Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Activity 2

We have decided to compare our main thriller character (Nathan) to the antagonist from the film 'Scream'. They are both very similar as they are dressed all in black garments, making their identity a secret to the viewer and would make them want to find out who the mysterious figure actually is. Some of the attributes that Nathan has, have been reflected in the character that we have created and used in our film opening. Despite all of these similarities there are also a few differences.

Similarities:

- Both characters are holding a everyday weapon that could be picked up from anywhere.

- They both sneak up on their victims before attacking them.

- The main similarity between the two is that they are both peering around a corner at their victims before they attack them.

- Both antagonists are played by male characters, this is because the male gender are stereotypically very dominant and they viewer would believe it to be a greater thriller if the victim were chased by a very tall man, rather than a smaller female.

- Both antagonist's body languages are very open and tall, in a standing position ready to attack their victim.

Differences:

- Unlike in our thriller, the antagonist in 'Scream' is wearing a mask to cover his identity, whereas Nathan is wearing a balaclava.

- In 'Scream' the antagonist teases the victim by calling them, causing them to be scared that something is going to happen. In our thriller Nathan approaches me without any warnings, therefore making it a silent attack.

- In our thriller Nathan is not wearing any cloves whilst holding the knife, but in 'Scream' the antagonist is wearing gloves to prevent any tracks of DNA being found on the knife.

- The villain in 'Scream' usually uses the knives to kill the victims, unlike ours where Nathan uses ether on a cloth to knock the victim unconscious, then the killing of him is not shown and the clip just shows Nathan walking out.

Audience Feedback

From watching our thriller, we decided we needed some input from other people. I recorded a few people that had viewed our thriller and asked them their opinions of the thriller, what could improve it etc. Having a audience feedback was vital to our group as we felt that the input of others could help us improve our thriller; making it to the best of it's ability. Out of the five people that i had questioned about our thriller, i randomly chose two of them and have put them on here:
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHkR0KhFi5c                 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBGZMPijJCo

Character profile 'Ryan'

In our thriller Ryan is the protagonist, he is the only character that doesn't have a villain side to him, throughout the whole of the film. We are first introduced to him as he is returning home from a day at school; making a cup of tea.  His role starts by him returning home from an average day at school but is unaware that there is someone else in his house. We do not find out a lot about Ryan throughout the thriller as he is killed off by the antagonist; using ether on a cloth and leaving him dead on the floor.

Costume

After dicussing the costumes that Ryan could wear, we decided he had to wear both brigh

t clothes to represent the protagonist and slightly casual clothing to look as if he had just returned from school. If Ryan was to wear tracksuit bottoms and had no schoolbag, then he wouldnt fit his role of being at school. He is wearing light blue jeans and a navy jumper, this also proves that he is the antagonist as bright colours represent that he is not the villain. Furthermore, he is wearing sports shoes and his school bag as a prop; showing he had been to school.

Character profile 'Nathan'

Nathans character is the antagonist in our thriller, he is the most violent character as he kills the protagonist in the. Nathan's real identity is not shown throughout the thriller, there's a camera shot showing a suspect but his real identity is covered up by a cliffhanger ending; leaving the thriller a mystery to the viewer.

We are first introduced to Nathan at the protagonists house, when he appears round a corner of the door peering at the protagonist, getting ready to attack him. Instantly he provides action for the thriller by the attack and the viewer can tell he is going to be a key character through the thriller. Nathan is not involved in any communications throughout the thriller, meaning that his personality is disclosed so he could be anybody. However, his actions and body language throughout the thriller express the fact that he is a very aggressive male. Nathan is seen as a bulky character with a substantial height on him, making him very intimidating and so that he fits the role of his antagonist character perfectly.

Towards the end of the clip Nathan is seen running away from a car, showing that he has done something wrong and does not want to be caught; he has a fear of getting caught. The next scene shows Nathan tied to a chair in a mysterious room with his attacker behind him about to reveal his identity, unfortunately it is left leaving the viewer in suspense as they never find out his true identity because it cuts to the title of our thriller; 'Retribution'.

Costume

Once thinking things over, we decided what costumes would make the antagonist as believable and extremely intimidating. The fact that Nathan is the antagonist character in the thriller, he has to fit his role perfectly, wearing dark clothes and being very aggressive towards the protagonist during the attack. For his costume, we decided he has to wear black tracksuit bottoms with a black jumper, this represents the character has a very dark side to him. Furthermore, Nathan is wearing a black balaclava; covering his identity, which is a key fact in the thriller as without the balaclava it would leave our thriller with no mystery behind it.

Editing diary

Once we gathered all the footage we needed for the thriller, I began to edit them. I started off introducing a sound track to create tension before an image was shown, the music used for the tension is a slow piano and flute piece. As the thriller goes on the music start to get quicker and I change the soundtrack to set the mood of the scene; the tempo increases as the physical elements of the thriller come into play. After the physical scene of the thriller the music then gains a slower tempo again when Nathan is tied up to a chair adding to previous tension created, leaving the viewer in suspense of what is going to happen to Nathan.

 The opening of our thriller begins what a few taster cuts of what is to come throughout the duration of the thriller. Followed by all of the names involved within the thriller and also our company name 'NJR Productions'. The reason for this being that we felt if the viewer had a little teaser of what is going to happen then it would make them intrigued on what is to come. When editing it we had recorded a part where I find Ryan on the floor murdered and I remember seeing a suspected figure walking from Ryan's house. To make the thriller look realistic I decided to do a clip making it a flash and go into slow motion making it seem like a real flashback, of the walking suspect. Furthermore, it gives the viewer an idea of what James is thinking; building tension of what is going to happen next.

Coming towards then end of the thriller, the last clip is of Nathan tied up in a chair with a balacalver over his face in a dark room with nothing but a garden light shining on him. We recorded a clip of me coming up behind Nathan and taking of his balacalver so his identity was revealed. As the name of our thriller 'Retribution' was not shown on thriller yet, I thought it would be a good idea to leave the audience in suspense. When I remove the balacalver from Nathan to leave the audience in suspense we agreed that if we cut out his identity at the end and replaced it with a flash and then 'Retribution' appearing, leaving it with a cliffhanger ending with the music is still playing with a blank screen leaving a mystery behind the thriller.

Symbol	Name	Definition/Notes
	Universal	All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children. Films under this category should not upset children over 4. Examples: FernGully: The Last Rainforest, The Incredibles
	Parental Guidance	All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 8. Example: The Simpsons Movie, Toy Story, Tron: Legacy
	12A	Cinema only. Introduced in 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, commonly used milder swear words, and moderate violence/sex references. Examples: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pirates of the Caribbean, Yes Man, Fred: The Movie
	12	Home media only since 2002. 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the VHS/DVD version unless extra material has been added that requires a higher rating. Nobody younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. Films in this category may include infrequent drugs, infrequent use of strong language, brief nudity, discreet sexual activity, and moderate violence.
	15	Only those over 15 years are admitted. Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong words, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity. Examples: The Uninvited, Good Luck Chuck, Love and Other Drugs
	18	Only adults are admitted. Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with non-detailed sex activity is also allowed. Examples: In Bruges, Saw III, Jackass 3D
	Restricted 18	Only adults are admitted, and can only be shown at licensed cinemas or sold at sex shops. Films under this category have material the BBFC does not allow for its "18" rating, thus the violence and sex activity will be stronger in R18-rated VHSs, DVDs and films than those rated "18," however, there is still a range of material that is often cut from the R18 rating. More cuts are demanded in this category than any other category.

Shooting Schedule

Diary of day shooting

Storyboard for our thriller

Production Of Our Preliminary Task

When we filmed our Preliminary Task a few problems occured. These problems were that when we tried to film walking down stairs, people often walked in front of the shot so we had to keep re-shooting the clip. This often got annoying as some people didnt realise that we were shooting and as it came close to end of lessons more people walked across as they would be walking to their next lesson. One other problem that we had with out prelim was that the dialogue often was hard to hear as people walking past were talking relitively loud,. Therefore, their voices would be included into the clip, so we had to restart the shot over and over until it was completely silent.

Our group had learnt quite a lot from trying to film our Preliminary Task. One of these was we realised that dialogue whilst filming doesnt sound very good, so we agreed to prevent this problem that the start of our thriller would not have any dialogue involved, as the quality could be bad and it doesn't sound so good. Also we learnt that to make our thriller as good as it can be we would have to film in a location that not many people go to, or go early in the morning as not many people will be around at early times of the day.

I don't think that filming our prelim took as long as we first thought, as we didn't have to actually shoot quite a lot because after our stairs shot not many people walked past as we went to a place where it was relitively quiet. Also we discussed as a group a plan of what we would be filming so we knew what we were going to be filming about; so we could get on with the shooting straight away. After we had done the filming we re-watched the shooting to see if we could make any more shots to make it look much better. After making the new shots we again watched all of the recorded shots and decided that we no longer needed to shoot anything else, so we went straight onto the editing. One advantage to our shooting was that, our member of the group who filmed our prelim does photography outside of school. Therefore, he knew how to make the lighting and the frame of the shot at a perfect place for it to look good.

In our Preliminary Task i don't think we needed to change much as it was our first time filming a clip so we wasn't able to make it perfect. As we were getting used to the camera we are more confident that the final production of the thriller will be of a much higher standard of quality. The Preliminary Task helped our group work on teamwork and making decisions on where to film and what to film.

Marketing

From looking at other thriller posters to try and influence us, we have designed a poster about our thriller. We have looked at thrillers like 'Saw', '28 Days Later' and 'The Dark Knight' as they are quite popular thriller films. All of the posters have colours to represent the mood of the thriller and they also have costumes/props to show the type of character that is in the film, also it exposes the personality of the character.

Another idea we had of marketing our thriller was to put a little trailer of the clip onto an online website such as; 'Youtube'. We would include loud/pleonastic music to represent that something eventful is going to happen. This would make the viewers want to see more of this as the trailer would leave them in suspense of what happens to the character in the end of the thriller.

We have decided to use dark colours as our thriller is going to be quite a mysterious clip; the colours are going to represent the secrecy of the protagonist. Also, the red stain on the clothes of the other character in the seat represents his stuggle in the trial he has to overcome. Furthermore, the dark colours will reflect the ending of our thriller without revealing too much to the audience of what is going to happen.

Influences

The idea we are thinking of using is of a man who wakes up in a chair not knowing where he is; in a dark room with just a light over him. The man has flashbacks of what the last thing he remembers before waking up in this chair. We have been looking at all different types of thrillers to get a good idea to use as our thriller and to make the best of what we can do. One film that has influenced our idea as a thriller is 'Saw', this film is roughly the same idea as ours as people are taken to a secure lair of serial killer named "Jigsaw". They must follow various rules and objectives if they wish to survive

and win the deadly game set for them.

Another thriller we looked at was 'Hostle', however we didn't like the idea of the storyline. One thing we did like about the thriller was the poster; a man wearing a mask which shows him wanting to be a mysterious character. Also, we thought the colours used were a sign of what the film would be like; they represent that the film is going to be a dark thriller. The plot of 'Hostle' also was a similar plot to ours as the protagonist is found tied to a chair about to be totured. One idea we did look deeply into was the idea of other characters in the film who you see either being totured or tied to a chair, the reason being that we liked how the character's well being was left a mystery and you do not find out what has happened to the rest of them.

The final thriller that we had taken a look at was different to the other two films; 'Goodfellas'. From watching the film, we came across the idea of mixing a similar plot of 'Saw' and the 'gangster style' from Goodfellas together. We realised it may be challenging but the if it came out correctly as we planned, then it would make a very good thriller. The reason for this being; there would be a bit of action and the shock of the character's real being would be a key moment. In 'Goodfellas' the small time gangster known as 'Henry Hill' is presented as the protangonist in the film. We had a different idea; instead of having the same plot and giving it a little twist, we realised that Nathan could first of all be the protagonist and then turn out to be the antagonist.

Pitch/Brief

 Our plot of a thriller begins with the opening of a man who is at his home living a regular day, on the phone to his friend organising his day; meeting up with a friend. When all of a sudden a man dressed all in black wearing a balaclava appears behind him holding a huge knife. The anonymous figure kills the other man; hanging up the phone giving the friend on the phone a scare and he rushes over to find out what has happened. After finding out his friend is dead, the man seeks revenge. The protagonist is dressed all in black, therefore hiding his identity from the viewers, giving a sense of mystery. As it is only the introduction to the thriller we don't want to give out too much from the start to build up the tension so it makes our thriller more exciting to view.

The choices of characters came of a joint decision as first we had myself as the protagonist, however we realised that Nathan is by far taller so he would fit the role better. Where we are creating a 'horror thriller' the viewers would expect there to be scenes of violence, emotion and mystery so that they will want to continue watching it. Our thriller involves some of what an emotional manipulation as the audience think Nathan is the victim at the start, when really at the end he turns out to be the villain by killing the man on the phone. With the killing of the person on the phone, viewers see the struggle as the protagonist physically pulls the man from behind, away with a knife pointing towards his chest to show a sense of violence.

BBFC Rating For Our Thriller

After watching our thriller a few times and evaluating it, Nathan, James and myself believe our thriller should be of rating '15'. Our thriller does not have themes that are too explicit; therefore meaning it should not be seen categorized as a '18'. However, it is a tad too explicit for it to be rated '12A', as it had scenes of violence and strong language.

To get our rating of the thriller we watched a few other films; Adulthood (15), Saw 2 (18) and WaterBoy (12). We compared our thriller to scenes of each film considering the rating between '12A' and '15', but we realised that the weapon used was too revealing for it to be a 12A. Also, the language used at the end of the thriller was a bit too explicit for it to be a 12A, but too little for it to be a '18'.

Another reason why we believe it should be categorized as '15' is because of the build up of tension throughout the whole thing. As a group we considered whether such a tension would be comfortable or suitable for a younger crowd having to be on the their minds. Furthermore, the ending; showing a sense of revenge could present a wrong type of message towards a mind of a younger audience.

Poster Analysis

This teaser poster contains typical images of what a thriller genre should be about. The poster has a big image of a man to capture the viewers attention. The title of the poster the font of the 'coming soon' are large to make them stick out. Also, the release date has not been shown in the poster to keep the audience in suspense. The background behind the figure is also very gloomy; a dark blue colour represents that the film is going to be a dark thriller. Furthmore, the parts of buildings have been blown up and the man in the poster is holding a gun to show that a lot of action is going to be used. The antagonist's name is at the top of the poster to show that he is going to be a main character of the film. The fact that 'The Joker' is played by Heath Ledger, it brings more excitment to the audience as his death means 'The Dark Knight' is his last film that he will star in, therefore that's the USP of the film.

Title

Our title links in with the thriller genre as it sounds horrific and has many conotations such as anger, violence and kidnapping. Furthermore, it is also short, snappy and memorable meaning that we had to come up with a thriller name that representing the connotations of our thriller. We considered lots of different names linking to the plot of our thriller and our final decision was to be 'Retribution'. This is because our thriller has a plot of vengence within it, also it is another word for vengence and punishment; which is the connotations of our thriller. We took a large amout of time descussing why we chose this title over others and it was decided it is perfect for our thriller. We thought of the name 'Vengeance' as a contender for the thriller name, however we believed that 'Retribution' has more of a catch to it. Also the names of people involved within our thriller will appear at the start of the thriller, along with our company's name.