Interview/ Survey

1. What's your favourite thriller ?
2. If yes, why is it your favourite thriller ?
3. Who is your favourite thriller director ? 
4. What was the last thriller you watched ?
5. Did you enjoy it ?

Preliminary Task (detailed)

in November me and my friends were working on a short clip which is very amusing and i personally think us as a group worked extremely hard, when acting we all concentrate very hard and keep a straight face and show respect for others as something like this would be really hard to do when your recording it with friends. the clip is 60seconds but we have done so many scene's as we are viewing through the best ones to make our clip as realistic as possible .  the clip is about a student from robert clack school (michael mensah afram)*myself* has been miss behaving and well his coursework is behind and teachers find him a very smart student just being lazy about the work, and well Rasheed ( as a teacher) is having a discussion with him and  he annoys the teacher because the teacher knows for a fact that he's a hard working student, so he then calls his farther ( simon) who is at work and receives a phone call from rasheed ( teacher)  and  he is telling him how he has  been bad in class and slacking in class.

mise en scene - colour

denotation- a literal description of an object or concept or idea.
connotation- what is associated with an object, concept or idea.
example the color red
denotation of red: a colour; a particular wave length of the electromangetic specturm
the color red represents; love passion, blood, hot,anger 

Storyboard

The rules

• some film makers will claim that there are no rules or that rules are there to be broken
• however most would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream films observe in order for them to be acceptable to the mass audience

Thriller conventions part 2

• Surprises

• Arguments

• Cliff hangers

• Death

• Antagonist

• Protagonist

• Femme fatales

• Problems/enigmas

• P.O.V

• Plot twist

• Always a fight sequence

• Drama music

• Mind games

• Explosions

treatment sheet

outline of idea's
at the start of the film we will use shock as use of suspense to make the audience ask questions of why, when & how. this is a method used to make the audience engage with the thriller and not loose interest.
what resources will need?
BB gun
film location
camera
actors
justification of ideas in relation to genre
in our thriller we are going to use justification such as shock, suspense, dramatic music, pov shots.

Locations

the locations for our film will be , rm10 7ay/7aq (althrone way and bradwell avenue) barking an dagenham

risk assessment

Risk Assessment Sheet Programme Title: R.E.D.N.A.T.I.O.N Client: RASHEED FAKROUNI, MICHEAL MENSAH AFRAM, SIMON AKAKINWUNMI Writer: : RASHEED FAKROUNI, MICHEAL MENSAH AFRAM, SIMON AKAKINWUNMI Producer: : RASHEED FAKROUNI, MICHEAL MENSAH AFRAM, SIMON AKAKINWUNMI Director: : RASHEED FAKROUNI, MICHEAL MENSAH AFRAM, SIMON AKAKINWUNMI Date:25TH JANUARAY 2012

Major Issues: well we currently have one issue, 1 of the members of our group got told to leave and his roll was the cameraman. Filming at: ALTHORNE WAY, RM10 7AY Solutions: in order for us to resolve this solution we’ll need to recruit another student from out of the group. Contacts: Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Johnson, Robert Clack,   Emergency services: police station, school, parents, On Site Services: parents Local Police: 999 Local Fire: Local Hospital:  romford

struggling to define thrillers

The thriller is a very difficult genre to pin down because it covers such a wide range of films. Thrillers are films of suspense that are suppose to install terror into the audience

Name of the film

The name of our film is Red Nation as our thriller is about gang life and some of the consequences. the main one being death and all of this is associated with the color red as red represents the wrong things and also is the color of blood. in sense of mise en scene the characters costumes will be in red to help emphasize this point. Red nation can be linked with a lot of other things but this will be present in our film

Consideration of target audience

we considered various groups fro our target audience:

• teens
• young adults
• families
• children

we came to a conclusion as a production group that our target audience would be young adults as they would probably find the film more appropriate to them rather than e.g. a family which would be inappropriate fro the younger viewers.

Conventions of thriller

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliff-hangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles that the hero must overcome. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.

Rope (1948, Alfred Hitchcock)

• tells the story of two young , wealthy men, Brandon and phillip who strangle and murder a friend of theirs just to see if they can get away with it.
• they then invite other close friends ( including the murdered men's parents') to their apartment for a dinner party whilst, hiding the body in a chest/box in their sitting room, just to see if they can get away with it.
• this is an example of shock
• this uses dramatic irony, the body is in the box people look at it and walk around it. we know the body is in there but they do not
• the suspense is created through the body in the chest .
• what will happen ???????

Sabotage (1935, Alfred Hitchcock)

tHIS FILM IS AN EXAMPLE OF SUSPENSE. THIS FILM ALSO FEATURES the use of dramatic irony. we know its a bomb but the boy doesn't. it builds suspense as you don't know if he is going to get to the station on time or if the bomb will kill him and the passengers on the bus. the background music sounds like a clock to emphasize the technique of suspense and hence lead to the shock.

Children of Men

• this film is set in 2007
• it builds suspense as you are waiting for something to happen.
• it starts of casual as they are watching the news in London, then a bomb goes off.

Moby Gratis

For our film we requested a track from the website www.mobygratis.com called ghost returns and we find that this track is effective as it will emphasize the emotion of our film especially in the flashback sequence. the requested track takes a maximum of 2 weeks before permission is granted.  the genre of the music is more of the classical/jazz/blues side  of the music industry

AS Coursework Part 2.5

• marks are awarded for demonstrating excellence in the following criteria:
• holding a shot steady
• framing a shot
• using a variety of shot distances 
• shooting material appropriate to the task set 

AS Coursework Part 2

• The blog should include:
• the brief and research into similar media texts/ target audiences
• planning the production
• constructing the production - technical decisions and revisions
• evaluation of finished production

AS Coursework

• The coursework also comprises a written component on a blog
• this is worth 40 % of the marks
• marks are awarded as follows: 
• planning and research 20 marks
• construction 60 marks
• evaluation 20 marks

Characters In my Film

The characters in my film are as followed:

• Rasheed Fakrouni playing the antagonist also known as big fase 
• simon playing himself
• michael mensah-afram playing the protagonist 

Our film doesn't have a script as we are limiting the dialogue and focusing on portraying actions more and diegetic sounds.

Narrative Structure Formulas and Devices

Automatic use of continuity editing helps the film to remain steady and stable.

• The clear establishment of 'cause and effect' plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell an interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily 
• Enigmas- this refers to a puzzle, something mysterious or inexplicable. in thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the narrative is resolved and the film ends.

The Psychological Thriller

The mind  conflict and the past. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon another's mind either by the art of deception or by attempting to destroy their moral mental state. Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflict their own minds. Usually this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them.

Brick

The film brick has many conventions used in it such as enigmas. The enigma is present as someone has died and their body has been placed by an underground sewage system. Various camera techniques are used but the most noticeable and effective one was an ECU ( extreme close up ). This is effective as it helps set the mood for the scene at the beginning the 'scene of mourn ". Also the scene is in deep focus so this allows the viewer to look around the screen/ view it more freely and look at anything on screen. In reference to sound there is no dialogue, there is only non diegetic sound which helps to set/ match the mood of the scene.

hitch cock's 'maguffin'

MacGuffin sometimes maguffin is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story. This is used in the film psycho and other psychological thrillers, the suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from 2 or more characters preying upon one another minds either by playing deceptive games. This technique is one of the most effective ways to portray the technique of suspense.

Momento

The Conventions of Momento are suspense and tension are present as while watching we are waiting for the antagonist to get murdered.  There is a polaroid picture . There are various types of editing in the opening but the most noticeable one is in the visually effective title sequence. There is non diegetic sound present in the form of a classical instrumental and it is used effectively to emphasis the genre and mood of the film. This is aided by the use of mise-en-scene. 

Preliminary Task Video Upload

Here is the final video made for our preliminary task.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym_887003OM

Suspense and Shock

Imagine a scene in a film similar to this ( Classroom, students,teacher). The camera reveals that there is bomb under the table to the audience but we the (students and teachers) are unaware of it. 

• Will it be saved.
• Will the bomb go off?

This is suspense and dramatic irony.

Now imagine the same scene except that instead of the camera revealing the bomb under the table , without any warning it explodes and kills alls.

This is an example of the use of Shock.

AS Coursework

The blog should include;

• The brief and research into similar media texts/target audiences
• Planning the production
• constructing the production - technical decisions and revisions
• Evaluation of the finished production
• The coursework is 50% of the course

Enigmas and red herring

A red herring is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. A red herring can work with other devices like enigmas to create suspense. A good example of where both of these techniques come into play is in the film "North By Northwest" directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1958. In this film the main character, Thornhill, is sent to a man called kaplan who will explain why he has been mistaken for a government agent. Later on in the film there is a very significant and famous scene called the crop duster scene, this scene is an example of a red herring.