Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire we wrote:


1. What are your expectations of an independent thriller film?

[ ] Best selling story       [ ] Not well known story             [ ] Glamorous locations

[ ] Unglamorous locations           [ ] Well-known actors    [ ] Unknown actors

[ ] Special effects           [ ] Soundtrack   [ ] Award winning director

[ ] Unknown director       [ ] Other (please state)

………………………………..........................................................................................................
2. Which genres of a thriller do you prefer? Please pick up to 3

[ ] Action           [ ] Crime           [ ] British Gangster        [ ] Conspiracy

   [ ] Crime             [ ] Disaster        [ ] Erotic        [ ] Legal                        [ ] Mystery

           [ ] Political          [ ] Psychological [ ] Religious     [ ] Supernatural

[ ] Other (please state)

………………………………..........................................................................................................

　

3. What are the connotations of these locations?

Cities – [ ] Dangerous    [ ] Busy             [ ] Isolated         [ ] Lonely           [ ] Intimidating

[ ] Other (Please state) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Towns – [ ] secluded     [ ] empty           [ ] Lonely           [ ] Gloomy         [ ] Dark

[ ] Other (Please state) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Countryside – [ ] Isolated          [ ] Open space   

[ ] Other (Please state) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Housing estates – [ ] Crowded     [ ] Friendly       [ ] Hostile

[ ] Other (Please state) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Car parks – [ ] Dark       [ ] Enigmatic      [ ] Claustrophobic           [ ] Dangerous

[ ] Other (Please state) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Prisons – [ ] Dangerous             [ ] Scary            [ ] Isolated

[ ] Other (Please state) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4. In a thriller film, what kind of sound do you think is most effective?

[ ] Music           [ ] Sound effects            [ ] Both [ ] Other (please state)

………………………………..........................................................................................................

5. In a thriller film, what kind of sound do you notice the most?

[ ] Music           [ ] Sound effects            [ ] Other (please state) 

………………………………..........................................................................................

Sound investigation piechart

A chart to show the favourite sound clips from the sound investigation amongst the students

Sound investigation

After asking the media students what the different music samples from the films connoted to them, we can conclude that:

·         The music from Psycho connoted fear, disturbance, terror, eeriness, tension and suspense amongst all of the students.

·         The music from Red Road caused anxiety amongst the students, as well as connoting disorientation, tension, loneliness and disconnection.

·         The music from The Third Man connotes hopefulness, satirical, comedy and irony. 

·         The music from Witness connoted the sense of adventure, progress, anticipation, peacefulness and tranquillity.

·         The music from Once Upon A Time in America was eerie and unwelcoming, creating a sense of isolation and loneliness.

·         The music from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly suggested a battle, pride and glory.

·         The music from Inception connoted suspense, tension, the idea of a fight, a nightmare, eeriness, action, and anxiety amongst the students.

We can use this information to build an idea of what our music will be like in our thriller opening. We can use the aspects of the music from different thrillers that work with our genre, themes and action.

Music + diegetic sounds



Red Road diegetic





Harry lime theme



witness music


Once upon a time in america


The good the bad and the ugly soundtrack



Inception soundtrack

Thriller film audience research

What I want to find out:

• Audience expectations
• What music/sounds are most effective
• What thriller genres 18-24 year olds prefer
• The characters
• The location

How I am going to find it out:

• Questionnaire
• Interviews with media students
• Sound investigations

What I expect to find out:

• Less music than sound effects
• Action/crime/British gangster genres
• No special effects
• Modern characters and locations

The Event - TV thriller series -

"When a man goes looking for his missing girlfriend, he stumbles upon a government conspiracy that is bigger than the president himself. "




The Event is a new American science fiction thriller TV series based on government conspiracy. The plot of the show centers around an extraterrestrial race who have been detained by the US government for 66 years, and may now become exposed to the public.

The TV series often has some generic thriller aspects. The cellar shots from episode 4 are particularly effective


Picture 1





Picture 2

 



Picture 3
This shot is effective, as the small gap of light represents and empathises the sense of entrapment and claustrophobia, which helps to build the tension in the scene. The light shows the audience her expression, drawing the eye to her wide open eyes. The audience might empathise with her.

 


Picture 4




Picture 5
This close up of the character's tied up hands is effective because it shows her struggle and further exaggerates the sense of claustrophobia.




Picture 6
This shot uses chiaroscuro lighting to show the character in a vulnerable position.




Picture 7
The tilt shot used when the new character enters the room creates a sense of confusion, desperation and distortion. This represents the feelings of the hostage. The chiaroscuro lighting also hides a lot of the scene, increasing the suspense as the audience, as well as the character, can't see all that's happening. The darkness, again, is useful at creating a claustrophobic sensation.





Picture 8
This shot has the same effect as Picture 7.

 


Picture 9
By looking directly into the camera, it gives the effect that the audience has eye contact with the character. It puts the audience in the role of the kidnapper, but the expression on the woman's face makes the audience empathise with her.





Picture 10
This shot is used to show the vulnerability of the hostage, and desperation of her situation.

  The cellar scene has thriller aspects as it is a generic location. The cellar is dark, small and lonely.
The lighting of these shots give them thriller aspects. The director has used chiaroscuro lighting to only light up her face. This shows the emotions on her face, and also hides the scene around her which increases the tension felt by the audience as we can't see anything else. It also increases the sensation of the claustrophobia felt by the character of being trapped with no escape, and the darkness surrounding and suffocating her.
The rule of thirds is used by the director a lot in The Event. This can be particularly seen in pictures 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.
Notice the tilt shots in picture 7 and 8. These are fantastic shots showing both the victim and the hostage taker. They distort and confuse the audience of what's happening in the shot, especially with the little light, increasing the sense of danger and suspense.

Evaluation of my cosmetics advert

Who is your target audience and how would your advert appeal to that audience?

My target audience is women aged between 20-30. My product targets strong, independent working women, with aspirations to go far within their careers and businesses and to become successful. It also greatly targets women who aspire to be like this. The target audience for my advert have strong values and believe in themselves. My advert appeals to this audience by showing a young woman whose model-like position and posture and grace connote high personal belief and success. This is aided by the camera-flash effect in the background that suggests paparazzi, the red-carpet and ultimately fame.

My advert uses these connotations to position the audience to view the advert from an aspirational perspective, as it makes them believe that the perfume would help them to become as confident as the woman is presented on the advert. Also, by the way that the model is looking downwards towards where the perfume bottle is placed on the advert, it further suggests that the product is the reason for her success and happiness. The audience might feel this and consider that buying the product would make them feel personally stronger, and thus help them to become a successful member of the society and possibly even famous.

My advert also positions the audience to view the advert from a female perspective, as it supports the idea of women desiring to be and feel beautiful in the hope of finding happiness. My advert does this by presenting a beautiful girl, who clearly appears to be happy as she is smiling and has a very relaxed and comfortable pose. In this way, the female audience may idolise the woman in the advert.

My advert might be shown in magazines such as vogue in order to appeal to the target audience, as this is a highly classed magazine associated with A-list celebrities and the latest fashion. Other magazines of the same genre include Elle and Cosmopolitan.

How did the technologies help in the process of constructing the advert, and how comfortable are you using the technologies?

To capture the image for my advert, I used a Nikon D5000 digital SLR camera. I used this for the quality of the photos it can take. I’m comfortable using this camera because I am familiar with how it works and how to produce the best quality images from it. I am also pleased with the image I achieved with the camera, as it was clear and well focused, which was useful when creating my advert as it made selecting and changing colours much easier.

For this, I used Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paintshop Pro – both editing software. To be able to use these programmes was very useful when creating my advert. I used them both to edit every part of my advert successfully and creatively, with confidence from past experiences with the programmes.  The tools that i used on these programmes were the selection tools to cut out the background of the image, the colour changer to change the background to one solid colour, the light effects to produce lights on the background suggesting camera flashes, and the clone tool. 

I also found the website Dafont.com helpful when adding text to my advert as it was quick and simple to use, and it offered a great variety of different fonts to choose from. This helped my choose a font suitable to my product.

How does your advert represent particular social groups?

My advert represents the female social group, as it is a feminine design and presents a woman as the main subject. It shows how the female’s place in society has developed into a respectable member of society, and how women feel happy and content within themselves. I think my advert represents the target age group of 20-30 year old women as it has a level of sophistication that represents these women, but can also target younger ages due to the age of the model and the purple coloured background that gives the advert a younger feel. This can represent how the audience of 20-30 year olds want to feel; their desire to stay and feel young, and to remain fashionable amongst younger crowds. As well as this, I believe the advert suggests female’s aspirations to be confident and outstanding in society.

Cosmetic Advert - slideshow

This is the trailer for the new film "Buried"



"Paul is a U.S. contractor working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap."


Below are some snapshots from the film:


Picture 1




Picture 2




Picture 3


Each of these pictures are successful in capturing the feeling of claustrophobia and sharing it with the audience.
All of the shots use chiaroscuro lighting to create the scene. Picture 1 is lit only by the flame of a lighter. The lighting is .... and is used to show the audience the space that the character is in, in order to increase the sense of claustrophobia and fear.
Picture 2 is lit by the light of a mobile phone. It particularly shows the face of the character close up, highlighting the cuts on his face. This shows the danger that the character is in.

On picture 3, the chiaroscuro lighting focuses the eye on the face of the victim, which reveals the emotion on his face. This helps to make the audience feel the terror that the character feels.