Section 12: Analysis/Evaluation of completed thriller

My thriller film 'In Suspense' conforms to real media thriller sequences because it's set in an urban landscape, as can be seen by the news report which has a city skyline in the background. This theory was stated by G. K. Chesterton. The fact that the hero is an ordinary person also relates to a thriller convention, by Northrop Frye. Another convention that 'In Suspense' conforms to is the fact that this average city setting is transformed from a modern centre of commerce into a place of enchantment and mystery, or in this case violence and surprises. This theory was created by John Cawelti. This production also includes many mazes and labyrinths, which was a theory created by W. H. Matthews, because throughout the film there are shifts between time scales. For example, at the start there is a news report which is from the future, and then the film shifts to 2 weeks earlier and at the end it moves back to the news report again. This also relates to partial vision and the structuring and release of information, because the audience see the news report and believe that they know that the film is going to ultimately end with the deaths of Scarlett and Simon, as reported in the news. Partial vision was suggested by Pascal Bonitzer and the structuring and release of information by Lars Ole Sauerberg. However, at the end of the film when the news report comes back on we see the camera zoom out and Scarlett and Simon sat watching the T.V., laughing together because it is revealed that they've faked their own deaths. Although 'In Suspense' uses and develops the forms and conventions, it only does this throughout the whole film. One thing the audience stated in their feedback, is that the genre of the film isn't clearly established in the opening sequence alone. However, I believe that 'In Suspense' fulfills a thriller genre because the whole production in general meets each of the authors and critic's views, who have defined the genre.

My thriller sequence represents particular social groups, e.g. men and women, very stereotypically. News reporters are stereotypically men in suits, as is illustrated in the opening sequence. Also, when the first woman is introduced, Scarlett, she is sat down and portrayed in a low-angled shot, whereas the men in the scene are stood up and portrayed in a high-angled shot. This conveys women as vulnerable and less important, however men are portrayed as prominent in the storyline and able to look after themselves.

The kind of media institutions that might distribute my media product are Film4, UK Screen and the UK Film Council. I've chosen these institutions because my film is typically British, realistic and low-budget, therefore these companies will want it because it's more likely to be popular with a British audience because they can relate to the characters and situations. The reason that I don't believe the big Hollywood institutions, like 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures, would back 'In Suspense' is because it doesn't have any famous actors/actresses in it to generate box office draw, it doesn't have a big budget, no special effects and no glamorous locations and lifestyles.

The audience for our thriller film would be ages 15 to 30 and beyond, both men and women. These ages were chosen because these are the ages of most of the characters in the film, therefore the audience will be able to relate to the characters and the situations they find themselves in. Also, we certificated our film as a 15, as a certificate 18 would eliminate a large part of our audience and a 12 certificate would restrict what we would be able to put in the film, and therefore make it less dramatic and effective. The reason for the film being aimed at males is because most of the characters in the film are male, and they would enjoy the thriller element to the film e.g. the gangsters, violence, weapons etc. Also, there's an element of romance for the female audience aswell, however because most of the characters in the film are male, there's only Scarlett representing women. These reasons are based on stereotypical views of gender, and after conducting a questionnaire we learnt that these views vary with the modern day audience. We attracted and addressed our audience by producing a questionnaire to research what our audience would like to see in the film. Therefore, taking their opinions into account when producing 'In Suspense.' The kind of audience experience we were trying to create was unnerving, weird and confused. Because the opening sequence has a non-linear structure, the audience would be confused about what's going on and what's going to happen.

From the process of constructing our thriller sequence I have learned alot about digital technologies. From simple things like how to set up the camera and tripod, to how to pull focus and perform more difficult effects using the camera. Aswell as gaining practical skills with the equipment, I also gained knowledge of using the software on the computer to edit in post-production. Therefore, my technical skills and knowledge have improved alot throughout these couple of months through experience. I was also able to develop the skills that I already had from the preliminary task and correct any mistakes that I made during that production, including using continuity, shot-reverse-shot, the 180 degree rule, and match on action, that I learnt from this task. Digital technology also helped us to create our opening. We used the software Premiere Pro to capture and move onto the timeline. We also added effects, including using After Effects to replace the green screen with a city skyline and using Adobe Flash to create the self-writing text. We were also able to create non-linear editing using the timeline at the bottom of the screen, by cutting up shots and moving them around. This was especially important in 'In Suspense' since the time shifts to 2 weeks earlier and then back to the future again at the end. I think digital technology hampered and hindered the outcome of our production in some ways, however we always took the time to correct these mistakes. One way that digital technology hindered the production is that the last shot at the end of the tape cut off when we were trying to capture the footage. We corrected this by putting the tape back into the camera and filming an extra couple of seconds of footage that we didn't want, so we could use the end of the last shot in our production. Another problem that digital technology caused was that sometimes when we logged off the computer after editing, the next time we logged back on some of the shots kept moving along or disappearing altogether from the timeline. Therefore, we kept having to waste valuable editing time, where we could be using our time more effectively, to move each shot back to the correct place.

Again, looking back at my preliminary task (continuity sequence walking through a door), I feel that I have progressed alot. For example, in the preliminary task I learnt that pre-production is the most important part, because it allows you to plan carefully what you're going to do during the actual production. In the preliminary task we spent minimal time on the pre-production, therefore we had to film the footage twice because the first set of shots didn't work and didn't flow smoothly. So, in the pre-production for 'In Suspense' I made sure that we'd done all of the pre-production paperwork carefully and everyone in the group knew what was going on. The necessary components that we had to use in the preliminary task were also developed and we took them to the next level, using them in a more professional way. These components were continuity, match on action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule. For example, continuity was used throughout the production, because the whole sequence flows smoothly and continues in an order that the audience can make sense of. This is especially demonstrated in the bathroom scenes, where Simon is getting ready. We filmed these shots seperately, therefore we had to make sure that in each shot Simon had to have on the same clothes, have his hair in the same style and be going at the same pace. Also, the internal non-diegetic voiceover assisted in making this sequence flow from one shot to another. Another example is match on action, this is demonstrated in an exceptionally good way when Simon is getting out of the car and it cuts from inside the car by the steering wheel, to halfway up the drive where you can clearly see the car and the front door of the house, where Simon enters with Pidge. An example of shot-reverse-shot is in the living room with Mike's dog Audrey. This was a very hard mistake to fix because on the original shot, Audrey ran upto Simon and Pidge, but they were stood by the fireplace, not infront of the door, therefore it didn't make sense. We also had another shot of Audrey running upto Simon and Pidge at the door, but he wasn't barking, which was necessary. Therefore, we used the beginning of the first shot where he was barking, then cut away to Scarlett glancing at Simon, then added the end of the second shot where the characters were stood at the door. I think if this dilemma had occured in the preliminary task we wouldn't of known how to fix it. We would've either left the mistake there, or took up even more of our time by shooting the whole sequence again. That's why I believe that my skills and knowledge have developed immensely through this pre-production, production and post-production of 'In Suspense.'

Section 11: Audience feedback

After an audience viewed the opening of our thriller film 'In Suspense,' they gave us feedback about our completed production on various factors: entertainment, technical quality - sound, editing, continuity, eye catching qualities and obeying conventions. The parts of our production that were given positive reviews were the self-writing words in a typewriting style, that were used for the credits and for a caption indicating time halfway through the opening. The audience said that they were good graphics and good at blending in with the rest of the film. The green screen effect used for the news report was also given a positive review, because we had put a city skyline to replace the green screen as well as news-type graphics at the top of the frame. The scene in the car was said to be good, because of the cinematography, sound, editing and continuity used. Parts of our production that could've been improved were the length of the introduction and the news report, because we only showed parts of the news scene before cutting and fading the audio and dipping to white, the audience said that it should've been longer to give them a bit more information. Another negative point is that we should've used an older person for the news reporter, however because we had to film this particular part in college to use the green screen, it was only possible for us to get a college student for the part.