Finalised response to Question Seven

Question Seven

Finalised response to Question Six

Question Six

Finalised response to Question Five

Question Five

Finalised response to Question Four

Question Four

Evaluation: Question Six & Question Seven

Question Six & Question Seven

Thriller: Final Cut

Evaluation: Question Four & Question Five

Question Four & Question Five

Thriller: Rough Cut

Good:

• Compiled an understandable linear narrative through mostly close ups (a lack of medium and long shots increases audience anticipation and reinforces the thriller genre)
• Managed to add more than one clip from aerial shot
• Clear transition from 'primary' location of the beach to 'secondary' location of the shed (ending puddle shot, blackout, Sam unlocking shed door)

Bad:

• Soundtrack needs to be added and diegetic noise needs to be edited (at the moment it is jarring)
• Titles and credits need to be added
• Some shots require shortening e.g. 0:05 wobbles at the end and 0:50 lasts too long. Also the shed sequence requires faster paced editing, perhaps with the shot of Ian entering the shed being split up using the razor tool and inserted in quick 'flashes' so as to heighten tension

Evaluation: Question Three

Question Three

Evaluation: Question Two

Question Two

Evaluation: Question One

Evaluation

Camera Movements & Transitions

Our thriller includes aerial footage, which we obtained by using an octocopter. The aerial shots in our final cut help to highlight the isolation of Sam, the victim in our narrative. Having used lots of repetitive camera transitions, such as close ups and mid shots shot at conventional high and low angles, the aerial shot further provides the viewer with an exterior perspective of the action and acts as a change in camera movement, ultimately holding the interest of and engaging the audience.

In the video below, Siân and I discuss our reasoning for wanting to include aerial footage in our thriller opening and why we used and did not use certain clips in our final cut.

Initial Ideas: Reflecting Upon Developing A Thriller Plot

Idea One (scrapped)

Our first idea featured the locations of Weybourne beach and Baconsthorpe Castle, both being sites in North Norfolk. We opted to use a beach setting very early on in the course, as we felt it was unconventional to some degree and not often a location seen in thrillers, at least not in the previous work our teacher showed to us. We liked the thought of utilising a castle setting as well because this would have provided us with many intertextual references to derive inspiration from and again, seems to be a rare location for a thriller opening (none of the previous work our teacher showed to us featured a castle or castle ruins).

The plot of our first idea looked like this:

1. Two girls are running, stranded on an empty beach.

2. One girl is chasing the other.

3. The girl being chased is considerably weaker than the other - she is perhaps a less able runner and gets out of breath quickly and trips on a rock, slowing her down.

4. As one girl flees, point of view shots or shots not including her follower are used. When the fleeing girl turns around to see her follower whilst still running, she is - and most importantly, the viewer is - shocked to not see her follower.

5. We had two possible endings.

-EITHER-

(1.) As the fleeing girl turns back to resume her running, having decided that danger was still present, she finds her follower standing - barely out of breath - in front of her.

-OR-

(2.) As the fleeing girl turns back, about to resume her running, her follower rises out of focus behind her.

Throughout the sequence, which would have been edited to a fast pace, we intended to include flashbacks of the girls at Baconsthorpe together. This would have further given our thriller a fast pace. In these flashbacks they would appear to be friends, laughing and walking the grounds, comfortable in each other's company.

We eventually concluded to scrap 'Idea One' when we encountered the problem of making the follower menacing. Unfortunately, having planned to dress both girls in pure white so as to suggest innocence in the victim character and deceiving qualities in the follower, a successful sense of evil and menace was not created. We further feared that the plot could come across on camera as a petty argument between two friends, which is not necessarily the most thrilling opening we knew we could construct. Also, the undecided cliffhanger (number 5. above) would probably not appear as threatening on film as it did in our minds and on paper.

Idea Two (scrapped)

Reluctant to change our locations of Weybourne beach and Baconsthorpe Castle, for reasons stated above, we set about simply altering our narrative.

The plot of our second idea looked like this:

1. Two girls are running, stranded on an empty beach.

2. Both girls appear to be fleeing from the same threat - one girl is no longer chasing the other.

3. The girls being chased are considerably weaker than the threat - who by now is revealed to be an older male - they are running from. They soon become out of breath and slow down, one of them perhaps tripping on a rock and the other stopping to wait with her.

4. As the girl who tripped rises to resume running with her friend, she is - and most importantly, the viewer is - shocked to see her follower smiling at her menacingly, with the older male threat just visible behind her. Low angle shots of the outnumbered girl against high angle shots of the deceitful girl and her male accomplice establish that they (the deceitful girl and the older male threat) are clearly working together.

5. Frozen, the outnumbered girl remains paralysed and cannot find her feet to turn and run back the way she came. The betraying best friend would, at this point, command her male accomplice to "Get her."

Once more, Baconsthorpe Castle would be featured in flashbacks. Images of the two girls talking and strolling the grounds together would allow an audience to gauge their friendship, or rather their apparent friendship. In the last flashback, as the pair leave the castle, the betraying best friend would signal to the older male threat, sat in his car watching them, to follow them to the beach.

The main reason for our scrapping this idea is the difficulty we came across when fitting in the flashbacks. Unlike the narrative of 'Idea One' requiring flashbacks to heighten the pace, 'Idea Two' would see anticipation of the viewer decrease, making the opening appear jumpy as opposed to non-linear. Again, our cliffhanger did not seem thrilling enough.

Idea Three (scrapped)

Our third idea was formulated in a hurry, as we began to panic that we did not have a sufficient thriller plot. Still determined to keep Weybourne and Baconsthorpe in our piece, we again looked to edit the narrative.

The plot of our third idea looked like this:

1. A girl and an older male, dressed casually and modernly, lurk around Baconsthorpe Castle.

2. They meet a girl, who is visibly challenged when interacting with them and could perhaps be described as autistic, and convince her to come with them to the beach.

3. Unsuspecting and unable to decline, the challenged girl follows them to the beach. Once there, the three characters walk to the cliff tops.

4. Again, one girl is outnumbered. The pair encourage the challenged girl to stand closer to the edge of the cliff.

5. The cliffhanger would be a literal cliffhanger and the autistic girl would have appeared weak as we filmed her facial expressions with the octocopter from over the cliff edge.

Yet again, we quickly picked flaws in our own plan. For a start, the depiction of a mentally handicapped individual could insult viewers, on top of which we felt still that our cliffhanger would fail to really grip an audience.

I know personally I was uncomfortable with this new narrative because we had at one point discussed filming the entirety of the opening at Baconsthorpe. If we had done this, our plan was to have the pair hang their oblivious victim. Again, this would definitely hold the potential to offend and looking back, it was highly unlikely that we would have been able to film such a fate and make it appear realistic. Baconsthorpe Castle is open to the public, so filming violence there would have been an unrealistic aim to achieve. I also disliked this plot because it seemed to be ripping off Dead Man's Shoes, a film from which we took a lot of inspiration from (similarly to 'Idea Three', a mentally retarded youth is hanged by a group of young men, seemingly for fun).

Idea Four (Scrapped)

Still wanting to film at both original locations, we decided that the antagonist, a female derivative of Richard in Dead Man's Shoes, would meet her female victim at the castle before progressing to stalking her to the cliff top.

The plot of our fourth idea looked like this:

1. The antagonist meets her victim at the castle. The victim is alone as is the antagonist, meaning neither are outnumbered.

2. The antagonist stalks her victim from the castle to a secondary setting (Weybourne beach).

3. Once at the edge of the cliff top, the victim becomes aware of another presence. She turns around to see the antagonist, holding a hockey stick in the place of a weapon, blocking her way back to safety.

4. Lots of close ups are employed to depict the terror filling the victim, as they know a choice has to be made (whether to jump or be pushed).

5. The cliffhanger, again, is rather literal. A close up of either the victim's face or eye, a facial feature capable of evoking extreme emotion, would act as our final shot.

Once again, we encountered the dilemma of making a female appear menacing. Despite a gas mask and hockey stick comprising the antagonist's costume, we still felt that she would not appear intimidating enough to be used in a final cut.

Furthermore, the cliffhanger felt weaker than ever.

Idea Five (Finalised Plot)

After plenty of trial and error, we finally decided upon an idea that seemed feasible. We switched from using the beach as a secondary location to using it as our primary one.

Our fifth plot is the plot featured in our final cut. Our final plot looks like this:

1. The antagonist is no longer female.

2. The antagonist finds the female victim in a desolate location, so she is stranded from any potential help (this saw us still able to employ Weybourne beach into our two minute opening).

3. The antagonist stalks his victim on the beach before following her to a secondary setting, which should be extremely dark and contained in comparison to the expansive beach with tall cliffs and a far off horizon.

4. A generic weapon should be adopted by the antagonist in order to reinforce male antagonistic convention of skilled weapon use.

5. The cliffhanger should include close ups so as to reinforce the claustrophobic setting of the ending. Viewers should be left wondering whether or not the victim survives.

My group and I instantly felt this plot was a good one to stick with. Although I consider not filming at Baconsthorpe to be a shame, I think Stuart's shed creates an appropriate contrast and probably better asserts the thriller genre.

Another aspect to our final plot I consider to be a shame is the fact that, all four prior plots shared a common theme, depicting the antagonist to be female. I think it would have been interesting to challenge the female stereotype in thrillers, but also do not regret the gender change, as it has made our media product far more thrilling. Besides, through the costume of our finalised characters we challenge gender stereotypes.

Thriller Shot List

Shot 1

Medium close up of Sam sat at seafront

Shot 2

Close up of Sam's hand holding pebble

Shot 3

Close up of Ian's feet entering beach via wooden steps

Shot 4

Over the shoulder shot of Sam leaving seafront

Shot 5

Menacing close up of Ian wringing his hands

Shot 6

Medium shot of Sam's face as she walks beneath cliffs

Shot 7

Over the shoulder shot of Ian walking behind Sam (first half)

Shot 8

First aerial shot of Ian following Sam

Shot 9

Close up of Sam's hands holding pebble

Shot 10

Over the shoulder shot of Ian walking behind Sam (second half)

Shot 11

Close up of Ian's feet on pebbles

Shot 12

Panning close up of Sam's face as her suspicions grow, Ian in background hiding round cliff edge

Shot 13

Medium shot of Sam turning around

Shot 14

Second aerial shot of Ian following Sam

Shot 15

Medium close up of Sam's feet walking through puddle as she leaves beach, Ian's shadow emerges after rippling calms as he stalks her to our secondary location

Shot 16

Over the shoulder shot of Sam unlocking shed door

Shot 17

Panning medium shot of Sam entering shed

Shot 18

Point of view shot of Sam rummaging in boxes inside shed

Shot 19

Medium shot of Ian entering shed via door Sam leaves open

Shot 20

Ominous panning medium shot of Sam discovering saw via torchlight

Shot 21

Panning close up of Sam's facial reaction

Shot 22

Medium shot of Ian entering shed via door Sam leaves open

Shot 23

Close up of Sam looking up then turning around as Ian closes door, shot becomes darkness due to lack of outside light and torchlight being turned away

Shot 24

Close up of Ian's torchlit face

Shot 25

Close up of Ian's gloved hand swinging hammer

Finalised Locations

Primary Location: Weybourne Beach

I suggested that we include a beach setting in our thriller production early on in the course, as it is in some ways an odd location to use. Beaches are often associated with childhood and happy memories, days out with your family and good holidays. It's easy for an audience to conclude that beach locations are bright, populated places and not at all correct for a thriller to be centred around. My group and I agreed on this idea and thought that we would utilise a local, less populated beach in cold January to reinforce the fact that desolate beaches in winter are indeed a convention of the thriller genre. We additionally thought that by playing on an audiences natural association, between 'beach' and 'childhood', our opening would appear somewhat contrasting, perhaps even a little disturbing, and challenge the viewer to link old haunts to less pleasant happenings.

Although, unfortunately, we obtained no footage of the barbed wire surrounding Weybourne Beach and therefore it doesn't appear in our piece, it rendered our primary location more menacing. The low angle shot above is particularly evoking and in fitting with the thriller genre, as the sky darkened just in time for the shot, almost silhouetting the sharp spikes.

I used another low angle shot to photograph the cliff face because this, likewise to the cruel steel spikes of barbed wire, rendered the image more menacing. The height of the cliffs proved hard to truthfully capture, both in picture and in film, but I think the photo above does them a little more justice.

The chalk faces were indeed very tall. Again, although sadly no significant footage of the fog engulfing the cliffs in the distance was caught on camera, it helped us when shooting; the misty horizon constantly reminded us that we were filming a thriller. Like the barbed wire, the fog was in keeping with thriller convention and it's a shame neither will appear in our two minute opening.

An aesthetically pleasing and scenic view of the beach from the waters edge. Luckily, on both days of shooting at our primary location, if ever there was a blue sky in sight the cloud cover was always heavy. We all considered it crucial to not include overtly sunny shots that could potentially detract from the gritty nature of our piece. Since the editing process began, we have in fact added filters to any such shots that demonstrate too much colour or ones that appear inconveniently and unfittingly 'happy'.

Secondary Location: Stuart's shed/garage

We concluded to no longer feature Baconsthorpe Castle in our film, so decided to use a different secondary location that would be more fitting. We scrapped all the castle footage and opted to use a more claustrophobic 'place of death', Stuart's shed/garage, due to unsuccessfully creating a stark contrast between our beach setting and Baconsthorpe.

The shed, from outside, barely appears menacing. Owning a storage place is in no way unusual nor intimidating, so the viewers' interest will be held because initially there is a break in the sense of menace created during the previous beach scenes. This also acts as another factor which contributed to our changing in stationing of our secondary location; many people have a shed in their garden, so there arises a sense of grim realism to our new shed setting. A fundamental message of our piece - any of us can experience foul play and bad fortune - is better connoted using Stuart's shed. By nothing appearing abnormal in owning a shed our thriller suggests that such an ambush can occur anywhere, both to and by anyone.

Once inside however, Sam discovers, with the aid of her pocket torch - a generic thriller convention, a large saw, suddenly sending the scene into panic.

As mentioned previously, the shed was employed primarily because it has a far more claustrophobic feel to it than the largely exposed grounds of Baconsthorpe Castle. By our secondary location being a relatively confined area, our latter scenes become, appropriately to the thriller genre, unnerving. A common fear is that of small spaces, hopefully creating tension and anticipation within most viewers.

Focusing upon the padlock used to open and close the only door of the shed, the atmosphere becomes more ominous than ever. As if to foreshadow the gruesome thought that Sam may never leave the location again, an over the shoulder shot concentrates on her unlocking of the lock at the start of the scene.

By the shed very much lacking sufficient space to comfortably move about in, our audience should feel entrapped with the victimised Sam. If an audience member empathises and sympathises with her character, they will be more likely to feel comparable emotions to that of which she would be feeling; fear, anxiety, despair, all of which heighten audience experience.

A rough medium shot of the shed shows how, despite being located in an urbanised area, our secondary location is still rather 'natural'. Thick green shrubbery surrounds the little wooden room, tying our primary location neatly to our ending one, creating a contrast whilst successfully maintaining the somewhat primal, predatory elements of our first location.

Cobwebs on the wooden beams of the door structure made the shed appear abandoned and neglected, which is of course in fitting with conventional thriller sets such as the garage used to open Essex Boys and establish it as a thriller film and many of the one-off seedy locations featured in Spooks.

The apparent contrast of our locations, we feel, is reflective of the apparent contrast of our two characters, Sam and Ian. Sam conforms mostly to the innocent youth stereotype particularly applied to females in the media, as Ian's character type is cryptic and unexplained, forcing viewers to guess his motives as opposed to have him explain them to them.

Likewise to the cliffs at Weybourne, I used a low angle shot to capture the roof of the shed and the top of the door. Much as I wished to render the cliffs to be looming ominously over the beach, I wanted the picture above to turn the wooden stature into an imposing image, one of which would spark claustrophobia in the beholder.

The inner side of the door features a spray painted smiley face. Used in the context of a thriller opening, it is rendered rather horrific. Adding an ironic twist to its original intention - to promote happiness and positivity - we included it in our filming to appear menacing and shockingly sinister. As though subtly linking one of our predominant reasons for using Weybourne Beach to our secondary location, the grinning graffiti is warped in the context of the thriller genre, playing on childhood and natural associations with smiley faces. The 'smiley' is considered in some places and in certain subcultures to even advocate the spreading of peace, which means we really are featuring the painting ironically, for Sam is supposedly attacked in this very place.

Character Profiles & Costumes

Name: Sam

Age: 16

[Victim]

A unisex name is assigned to Mel's role as we want her character to represent vulnerability as a concept that is detached from gender. Despite popular misconception created by much of the media, men are victimised by stalkers as well as women. Sam is a name given to both males and females, a name free of stereotypical gender association. Mel, or Sam, therefore represents all those vulnerable, or all those capable of becoming vulnerable, in society. Her name subtly reflects the fact that anyone, regardless of their gender, can fall victim of crime and meet with an unjust fate.

That said, however, Sam's costume was influenced heavily by Paddy Considine's Richard [below] in Dead Man's Shoes [2004]. We wanted to challenge the stereotype Considine's character fits. Richard is a gruff, somewhat scruffy ex-soldier, who is able to handle weapons skilfully and not appear shocked upon witnessing - or even creating - violence. Despite butchering his way to vengeance on the local bullies who seemingly have it coming, he is intended to be received as a good, virtuous protagonist with a strong moral compass.

We thought it would be interesting if Mel wore a similar military fashion. Sam is unlike Richard in the sense that she is victimised and does not reap revenge on our antagonist, but by being dressed in stereotypically more masculine shades of green, the audience will be challenged to associate Sam with a weaker disposition to that of her stalker. Furthermore, Mel plays the 'prey' and, in the animal kingdom, prey must hide, prey must camouflage, in order to survive. This idea ties in nicely with the naturalistic setting [Weybourne beach] of our thriller opening. Mel's khaki attire tells us about our antagonist as well and creates connotations of her follower being an animalistic figure, hunting her down, preparing to perform a crime motivated solely by a natural instinct, a desire for dominance. Sam appears as though she is attempting to blend in with her surroundings, which reiterates a previous point; she could be anyone - predators do not always attack those weakest in a pack. Sometimes by blending in, you stand out.

Name: Ian

Age: 16

[Antagonist]

Stuart embodies Ian, our antagonist. Unlike Sam, Ian fails to challenge or break any antagonistic stereotypes of the thriller convention. He is a young male whose costume consists of 'predictable' layers of ominous dark.

The name Ian was derived from the character of Ian Moone [below], who featured in season eleven of the US hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The name Ian Moone is an anagram of 'I am no one' and so we decided to apply the same name to Stuart's role, as we think it in fitting with the idea that everyone has the potential to be involved - in one way or another - with law-breaking acts. Just as we want to imply this with Mel's character having a name that is not gender specific, we also want to imply that anyone can adopt antagonistic traits and become deviant.

As mentioned above, Ian's costume is intended to reinforce connotations of danger, deviance and menace. Much as his name is inspired by Moone, so is his clothing. One visual element that renders the American antagonist so menacing is the lack of skin he has exposed. This makes him appear inhuman and animalistic. We aimed to recreate these connotations when putting together Stuart's outfit. Our Ian is significantly covered up likewise to Daniel Browning Smith's terrifying portrayal, wearing black leather gloves and his hood up, as well as a hat in the earlier beach scenes.

In terms of Ian and his relation to Sam, we want him to victimise a figure who is not necessarily overtly vulnerable or viewed obviously as 'easy meat'. Sam's costume appears, to a certain extent, no less menacing than Ian's. Sam is androgynous, allowing the viewer to not recognise her as a victim quite so quickly.