Cast Notes (Abigail Odum)

These are the character profiles we will be using for our Thriller AS Media coursework

Jessica Brown

Age - 16

Gender - Female

Appearance - Long brown hair, blue eyes, freckles, petite, and 5’1

Mise-en-scene - (Costume) black jeans, black hoody, brown boots

Character info - Jessica is a bubbly teenager, who loves going out with her friends and she performs in theatres. Her father is a very rich man, she lives with her mother and 7 year old brother in a 3 bedroom house.

Melinda Fox

Age - 20

Gender - Female

Appearance - Short black hair, slim build, brown eyes, 5'7

Mise-en-scene - (Costume) Black leggings, white top, black cardigan, boots

Props - Telephone

Character info - Melinda is a friend of David and is willing to help him with his plan as long as she gets a reward in return. She's a heartless person and never feels any remorse for the evil things she does.

David Smith

Age - 23

Gender - Male

Appearance - Short brown hair,brown eyes average build, 5'7

Mise-en-scene - (Costume) Dark jeans, black hoody, black trainers and a mask

Character info - David is a sick and twisted man who seeks revenge after being fired from his job. He looks very frightful and will stop at nothing till he gets what he's after.

Location Notes and Pictures (Billy Camden)

The location that we have chosen to film our 2 minute opening sequence to a thriller is at a house down Douglas Avenue in Harold Wood. We have chosen this location as it is a down a quiet street so noise from main roads will not interfere with the filming, there will also be limited interferance from cars and pedestrians passing.

As the location is also quite secluded it fits in with a thrillers codes and conventions keeping the victim away from a large community. The house also represents a family home so when the protagonist approaches the house she feels safe from danger.

This is the hallway of the house that we will be filming in, again connoting a 'family' feel for the victim.

This is the living room of the loaction, again representing a family feel for the victim with her not suspecting anything about the owner.

This is the dining room of the house we will be filming in, this will probably just be used as a passing room from the kitchen and the living room.

This is the kitchen of the house where we will be filming, this room will only be used for showing the antagonist getting Melinda a glass of water and locking the back door.

Production Logo (Abigail Odum)

 I used the software Photoshop CS2 to create our production logo, I used the letters 'ABB' to represent the beginning of our names. I kept the colours dark as I wanted to represent the theme of our film. I knew how to use the software so I found it fairly easy to create our logo. I'm pleased with how it's turned out and I’m sure it will fit in well with our sequence.

Weekly Updates (Abigail Odum)

Week 3

 We got a lot of things accomplished this week, in our 5-8 lesson we watched last year's preliminary tasks and it gave us an idea of what we had to do. We discussed the shots we were going to use in our preliminary task, and then we teamed up with another group to film the task.

 We encountered some difficulties at the beginning because none of us had any experience with a camera so we had to figure out how to work it gradually by experimenting and trying out different things with the camera. We filmed our preliminary three times before we got it right because we kept breaking the 180 degree rule, however practice makes perfect so after the second time we realised where we were going wrong and we fixed the problem by changing the shots. We finished editing our preliminary task, we created a YouTube account and we uploaded the preliminary task onto there and then we put it in our blog. Also we did an evaluation for the preliminary task.

 In addition we decided to change our thriller sequence title from 'Unsuspected Criminals' to just 'Unsuspected' this is because we thought the title we had before was too obvious and we just didn't like it so we changed it to maintain the mystery. Also we changed our font style to 'Cursive' and we made some changes to the layout of the page to make it look more presentable. As we read through our questionnaire we realised that some of the questions that we had didn't have anything to do with our sequence and wouldn't benefit us in any way so we improved some of the questions.

 We had a meeting during our 5-8 media lesson, we discussed our roles in detail and we shared out the tasks equally, we also talked about problems we may have encountered whilst doing the tasks. Genre research, our treatment, bbfc research and the codes and convention research have been completed. Next week we hope to have our production logo, location notes, cast notes and prop notes on our blog.

Preliminary Task Evaluation (Abigail Odum)

 In today's 5-8 lessons we learnt how to use the camera and set up the tripod. We were also shown how to put the tape into the camera and how to film and edit a short scene. This was very helpful as it gave us an idea of what was required from us in the preliminary task.We were set this task to create a fluent piece of filming before making our actual thriller to ensure our capability and for general practise.

 Our preliminary task involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. In this exercise the majority of the shots we used were medium shots and close-up shots. After planning the shots we were going to use we started filming. We experimented with a range of shots and we came up with a short dialogue for our task.

 We decided to film the short task in the college library however when we finished and looked back at the footage we realised that we had broken the 180 degree rule so we had to film it all over again. The second time we chose to film in B block, we filmed according to plan but once again when we looked back on the footage we had broken the 180 degree rule. The third time we filmed at the same place but we changed a few things around, and we finally got it right.

 As Billy's role is editor, he learnt how to use the software Final cut pro to edit the footage and after that we uploaded the footage onto our YouTube account.

BBFC Research (Abigail Odum)

  The British board of film classification (BBFC) are the people who decide what certificate movies and some DVD’s and video games should be. This is very important and started when young people began to watch films which were inappropriate for their age. The BBFC was set up in 1912 for cinema screening however it also started to put age certificates on videos and DVD’s since 1984. They take many factors into consideration when classifying a film. They look at Language, Horror, Drugs, Imitable behaviour, Nudity, Sex, Discrimination, Theme and Violence.

We have decided our film is best suited to a 15 certificate. We reached this decision after examining each of the factors below:

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

- Our film does not contain any descrimination.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

- We are aware that drugs are are allowed however there will be no drugs in our film.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

- As our film is a thriller it will not contain any elements of horror.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

- The mysterious person shown in our sequence will not have any weapons, there will be no dangerous behaviour.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

- There may be minor use of language in our film however there will be none in our sequence making our film suitable for a 15 certificate.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

- There will be no nudity in our film.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

- There will not be any sex scenes in our sequence nor our film.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

- As all themes are allowed our film will be suitable for our 15+ audience.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
- Our film contains one scene of violence however it's not particularly strong. There are no verbal references to sexual violence; there will be no portrayal of sexual violence in our film.

Some of the above information was collected from the BBFC'S classification guideline publication which can be found on http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

Treatment ( Rebecca Ogunmola)

Product:

Our product is an opening two minute thriller sequence called 'Unsuspected'. The marketing campaign in which we are going to use would be accessed on many platforms such as the internet, TV, newspapers and billboards. With the use of our product being advertised on the internet it allows us to target our audience in an efficient way as it makes it easy for the consumers to access the product, especially as facebook and youtube are sites that are accessed by a high percentage of the population. With the use of proliferation on our blog we are able to get feed back from our target audience.

Target audience

The target audience of the film is aimed at people from the age of 15 and above within the social economic group of B-E, we chose the age group and social economic group as a target audience as the characters in the film are around the same age and status which makes it easier for the audience to identify with the characters. The product is aimed at both male and female who have an interest in thriller films, which we aim to have a positive effect on them, by enigmas being raised in their minds. The way in which we have decided to appeal our target audience is by the use of a twist within the film and also with the use of enigmas being built up. Our opening sequence is aimed at a mass audience within that category people interested in thrillers would be more of an aimed target.

Context

  

Our product will be viewed on many platforms, this includes it first being viewed in cinemas and then later TV channels such as Channel 4, E4 etc as these channels mostly viewed by a teenaged audience and above. With the use of these mediums we are able to target our audience directly. With the use of newspapers, radio stations and the internet these platforms enable us to make our audience aware of our product by surrounding them with our product where ever they may be. We hope that with the different ways of publicizing our product it will be a cause and effect method where the more platforms it is advertised on the more aware the audience is of our product which means the more viewing it will receive.

Media language

Within our opening sequence we are going to use a range of editing techniques with cinematography elements to convey what is happening in the scene to the audience. For example in the beginning as the protagonist Jessica is running away from the antagonist  a range of shots are put together to convey her as running away from something and with close ups used they are able to see the emotions she portrays. With the use of thriller conventions such as lighting and location which give it a scent of realism which draw the audience in as it gives them an imagery of them being in the same position or someone they know. A range of shots are used at the door as they are conversing an establishing shot is used and also a shot verse shot. Extreme close ups are used also in the house as Jessica waits for Melinda this connotes to the audience her as being impatient and her desperateness.

Within our film the use of sound will not be used that much only in areas where tension is being built up to give it the effect it needs. The diegetic sound that would be used would be dialogue as they have a conversation at the door, in the house and when Jessica is calling out which doesn’t last very long. Non-diegetic sound that would be used will be from the beginning of the film until the main dialogue  which then rises again after that conversation is over. synchrous sound is applied in the film when Jessica rings the door bell, when Melinda is dialling a number and as the clock strikes twelve. Asynchorous sound is also applied in the film as glass is broken in the kitchen which alerts Jessica attention to check in the kitchen which helps leads to her trying to escape.

Institution

Our company’s logo is called ABB productions. Our product will be distributed across the internet through many different mediums such as the internet, newspapers TV etc which enables us to target consumers globally.



Representation

Our product represents our characters partly in a stereotypical way as Jessica is victim is represented as weak, defenceless, innocent and dependent. While David the antagonist is represented as sinister and twisted. And finally Melinda the antagonist who is at first misunderstood as she is represented as caring, helpful and kind is later on represented as sinister and devious.

Genre

Within our open sequence we plan to stick with some of the typical thriller convections such as having a twist at the end, as our location doesn’t maintain a sinister, unnerving surrounding but the opposite which helps create enigmas raised as it becomes unexpected. Another convention we plan to use which is commonly used in thrillers is the ‘good vs. evil’ characters; this will be shown more in our featured film synopsis, as there will be a clear protagonist and antagonist. At the beginning of the open sequence the audience have a sense that they can tell the clear antagonist but as we proceed on within the film it becomes clear at the end which is where the twist comes in that there is more than one antagonist. With the use of our location going against a typical thriller scene it raises tension which brings about the unexpected incident.