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The Third Man

Although the setting of this film is completely irrelevant to our thriller, there are some very notable camera angles used that could be very powerful if used in our opening. The majority of the shots use strong noir lighting and very long shadows, giving the impression that the city looms over the character making him look very small and insignificant. Shots similar to these would work well in our thriller, especially in shots #3, #7 and #15, on the storyboard. I think this because these shots are the only ones that feature low angled images of buildings, especially shot #3 as the arch way is similar to some of the arch ways in The Third Man, which all are very effective with this kind of shot. The director of The Third Man uses this range of shots to connote good and evil in a number of ways. The most effective of which is how he makes the main character seem to be good and the city to be evil. He does this by using shots which give the impression that the city is looming over him, making him look small. This gives the city the illusion of a massive size advantage over him making it seem dauting and evil

Heavenly Creatures

This film has many characteristics of a drama, however the final scene of Heavenly Creatures features many aspects of a thriller. As the audience are expecting to see the mother's murder, they are already in a state of suspence, this is reinforced by the camera angles used during this sequence. There is a good variety of close-ups, including shots of the characters feet while they are moving and their faces, showing their emotion and causing slight confusion. As this scene takes place in a woodland environment the camera uses this to its advantage by shooting from behind from trees and various other forms of forestry. It is also because of this woodland setting that the camera angles used are influencial to us, as the majority of our thriller opening is also set in a woodland environment.

Silence of the Lambs

Although this film is normally labelled as a horror, it has certain aspects of a thriller in certain parts. The main part i was looking into was the introduction when one of the main characters is running through woods on what appear to be an assault course. The woods are a generic environment for a thriller as they are cold, wet and rather unglamorous in the right weather. The camera angles and shots used in this open sequence give the impression of somebody following her through the woods or watching her, which immediatley starts to build suspence with the audience. These angles not only build suspence but are usable in our thriller as the opening is set in woodland surroundings.

Doctor Who

Do You Think Doctor Who is an Inter-medial Text?

When it comes to Doctor Who there is an endless supply of merchandising and media etc, the majority of which seems to be aimed at younger children, EG:
· Magazines
· Toys
· Books
· Posters
· Website
A lot of this merchandise however does not seem to be very relevant to Dr Who in the sense of it being an inter-medial text.

The Magazine
The magazine itself appears to be aimed at younger children as its very bright and eye catching. It features games and puzzles, Dr Who stories, posters, cut out masks and occasional other freebies, competitions and colouring in activities. The majority of which would all be more appropriate for younger children and it comes across as being the sort of merchandise released just to make money. Therefore it does not give Dr Who the appearance of an inter-medial text.

The Toys
The toys again appear to be merchandise created with the soul intention of making money. There are numerous toys available, a lot of which are replicas of tools and gadgets used by the doctor during different episodes. There are however some games that may appear to older generations such as the board games and DVD games such as the Dr Who edition of ‘Scene it?’ Other things such as pencil cases and pen sets would come under this category too, none of which however are referred to in any episodes of Dr Who. Therefore the toys do not give Dr Who the impression of being an inter-medial text.

The Books
I could not find many examples of Dr Who books; however the ones I did find all seemed to be sticker or magnet books. There were also spiral bound plain books, to be used as diaries etc, however none of which give Dr Who the features of an inter-medial text.

The Posters
The majority of the posters I could find featuring Dr Who or any of it’s characters were not relevant to the programme itself as they are all mainly designed for children’s bedroom’s walls, therefore they are merely pictures of the characters in different poses and situations, which are not relevant to the programme or give it the features of an inter-medial text.


The Website
This is the main part of the Dr Who merchandise/secondary media that is aimed at older generations and not children. It is too the only piece of media that has any relevance to the programme itself. It features a trailer of the upcoming Christmas episode, the past episodes on ‘iplayer’ for fans who have missed them being broadcasted and a small amount of information on what is currently happening with the change between Doctors. Other than that it features puzzles and online games and activities which are again aimed at children. However none of the information would actually be needed for a watcher to understand the plot of a series.

Conclusion
Given that none of the above pieces of Doctor Who media show any features of an inter-medial text, I do not think that Doctor Who is one. It is a single media text in itself, the programme, and all the rest of this is simply secondary media.

Rules and Regulations

There are certain rules and regulations we have been issued via our teacher, that we must abide by during the filming of our thrillers and whilst we are featuring in the thrillers of other's.

1. Nothing explicit is to be performed infront of the public.
Eg: No guns, fights etc whilst in public places.

2. No risks are to be taken during filming.
Eg: No-one must at any time take any dangerous risks, such as laying in rivers pretending to be a body or using any dangerous filming positions.

We were then giving a list of things that we must do, it is as follows:
1) Book camera
2) Buy film
3)Make sure shooting schedule is appropriate to actors and they can make it

Survivors

Survivors is a new drama/thriller on BBC1. The plot line is that 90% of the worlds population has been wiped out by a flu virus and there is only a small congregation of people left to forage for themselves. There is little gore it is mainly based around how hard life is for people when a disaster such as this occurs and conflicts between different types of people and how the react in this situation. It features brilliant camera angles which cause the correct feeling in each situation, most of which could be highly influential on out thriller opening as both are modern and in a way phsycological.

Storyboard

I have completed/coloured my storyboard which takes you frame by frame through how the thriller opening is going to look and scanned it onto the computer it is as follows:

Scenes 1, 2 and 3.

The frames read,

Shot 1#: Pitch black, just noise of heavy breathing and someone running through woods

Shot 2#: Camera acts as character's eyes as they are running through woods towards arch.

Shot3#: Camera on floor, watches as character runs past, only sees feet.

Scenes 4, 5 and 6.

The frames read,

Shot 4#: Camera in tree watching character run towards camera until she has passed it and gone out of sight, camera then changes to shot 4#.

Shot 5#: Camera in the tree across from that of shot 4#, watching character running still.

Shot 6#: On roof of building, watching character in distance stumbling over and running on, to the building.

Scenes 7, 8, and 9.

The frames read,

Shot 7#: Watching, from under the stairs, the character running up them.

Shot 8#: Watching down on character running up the stairs and trying the door.

Shot9#: Watches character enter the room from a high point inside the room.

Scenes 10, 11 and 12.

The frames read,

Shot 10#: Camera follows character's head as she lookd around the kitchen, getting used to the dark. It then focuses on the open fridge door.

Shot 11#: Camera watches as character walks through kitchen towards fridge.

Shot 12#: Camera watches character open fridge door and enter the fridge.#

Scenes 13, 14 and 15.

The frames read,

Shot 13#: Watches the door being pulled closed and gently shutting.

Shot 14#: Pitch black (emphasis on the darkness inside the fridge.)

Shot 15#: Focusing on lights powering up.

Shots 16, 17 and 18.

The frames read,

Shot 16#: Focuses on legs of body inside fridge.

Shot 17#: The camera follows the legs up to the abdomen and gives a full shot of the body.

Shot 18#: Watches character back into corner and slide down the wall to sit on the floor. (Having dropped the brief case.)

Shots 19 and 20

The frames read,

Shot 19#: Camera focuses on the open brief case and its contents. (Bags of coccaine.)

Shot 20#: Lights go out and leave her in pitch black darkness and the lock on the door clicks. (She then screams and the opening is over.)

Location Evaluation

All of our film is going to be shot in and around Drayton Old Lodge, an Edwardian Country Manor just off Drayton High Road in Drayton. We will be using the back of the building and the woodland area around it to shoot the film, so it will be the more unglamorous part of the property where the staff smoke and the bins are kept.

The area indicated by the yellow arrow, in the map shot above, is where abouts the film is going to be shot.

We have been around the area and photographed the main parts where we will be filming:

1.

This arch, that is in the wall that runs through the woods, is featured in our first shot, where the camera is acting as the character's eyes as she runs through the woods.

2.

This is the path that she then carries on running up towards the building. Note: plenty of leaves at this time of year, which are useful in providing digetic sound that is needed along with the character's breathing.

3.

This is the less glamorous part of the building she comes to after running through the woods. Note: the dingey lit area featuring the bins and temporary fencing give the area the unglamorous location effect and the lone light in the foreground emphasises the loneliness and almost emptiness of the area.

4.

These are the steps the character comes to when she reaches the building, Note: the broken gate, empty paint bucket full of cigarette ends etc both ephasise the lack of care given to the area. The steps are also important for one of the shots used, its going to be shot from the angle the following picture was taken from:

This shot will be taken as the character runs up the steps to the fire exit.

5.

This is the shot used as the character enters the fire exit doors into the kitchen, where she finds the fridge, Note: the inside of the building is rather unglamorous too, this is emphasised by the bland colours used in the kitchen. The bright white walls too fit into the mise en scene as they almost seem to dazzle the character after she has entered from the darkness outside.

6.

This is the immediate shot as the character looks around the room. She then looks to the left side of the room and sees:

The character then looks to the right and the camera looks across too and sees this half of the kitchen:

7.

The character then focuses on the fridge door which is open slightly and starts walking over to it.

8.

This is the roof window that the shots, following the character's progress across the room, will be filmed through.

This location that we have chosen utilises the thriller genre as it gives us ideal opportunities to create the perfect mise en scene of a thriller. Such as the dark staircase and woodland area contrasting with the blindingly white, sterile looking kitchen. The fridge for instance, it is a small claustrophobic space, connoting entrapment, and without interior light is absolutely pitch black creating fear and a feeling of not knowing what could happen next.

Questionnaire Results (Graphs)

Here are the results we collected, by getting individuals to fill out our questionnaire, in the form of bar graphs.

1. What gender are you? Male Female

This graph is proof that we asked an equal amount of males and females.

2. Which age bracket do you fit into? (12-15) (16-20) (21-31) (31 - 40) (40+)

This Graph gives us a good idea of the age range we got the majority of our answers from, which would be people aged 16 - 31, so we know our target audiences rough age.

3. What is your favourite genre of film? Horror Comedy Thriller Action Other

From this graph we can tell that the majority of our target audience prefer the Thriller genre to any other.

4. What is your current aspiration/occupation? Student Find-Job Further-Education College

We can tell from this graph that the majority of our target audience are also students. This is will help us when making decisions on distribution options later in teh film making process because we now know the majority of our target audience are on student income and will therefore be tighter for money than perhaps other audiences. This means we will be better off distributing it somewhere cheap, such as Youtube.com or any online rental companies such as lovefilm.com.

5. How often do you watch films? (Weekly) Once Twice Three-times Four-times

This graph shows us that there is a split within the majority of our target audience as half seem to be keen film watchers and the other half only seem to be recreational film watchers. This is the same as the previous question in the way that it helps us decide on pricing strategies and distribution methods due to the film watching habits of our target audience. Because they are not that into films they will not be prepared to pay as much for them, especially when they are on student income.

6. Where do you prefer to watch your films? Home Cinema

We can tell from these findings that our target audience are more cinema based when it comes to watching films, this could be because they prefer new films or because they prefer the environment. This is another question that is beneficial to us in the way that it helps us draw up conclusions about where and how we should distribute our film.

7. What kind of thriller would you prefer? Noir-classic (Psycho) Modern-thriller (Kill Bill)

The graph above indicates that the majority of people would prefer to see a more modern style thriller such as Kill Bill or Layer Cake, instead of a film like Phsyco or The Birds. This is different to the previous questions as it has an effect on a different part of the film making process. This information will help us decide on how we are going to craft our thriller and what sort of mise en scene and connotations we need to try and create to please our target audience.

8. Which gender lead do you prefer in films? Male Female

This graph provides us with signifcant advice about the gender that our lead role should be, this will have a large effect on the casting on our thriller as we now know that in order to create a thriller sufficient enough for our target audience, we will need a female lead role.

9. How do your prefer your openings? Cliff-hanger Explanatory

The information that we gathered from this graph has effected the way we have crafted our thriller opening in a number of ways. All of these ways put together have resulted in our thriller opening being one with a cliff hanger ending because it is what pleases our target audience the most.

10. Which style thriller do you prefer? Sci-fi Horror Crime Psychological Action

The final graph is the one which has provided the information which will have the largest effect on the way we make our thriller. We now know that in order to fullfill our audience's tastes we need to give the thriller a psychological edge, rather than one more leaning towards the horror genre or with sci fi connotations.

Overall we used this questionnaire to gain some information on our target audience, personal and about their film watching habits, and to gain they're opinions on which styles etc we should use.

Prop Evaluation

Originally as a group we had not intended on using and props in our opening. However since then we have changed the plot to include a brief-case full of coccaine, as the main object of the opening. so for this we have decided to include a briefcase like the following:

We also need to find a suitable prop to be used as the coccaine which is stashed away inside the suitcase. So we decided to use clear polythene bags filled with flour, like the following:

We did also consider using a prop for the corpse, inside the fridge, however we decided to just get another actor in to play the part.

Character Description

Our ideal character for the lead role in our opening thriller sequence must fit the following description:
-White
-Female
-Blonde
-Oldish looking (18+)


We are also going to include the corpse inside the fridge as a character, as its going to be a person posing as the corpse, not a prop. However the appearance/description only needs to include the following:
-White
-Male
-Dressed in a suit

Plot Summary

The Character featured in our thriller is carrying a suitcase, she has stolen. She is running through woods towards a building she can see in the distance to escape from what is following her. She reaches the building, clambers up the stairs to the fire exit and manages to get in. Once inside she surveys the kitchen she has entered and notices the walk-in fridge door is open and ventures inside to for a hiding place. She feels the wall and finds the light-switch and turns on the lights. She then sees on the floor the body of a man and in the shock drops the suitcase which opens, spilling bags of coccaine onto the floor. Its then that the lights go out and the door lock clicks, she screams and its over.

Questionnaire Results

Here are the results for the questionnaires that have been filled out concerning our Target Audience and Ideas on our Thriller opening:

1. What gender are you? Male-20 Female-20

2. Which age bracket do you fit into? (12-15)-8 (16-20)-21 (21-31)-8 (31 - 40)-3 (40+)-0

3. What is your favourite genre of film? Horror-14 Comedy-11 Thriller-4 Action-8 Other-3

4. What is your current aspiration/occupation? Student-18 Find-Job-2 Further-Education-12 College-8

5. How often do you watch films? (Weekly) Once-13 Twice-10 Three-times-12 Four-times-5

6. Where do you prefer to watch your films? Home-24 Cinema-16

7. What kind of thriller would you prefer? Noir-classic (Psycho)-15 Modern-thriller (Kill Bill)-25

8. Which gender lead do you prefer in films? Male-18 Female-22

9. How do your prefer your openings? Cliff-hanger-24 Explanatory-16

10. Which style thriller do you prefer? Sci-fi-5 Horror-7 Crime-5 Psychological-13 Action-10

My Finished Campaign....

Here is the perfume campaign I decided to go with in the end....

Its the poster that is aimed at the older generation, I have not featured the bottle itself or that it is for a perfume to coincide with the campaign idea I had of keeping it mysterious to get people talking about it and to build up a sence of anticipation surrounding the product. This poster will appeal to the older British generation as it features the iconic lambretta and British Royal Air Force logo, both of which are linked with the ear that this generation recognises as their youth.

Alternative England, My Fragrance.

For my British Perfume work I have been developing an idea called Alternative England. To give it the real British edge i have decided to go with a theme revolving around classic English music. I have designed a campaign with three different images each aimed at a different age group.


Teens/Young men (14 - late 20s)
For this age group I have selected an image and song lyrics that would be more relavent and recognisable to this age group. I have chosen the lyrics "I Bet That She Looks Good On Th Dancefloor" which is a slight twist on a song by the arctic monkeys, 'I bet that you look good on teh dancefloor.' The poster's image is of a girl standing in a smokey looking bar at the back of a gig, so both the image and the lyrics fit in with the culture of this age group.

Example :

This would be an ideal bachground image with the lyrics across the top, i would manipulate it slightly to perhaps give it a smokey effect if possible and in small white letters at the bottom i would write "How British Are You?" But i would not mention the name of the brand, which is part of my campaign as it may casue it to be a speaking point and arrouse some suspicion to what these posters are all about.

Middle Aged men (30 - late 40s)

For this age group I have chosen lyrics that would suit them more as its from around the time they will have been in their 20s, 30s possibly, and I have chosen a picture to go with the band who amde the song famous. The Lyrics i have chosen are "You Gotta Roll With It..." from an Oasis song, the image that they will be written across will be of a Guitar with a Union Jack design.

Example:

This image is iconically linked with the band Oasis after Noel Gallegher designed and used one similar. This mixed with the oasis lyrics will appeal to this older generation, the poster goes by the same layout af the others therefore it features the same strap-line and this too does not mention the brand name.

Elder men (50+)

To appeal to this age group i have decided to use lyrics from The Who's song 'Who are you' and the image I am planing on using is that of an old fashioned Lambretta moped from this era with the classic Royal British Air Force logo, which where also used by The Who. This would be very relevant and appealing to this age group because it will bring back the britishness they had when they were young.

Example:

This with the lyrics "Who Are You" written across the top will act as an iconically styled english image emphasising the britishness of this product. Yet again this poster has the same layout as the others and features only the strap-line and no brand name at all.

These are my plans for my campaign which i will soon be carrying out, I will post again with the finished product when I am done.

The Questionnaire itself...

Here is the finished product, the final draft of our questionnaire which we are going to be asking people to complete to help us with our media studies.

(Introduction)
"This is a questionnaire we have compiled together with the aim of discovering the opinions of potential viewers on what features/styles we should use when creating our film opening, for our AS Media Studies coursework. We are also hoping to be able to derive our target audience too."


1. What gender are you? Male Female


2. Which age bracket do you fit into? (12-15) (16-20) (21-31) (31 - 40) (40+)


3. What is your favourite genre of film? Horror Comedy Thriller Action Other


4. What is your current aspiration/occupation? Student Find-Job Further-Education College


5. How often do you watch films? (Weekly) Once Twice Three-times Four-times


6. Where do you prefer to watch your films? Home Cinema


7. What kind of thriller would you prefer? Noir-classic (Psycho) Modern-thriller (Kill Bill)


8. Which gender lead do you prefer in films? Male Female


9. How do your prefer your openings? Cliff-hanger Explanatory


10. Which style thriller do you prefer? Sci-fi Horror Crime Psychological Action


Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are all aimed at finding out some background information about the person who is completing the questionnaire. This is so later when collating the results we take in, we can make statements and graphs/charts such as: "70% of the people interviewed, who prefer to watch movies at home, prefer a male role in a film."

Questions Questions Questions.....

We are currently undergoing the process of designing our questionnaire, EG: deciding on questions and wording them all correctly. We have however agreed that the main aim (what we want to find out) is to get some ideas and opinions of potential viewers on the opening we are going to make, this will then give us a rough guide to our target audience too. To do this my partner and I have both agreed to question 10 males and 10 females each, resulting in 40 completed copies of our ten-question questionnaire, We believe this to be an ideal amount of information to work with. The questionnaire itself will be posted shortly.

My First Blog

Hello all,
My name is Steven Dobinson and this is my blog. I have set up this blog to record the progress I make during my Media Studies course at CNS sixth form.

Toodles