Ancillary text- Review article

Main task- Evaluatioin

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

 

There are many conventions to the thriller genre which I have incorporated into ‘The Perfect Life’.  Through character development I have created two main conflicting characters that portray the genre well. One way in which I have developed the characters to portray the thriller genre is through costume; the male character wears very casual but dark clothing as he is in control and connotes fear in the film. It is common to see in thrillers a normal character being put into a dangerous situation; the female character therefore wears normal clothing as if she is going to a party, however her clothing is not too bright and colourful as to bring tension away. The storyline is also very much suited to the thriller genre, it revolves around a young female who is stalked and followed by a male who has an obsession over her, his obsession becomes apparent to the audience through flashbacks whereby he is seen to drug the woman and takes her home with him where he keeps her hostage to live his perfect life with her. The storyline displays many aspects of the thriller genre, firstly, it involves a disturbed male character who has an obsession, this aspect is very common in psychological thrillers especially in the late 1960s through to the 1990s as shown in such movies as; Psycho, The Talented Mr Ripley and Play Misty For Me. Personally, I was inspired by a more recent film, One Hour Photo (2002), when creating my thriller; both films portray a male character obsessing over and stalking a young woman, however through the use of photos, in my film these photos are gathered through social network sites. I felt that in watching a fairly recent thriller film to help me develop a storyline, it would be better suited to my target audience of 17-25 year old's as the audience would be able to relate with the film better with it being of the same era. I used different props to enhance the thriller genre in the film, the obvious prop being the glass and solution which Nathan drugs the female character with, it is very clear to the audience through the use of this prop that the female is drugged through her drink being spiked. This therefore shows a disturbance in Nathan’s character, yet also elements of the unknown, vulnerability and innocence in Amelia’s character as she is oblivious to what is happening to her at the time, this creates tension and suspense for the audience. Other props used such as the old table and the candles tell the audience a bit more about Nathan’s character, we know through the usage of these props that he is living in poor conditions, the use of candles shows a creepy, mysterious, lonely character. It is common in thrillers for the protagonist to live only with the basic necessities, without a lot of possessions and to be alone. Throughout the film there are different shots used to create tension within the plot, to begin with, is the scene where Nathan is stalking Amelia, suspense is created here through a variety of different shots including over the shoulder, pans and Point Of View (POV), in this scene as well as others I have included jump cuts and Close Up (CU) shots to create tension as the plot develops. The scene in which Nathan follows Amelia in the flashback is exterior at night, this was done in order to connote mystery and elements of unknown, as well as fear amongst the audience. To show Amelia awakening from her drugged state I have used a POV shot, this shows a disturbed character and also symbolises her weakness as these shots are also a little blurred to portray her state of eeriness.

   

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I believe my film links very well with my poster and magazine article, they all appeal to the audience in different ways yet they all tell the audience about similar aspects of the film, giving them an idea of what to expect. I have designed my poster in a way which grasps the audience’s attention and gives them subtle details about the film. In the poster there are three main images, two of which are merged into one, and there is the title of the film to gain the audience’s immediate attention. The main image used is the male character Nathan in the background, the image is blurred to show a disturbance in his character and his eyes are focused directly on the audience to show a dominant, controlling character, the fact that he is the main image of the poster also suggests his main role in the film. At the bottom of the poster, to the right and below Nathan’s face is an image of the glass in which the solution is, in the glass is an image of Amelia, it is a transparent image which shows only an outline of her face. With the image being within the glass and below Nathan it shows a weakness in her character and shows the control which Nathan has over her. The title used is in a typical thriller font which connotes fear as it is crooked and red, a colour which denotes danger. I feel the colours in my poster are very dark, thus representing the thriller genre well. The poster shows few but major details about the characters and the storyline through showing the main prop used in the film and the two main characters in the film. The magazine article appeals to my target audience very well as it is a similar format to that of ‘Empire’ magazine which attracts a similar target audience. The article includes images from the film, to show snippets of what to expect. It also includes interviews with the actors themselves to involve the reader in a personal reaction to the thoughts of the actors. It allows the audience to learn more about the film and its production in order to promote the film and attract a larger audience.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

My audience feedback was very useful, when I showed my first edit of my film to my target audience, there were no transitions, sound, and the shots didn’t have a natural flow from one to another in terms of the storyline, however it portrayed the early development of the storyline .i.e. the male character stalking the female character. It showed elements of a psychological thriller which the audience enjoyed. The audience also liked the actors used; they thought they were created well to show the genre through costume etc. I have taken on feedback constructively and have since added different transitions, flashbacks, sound, and have also sped up shots and added jump cuts in places to give the film more of a thriller element to it.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used a variety of media technologies when creating my final product. During the research I used the internet; sites such as YouTube, IMDb were used when looking at similar products, thriller music etc. When creating the script for my film I used Celtx, an easy to use program which allows you to create a correctly formatted script.  Whilst researching special effects I used After Effects to get an idea of the sort of effects I could have used in my film to make it more of a thriller, for example, adding fire to buildings etc. I used a Canon camera to film, and edited using adobe premiere pro. All my research and film products were uploaded to my blog on blogspot.com, some documents were uploaded using Scribd.

Main Task - the final poster

Main task- the poster, the glass

 

I selected the area around the glass (Lasso tool) and then deleted that area (delete button on keyboard)

Main Task- Text for poster

 I downloaded ‘Ghastly Panic’ typeface from www.dafont.com

 I added a drop shadow to the text to make it stand out a bit more (Layer, Layer Style, Drop Shadow…)

I changed the colour of the text to red (Colour Picker tool)

Main Task- Locations & First Edit

The photos on the wall, which have been stuck round the room by Nathan, Amelia's stalker.

The bedroom in which Amelia wakes up in.

At the house towards the end of the film when Nathan and melia have a meal. Amelia is paralysed and unresponsive at this point in the film.

The living room which was used for the party scenes as seen in Amelia's flashbacks.

Main Task- Research

Before filming I looked at several films of the thriller genre in order to find out what my thriller should include in terms of props and costumes, also to se the varying plots and twists used in thrillers in order to build suspense and tension.

Shutter Island- Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iaYLCiq5RM&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Inception- Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

Both these films have similar characteristics; fights, guns, blood, normal people being placed into a dangerous situation, rules, rules which are broken ultimately causing tension amongst the audience, a plot which involves the mind being tampered with, a protector, a innocent, vulnerable female, suits, breifcase, secrecy, flashes, fast paced action pact music.

One Hour Photo- Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjIBX5RrG4Q
This film is slightly different to the ones above however still holds similar characteristics; the plot involves normal people being placed into a dangerous situation, an innocent, vulnerable family, it is also very psychological however involves a man stalking characters which creates tension and susoense as he finds out more and more about the family.

My film
To enhance the thriller genre to my film i have considered all these characteristics and have included the following:

• A normal person being placed into a dangerous situation (Amelia)
• An innocent, vulnerable female (Amelia)
• Stalking/chase
• Psychological destruction (Nathan)
• Flashbacks
• Fast paced music

Main task- Risk Assessment

Main task- Target Audience

Below is a questinnaire which i gave out to 20 people of various ages and gender.

Questionnaire

What is your gender?

Male     Female

What is your age?

17-19yrs     20-25yrs     25-30yrs     30yrs+

Do you like watching films of the thriller genre?

Yes     No

How often do you watch films of the thriller genre?

Rarely     Not very often     Sometimes     Often     All the time    

What do you expect to see in a film of the thriller genre?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What do you feel is most important for films of the thriller genre?

Suspense and tension     Mystery     High budget     Element of unknown

Do you feel, apart from a high budget, ‘The Perfect Life’ holds all the characteristics in the above question?

Yes     No

Do you feel ‘The perfect life’ fitted the thriller genre?

Yes    No

Why?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On a rating of 1-10, how much did you like ‘The Perfect Life’?

1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10

Conclusion:
From doing the questionnaire i found that the majority of people who watch thrillers often are male, aged 17-25 years. I think this is because thrillers usually involve suspense and mystery; such things as guns, blood, chases and destruction are usually seen in thrillers which appeal more to a young male audience. Reflecting on the range of responses it is clear from the questionnaire that a thriller should include suspense and tension, mystery, a high budget and the element of unknown. Although my film does not have a high budget, i do feel it fits the other criteria and fits into the thriller genre. On the rating of 1-10 most people responded with a 7/8, this is most probably due to the fact that the respondants have only seen the first edit, and so can only make a viewpoint on this basis.

Diary entry 5- poster, the photos

The photos i propose to use in my poster are the following:

This will be my background image, i will edit the colour of the image in order to make it darker to connote the thriller genre, and i will also add a blur effect to the image to connote mystery and to portray the sinister character that Nathan is.

This will be the image in the foreground of the poster, beneath Nathan's face. This shows his high level of control as he will be looking above the glass and Amelia. 

This image will be seen vaguely in the glass like an outline of a figure, the idea that she is drugged by the solution the man gives to her and therefore isn't fully in reality and as a result in the background yet trying to fight through should come through in the poster; It also shows her as being the victim.

Main Task- Poster, the background image

I ‘merged’ the two ‘layers’ together (made the image of Nathan and the black box into one editable layer)

I added a lighting effect onto the image (Filter, Render, Lighting Effects…)

I changed the Levels of light within the image so that it wasn’t too bright to look at (Image, Adjustments, Levels…)

I blurred the image (Filter, Blur, Lense Blur…)

Diary entry 4- first edit feedback

When i had put together the first two scenes as a rough edit i presented it to my class, commentating on what was happening at that point in time as the film was being shown and after i told the class what happens after these two scenes in a class discussion and feedback session, here is what was said:

• The storyline is really good
• The actors portray the storyline well
• The use of shots is interesting, particularly the POV shot looking at the images on the wall
• It made them want to watch the final completed version to see how the storyline develops
• It needs sound, colourising, shots speeding up and quicker cuts between certain shots
• More filming of the images on the wall shot should be taken and should flash between different shots to create suspense and tension.

Overall i am happy with the feedback and am certain to take all points on board in order to improve my film and make it suited to the thriller genre and towards my target audience.

Diary entry 3- first edit

Below is my first edit, it consists of the first two scenes to my short film, 'The Perfect Life'. It is a very rough draft; there are no transitions, many of the shots need speeding up, the aspect ratio hasn't been corrected as of yet, it hasn't been colourised and there is no sound. This is the intro to my film, and therefore the plot isn't revealed at this stage in the film.

Main task- Similar products

                                               One Hour Photo

The film I am creating is very much inspired by ‘One Hour Photo’, a film released in 2002, directed by Mark Romanek. Both films are psychological thrillers which involve obsessive behaviour including conventional thriller storylines involving a ‘bad character’ and ‘innocent character’ as well as stalking scenes. Romanek’s film focuses on a male character’s obsession of a family who live nearby to him. The male character works in a photo lab, which is where his obsession began as he began collecting photos of the family from the lab; he also became aware of the family through events which happened at the photo lab. My film is similar in the way that my main character, Nathan, becomes obsessed with a young female, Amelia; who he also became obsessed over through working as a computer technician; however this is not a factor which we are aware of during the film. Although, in the film we see photos of which Nathan has stuck around the room in which Amelia awakes, we also see him following her to a party, and socialising with her at the party (at this point she is unaware she has been stalked by him), she becomes aware of his obsession over her towards the end of the film. I think the character of Nathan is similar to that of Sy in ‘One Hour Photo’, in that they are both very lonely and therefore only have the element of work in their lives which ultimately leads to their obsessions. I would say that these characters are different in the way in which their obsessive behaviour is carried out; the events which occur as a result of their obsession differ greatly.

Main task- character bio, Nathan

Name: Nathan

Nationality: English, United Kingdom

D.O.B: 13/06/1977

Place of Birth: North London

Residence: North London

Height: 6ft 2in

Weight:  76kg

Hair Colour: Dark Brown/Black

Eye Colour: Brown

General Appearance: Medium skin tone, short hair, stubble around the mouth and sides of face, slim body shape, glasses worn sometimes, scruffy fashion sense consisting mainly of jeans and a hoody.

Relationship with family/friends: Currently Nathan lives alone, he is not in contact with either of his parents as he left home at a young age due to family troubles and problems with his behaviour leading him to being in and out of prison as a result of many minor crimes such as thefts, however also GBH. He has been to several counselling sessions however, and has been out of prison for 10 years now. He doesn’t have any real friends, the only people he stays in contact with are his work colleagues, however when not at work he remains at home alone.

Phobias: Is very self-conscious and has anxiety issues, he has an obsession with young girls and regularly collects and retains photos found on websites, particularly social networks.

Occupation: Computer technician

Main Task- character bio, Amelia

Name: Amelia

Nationality: English, United Kingdom

D.O.B: 19/04/1985

Place of Birth: Cambridge

Residence: North London

Height: 5ft 5in

Weight: 55kg

Hair Colour: Hazel brown

Eye Colour: Brown

General Appearance: Fair skin, Young looking, Long hair just beyond shoulder length, slightly pouted lips, slim body shape, Casual fashion sense consisting of mainly a plain style i.e. jeans and a top.

Relationship with family/friends: Currently lives at home with mum, dad, brother and sister- she gets on really well with all members of her family, she has a particularly close relationship with her mum and sister. She has a circle of friends who she sees on a regular basis from work, she also has friends in Cambridge who she has stayed in contact. Many of her old university friends are living in London and therefore she still sees them regularly.

Phobias: Claustrophobia

Occupation: Teacher

Main Task - Storyboard