Before starting this coursework I researched the generic codes and conventions of thrillers in order to better understand what a thriller is and to give us more direction into the way camera, sound, mise en scene and editing should be used. Looking back our animatic, we made some initial decisions based on the codes and conventions we found. As our opening is more of a spy thriller, or a hybrid of spy and action we looked at similar products such as ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ (1999-John Tierman) as it had a similar narrative and the look and feel we wanted to achieve.We decided our thriller was going to include the production company and the studio such as the ‘20th Centaury Fox’ logo at the beginning of films(0:00-0:10).We also decided that the setting for our thriller would be very city like, as this is very typical of the thriller genre and more specifically spy thrillers such as 'The Bourne Identity'(2002-Doug Liman).
The setting in this image shows a train station, something we decided to include in our product. The city environment helps establish the characters as being proffesional spies, as well as estblishing the genre and meeting the expectations of the audience. It could also be considered a masculine environment that is dominated by males, furter enforcing our main representation of males being superior.
(our actual setting)
The mise en scene is often very business like, in order to convey to the audience the characters were spies we also opted to have the actors dressed in masculine suits, black and white being the dominant colours.In order to keep audiences engaged, we also decided to have the opening titles over the action, rather than fading to black. Action or more specifically spy thrillers often have the titles over the action thus keeping the audience engaged with what is happening on screen. From looking at the use of camera, point of view shots seemed to be used heavily in thrillers (1:35); from watching various thriller opening we decided that this would be effective for our thriller as well as some over the shoulder shots (0:21,0:32,1:19),to emphasise how the character was being followed. We found the typical colours used in a thriller opening were often reds and blacks. The red in particular is effective in connoting danger and blood, however we used white for our titles. This is due to the fact that it gives the thriller a simplistic feel, and doesn’t distract from the action on screen. Most opening start with slow eerie music which then gradually builds as the action intensifies. We were going to subvert this convention, through looking more closely at a certain scene from ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’.
The soundtrack behind this particular action sequence (Sinnerman-Nina Simone) is quite upbeat and contrasts with the typical slow, tense music that a thriller would usually open with. Although we did plan to use this music in our piece as we felt it fitted well with the action on screen we decided that atmospheric music would be more effective and typical of a thriller. (see blog post ‘update 26th march).We matched our music to mirror the action on screen, in particular the scene where the two characters are first introduced (Ref).The music hits a crescendo as the characters come into shot; the titles also follow the beat making the product flow and helping enforce the narrative.
How does your product represent particular social groups?
Our Media product mainly represents young, middle class males showing them to be very business like in manner and appearance. We have subverted the typical stereotypical male lead, which is often a young white male and have used an Asian actor so as not to stray to much into cliché's and obtain some originality. The males in our thriller however, are represented as stereotypically dominate throughout. Low angles are used to make the characters appear strong and powerful; this coincides with the mise on scene of very business like clothes to make them appear professional as suits connote masculinity.
This links to our target audience as young males would expect to see dominant men and thrillers are typically dominated by male leads with men being represented as superior. In particular the tilt shot used in the cafe (1:00-1:08), where the antagonist stands up from the table again shows him to be very dominant as the females in the background are framed below him showing them to be inferior.
The young actors in our opening also relates to the target audience as they would identify more with them, and would be more inclined towards a film featuring people of a similar age than much older. The fact that these men are spies, also relates to the post modern audience as young people are more in touch with technology, the word ‘Spy’ connotes mystery, gadgets and technology, expensive clothing thus showing the younger males to live a fast paced, exciting lifestyle compare with the lifestyle of someone older.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As our product is more of a spy thriller, i feel it would be more suitable to be distributed by a major hollywood company rather than a small art house film. Thrillers similar to ours such as many of the bond films, for example 'casino royale' are distiributed by ‘Metro-Goldwyn –Mayer. Furthermore, spy thrllers such as many of the bond films attract large audiences, in particular male therefore in would be the most efficient way to distribute the film in regards to our target audience.
The following scene from 'Casiono Royale' is an example of the type of thriller we intended ours to be, and the similarities further strenghten 'Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer' as a suitable institution to distirbute our film.
The most striking thing about the scene is the way the lighting is used, as it is very dark it reflects the sinsiter nature of the narrative and the intension of Daniel Craigs character. The thriller genre is instantly established through the city like surroundings, a simialr environment to the one used in our thriller. The mise en scene used is also very typical of a spy thriller, with smart business like clothing in dark colours, this fits the pre-concieved ideas the audience would have of what a spy, or more specifically the character of James Bond would wear. For this reason, we have dressed the actors in our thriller in the same way. Furthermore, the fact that the scene is shot in black and white gives the thriller a classy feel and adds to the sophistication of the characters and the dialog. This may have been effective for our thriller and possible something that would have improved it further. The use of props, such as the gun in the draw at 1:22, connote danger and crime, all themes that feature heavily in spy thrillers and is something audiences would expect in a thriller. Although we did not use guns, the idea of a weapon was implied through the use of the briefcase, as well as adding to the characters proffesional apperance.Editing is also effective in the way the action cuts from the scene in the office to events that have taken place previously in the bathroom (1:48-3:10). This is also somethign we could have included in ours to make to create more tension, and further add to the supense which is crutial to a convincing thriller.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience for our thriller is young males, mainly 15-25. We identified this through researching the types of audiences films similar to ours attract and research into the type of thrillers different sexes and ages like. The narrative and style of the film reflects this and would interest this type of audience because it would feature males being the dominant sex and the overall look and feel would be very masculine.
The fact that we intended the film to be a ’15’ certificate means there would be violence, a factor that would mainly appeal to men (see blog post ‘Film classification research-Nov 25th).The representation of men would again be reinforced through use of props such as guns, and suits thus connoting masculinity. Films such as Mission Impossible(1996, directed by Brian De Palma) and many of the bond films attract a heavily male dominated audience as they include ideologies and representations that would appeal more to males, again strengthening our reasoning for our particular target audience.
How did you attract your audience?
Similarly to other spy films, our narrative is very male dominated therefore the overall look and feel of would be very masculine thus attracting a more male audience. The core themes of the film also attract the audience, as spy thrillers are often have action scenes or typical scenes of violence. The fact that it is a ‘15’ certificate would also attract the audience as it suggests it will have much more adult content than a ‘12’.
Our use of mise en scene was a prominent feature in reinforcing this as we had both characters dressed in smart business like clothes in dark colours, mainly black. The protagonist was carrying a briefcase(0:26); this suggests he is of a professional background and fits the audiences pre-conceived view of what a spy would look like and what objects would usually be associated with a spy. The use of the briefcase could also suggest to the audience that what is within the briefcase could be a weapon of some kind.
Our representation of males being the dominant sex was enforced through the camera work, particularly low angle shots, making the characters appear more powerful for example the scene where the antagonist, standing on higher ground, watches the lead make his way toward the train station(1:41-1:49). Although he realises that he has been tricked, he still appears to be superior as he is centralised and mid shots show his reactions whereas the protagonist can be seen a great distance away. The switch in dominance between the characters is also reflected through this, as more mid shots of the protagonist as he escapes on the train(1:53)are used showing him to be smug and superior towards the end of the opening. His overall manner throughout the film is much calmer, suggesting he has the upper hand and contrasts with the frantic behaviour of the antagonist(1:43-2:00).The setting of the thriller, which is very city like, would also appeal to the target audience as that kind of environment is typical of spy thrillers as well as thrillers in general. It could also be considered a very masculine environment, whereby men dominate and helps to draw in a more male audience. The lighting helped create a mysterious feel, particularly the scenes inside the cafe (0:32-1:08), as it was very dark and reflected the sinister nature of the narrative and suggests that the character is the villain and is up to no good.
Editing is mainly slow paced throughout the opening, this matched with the slow, tension building music helps to create a gradual build up to the more fast paced ending, whereby editing quickens to show the desperation of the character as he realises the man he was following has escaped. This would again attract our audience as it makes the opening a more convincing thriller i.e. tense, mysterious and in some places, ambiguous as initially the narrative does not reveal who is following who.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
Having had little experience with filming equipment before constructing this product, my knowledge of the camera has improved vastly. As our opening involved a lot of filming, I was able to get a lot of time with the camera on our various film shoots. Looking back at our preliminary task where we first started to practice filming, my ability to keep a shot steady and to set up the equipment properly such as the tripod is one of the main skills I will take away from this coursework. I can now film basic shots i.e. mid shots, long shots as well as more complex ones such as a steady pan or tilt thus making the camera work in our thriller of a high quality.
Although the editing was not one of my strong points, I do feel I contributed through direction and expressing ways in which we could improve editing or how certain footage should be edited effectively. My skills with the programme ‘Adobe Premier’ are limited however I did learn to add titles to the footage and learnt how to time them appropriately. The production company logo studio was the area i was most comfortable with. Although my skills were basic I did contribute towards the design side. Looking back, editing was my main weakness and if I was to improve my skills I would practice further how reduce the length of shots, include transitions between shots i.e. fading in or out. I have learnt an important factor in the editing of a thriller is the soundtrack, finding an effective piece of music and editing it so that it is parallel to the action on screen in crucial and a skill I would perfect to further improve the product. An area the product is weak in is diegetic and ambient sound, another side of editing I would need more work on.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From looking back at my preliinary task, i feel i have learnt and improved a lot in all aspects of media during the progression to our final cut. In the inital planning stages we had intended to use alot more actors and have a group of people following the protagonist, this would mean the shoots would have been of a much larger scale and a more challanging piece overall. As we had not had much practice with the camera, other than the preliminary task, we found this very difficult as we also intended to have a chase scene which requires complex camera work that would need to be of high quality and our skills were simply not advanced enough. despite this, we did achieve a level 3 for our task overall which gave us more confidence to produce a piece thatt featured alot of camera work which looking at our final cut, has followed through to the extent that the camera work is one of the strongest points of our thriller. One main thing i have learnt as well as more competence with the camera, is not to over complicate things. in order to progress well, and to maintain that level of progress throughout, compromises need to be made.From working in a small group, my ability to be organised, make decisions and take charge when necessary has improved and i feel that at time went on, we were using our time more effectivley than we were in the beginning. During the course of the product one aspect i feel also vastly improved was editing.This was something that needed alot of work to begin with, but once we better undertsood what makes an effective thriller and the typical codes and conventions it was easier to edit to a standard that gave our work more polish, and helped the narrative flow better which wa soemthign we had issues with due to poor editind at the first cut stage. I am confident our thriller met the task set appropriatley through the feedback received from peers in class and through our facebook blog (see blog post 'feedback-final cut' posted april 21st)
Tracker facebook group
From this we can tell that the narrative was effective in kepping an audience engaged, comments about the camera show that our choice of shots were appropriate. Feedback in class showed that one particular shot, whereby a tilt shot of the anatgonist is used (1:00),was very effective.I think we made the right desicition to change the music from our first cut to a more sinister soundtrack rather than the original more upbeat piece (see blog post 'update 26th march')as it conformed with the typical codes and conventions of a thriller, helping make the product more atomospheric and was received well by the audience.Some weaknesses with our product have also been identified, these include the use of lighting wich could have been used to better effect. Personally, i think we could have incorperated more ambient sound, particularly at the train station.There was however oe example of our use of non-diegetic sound, wereby a phone beeps as it recives a message (0:48) as you could not hear it originally.This could have been built on further, and as a group we could have experimented more with the sound as in our preliminary task there were issues with acoustics.However, i feel the quality of sound overall throughout the product is of high quality, something we had to work on by re-shooting various sections as we progressed to the final cut.
