Final piece.

Untitled from Nico Turner on Vimeo.

Feedback:

Jake Pidduck

Do you feel i stuck to the genre of thrillers?
Yes, it was fast paced and fitted into the forms and conventions of a thriller.

Did you enjoy watching my thriller?
Yes the tention built up well and all the colours worked very well.

What was your favourite part of the intro
The end where the light flares.

Evaluation

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

In my final project for media I liked to stick to the forms and conventions of thrillers, this would allow me to re create the most realistic start to a thriller. Like many thrillers the protagonist is confused at the beginning of the film and is led by clues and signs for the hope that he may escape. I got this idea predominantly from the film series Saw(Darren Lynn Bousman, 2004-2009) where the main character is left to escape their death by follow precise instruction. I also use this idea because at any moment it feels as if the main character could be murdered, originally in my piece the screen blacked out on a gunshot but after some feedback I chose to remove the gun shot, this allowed for the suspense to heighten for the audience and they themselves don’t know what is going to happen next.
I also I show the antagonists use of confusion using props such as arrows and question marks which are supposed to direct the antagonist away from danger, but when he runs away from the arrows the audience knows something is going to go wrong. This is sticking to forms and conventions because I use props and also show the antagonist to have power over the protagonist; this iss the same in nearly all thriller films.

By using text with glimmering light showing through I feel I have expanded on the idea of text showing the emotions of the main character, this time the text shows how the main character is in risk and that at any moment the lights could go out. I also used a light being turned off right at the end to show that potentially all the lights have gone off. This is similar to an online film called White Red Panic(Ayz Waraich, 2008) It is also similar in the way that someone is running away from the protagonist.




I show identity by using close ups on the protagonists face and his costume, the most prominent of these is perhaps the eyes opening where we see the pupils go from small to very big as they suddenly take in the bright lights. As the 2 minutes runs through we see him being jumpy, nervous and anxious. This comes through when he runs through the door and it flies open because he suddenly finds himself in a very open space.
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How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel teenagers are represented in my piece as the main character is a teenager. This means the viewers can understand what he is feeling and can emphasize with him. His unrational thinking and nervous ways are typical of a teenager in (the given situation. I did this because after watching the film The Blair Witch Project(Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler, 1998) I felt it gave the viewer extra feeling towards the protagonist as they could see he was very scared.
From my questionnaire I found out that nearly all teenagers (41 out of 45) enjoy watching thrillers and that they like to watch exciting films where the protagonist was always trying to escape a much stronger antagonist therefore I made my main character a teenager and put him in a situation where he was weaker than the antagonist.
After watching and writing an analysis on the 2 films, Cloverfeild and I Am Legend I felt inspired to use much more upbeat editing styles. I felt that my introduction should be more action packed, this helped to attracts and address my audience because it shows them what the rest of the film is going to be like.

I feel that fast editing, musical crescendo, jump cuts, action packed, refer to I am legend and Clover Field. How have they inspired me? And how are they similar to my piece?


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How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group represented in my film are today’s teenagers that really don’t want to do ordinary things in life. Teenagers who don’t agree with societies rules and feel that they are being pushed down a path, whether that be by their parents, school or their peers. So in the film the protagonist wakes up, and suddenly finds a sign telling him to run. This shows how they are forced through a system and follow a direct route. But in this case he decides not to follow the given path, by turning the opposite way to the arrow. As he runs and runs society questions him and this is shown through the use of question marks pinned up along the side of the road. When he gets to the top of the road we see the gate opening, this represents how he has almost found his own path through life and made his own future. This is when I decided to leave the intro sequence on a cliff-hanger. We hear a shotgun being cocked, this leaves the audience to decide what is to happen to the stray teen.

They can also associate with his clothing because they may wear the same kind of clothes.

(Picture of the clothing)
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What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I feel that Lions Gate could distribute my media product because they are perfect for my style of film. The most obvious reason why for this is because they were the ones who distributed the Saw(Darren Lynn Bousman, 2004-2009) series. And I feel the beginning of my thriller is very similar to a Saw(Darren Lynn Bousman, 2004-2009) film which means they would be happy working with a similar style of film.
They are a very secure in the distributing business with 8000 titles having been released so far. This means their reputation is un deniable. They have also released similar films such as The Final Cut(Omar Naim, 2004), a thriller orientated film where like my film, the main character is confused about his life. As well as this they are known for distributing daring films, this would work to my benefit because I am a first time director in the field of thrillers and id need someone willing to take the risk with me when distributing a film.
Film 4 would also be a good media institute that might distribute my media product because they have released similar action packed films and the biggest being the Quantum of Solace. Because Film 4 is a UK based company they are very insistent on supporting the UK Film industry, therefore any new directors with good work always have a fair chance with them. They have worked closely with EM Media in the past, this shows they don’t only work with big worldwide productions but also some closer to home films such as This is England(Shane Meadows, 2006) and Control.(Shane Meadows, 2007)




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Who would be the audience for your media product?

My own research – questionnaires, internet research, young people enjoy watching thrillers – proof + As mentioned in question x I believe that using a young actor would appeal to a young audience. I also feel fast paced up beat music appeals to the younger audience.
The audience for my piece would be teenagers, this is because looking at previous “teen thrillers” like Halloween (...1968) and Carries (...1966) where the protagonists are usually young college students who are hunted down and picked off one by one. My piece is like this because this is only the beginning of the film, for all we know as the audience there could be more teenagers trying to escape.
I also feel that the editing techniques I have used will capture this audience’s imagination. The use of fast passed cuts which interlink with upbeat music attracts a younger audience as it draws all their attention into watching the film.
My own research has also shown that teenagers enjoy watching thrillers. This is because out of the 45 teenagers I asked whether they watch and enjoyed thrillers 41 of them said they did.
“1. Do you often watch thrillers?
- Yes 5 (41)
- No 0 (4)
2. Do you enjoy watching thrillers?
- Yes 5 (41)
- No 0 (4)”
This shows my results.



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

While constructing this media product I have had to overcome several technological boundaries and increase my skills both during pre production and production. I now have a better understanding of my camera equipment and I understand how to use manual focus to my benefit much more.

I can use this to emphasize the important object on the screen, one example of this was when my protagonist walked directly across the screen, it took the camera to long to auto focus from the background to the character walking across the shot therefore I had to set the focus up before recording. It turned out very well with my main character being perfectly in focus.
I have learnt how to raise the shutter speed on my camera, this allows me to capture fast pasted movement at more frames therefore the image is clearer. Originally I shot in 24p film mode, which meant I was only shooting at 24 fps but when I turned it up to 100+ the footage could be seen much more clearly, and slow motion worked way smoother.
I have also learnt how to use aperture with more accuracy, when set to f2.6 I can make the foreground clearer whilst the background is nicely blurred. This was also helpful for close ups ect when filming.

I have also had the joy of working with some homemade filming equipment, me and my dad made a homemade track dolly system which features in my project. It allows me to get flowing tracking images that are raised from the ground. This meant that unlike a skateboard there weren’t limitations on which way the camera could face or how high it could go.

As you can see it is quite a basic system but it works well and has definitely increased my knowledge and practical use of this filming technique.

Something else this project has helped me with has been my editing, I have learnt how to colour correct to get the perfect atmosphere as well as learning how to mask out objects to play with the viewers head. Another technique I have really improved on has been editing to the sound. In my final piece I feel it is really brought to life by the use of sound effects and how they go with the image on the screen. A good example of this is right at the end where the text appears after the light flashes.

Finally I have learnt how to use a tripod accurately and smoothly. I can do panning and titling shots with ease and can hold a steady shot whenever it is needed. This proved very helpful in my project because without the steady shots the film wouldn’t have seemed very well produced at all.


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


Looking back on my preliminary task I feel I haven’t improved much, in all honesty I have done a lot of filming and editing before this course and in the small gap between the preliminary and final task I don’t think much in terms of filming and editing techniques were improved. But some organizational skills were definitely boosted.

For example my ability to draw clear storyboards and get them animated has definitely increased. Originally I thought storyboarding was a waste of time for such a short section of footage but as things progressed I realized the need to be more accurate in my planning. Therefore the planning stage was revisited several times during filming and everything eventually planned out perfectly.

I also found myself learning how to note down all the props, costumes and locations with more accuracy and more and more I would take photos of the items/locations that were going to be used in my final piece. This was very helpful when it came to filming as I still had a fresh image in my head of what each shot would look like.

I became better at some editing skills, such as using fades and quick cuts to build tention, for instance right at the begining the camera comes down and across scott, then fades out slowly. This creates tention and makes the audience want to see more of his surroundings.

Some of my editing has improved as well, i worked out how to get light rays to come through my text and how to use layers to create a flashing effect.

Copy right free sounds

I have taken the majority of my sounds from

www.freesound.org

And here is a list of the sounds I have downloaded from the website.

http://www.freesound.org/usersDownloads.php?id=930889

These are completely copy right free.

I also bought a pack of sounds from video copilot. Even though they cost money they really helped to give my thriller the perfect feel. They're also copyright free once purchased (provided you arn't making any profit from the sounds) which i am not.

http://www.videocopilot.net/products/dsfx/

Editing effects

These are the main effects I use on videos in order to get the perfect mood going.



As you can see I will be using the Brightness & Contrast, colour correction, colour curves and sharpen effects to get my video looking perfect.

Colour correction.



From this you can see that i am able to change the colours in the image.
Example 1:

Example 2:


Saturation adjust

High saturation

Low saturation

My perfect saturation

Brightness and contrast


The reason for doing all of these is to stay within the genre of thrillers. They all change the colours on the image in order to create more tension within the film. By doing this I aim to stay within the genre and create the best possible intro to a thriller that I can.

Actors, props & location

For my final piece I have chosen this time to use only one main actor, this is to keep voice acting to a minimal and make filming all together much easier.

Scott Green


Scott is a good actor who can play a very serious roll. He took GCSE drama and did very well, he is also a good friend of mine so organizing filming time will not be a problem as he is always happy to come over and film. Seeing as he is also a media student he already knows how to keep continuity flowing and trusts anything i ask him to do.
Scott will be wearing normal clothes, this will be to give the feeling that he has just randomly found himself captive in someone garage.

His Shoes will be used to show the speed that he is running away at, there will be several close ups of the shoes where I will manually focus on them in order to get the clearest possible image. He will also be wearing jeans, this is just another way to show that his character isn't anything important in society and that it could happen to anyone.




Finally Scott will be wearing a hooded coat, he will start with the hood up but soon take it down to reveal his identity.








Location.

The location for my thriller will be around my house, it will be on my drive and in my garage. Here are photo's of the location, obviously I will film when there are no cars outside.


This is the garages where scott will escape from.

Scott will then run up this drive

This is the intersection where he will turn the opposite way to the arrow.

Dolly filming gear.
Me and my dad put together this neat piece of equipment in order to help me with my filming.

Filming Schedual, final task attempt 2

I've decided to re shoot my first draft in a differant style as there just wasnt enough tention. So today after lesson i am going to go and film another draft copy with my friend scott. I feel having a piece with no talking will come across more proefesional because I dont own any seperate microphones so voices always come out abit quite.

Storyline

Scott will start in my garage looking very confused and angry. we will see quick shots where he is punching things and looking around for something.

Shooting will start at 12.00 mid day on the 17th of march and will continue on until around 2 pm.

Editing was completed that night and here is my first attempt:


Thriller draft #1 from Nico Turner on Vimeo.

Feedback from first draft.

-Take care with titles - the last r of George Turner can't be seen on DVD
-There is a wobble on the first shot as it pans and titlts before reaching Scott.
-Is he supposed to run away from the arrows?
-What is the significance of the phone? Is he supposed to have dropped? There is no indication of this. - One of the criteria is that the editing should make meaning for the audience - this is not clear.
-Perhaps a little more indication of what is happening - imagine this is the begining of a film do we need more information.

New story board, Final task attempt 2

I've decided to re story board my work in order to reach my maximun pottential


Story Boards from Nico Turner on Vimeo.

Final Project: Draft

Here is my first attempt at creating my thriller


First run through of my Thriller for media from Nico Turner on Vimeo.

This edit seems to have an upload issue where by it freezes within the last few seconds...

This video is good except for a few minor things, one of these being the fact that the voices are too quite, to reduce this I am going to try and get my hands on a external microphone. Also the video is 2 minutes to long

Research into the type of audiences for thrillers

The audience for thriller films are normally out to experience intense excitement and high levels of anticipation. They like to be left on cliff hangers and left on the edge of their seats. They can be of any ages but some of the best thrillers are aimed at the 18+ age range because there are no limits on how much you can scare someone of that age.

(all information sourced from http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html)

Final Project: Planning and Prep

Ben Lord:

Ben is a good actor who gained a C in drama in year 10. He is 15 years old and spends a lot of his spare time mountain biking, that is why I feel he would be perfect to play an adventurous exploring teen.

Lee Gratton:

Scott will play the villan in my video, he's a good actor and I know he will do what I tell him to.

Ruddy:

Ruddy will play the villan in my video, he's a good actor and I know he will do what I tell him to. Like ben, Ruddy loves to ride his bikes so he will know how to play an exploring mountain biker very well. He can be serious when its needed and I have filmed with him before so I know he will be easy to work with.


Brain storm



Research into the genre

The Industry

For as long as film has been around so have Thrillers, some of the main directors in the genre are people like Alfred Hitchcock who is the undisputed King of suspense thrillers. Some other big names in the directing of thrillers are John Frankenheimer, Jonathan Demme and Steven Speilberg. Some famous movies these directers have directed are; The Manchurian Candidate, The Silence of the Lambs and Jaws. Here is a list of the top 20 thrillers according to www.toptenreviews.com.

1. Metropolis (1927)
2. Jaws (1975)
3. Rear Window (1954)
4. Chinatown (1974)
5. Psycho (1960)
6. Taxi Driver (1976)
7. The French connection (1971)
8. Double Indemnity (1944)
9. The Third Man (1950)
10. Vertigo (1958)

All of these historic top 10 were created before the year 2000.

Metropolis

This film was filmed in 1927 and was a silent science fiction film, my video wont be silent but it will be fiction, I will also use some of the techniques used in the film such as regular close ups and very up beat editing. I will also have various tracking shots which I will use my home made dolly system.

Main Genre's

Action Films
Adventure Films
Comedy Films
Crime and Ganster
Drama Films
Epics/Historical Films
Horror Films

www.filmsite.org/genres.html

My film will consist of aspects of action and adventure.

Risk assesment.
1 ) Actor becomes injured and needs to be evacuated as quickly as possible, in order to make sure my actors are safe and happy they can leave at any moment i will have planned routes out of the wooded area along paths and roads. I will also make sure everyone has a mobile phone on them in the case that we need to call 999.
2) Camera falls over. In order to stop the camera falling over i will make sure my camera is on a tripod at all times, i will use my heavier tripod which ways enough to ensure nothing could possibly blow / knock it over.
3) When actors are riding their bikes make sure no one is injured, to ensure this
4) Make sure the weather is good when filming, do not risk getting the camera or any other equipment damaged in the rain.
5) Make sure all pathways are clear and leave no obstacles in the way of the actors as they walk/ride down paths.
6) Stay away from trouble, if any strange or dangerous looking characters come along keep the filming equiptment out of sight and try to be as friendly as possible to avoid any trouble.

If I stick to all of these my filming should be smooth and without and problems. If any problems do occur I will write about them in my write up.

Costumes.

My 2 main characters, Ben and Ruddy will be wearing casual clothing, jeans tops / jumpers ect. This will give the feeling that it is an average day in their lifes. I want this because it shows how they dont know what to expect from their outing.

The villian will be dressed in a long coat which hides their identity, the cloak will have a hood which can be worn to keep the identity even more hidden. Goggles will be used to hide the identity as well but they will add a nice effect because its not what you are expecting the villain to be wearing.

Props.

The 2 main characters will be using Bikes. These show how they have traveled quite a way from safety to explore some woods/build trails. They will also be used to generally make the filming more flowy (people keep moving)

Sticks tied together with gardening wire will be used to create make shift graves. These will add an eerie feeling to the film because you know that their isn't going to be a good ending for the 2 main characters.

The costume of Ben will be used towards the end of the piece when Ruddy is searching for him. It will be scattered across the woods and a first person shot will be used to show Ruddys point of view as he graddually goes past helmets, goggles and spades on the floor.

More editing techniques i will use.

Shot reverse shot use.
In order to add really good tension I will make the villain character appear and then disappear using different techniques, the most basic of these will be a simple shot reverse shot whereby we will see the villain looking towards the camera, the camera will then spin 180” and watch as the 2 main characters casually strole into shot from behind a tree, then one of them looks over at where the villain is standing and the viewer is expecting to see them shocked at what they see but when the camera turns 180” to look where the villain was standing there’s no body there..


Another technique I will use I Masking, I will create a video to show this before I make my final project, it is very easy to do but quite hard to explain, basically what you do is film a clean plate as well as 2 videos. One of the 2 main characters in one area of the video and another with the villain standing to the side of them, you then layer them up accordingly and mask around the villain. This means that you see the villain in the same shot as the 2 main characters which is rather freaky especially if you play around with it and make him levitate ect..


Demonstration from Nico Turner on Vimeo.


I will use the same masking techniques to create text that appears from behind the actors, trees and other objects.

Location for final task

The location for my intro scene will be shot primarily at Bluebell woods in Bramcote.

Here are some photo's of the location.











These locations work great because they have an eary feeling about them. They can also easily be addapted

Final Thriller mock up plan

Here is the main idea to my thriller

Priliminary Task - Planning and making "Room 60"

Here is my original storyboard which i made before me and my group set out to film Room 60.

Page 1

Planning & Making "Room 60" Our short film about entering a room and exchanging dialog.
Page 2


Plot : We decided there was going to be 2 characters in the short movie and it was going to be filmed in the style of a thriller. So in order to do this we chose Carl to play the tough character who was in control of the situation and Jade as his hostage who would be tied up and be asked a few questions by Karl before he brutally murders her for not complying.

Costume : The costume worn by Carl would be a smart looking suit, this would make him seem more dominant where as Jade will be dressed in normal clothes but she will be slightly more ruffled up to gives the impression that she isnt in control of how she appears. Carl will also be wearing a white mask which will disguise his identity, this means if the film was to continue past this point the audience would never know who committed the murder.

Props : Suitcase, this lets the audience know that something of value is in the case. Knife, this is used to kill Jade at the end of the scene and is only seen for a few seconds as before this the suspense is built up by the Audiences confusion over whats in the suitcase.

Editing:

We played around with the colour correction until we got it perfect, then we adjusted the saturation to kill the colours and make it feel more eerie.
We also used backing sounds from Video Copilots sound bank and deepened some of the voices to make them sound scarier and more empowering.
The font used was for the titles was Copper Gothic Light which gave it a more sinister feel.
For the tv effect used at the beginning a simple TV fx is used, this gives it the feel that a camera is watching over the tied up girl.

Final Cut:

Media Preliminary task from Nico Turner on Vimeo.

Media Thriller Questionnaire

When I went about carrying out my questionnaire i felt it would be most accurate if i was to ask people in real life as well as over my email. So I asked 5 people in real life for their feedback and i sent a futher 45 emails to some of my closest friends.

Here are the results, the email results will be put in brackets.

1. Do you often watch thrillers?
- Yes 5 (41)
- No 0 (4)
2. Do you enjoy watching thrillers?
- Yes 5 (41)
- No 0 (4)
3. Name some of your favourite thrillers...
I am legend, Godfather, Bourne, Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum, Cloverfeild,

4. What is it that you like about them? (Key words)
Exciting, action packed, eary,
5. How many main characters do you like in a thriller?
1 person) 1 (19)
2 people) 3 (22)
3 people) 1 (4)

6. I feel it is important to have strong ambient and backing sounds, do you agree?
- Yes 5 (44)
- No 0 (1)

7. Where would you rather see a thriller filmed?
- Woodland 3 (32)
- School 0 (2)
- City 2 (11)

8. If it was filmed in the woods describe what kind of beings could be used to freak out the main character.
Hood up, wearing black, something covering identity, Hilly Billy.

Analysis

In conclusion this questionnaire has proven very helpful in deciding where my thriller will take place. I have decided it must be eerie and keep the audiences attention. I will also use 2 main actors in order to keep the conversation between the two of them alive while not getting to complicated because there are too many people talking at once. The title sequence will take place in woodland near me where many props such as fake graves and other eerie items. The villain in the piece will be wearing black and have their identity concealed with a scarf or something similar.

This questionnaire has helped me considerably in attaining a direction for my thriller. I now know what type of feel I am going to go for in order to thrill my audience.

(added after changes to my thriller) Just like some of the best thrillers ever made my thriller will start with an action packed exciting 2 minutes where by Scott will be running away because when he wakes up he finds a sign saying "Run" This is typical of a Horror/Thriller style somewhat like "Saw"

Getting that thriller mood through editing

I feel the editing is incredibly important when trying to get across the thriller vibe, Without the vital colour correction and saturation adjust the thriller just wouldn’t look or feel the same.

What I do to create the perfect video effects:

1. Add colour correction, in the case of a thriller I usually dull the colours down to try and give a colder appearance to the video
2. Next I adjust the saturation of the video, this is where you loose most of your colours and if you get it right the image wont quite be black and white, but just loose enough colours to give that perfect thriller feeling.
3. Then I add colour curves, this basically adds shadows and emphasises the strongest black lines on the screen. Generally it gives it a much more subtle feel.

With these 3 effects added the video is immediately going to look more like a thriller.

Video example:



(Please watch in high quality - Click the button on the bottom right of the video then it offers HQ there)

Adding a few more effects like well timed blurs really give the video that cutting edge but one very important factor is the sounds, if you get the sounds right it can pretty much make a movie. “Always edit to the sound” is what I stick by, it really makes a difference.

Thriller Conventions

Thriller Conventions, as i make my title sequence i intend on looking back over these in order to make sure i keep to the thriller conventions as much as i can.

A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not necessarily).
A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions.
A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved.
A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.
Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations.
Themes of identity.
Themes of mirroring.
Themes of voyeurism.
Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist.
Titles often reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist’s psychological state.
There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.
Mise en scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonist’s plight.

Film Analysis #2

Film Name : Clover field
Trailer :


This thriller starts with a heavy heartbeat as it brings in the opening credits and images of companies involved in the movie. The heartbeat is used to fill the blank space in the video; by this I mean if the video was just an image of the “Bad Robot” icon it wouldn’t have the right feel and wouldn’t get the audience in the mood to watch a thriller.

When the movie starts up there is a recording beep and a colourful screen (often seen at the end or beginning of a tape) it shows the date and how long the tape has been running for. The beep pauses, then the screen turns black. When the beep re starts the screen has changed and there is a title saying “U.S Department of defence” and a faint title in the background warning. “property of the US Government, do not duplicate” This makes the viewer feel important and that they are being let in on a big secret. The titles continue on to tell of how this video footage was found in “area B3S64 formally known as central park”

Now is when we see the film footage, the movie starts rather slow with a man filming around the flat him and his girlfriend are staying in, he looks out the large sky scraper window down on New York City below, this makes the people seem small and weak in comparison to the tall buildings that surround them.

The editing is the most basic it can get, the idea is that the tape was found in a wreckage of some disaster and was completely un edit and stored on a US Military database, the film does this well and it adds a tense effect where by it is constantly flashing from different shots depending on when they were recorded. This means the action in the film can be nicely split up all because that’s how it appears on the tape.

As the film builds up and the character is filming a leaving party and people leaving messages for “Rob” who is leaving to Japan soon. But as you watch you cant help but think something has to go wrong and this is built up by the noises used during the party and the sense that everything is just too perfect.

The two main male characters retreat to the stairwell and as they are talking about life and women who they love there is suddenly a power serge and the camera shakes and looks over the city, the skyline flashes as it looses power, this represents in a sense what the movie is about. The human world loosing its control.

The tension is built up after this thanks to the constant questioning and everyone shouting in miss understanding. The TV adds to this as even the news doesn’t know what it is, first reporting it as an earthquake but when the group head to the roof and look over the sky line they see a huge explosion, this is where the hand held camera really comes into its own, debris and fireballs take over the sky and everyone runs for the stairs. The chaos continues and the image starts glitching and we only see a few split seconds at a time. The whole scene is madness with voices and people screaming as they reach the ground floor and look down the street at the plooms of smoke and yet more explosions. Suddenly a huge structure is blown from the skyline, it comes flying down the road and the cameraman franticly runs to the side of the road to avoid it. The structure is the head of the statue of liberty and this is recognized across the whole globe of a very significant structure which makes it very shocking for viewers to see. All of this is accompanied by someone close to the camera man constantly shouting “Oh my God! Oh my God!” and the cameraman breathing in very heavily.

Over all this thriller starts slowly but works its way up and gets the atmosphere going until finally it all blows over with fantastic visual effects and all around digital excellence.

Practice creating a thriller

This is a thriller I created a few weeks before we started our coursework. I did this to get the feel for making thrillers, traditionally I film action sport videos for people but the idea of delving into something new got me really excited and I jumped at the chance of making a mock up.."
Edited on: Sony Vegas 8.0

The first minute was shot seriously but after that me and my friend were more having fun than anything, even still I feel the video turned out well when edited together.

Film Analysis #1

Film name : I Am Legend

Trailer :

A voice over is used to narrate what has happened in the build up to “end of the world” type situation. At first it is 2 men on the news talking about the football but then it goes “moving on here we have doctor ….” And then we see a news reel of the 2 of them speaking about how she has “Cured cancer” Just as she says “Cured cancer” a heartbeat is emphasized and makes the viewer realized the general drift of the film. Immediately after the heartbeat the screen goes black and holds its position for a couple of seconds letting the tension build up. Then a tilting shot is used to show a flooded road and tunnels and as it goes up and up we see the New York sky line and a lot of crashed / piled up cars. This shows what has happened and how The edits continue to show shots of a desolate and empty New York with nothing but bird sounds and the occasional swaying of metal. This shows the scene for about 30 seconds until we hear a deep rumble and a very flash red car. There is another heartbeat and we are suddenly zoomed in on a gun, the camera then looks up and sees the main character played by Will Smith. We see his lack of emotion as he looks over at his dog who looks out the window, as they drive we see more and more props like old tanks and posters saying “God will save us!” This shows some sort of disaster has taken place. As the dog continues to look out of the window the main character says “What you see, what you see?” Then a slight pause as u see his eyes focusing on something. Then suddenly the sound of a running deer fills the empty sound then the view of several 10s of deer jumping in front of him fills the screen. He reacts by spinning the car out of control and drifting over several plastic bollards. This shows how he has no control over himself and that humans are no longer top of the food chain. This point is emphasized a few minutes later when he and his dog walk in front of several well known places like Mcdonalds and HMV in search of one of these deer, presumably to eat. They find one and the tension is build up to the max by several shots over wills shoulder as he makes sure it is a deer. When he finally goes out to shoot the deer the camera switches to behind the deer when suddenly from the left of the screen the deer is jumped on by a large male tiger where several growling and weeping sound effects follow. Wills immediate reaction is to clench his gun and aim for the tiger, during this a close up is used of his hands and face then a shot is taken from behind his shoulder. This stars on his left shoulder then pans (hand held) over his right shoulder where you see a mother lion and cub appear from behind a car. This is when we see get to know the main character more as he then chooses not to shoot. As he lowers his gun something brakes the silence again, his watch alarm “beep beep, beep beep,” He then sighs and lowers his gun, looks at his dog then jogs back to the car. The titles help add tension as at the beginning after the scene in the news room and after she says, “Yes, we’ve cured cancer” The titles says “3 years later”. The font is small but big enough to be seen. It helps understand the devastation that has taken place in these 3 years. And then “I am legend” is used with a heartbeat and this adds tension and makes the viewer want to see more