well with the genre and plot

Two things to improve are;

• Transitions between music clips
• The quality of the opening sequence as it is a bit blurry

The things that we have highlighted in red are things that we believe we really need to improve. The group that looked at our childrens film also though that the sound needed to be better transitioned and we thought that we still thought making the plot easier to understand would be an important point.
The things that we highlighted in green are the things that we believe to be most important positive notes on our childrens film.

What we need to do to improve with our thriller project
After looking at the points we made and feedback from another group, we have decided that the best way of improving is to spend more time editing the clips, so that wecan make things flow better and the sound can be mixed better by fading in and out so that it isnt as jumpy and switches all of a sudden. We must make sure that to make our new projects story line is easier to understand by not changing the setting too quickly, as it will make it simpler for the audience to follow and understand as to where the character/s involved are going next.

Draft Script for our Thriller Opening

Script

The camera scans across rigidly the black and white photographs of the victim as well as the documents typed up by the investigators. Maps are laid out all over the table with red lines and crosses drawn over them, showing routes that the murderer could have taken and the place of the murder. After a while, you see the detective picking up items from the table he is working at and inspecting them closely with the magnifying glass under the lamp. A close-up shot is taken of the detectives face looking very uneasy as he's looking at the case. The camera moves swiftly on back to the case, zooming in even closer on to the evidence and scanning across it. A glass of water will be sitting on a table top with a packet of paracetamol that will be opened. You will only be able to see the hands opening the paracetamol and the glass being picked up when the scene will be cut completely to a black out where the title of the film come across.

the reason that our script is so short is because most of what the audience are going to see will be images and short montaged clips which will make the introduction more interesting and more mysterious.

Our first Call Shot List

Sheet 1

Set A small confined room; a study.

Scene 1,2,3 and 4 (no need to change into a different room because it is all situated in the same place other than when the detective will get up to get a drink with his paracetamol.

Synopsis

For these scenes the camera will video things hand held to make the shots more suspenseful and interesting. The first scene will be videoing the props.

The second scene will be videoing the detective looking at all the props and 'evidence'.

The thrid scene will be videoing a close-up shot of the detectives face looking uneasy as the case is what he has a big fear of and so filming this hand held will add even more suspense.

The forth scene will be videoing more evidence from the scene of the crime that the detective has been looking at.
Location
The location of these shots will be made in one room, where it will be quite dark giving an eerie atmosphere and with only a lamp looking at the images and items on the table making it even more mysterious when the film is put together.

Cast members
Tim will be the only acting member of the cast in the clip as we will only be featuring one main character in our opening credits other than the victim which we will use photographs of.
Costumes
The only needed costume will be Tims' as he is the only character being filmed. He will need to be wearing neat yet slightly casual clothing – a shirt with tidy trousers and his detectives coat so that he does look like he is working and in the proper role of our protagonist.

Props

• Magnifying glass
• Detectives coat
• Maps
• Photographs
• Previous similar cases information
• Glass of water
• 'Paracetamol' (this will not be real medication however we will use something that looks similar.

Any other information:

• The camera will be collected from college at 4:10pm on Friday 11^th February until 9am on Monday. Caroline will collect it and bring it back.
• We will video most of these shoots in college as it will be easier to find a small room to video in and film the drinking of water outside of college in a kitchen.

Six Feet Under - Opening Credits Sequence

The opening sequence to this thriller series is very interesting. The music doesn't really match the clips you see, as i was expecting something slightly more eerie and mysterious rather than eerie and up beat. The shots used are very interesting as i really like the way that things have been filmed, it makes the shots very dramatic and gives it a very clinical and hospitalised feel. I really like the way that the credits names of people who took part are put on the clear flask, because it makes it more interesting to look at rather than just having them at the bottom of the screen sliding across. I also think that the close up shots and jumps in the sound track when the shots are made make things slightly more on edge for the viewer, keeping you on the edge of your seat. When you see the flower die in one of the clips, it is quite an emotional shot as it is quite symbolic to life as well as telling the viewer that a lot of the things you are going to see on screen are going to involve death in a subtle way, which is in forced more into the viewers mind when you see the coffin being carried out of the car and a gravestone. One last thing that i noticed is that at the beginning, you see a tree which is then shown with two hands - one younger than the other, and at the end you see the tree again, almost symbolizing a cycle.

Vantage Point - Political Thriller Clip Analysis

The creepy and mismatched cuttings at the beginning of this film build up suspense as to the plot of this film. The music also adds, being eerie and catchy to listen to, immediately getting the viewers attention as to what the thriller is going to be about. The images are in an almost sepia type of colour tone, making what you are watching even more intriguing. As the title of the film slowly fixes itself into place, the music becomes louder and even more eerie, keeping the viewer locked into what is about to happen. As ambient music is played and  an american voice is heard, its easy to tell that the thriller you are about to watch is not going to involve aliens or something sci-fi and that it is going to be quite realistic. The quick cuts from images and immediate changes in the voices from different people speaking to the public makes things even more interesting to the viewer as they try to understand what exactly is going on as they can never quite tell what the people are talking about and so makes the opening even more mysterious and adds to the eerie effect. The clothing that you see the people wearing in this opening scene is nothing out of the ordinary, making it even more relate-able for the viewer and to help them feel comfortable as people like them are going to be involved in this film. It soon becomes clear that what you can hear is lots of news reports, from when the camera focuses in to one story in particular. The genre of the film also becomes clear very quickly within the first couple of minutes as you find out that what you are about to watch is a Political Thriller due to the news lady's dialogue. Shortly after, the music becomes suspenseful again as the news reporters start to film and focus in on who is arriving with the police guiding their transport. Dialogue helps us to understand that whoever this person is, they are of great importance, and you soon find out that it is in fact the president. The sound becomes even more eerie, especially when one of the presidents important persons look up at what appear to be guards with snipers at the top of the building, looking out for any trouble that can be handled quickly and swiftly. All of a sudden when the president is giving a speech that the news people are filming, he is shot and screams can be heard as well as appearing the background suspenseful and creepy music to the situation. All the characters have no idea what to do, and so you feel for them from their facial expression of shock that helps the audience to feel the same way too.

This is the clip below:

Call Sheet

This is a call sheet that we found on the internet.
"The easiest way to make a schedule is to get a separate piece of paper for each scene and write on it:

• A short description of what happens in it
• Who is in it
• And where it takes place.
• Having them up on a big board or wall allows everyone to see the plan and make suggestions based on any info they might have.

List anything you think is important on the breakdown sheet.
If you have more than one location you could consider using different coloured paper, or a coloured sticker or marker pen to ID each location. Once you have all your scenes onto breakdown sheets you should pin them up on a wall or board already marked up with columns to represent the days you are filming. This is the basis of a Shooting Schedule."

As our location is going to remain indoors, we do not need alternate colours for our location as we are not covering a wide area, and it is all under one roof.
Below we have designed our own on word:

Sheet ___      Set____________________________________________________________________________

Scene ________

Synopsis _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Cast members
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Costumes
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Props
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Any other information:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

shot list and story board.

 Above is our story board. the reason why we have so little shots is because our scenes are going to be quite short and cut a lot so that it gives a feel of suspense and makes our opening mysterious.

.

This is our shot list, it has all of our main props we will need, the shot types and what is going to be filmed.

Key points we will need before and during our filming.

Script Writing
write a script and make sure everybody is clear on what the script includes and how it is going to run, don't rely on memory! We all need to nake sure that we have read the script so that we all know exactly what is going on. Also make sure you write it simply, so it is easier to understand. Later when you have tried acting it out, you can fill in emotions and actions so that you know exactly what you need to do and when.

Test shooting
test shoot our ideas and locations so we have a feel of how it is going to look, and we can also see any problems that we may need to overcome.
It will also help us get used to the location, get used to the equipment and help us polish up our script.
Walk through your script and act everything out to get better ideas because it will help you to see if there are any problems and we will learn more about the potential success or failures making making things easier to solve.

Location Recce
we need to go and have a look at the location that we want to film, and analyse any health and safety dangers we may need to over come. also compare our location with another location so we can have a real feel of which one feels best for us.
We should take photo's and wear appropriate clothing when going to look at the locations.

Digital Story Board
stick to the story board as it will give you a plan of what we need to do, and it will make our piece more organised and easier to execute.
Take  variety of different frames shits with a camera to get a feel for angles and shot types. Print them out or keep them on your phone as a reference for filming. You could also use google earth for a birds eye view of our location.
This is a digital story board from the film 'Carmilla':

Lastly, create a time scheme/ schedual so that we can get everything done on time and have the maximum amount of time to produce our piece with as limited stress as possible. This way everyone knows exactly where to be and at what time to be there.
.

One problem we have come across with our planning - The Graveyard scene

We have decided that filming a graveyard may be slightly inapropriate as people may feel uncomfortable with us filming their relatives graves and so we have decided to cut this part of our filming just in case we upset anyone.

Cast and Crew

Tim Wilkins - Crew and Cast

Stephanie Rees - Crew

Caroline Ullyett - Crew

Set:
For the set of our thriller we have chosen a graveyard. We feel this is appropriate as it sets the scene of a thriller, it gives the audience an insight into what type of thriller its going to be as its set in a graveyard and the use of graveyards could mean its going to be a crime thriller.

Lighting:
The lighting will be gloomy/dull to emphasise the emotions of the characters. The overall lighting throughout the film will most likely to also be dull and gloomy as it is a thriller and it reflects the mood of the characters and also what the film is about.

Costumes:
The costumes in our thriller will vary from normal clothes to costumes such as police uniforms to get this we will probably use a fancy dress costume as it would be impossible to get hold of a real police uniform. If this still proves difficult we will just use normal clothes for the detective.

Props:
some of the props thats we are likely to use are grave stones, police tape, which are typical props you are likely to see at a crime scene

Classification of our thirller

Our thriller will be clasified as a 15 as we will only hint at certain things, meance will be shown and there will be obvious threats but nothing too malicious or unnerving which would disturb younger audiences. I think a 12 or a 12a would not be an acceptable rating, this is mainly because they wouldn't necessarly understand and it could scare them.
An 18 was completley out of the question because we also wanted our clip to be available to a much wider audiences than just adults, also because we didnt intend to have any strong sexual refrences or drug abuse/ graphic violence. So a 15 rating was the best choice.

Mood board

We chose to use these pictures for the mood board because they all have a link with our idea.
Our film is called 'shallow grave' so we thought a picture of a dark gloomy graveyard would be appropriate, the statue of the angel in the top left hand corner was chosen to represent the creepiness and also possibly somebody overseeing the crime. Then obviously the detectuve picture is there to represent the solving of the crime or the attempted solving. Along with the detective we thought a fingerprint would represent clues and another representation of things being unknown.
the man surrounded in shadows is meant to represent the antagonist, which like many thriller or horrowr films there face or identity  is hidden for a certain amount of time so put the audience in suspense.
Last but not least our title 'shallow grave' is done in an unusual font which shows the genre of our thirller and posibly the types of things that would happen in the whole film.

Locations

We have decided that we are going to film the detective looking at the case in college in a classroom with a lamp and a newspaper article, photographs and a magnifying glass in room on a desk. This will give a big impact on screen if we use the right cinematography and will hopefully be really effective.
Off site, we will film a graveyard, Mill Road, Cambridge, because it is big and should be interesting and creepy to film.It will also make it more realistic and believable.

 These are some photographs we found on google of the cemetry;

Naming Our Film and Narrative

To decide on a film name, we had a look through a list of phobias to get an idea of creating a film where the main character has this fear.
A couple of interesting choices were
'Catoptrophobia' A fear of Mirrors
'Sciaphobia' A fear of Shadows

'Taphephobia' which is a fear of being buried alive or of cemetries is our chosen phobia for our film. We came up with a few film names to link our phobia of the main character into the title. These were;

-Buried

-The Cemetry

-The Graveyard

-Shallow Grave

-Awake 

Our final choice for our film name is Shallow Grave. We have chosen this title name because it links in well with our characters phobia of being buried alive but also is a catchy title.

Narrative

The base of our story will revolve around a murder of someone who was buried alive and the chosen detective has a phobia of this and so is not comfortable doing the case and wants to try and get over this phobia. During the film a second murder killing is made in the same way and the detective soon works out that the cases are linked and becomes more afraid that it will happen to themes their phobia is getting worse. The detective manages to find the murderer however they know that the detective has been following and tracking them down, and tries to kill the detective. The detective manages to escape and calls for back up and the murderer is captured.

Choosing Our Production Logo

We created two production Logo's for our thriller film, so that we can choose which one we would prefer to use. We made these logo's on Adobe Photoshop, using images from Google.

We think that both are effective because of the black bold background but we think that the Cheetah 'Pride Productions' works better because the picture not only adds colour unlike the first, but also seems to give a greater impact when looking at it.

Our Group Logo

We came up with many ideas for our production logo, such as;
- CTS Productions
- 2G1B Productions
- PRIDE Films
- AWOG Films
- Oak Studios

We have decided to go for PRIDE Films, because we think that this will give a positive and big impact on the viewers as a good and attractive logo name.

Production Logo's

This is the production Logo for Universal Pictures. We think that the logo they use reflects that they are willing to help produce many types of films due to their title name 'Universal'. Its bold and colourful so it stands out to the audience and viewers watching the titles of the film they are about to see. One thriller film produced by them is called 'Catfish'.

The Decent - Supernatural Thriller

The storyline of this thrilling film I found on http://www.imbd.com/. It says;
''A woman goes on vacation with her family and friends and her husband and her daughter encounters a tragic accident. One year later she goes hiking with her friends and they get trapped in the cave. With a lack of supply, they struggle to survive and they meet strange blood thirsty creatures.''

Our group had to watch a random clip from the film, and listen closely to the music that was used and sounds as well that help to make the clip even more effective because without sound, it wouldn't effect you as much as it does with it such as jumpy parts or when people are killed. Throughout the clip, diagetic sound was used which helps the audience to understand what the characters are going though in their fictional world. Suspenseful sounds were used to add a more dramatic effect to what the characters are about to see or feel, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. Sad music was also used in the clip to match the characters mood and feelings, empathetic sound, which was when one of the girls was explaining to the others that one of their friends had died, making you feel sympathetic for the characters and to help you understand their emotion. Lastly sound effects were used creating the monsters noises, which were very creepy yet unrealistic realism as though that is the sound that the monster would make, yet you yourself know that things like that do not exist.

Previous Years Thriller Openings

For this task, we had to watch two past students thriller opening and see whether it fell under the rules for a good graded opening.
They used good sound effects with their scene and a variety of shot distances throughout too, such as mid shots and close ups. They used a handheld camera, but managed to keep it very steady when filming. The titles were appropriate and the whole clip was edited well enough so that the continuity flowed. Finally, the material that they shot was appropriate to the task.
We think that some of the shots would have been better if they were shorter because it could have added a more dramatic effect to what was happening and they could have introduced the detective slightly more and had past scenes of how the girl died. We do however think that this thriller opening was very effective.
The link for this clip is below.

http://67thriller10.blogspot.com/  :-)

 For the second thriller opening we watched, we really liked the groups logo that they made, but we thought that the credits did seem to drag. The ambient sound in the background along with the title music worked well though, preparing you for what you are about to see next.
The voice over worked well and helped add effect to the clip as well as cause slight confusion as to who's voice it was and whether we were watching them running through the woods. They used good camera shots,  and the handheld camera worked really well also. Sound was used well throughout the opening and the filming was approprite to the task.
We think that to make this opening better, we would have put more suspenseful sound at the end to add a more dramatic effect to what we saw. It would have also have been better if they varied the shot types, although the shots that they did use worked well.



 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt8zQFhxdUc&feature=player_embedded

Action Thriller Conventions

As there are many different themed or sub-genred thrillers, conventions differ slightly depending on which one. Looking at an Action Thriller, you can see that the main character, or Protagonist, has more screen time and is usually outnumbered in a situation as they normally manage to isolate themself, as well as having a background weakness making them slightly vulnerable. They normally also have a talent, which they are very athletic at in their own way, such as shooting or being very strong.
As you can see in the picture below, the protagonist is in a very awkward situation as he has someone behind him and someone infront. The picture was taken from one of The Bourne films.

The antagonist, or bad guy, usually has some sort of high authority, being a good job for example, but terrible at running it, making them a 'false hero'. Locations in an action thriller normally vary quite a lot and you meet or are introduced to lots of new characters that you only learn about later on in the film meaning that anigma's are put into place making you want to watch the film to find out about the characters and understand them better.
The picture below shows Le Chiffre, the bad guy in Casino Royale, who has high authority in the film as he is very rich and contols a lot of people. You can see he is very sly looking and to me looks very devious and untrustworthy.

Finally, a lot of violence is involved and usually innocent people are drawn into the situation and are hurt either with verbal abuse such as threats or physical abuse such as punching, or both, just because these very small characters in the film know people that the main characters are after.

Here are just a couple action thriller genered films that i showed a picture for above in this post. I got their storyline from the website http://www.imbd.com/;

Casino Royale; James Bond goes on his first ever mission as a 00. Le Chiffre is a banker to the world's terrorists. He is participating in a poker game at Montenegro, where he must win back his money, in order to stay safe among the terrorist market. The boss of MI6, known simply as M sends Bond, along with Vesper Lynd to attend this game and prevent Le Chiffre from winning. Bond, using help from Felix Leiter, Mathis and having Vesper pose as his wife, enters the most important poker game in his already dangerous career. But if Bond defeats Le Chiffre, will he and Vesper Lynd remain safe?

The Bourne Identity; Based very loosely on Robert Ludlum's novel, the Bourne Identity is the story of a man whose wounded body is discovered by fishermen who nurse him back to health. He can remember nothing and begins to try to rebuild his memory based on clues such as the Swiss bank account, the number of which, is implanted in his hip. He soon realizes that he is being hunted and takes off with Marie on a search to find out who he is and why he is being hunted.

Murder By Numbers, A Crime Thriller

The Conventions
Suspenseful music is involved throughout nearly the whole clip that we watched. This keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. As the first clip you see is a run down building on the edge of a cliff with ambient sound, this too makes what you are seeing look intereging to the audience. The first characters you see come across as quite young, until you meet the next main character, played by Sandra Bullock who, who plays an adult and the rest of the cast in her detective group are too. Sandra plays a clever police woman, who appears to become isolated quite soon after looking into things that maybe other detectives wouldn't. The story line also goes back and forth,  between the detective group and the younger characters, which makes the story line misleading as you begin to wonder as whether they committed the murder, making them to the audience suspects and Sandra the lead detective.
the characters are usually well known and good looking, and there is nearly always a contrast between younger and older characters. the protagonist will always have a father figure and a variety of settings within a certain area where isolated crime scenes are made which is very stereotypical.   


Filming and Editing
A lot of the filming and editing techniques are the type of ones  you would expect to see in a crime thriller. A jump cut from the titles to the first scene (an establishing shot) immediately creates attention and attracts the audience. Low angle shots are used to show importance of characters and long shots also help the audience to get a feel of being a voyeur, standing and watching what is going on from a distance but not being involved in the situation. Close ups are a common in a crime thriller because the audience always need to see the fine details to follow what the detective see's, looking at the small clues and realising how important these clues are to find who commited the crime. A less likely filming technique is panning, which is used in the film and helps the audience to see where the characters are and what is going on.

Characters
You are introduced immediately to two young main characters, who will obviously play a main part in the film and are shown attempting to kill themselves. As the characters are in an isolated house, it makes them seem as they are slightly weird to the audience, which also makes them seem quite isolated to their life. You are also introduced to a homicide detective who comes across as confident and a little fierce from the sort of comments he makes to other detectives. As you watch the way she works through her job, you realize that she is actually quite isolated herself as she looks into things that others wouldn't normally think about doing.

The Sixth Sense - Psychological Thriller

For the first 3 minutes of the opening clip, credits are being shown, with eerie music playing quietly but profoundly in the background, and when the title come a huge booming noise is heard to impact on the title 'The Sixth Sense'. After dark lighting on the first clip is used, and just a lightbuld is shown warming up, it automatically tells the audience that the film is going to be creepy. A mature cast is shown, as you are nearly straight away introduced to a middle aged woman, and then onto Dr. Malcom Crowe, a child psychologist. Slowly the music starts to build up again after the woman and man head up stairs to their bedroom, and they see broken glass, obviously being broken from the outside in, and after the woman screams a little after feeling and seeing a shadow move into their bathroom, the music gets louder and louder telling the audience that something weird and unusual is about to happen. A strange man is seen in the bathroom, who is hardly wearing anything and talking strangely to the main character, which makes the audience quiz why the man is there and when you find out that he used to be one of Dr Malcoms patients, it makes the scene even more strange and twisted to the audience. The music helps to build up the strange and awkward atmosphere and his mood swings make it even more mysterious.
Although the audience don't know it quite yet after watching this clip, it is soon realsied that this will be a clue as to something that the Protagonist must do to help the guy standing in his bathroom, and that he has already become isolated as no one else understands what and how this strange man will react and behave as only Dr Malcom knows what he is like.

Throughout the whole clip, the micro elements helped to build up suspense, the lighting being dark, the music being creepy and eerie and the camerawork follows the characters nicely, and isn't too jumpy at the start however when the creepy music starts to play building up the suspense, handheld camerawork is used to make the characters feel slightly uncomfortable at what they are about to see on the screen.

This is the clip i watched;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44VRhcFxFF4

Seven - Directed by David Fincher

At the start of the clip, dark colours are shown creating an eerie effect helping the audience to understand that what they are about to watch is not a childrens film or action film or comedy. The ambient music and naturalistic background sounds help the audience to get a feel of where the characters are first going to be seen and as a ticking noise gets louder, this also builds up suspense after which haunting music is followed.

The cast used in 'Seven' is more mature, and stars Morgan Freeman, who has been in films such as 'Bruce Almighty', 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Bucket List' and is a famous well known actor, as well as Brad Pitt, who has been in films such as 'Fight Club', 'Inglorious Bastards' and 'Babel'. You soon find that Morgan Freeman is the Protagonist as he has more screen time and also showing that he is weak as he looks into things that aren't obvious to others, making him isolated.
7 people have died in the film, linking the title in well as to the happenings of this thriller. The whole film is based around a certain type of crime, murder.
The first person that the film introduces you too is the detective, where binary opposites are put into place for the two main characters. One character shows a sense of cleanliness and tidiness whereas the other is young, cocky and messy.
Montage editing has been used to help the audience understand what has gone on and is going on in the film, with suspenseful music and dark lighting adding to the atmosphere, linking in well with detective work.

Conventions of a Thriller

A Thriller always shows a scene at the start and an answer at the end of the film, and helps you to gather up information yourself to come to your own conclusion. There are binary opposite characters involved and the narrative does not always flow, sometimes meaning you have to really focus on everything you watch.

The narrative centres around a crime in a thriller genred film. The binary opposites are the 'Protagonist', the lead moral and the 'Antagonist', the villan. In a thriller, the Protagonist will always have a weakness, which is often shown in the title; such as 'Vertigo'. Vertigo is a fear of heights.

They will be shown in peril, there will always be a complex web of clues, questions asked and being answered for the protagonist slowly making them isolated, a themes of mistaken identity. There will often be mirroring illusions, objectification of females and makes you, the viewer, become a voyeur. Voyeurism is the pleasure of watching and looking, but not being involved in what is happening. Finally, Micro Elements always help to build up suspense in a thriller, from lighting, to sound.

Thrillers and Horrors, Whats the difference?

Thriller
A thriller often contains a more mature cast, mainly with highly regarded (or expensive) actors and actresses. The focus is mainly in crime, working out who did it, why and how. Finally, you often find that the detective is lead and the victim is not always known to the audience.

An example of a thriller genered film is Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DeCaprio.

Horror
A horror is a lot more violent than a thriller, often displaying blood and guts. A young cast is usually used; for example teenagers, and there are multiple victims. Adults are not normally present, and if so are not supportive. The focus of a horror, is usually the violence and lead 'victims' often become the detective, as they are the ones who escaped. A suburban setting is normally used to add to the eerie and creepy effect of the genre.

An example of a horror genred film is Saw.
                                     

Psychological Thriller

The conventions of a Psychological Thriller are:

• It always has a misleading story line
• Has unusual happenings
• Always has clever characters involved that always think ahead of everyone else
• The film builds up to reveal something shocking at the end
• The characters always have a fear of death
• There's a danger on a mental level rather than physical
• Characters are in conflict with their mind and finally
• 2 or more characters are preying on each others sanity.

 After watching a clip from 'Memento' by Christopher Nolan (which is a psychological thriller) we found many conventions that it covered. He has a long term memory and rememebers who he is and that his wife was killed, and after having the accident can not remember recent things that he does and has to remind himself of these things. His long term memory helps the audience to identify with him. The character is in conflict with his own mind, and tries to remember what has happened and avenge the death of his wife. From the clip, we see that the character shows him going back and forth between time, not only to give the audience an understanding of what happened in the past, but also so that we can see how the clues piece together to make sense of what we see. His flashbacks are in black and white and not linear making it interesting and easy for the audience to defrenciate between the two happenings of the film. Christopher Nolan is a common director for choosing a mature cast and for doing this genre of film.

The Prestige

After watching the first Ten minutes of the film, I was able to pick out many specific Media Techniques used to grab the audience's attention without the audience realising. I could straight away pick out the themes of The Prestige as it was only one that stood out; that the film was to be a Thriller.This was because during watching the clip it was easy to see that the film was to be mysterious, suspenseful and interesting as you had to pay close attention to the narration at the beginning of the clip.
The Narrative of the first 10 minutes told the viewer a lot. Cutter (played by Michael Caine) opens up the film with the words 'Are you watching closely?' immediately grabbing the audience's attention as it is a rhetorical question in which the audience already knows the answer. Cutter starts to then talk to the audience about how a magician performs a magic trick - first is The Pledge, the second is The Turn and the third and final is The Prestige. After having been explained, you are then thrown into a room in which a trial is taking place, which turns out to be a murder. After this short clip, where the second main character is introduced, Alfred Borden (played by Christian Bale), you see Alfred in jail being spoken to by a solicitor, blackmailing him for his magic tricks to keep his little daughter safe. You are then thrown back into the past and slowly watch as the tale unravels, meeting Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman), the guy who has been murdered. All of these clips link together as you watch closely, explaining the narrative of the film.
There are really only two main characters, with the exception of one, who appears a lot, making it almost three. Alfred, who plays a magician and is being accused of murder in court that from what the 10 minute clip tells the audience, Robert, who plays the second magician, The Great Danton, who is dead and the trial is running to find his murderer due to an accusation, as well as watching what happened during his life leading up to his death and finally Cutter, who plays a witness in court and appears to play the story teller to the film as well as knowing the two magicians as he works with them both.
Looking into the Mise-En-Scene of this film tells the audience a lot more about the individual characters and the theme of the film.
The Lighting:
The lighting in the film appears as rather dark or dulled down and mysterious, creating an eerie and creepy effect, however the lighting is natural meaning that the audience know that the film should be based to reality, but to the era that the film was set rather than modern times today. When a spotlight is shown on Robert Angier, you immediately realise that the film revolves around him as this is the main focus that the director has portrayed to the audience from the first few minutes of the clip.
Make-Up:
Throughout the whole 10 minute clip, the make up used is natural and realistic, also helping to represent the era of the film and to help the audience know that the film is not going to suddenly become a sci-fi themed movie, as the make-up is not mad and unusual.
Colour:
The colour used in the film is natural, however toned down slightly to give similar effects as the lighting in the film, to make it appear mysterious and strange, however this attracts the target audience because they would be expecting to see this sort of use in colour in a thriller genre film.
Costume:
The costume in the 10 minute clip from what i can see is old fashioned, period set, but classy and smart, obviously representing a wealthy class of people as the more different the clothes are to one another, the different personalities that a character will have in the film.
Sets:
Lots of sets have been used in this 10 minute clip, from a court room to a huge performing stage to the reception of a hotel. Each helping the audience to follow the story and to know where abouts a character is a certain point in the film. All of the sets used were portrayed as busy or packed, and so gives a sense that the characters locations were popular and interesting places to be during their eras.
Props:
The props used in the clip were none out of the ordinary, they were items that would have been used during the time, however maybe slightly classier or expensive showing the audience a wealthy era that the characters lived in. The only item that was out of the ordinary was the big 'magic trick' that was being shown - The Transported Man - which of around that time would not really have been something that people would have seen, however, it was supposed to come across as something out of the ordinary and so i think that the director managed to place this prop in really well.

Shot list and Story Board

Preliminary Task

We found this preliminary task alot easier than our childrens film preliminary task because we knew how to use the camera and the different shots that we learnt and were able to do these a lot more efficiently having practiced before hand to make it more interesting. Our preliminary story task is about a boy who did something wrong and a girl confronts him about it when he tries to hide away. We had 6 main scene's however, made more shots in between to break up the short scene's.
The only thing that would have made our preliminary task better would be to use sound to add to the atmosphere, however we ran out of time to do so.