Production: Soundtrack of the thriller production (Ms Begum)

Soundtrack and its importance

Sound is seen as one of if now thee most important element used when creating a film. Sound is able to create the audiences response to the film due to the way the sound makes them feel and the state it leaves them it. In addition, Sound creates and set different atmosphere around different scenes. This then allows the audience to sense to feel of the scene while keeping them on their toes. The sound used in films especially thrillers are often slow until it stars to speed up until it reaches the climax of the scene which is often a scare or a just a false alarm.
For example, ''A young girl see's the lights turn on in a cupboard, she grabs something to use as a weapon and walks up to the cupboard slowly''. The closer she gets to the cupboard the faster the soundtrack will be. '' As she grips onto the door handle, she is then about to open  the door''. At this point the sound will be at its loudest and fastest, the audience is also expected to be on their toes bracing themselves for impact. ''It turned out to be her cat'', The audience will then feel a sign of relief at this point as the sound will suddenly stop and they will be a lot calmer and less tense than before. The audience will also be glad nothing happened to the character as they may have been able to build a relationship with themselves and the character due to his/hers representation. This is often the point in films where the girl i used in my example above will turn around and there will be something behind her. This is when a loud pierced sound will be used to scare the audience, this is effective as it is unexpected and loud which will scare the audience and also keep them on their toes for the remainder of the film.

There are many different conventional sound elements which can be used in a thriller film in order to make it conventional and have it able to have an effect on the audience. However, I believe in all thriller films including mine they use at first low speed sound which is to create tension and suspense amongst the audience then this sound gradually begins to increase and get faster. This is to then to have the audience on their toes expecting a scare, this also gives the audience a feeling of tenseness and anxiety as they don't know whats going to happen next. The mood of the scene will then change into all together which contributes towards keeping the audience wary of whats going to happen next.The soundtrack is suddenly get louder and louder as the scene closes in on the climax and then there will be a loud sound which then suddenly goes quite during and after the scare scene. This is effective as it will then leave the audience in a stage of shock while reminding them of the genre of the film.

The sound software we used to create our thriller film was a software on the iMac called ''Garageband''. This was chosen to create our soundtrack for our thriller film as my group felt that it was easier to use than the likes of Logic Pro for example. In addition, The wide range of instruments it offered us allowed us to create distinctive sound which would match and merge perfectly with our scenes in order to create a successful and conventional thriller film. This also contributes towards making a really effective thriller in which our audience can appeal to.

My group and I created a very slow, calm and relaxed soundtrack in which we used throughout our thriller film. This is because we wanted to try and keep our audience cautious as we hoped to use unexpected loud sound during a scene to scare them. This is effective as it reminds them of the genre and also keeps them on their toes as they wont know what to expect as they watch on.

My film inspiration is Sinister, this is because I loved the way they merged they merged lighting, editing and sound together all in one scene at one point to create a catastrophic effect amongst the audience. But when thinking of the soundtrack alone. I also liked the the eerie background soundtrack the film had through it as this is used to help create mix emotions amongst the audience and also helps keep the audience engaged into the trailer.

The montage scenes used the conventional type of sound I used in mine which was slow pace sound which gradually turns into fast past before using a loud sound at the climax of the scene to scare the audience, from the screams I heard in the cinema I guess this was very effective in sinister's point of view.

            (2:05 - 2:20) Montage effective sound scene.

The different conventional sound types I used in my thriller:

Firstly, Non-diegetic sound was used my thriller film during the scene where the husband is walking up to the window at a slow pace, this is when the soundtrack will start to kick in. I have chosen to use this because this will help increase the audiences curiosity while keeping them feeling tense as they are expecting something to happen. This is conventional to the thriller genre because this builds tension & suspense amongst the audience which is then followed up by a loud noise to scare the audience.

Secondly, On screen sound was be used in my thriller and used effective during the scene when someone has a butchers knife and is seen dragging it across the surface of an kitchen counter. This sounds is effective as it clears our any unnecessary questions the audience may ask as what they see is what they expect, this then focuses them on the main questions the film wants them to ask. 

Lastly, Off screen sound, was used and i felt used effectively in my thriller as its main purpose was to put the audience in a stage of shock, insecurity and confusion as they won't know where the sound is coming from or whats going on. This will then lead on to us scaring the audience with using loud noises which would then leaving a very chilling effect amongst them.

I Believe what made my thriller effective was the analysis and research we did on soundtrack and also soundtrack of our film influences. This then allowed us to come to a decision in which sounds we would try and replicate in order to make our thriller effective and conventional. My thriller production had a dual purpose, the first was to make it into a conventional thriller film, similar to our film influences. Secondly, we also aimed to have our audience on their feet as this will make scaring them with unexpected loud noises easier due to their tense state. We also tried our best to replicate and place the soundtrack in which was used in sinister and use it in our own was we thought this was a very good way of using different speeds of sound to create different reactions from our audience.

Conclusion
The soundtrack used in my thriller film has allowed it to look and feel more like a thriller film when watching it as it helps creates a tense state of mend amongst the audience and it also sets the mood. the soundtrack was very effective as without it we wouldn't be able to keep our audience engaged enough to scare them and also the soundtrack can tell the audience what to expect depending on its speed. In addition, this is also just another micro-element in which i used in order to make my film conventional and more like a typical thriller film.

Production: Audience Feedback (Ms Begum)

Audience Feedback & Its Importance

Audience feedback is when people who have watched a film of some kind leave their comments behind which can be seen as constructive criticism. Audience feedback can be both positive or constructive depending on their view of the film.
Audience feedback is seen as very important as the feedback the production receives from the audience will then allow them to see what they have done well in the film for example, use of lighting. In addition, this also outlines the area's they think the film production could make some changes to for example, the characters representation. This then allows the film production to make the film better whilst satisfying their target audience.

Before the actual film production started me and my group all had to create our own individual questionnaire which would gather information for us on what our target audience want to see in our thriller film. The information gathered would then allow us to target our audiences specific request in order keep our audience happy while using their feedback to help make our film as conventional and enjoyable as can be. I found the questionnaire very useful as the results I received from my audiences feedback would be very beneficial towards my group as we will then get an idea of what our target audience want to see, how their request will contribute towards making our film a conventional thriller production and this will also allow us to start thinking about how we'll give them what they want.

A target audience is a group of people who a film specifically targets, this is due to either their age or gender. The target audience for my thriller production are young teenagers around age of 15 as they will be able to relate themselves to the film and also the content in which my film contains may be seen as harmful and disturbing to younger viewers. My decision on the thriller films age certificate was mostly due to the research I carried out around age certificate and film censorship. From my research I was able to have a better understanding of film censorship & age certificate as it allowed me to learn about all the different contents in a film which decides upon its age certificate and also what contents can also see a film get banned or removed from the cinema. This then allowed me and my group to make careful planning on the scenes were going to do as we want them to safe for people to watch.

In the examples below I will be providing 3 positive comments about my thriller production which I received from my target audience:

Roy Aged 17: Hey guys, nice thriller trailer, I loved the way you guys used the quick editing near the end of the trailer. It reminded me a lot of my thriller film and my film influence sinister. :)

• This comment showed me and my group that our decision to add fast pace editing near the end of our thriller film was a good idea as it was obviously effective and it was able to appeal to our target audience.

Lucy Aged 19: This has to be up there with one of the best thriller films I've seen. I'm Sure you got a very good mark for this! I particularly liked the way lighting was exploited in your film, I loved the way the lighting got darker and darker and the sound good faster and faster. Left me on my toes! Literally :p LOL xx

• This comment I received from Xavier made me see and feel better about of decision of using both effective lighting and sound at the same time to create tension and suspense amongst my audience. I also didn't think anyone will realise how dark my scenes will slowly get as the film goes on. This was done as it represented the mood of the scene.

Xavier Aged 21: Well firstly, your actors were of top class! and secondly, i thought the use of iconography and quick editing at the start of the film was very good as it made me forget to click to watch another video.

• I thought this was a very positive comment as it allowed myself and my production crew to see how the use of fast editing at the start of our film allowed our audience to start asking questions and entices them into wanting to watch more. The iconography bob was talking about was probably the bag which was used to cover one of our victims head.

Overall: I thought the positive comments were very beneficial to my group as it allowed us to see where we had done well and how effective was it. In addition, the comments also allowed us to see whether our intentions of using certain lighting, editing elements had an effect on the audience and was their response something of what he had hope to achieve.

In the examples below I will be providing 3 Negative comments about my thriller production which I received from my target audience:

Laura Aged 15: This was overall a good thriller production as i felt it contained all the conventional thriller elements in it. However, i thought that the soundtrack did not really match with the scenes and maybe needed a bit of adjustments.

• Whilst giving a few positive mentions I liked the fact that Laura pointed out of she felt our soundtrack didn't really go with our scenes as we can now look back at it and test a variety of different sounds to see how we could of changed it.

Rachel Aged 16: This thriller production was quite good, however, i feel let down as the start of the film looked very good and it grabbed me and my friends attention but as we kept watching it, the more and more the floor was suddenly become interesting. I thought you could of done with a extra scare scene in order to keep your viewers interested and scare them unexpectedly.

• Although this comment was very negative and positive at the same time and it benefited my group as we then went back and looked at the scenes we used and thought of different ways we could of made them better or even the different potential scenes we could of used.

Scott Aged 18: Is it me or was this just solely about the father and not the mother and kids? Don't me wrong this was a great film production but myself and I'm sure others would of liked to see more of an involvement of the other characters.

• I totally agreed with this comment as me and my group all thought the same. There wasn't enough involvement of the other characters as they both was almost equally as important as the father.

Overall: I thought the criticisms i received were also predictable as i myself was able to pick out those weak area's of my film. This benefited me as I now know what to do in order to grab and keep my audiences attention. This also allowed me to next time think outside the box and send a copy of my completed film to 5 or so people in my target audience age range and see what constructive criticism they could comment on.

My Comments about my thriller film:

I Believe i have created a very successful thriller film, This is because i believe i exploited the use of micro-elements very well and according to my positive comments my viewers all noticed it  as they all mentioned it in their comments and also they were able to appeal to it. 

I choice of characters was very good as they both acted at a professional standard which added that little bit of quality to my thriller film. In addition, even during a constructive comment one of my viewers noticed and complemented my actors.

Although, to improve as one of my viewers pointed out to me, the scene flow could of been improved and if i cold go back and improve this I believe this would get a very positive response from my target audience.

Conclusion:

From my audiences feedback I believe me and my group can give ourselves a pat on our back as the thriller film was a great success. I believe the fact that even when our viewers were commenting on the bad side of our film they still were all able to talk about atleast one big significant positive side. This showed us that our film was effective, it allowed us to see our audiences response and also it was able to appeal to them.

Research: Questionnaire & Results (Ms Gibbings)

Task
My group and i all had to create our own individual questionnaires which would gather information for us on what our target audience wanted to see. The information gathered would then allow us to target their specific needs as we want to make our audience happy while keeping the film conventional.


A Streets Production Questionnaire

Please could you ensure that you take care in completing this questionnaire and can you also answer all questions.
*Place a Tick near your desired answer.

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Are you a Male or Female?

Male            Female

Which Age group are you in?

12-16         17-23         24-29        30+

How many thriller films do you watch in a month?

1-4 hours        5-7        8-10        other

In a thriller films, which content do you see as the most effective?

Cinematography (Camera Angles / movement)

Sound

Lighting

What themes do you think create a thriller?

Mystery       Crime        Psychological        Other 


The above is the questionnaire which i created in order to find out what my audience preferred to see in a thriller. I had to make sure all the questions i asked had some kind of relations to my thriller film as the answers i would receive from it would then allow me to make changes to my film.

Conclusion

I found the questionnaire task very useful as the results i would receive from it would be very beneficial towards my thriller film. This also benefits us as we then get an idea of what our target audience want to see and how we'll give them what they want.

Planning: Character Representation (Ms Gibbings)

Character Representation

The importance of character representation in films is underrated as it is the main factor which allows the audience to not only understand the character but also the kind of narrative the film will follow and the impact the character will have on this. Character representation also allows the audience to build a relationship between themselves and the character.

The Awakening - Main Characters

• Sarah - 35 Years Old
• Frank - 37 Years Old
• Shadow - Mystery Character

Sarah
Sarah is the 35 year old who is loving, caring and beautiful, her role in this film will be Amy's mother and Franks Wife. Sarah is persuaded by her husband to move into a new house but she soon realises that she doesn't like the house as it gives her and Amy a weird feeling. This is in hope that they audience, mainly women will feel emotionally attached to Sarah as they may relate their in real life situations to her.
Costume
Sarah will be wearing casual clothing throughout this film. What I mean by casual clothing is comfortable clothes you'd expect someone to be wearing at home. This is so that it meets the audiences expectations rather than having Sarah wearing going out clothes at home. She will not be wearing any kind of make-up at all.
Body Language
Sarah's body language will be very calm and relaxed although ultimetly the audience will be able to notice the uncertainty in her movement around the house as she is still against the idea of moving to a new home. 
Facial Expression
Sarah's facial expressions are seen to change as the film goes on as during the first scenes when she and her family are standing outside the house, you can easily see she has a bit of uncertainty on her face which indicates who doesn't like the new house.
Her facial expression during the dinner scene allowed the audience to get emotionally connected to her as she plead to her husband that she gets a weird feeling about the house.

Frank
Frank is Amy's father and Sarah's husband. His role in the film is the loving and caring father who moved his family to a new home in search of a new life. Frank although was questioned by his wife about the new move initially thought the new house would of been a great fresh start for his family, but how wrong was he.
Costume
Frank is seen wearing casual home clothing and also a suit which suggest that he works.
Body Language
Franks body language starts to change to a more cautious approach as you get deeper into the film as this is when he starts having encounters with the mystery character.
Facial Expressions
Frank did not show a lot of emotion in his facial expression as he wants to be seen as the man with authority. He was very calm and relaxed at the start of the film but by looking at his face you can see he starts to get startled. Even in an scene at the end where he is seen on the floor shouting, scared out of his wits.

Mystery Shadow
The mystery character is a character which appears in the form of a shadow. This mystery shadow appears to be haunting the house and who ever lives inside it. Weirdly enough, the mystery character only seems to appear when Frank or Sarah are about.
Costume
The mystery character wears dark black clothing as this allows him to be unseen at night when he appears.
Body Language
The mystery character when ever seen is always standing up tall which suggest his authority and dominace and also fearless ness as he is always seen in the dark. It also has a slight limp to the way it walks.
Facial Expressions
There aren't any known facial expressions from the mystery character as it wears a white mask which doesn't allow the audience  or anyone else to see its face.

Conclusion
My Analysis of the characters used in my thriller films has allowed me to have to better understanding of the characters and there single characteristics which stands them out from the other characters.The character representation will also allow my audience to relate themselves to the characters as they may have been put in a similar situation to them.

Planning: Preliminary Task (Ms Begum

Preliminary Task

The preliminary Task is when we are all given the exact camera we will be using for filming our thrillers then we are sent away to film some short scene sequences as a way of building our filming experience and also getting use to the camera.

One of our main task was to learn how to operate and use the camera. This also gave us the opportunity to pick out our camera man as we got the chance to test everybody's filming skills which led us to come to a decision of who we feel would be best recording behind the camera. During the task we also had to experiment with the camera by playing around with different camera techniques which we would potentially use in our own thriller.

Our Preliminary Task Scenario:

In our we just had two people walking with no conversation at all as we only wanted to focus on the different camera angles and movements. We used various different locations in our walking sequence before editing the clips.
In addition, during the preliminary task we also separated the group according to their group roles which meant we all were doing different things. E.g. The Camera operation was recording while the director was giving out the instructions to the group.

Difficulties during preliminary task?

During the preliminary task there was one obstacle we encountered which we found hard to go around and that was the editing. We found this difficult as firstly, it was all our first time editing which made it hard for us we found it hard to get use to the editing programme Final Cut Pro. We also found decision making very difficult as we couldn't decide on which scenes we would put together. However, due to us practicing on the preliminary task we were then able to over come this difficulty as over time the practise allowed us to get use to Final Cut Pro. To overcome our decision making problems we just used different scenes with each other to see which looks best.

In addition, the actual hand-held camera we thought was very difficult to operate at the start due to it shaking however, once we finished our preliminary task we all including our camera operator got use to the hand-held camera which was beneficial as it prepared us for filming our thrillers.

We know know what we need to do in order to make our thriller film conventional and appeal to the audience.

Conclusion

I thought the preliminary task was very useful as it allowed me and my group to prepare ourselves for filming by practicing different scenes. It also allowed us to get involved in our group roles as we all took part and had a contribution towards our preliminary task short sequence. In addtion, i thought that the preliminary task helped the group editor the most as he is now confident when it comes to editing our thriller film due to the practise he has had on the preliminary task.

Planning: Storyboard (Ms Begum)

What is a storyboard?

Story board is a graphical representation of how the your video will look like, scene by scene. Storyboards are made using square boxes which illustrates pictures representing each shot in the sequence.


Storyboards need to contain information about: cinematography, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, narrative, location, duration and Number of shots. Including all of these in a storyboard will make producing the scene a lot easier as the producer can just work with and around the information.

Task

Myself and my group each had to create our very own individual storyboard which would represent how shots. This was done as we wanted to know how many shots we would take, the timings of each shot and which lighting, sound, dialogue and location would be  used etc...
The Pictures Below are my version of the storyboard.

As you can see above the storyboard contains clear images and appropriate micro-elements which we plan on using in our thriller film. We took care into making sure the storyboard was clear and easy to understand as when it comes to filming it will make our lives a lot easier. 

Conclusion

Storyboards are very useful and it benefited my group as it allowed us to organise all our shots so that when it comes to filming we can just get on with it.The Storyboard also ensured that we didn't forget any shots and was able to piece together all our shots according to the storyboard.