Auditions

I audtioned people for the two roles of Adam and Adena. The audition consisted of a brief introduction of themselves and running through some main lines in each scene.

Adena

Name: Caitlin Rosendale

Age: 17

Contact: School email, mobile, classmate
Availiability: During and after school

Summary: Catitlin has had a lot of experience acting as she took GCSE and currently taking A Level Drama.

Name: Alisha Mohammed

Age: 17

Contact: mobile

Summary: Alisha has not had any experience in acting but has experience performing in front of a crowd.
Availiability: Wednesday and weekends

Adam

Name: Jace Averon

Age: 18

Contact: mobile

Summary: Jace enjoys acting but has no real experience. He is very confident in front of the camera.
Availiability: Every other weekend

Name: Sean McGrath

Age: ?

Contact: School email, classmate
Availiability: During school days

Summary: Sean is confident in front of the camera. He has acted previously in another A Level piece.

Sound in the Thriller Genre

Mise en Scene in Thrillers

Checklist for production

This is my checklist for all the things I need to get done. I have set myself deadlines to keep myself on track. This would help me manage my time and see how much I have done.

Props

Camera Angles and Movements in Thrillers

Close Up

A close up is when the camera zooms in on a specific object or person. This is usually on an important iconography and to show the details of the facial expressions. This is commonly used in Thrillers because it shows the emotions (typically seemingly terrified or worried) which can provoke fear, sympathy etc. for the audience.

Hand Held Camera Shot

A hand held camera shot is when a tripod is not used and is shot whilst being held. This normally gives off a rather shaky and unstable effect. It is effective in Thriller films because it gives a sense of reality which makes it more intense for the audience-it makes it seem like they are there in the scene with the characters, almost like it's from a characters point of view.

Low Angle Shots

Low angle shots are when the view of the camera is titled upwards from a low point of view. This emphasises the fear of the main character and the intimidation of the more superior one. The characters which are higher up suggests that they have more power whilst the other character seems weaker.

Point Of View Shot

This is when the scene is filmed as if it was through a characters eyes. It is generally used a lot in horror films because it allows us to understand the characters emotions in that particular situation. This makes it more suspenseful for the audience because it's like it is happening to them which makes them emotionally attached.

Over the Shoulder Shot

The over the shoulder shot is very effective for creating tension and fear. It is used a lot to create suspense and allows the audience to see what is happening before the character does. This type of shot is commonly done where a reflection can be seen so the audience can see the figure behind the character.

Birds Eye/High Angle Shot

This type of shot is when it is filmed from a high angle to down below. In Thrillers, this is usually to portray the character as weak and vulnerable. It emphasises their helplessness and how powerless they are. Alternatively, it can show the action from a higher view so that the audience can clearly identify the situation. It can link in to the current action such as when, the characters look up towards the ceiling which can cause suspense to find out what it is.

Tracking Shot

A tracking shot is used a lot in Thrillers because it can often give the feeling as if a character is being watched. It creates suspense because it is following the action and the audience can not see whats going to happen ahead.

Tilted Angle

This sometimes create a supernatural strange kind of atmosphere. This is quite dramatic and adds to the tension. Occasionally, it can make the scene seem quite disorientating which makes the audience relate to the characters emotional mental state.

Short Film

For the short film, I plan to try out a variety of the different shots to emphasise the Thriller genre. The shots I definitely will use will be the tracking shots because it will give the sense that someone is following the protagonist. I also think that POV shots would be quite effective as it only limits the audience to see what they see which creates suspense.

Sound

I included sound in my animatic to plan out how the short film would sound. It is also useful for feedback as I could get opinions on whether the soundtrack suits or not.

I made sure to only use copyright free music. I found scores on a website called imcompetech.com where there are copyright free music. The tracks are all originally composed, so in order for me to use the music, I will need to give credit to the composer. The track I used was called 'Gathering Darkness'.

Other sound effects were found on Youtube. They all stated that it was copyright free so I was able to use it to create a soundscape.

Feedback on Animatic

From my feedback, everyone was able to summarise the narrative more or less. I am confident that my short film will appeal to my target audience of teenagers and young adults because the responses in my feedback showed that they all thought that it is targeted at 16-25's.

The positives of the camera angles and movements that I have used was that there was a large range. To improve, I need to be aware of the tracking shots that I am going to film as I was unable to draw that in the animatic.

In regards to sound, most said that it was quite successful as it built tension and suspense. It was suggested that there should be diegetic sound of footsteps when the kidnapper gets close.

Storyboard Animatic

Sub-Genres of Thrillers

Sub-Genres in Thrillers by CHKM 888

Production Log: Week 2

Characters in Short Films - Propp's Theory

In relation to Propp's narrative theory, I have looked at a few short films and looked at the characters in particular. This research would help me create my own characters for my short film. As a short film only has limited characters not all the character types can be applied.

I Miss You

In this short film, there are only two characters. The young male acts as the hero who seeks to reach out to the girl he loves and the girl is the princess.

Don't Look Away

This short film does not conform to the codes and conventions of a short film as there are four characters. The girl, Savannah acts as the hero and is the main protagonist. Her brother is the helper who aids Savannah and the father can be seen as the dispatcher as he informs Savannah on what to do.

2+2=5

Although this film has many characters, there are only two distinct characters. These two characters can easily apply to Propp's theory. The boy acts as the hero and the teacher acts as the villain.

For my short film, I have only two main characters. They are both the protagonist but Adena can be seen as the hero because she goes on some sort of journey. The third character acts as the villain but I plan to not show the face to create a sense of mystery. This will portrayed through POV shots in the film to imply that someone is there.

Propp's Narrative Theory

Character Analysis

I have done a character analysis so the actors can get a better idea of the characters they will be portraying.


Name: Adena

Age: 18 years old

Personality: Adena is a very adventurous person who likes to go travelling. She is quite outgoing and is talkative.
Background: Adena lives with her parents and is an only child so she gets all the attention. She lives in house on the edge of town but is preparing to move away for a few months due to her parents getting a promotion in work. she is a vegetarian and is against eating meat. Adena is currently in a long term relationship with Adam.
Likes and Dislikes: Adena enjoys exploring new places.  She frequently meets up with her friends and likes meeting new people. She loves eating fresh fruit and hates food from cans. She also doesn't like spiders.


Name: Adam
Age: 19 years old


Personality: Adam is quite a reserved person and is often portrayed as a bit quiet. He is a very loyal person and is truthful most of the time.
Background: Adam lives with his parents and his younger brother aged 11. He is currently taking a foundation year in art and design so he can spend more time with Adena but wants to go to university in the next year to study graphic design. His house is a large detached house and has lived there all his life. Adam is currently in a relationship with Adena and has a small group of friends.
Likes and Dislikes: Adam hates playing video games and rather be outdoors. He enjoys playing tennis and dislikes football.

Target Audience Feedback on Screenplay/Storyboard

Storyboard

Questionnaire Analysis

I got 21 responses from my questionnaire which should help me get a better understanding of what my target audience wants to see in my short film.

 The majority of people who answered the questionnaire were female. This could mean that my short film would likely appeal more to the female gender.

 The next question was about their age. The majority of people was aged 16-20 which is within my chosen age group for the main brief (12-25). This shows that I made the correct decision on what the targeted age group should be. It also shows that the questionnaire appealed to mainly teenagers which implies that teenagers like thriller films the most.

 Most of the people watch films on Netflix so that is one platform I can distribute my short film on. The second most votes was to watch it online. This includes websites such as youtube  so I can distribute it on youtube which would hopefully gain more profit.

 The largest amount of votes was for the crime sub-genre. This supports my short film as it is a mix between crime and psychological (which was the second highest). This gives me confidence that my short film will appeal to my target audience.

 The main reason that people like thrillers is becuase of the suspense. All of the target audience replied that it has a lot of tension and suspense which links with the action and plot twists revealed in a thriller. To create suspense and tension in my short flm, I can have a lot of slow takes at the beginning.

 There were various points about what people don't like about thrillers. A point that stood out to me was if the ending was bad - someone noted that some endings can be a bit ridiculous. I do not want this for my short film so I will have to be careful when filming so it doesn't look comical or unrealistic.

 Most people said that they prefer the main protagonist to be female. This supports my decision as the person I have cast for the main role is female. I have chosen the character to be female because, sterotypically females are seen as weaker and more vulnerable. Hopefully, this will evoke a sense of sympathy from the audience.

Over half of the respondents said that it was expected for the protagonist to be aged between 16-20. Both my characters are within that age range. 

There was a variety of answers but the forest choice was the most popular. As the main scene in the short film is set in a forest, I hope that it will appeal to a larger target audience.

Almost three quarters of people wanted a linear structure. Therefore, my short film narrative should be want the audience expects.

The most popular choice was an ambiguous ending, followed by a cliff-hanger and a sad ending. No one wanted a happy ending for the film. My short film will have mainly an ambiguous ending as I will not reveal what has happened to the girl. The music box breaking also signifies that something bad has happened but it will not be specified. It also ties in with a cliff-hanger. Hopefully, this will be a strong open ending for the film so the audience can interpret it how they want.

Questionnaire

I have conducted a quick survey which I posted on my social media accounts. This is so that I can get a better understanding of my audience and it will help me improve and develop my short film idea.

YouGov Profile

I have looked at a film that it similar to my own idea called 'The Forest'. It is of the same genre and is also set in the same location. This research was to see the majority target market and their characteristics. I could use this information and apply it to my own short film to ensure it meets the audiences expectation and attracts the chosen target market. To do this, I used a website called YouGov. It shows the background data of the consumers of each product.

A sample of 192 people enjoyed the film 'The Forest'. I chose this because it is also a Thriller.]/Mystery. As I want my short film to appeal to a similar target market, I researched the demographic profiles, their personality and what they like for entertainment. 

The results were somewhat I expected. The majority age group for the film was aged 30-44 with a percentage of 23.7%. This isn't within my chosen target market of 12-25 but the percentage of people aged around 18 was 21.7% which gives me some confidence that my short film will appeal to my chosen target market.  However, the fact that the majority gender was female was unexpected because stereotypically males enjoy Thriller films more. Fortunately, this is quite positive because it demonstrates that Thrillers can appeal to both genders equally and will extend the audience. The percentages were almost 50/50 with the male percentage being 48.8%.

Looking at their favourite movies, the majority of them are Thriller or action films. This ensures that I have made the right decision on deciding what genre to pick.

From this research, it has helped me gather more information about what appeals to the audience.

Production Log: Week 1

Textual Analysis: The Curve

My Chosen Age Certification

For my short film, I have chosen the age rating to be 12a/12. This is because it might not be appropriate for young children as it may be a bit frightening. I plan not contain any extremes such as threat or violence. It will also not have any dangerous imitable danger, discrimination, nudity, sex or use of language and drugs. Threat and violence would not be shown at all on screen but it may be implied at some point. Therefore, it should be suitable for people over 12 years of age. 

12a allows someone younger than 12 to be able to watch the film as long as they are supervised by an adult. However, this only applies to films shown in the cinema. Short films would only have the 12 rating as they would normally distributed online instead of the cinema due to a low budget. 12a films should also have a similar criteria to a 12 film. 

Feedback on Screenplay

To help me improve my screenplay, I have asked the rest of the class to read it and give me feedback on areas to develop.

The feedback given back to me was that the layout of my screenplay was well structured. They also said that the story-line and relationship was made clear so the audience becomes attached to the characters. This gives me confidence that the characters will be relatable and liked by the audience.

The actors will be able to improvise as I want it to look as realistic as possible as long as they remember to include some of the key dialogue I have written in the script. 

During the first scene, I will place an overlay of a camera screen over the top during editing to make it seem like the POV of Adam's camera.

As for the final comment, I may need to edit my script as it gave off the wrong impression that Adena was in the room at the time.

Narrative Planning

Screenplay: Captured

Target Audience of Thrillers

An audience is a group of people who experience a product.

Demographic is the physical differences between people such as gender or age. People can be placed into categories of social grades based on their jobs and social status.

The demographic profile of the target audience for Thriller films is typically for teenagers and adults because the content may not be suitable for younger children. Young adults typically like to seek thrill, therefore a Thriller film may excite them more than an older audience. Thriller films can be suitable for both genders, however, it can be said that males are more likely to enjoy Thriller films.

Psychographic is when people are divided into different categories based on their personal interests and lifestyle.

The psychographic profile of the target audience is usually mainstreamers. This is because Thriller films are generally similar. In contrast, some Thriller films can be quite different and create a different experience for the audience. Therefore, the psychographic profile can also be explorers.

BBFC Certification

What is the BBFC?

The BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. It is an independent, non-governmental body which their job is to classify films using age ratings known as the certification of films. The issues looked at when classifying a film are discrimination, drugs, horror, language, imitable behaviour, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence. Once these subjects are considered, as well as the tone of the film, they then decide what the age rating should be.

Here are the different types of classifications:




Short films would need to be certified and given an age rating to notify the audience of who the film is suitable for.

As I have chosen to create a short film in the Thriller genre it will most likely be suitable for over 12's. For the majority of Thriller films, it would be classified as 12a or over as it might imply things such as violence which may not be suitable for younger children.

About the Genre: Thriller

The chosen genre of my short film will be a Thriller. Therefore, I will be conducting my research on that particular genre to find out how the micro elements make up the macro elements.


To sum up what a Thriller is, it is basically something that involes a lot of tension, antisipation and suspense. It usually leaves the audience on the edge of their seat throughout and builds up to the climax of events.


Typically, a Thriller revolves around some sort of problem. This links with Barthe's Enigma theory which is often seen in this genre. The protagonist also faces some kind of danger in order to keep the suspense.

Basic Planning

I have done a basic plan to help me develop on my idea.

Pitch

I have decided that idea 3 would be the strongest idea. This is because it doesn't require a lot of props like the others and I would have easy access to the location.

Development of Screenplay

After reading my feedback, I have edited the screenplay to improve on the weaker areas.

Production Schedule

To manage my time well, I have create a production schedule.

Draft Screenplay for Idea One

I have narrowed my ideas down to Idea one and Idea two. To help my decision, I've written a draft screenplay.

After writing the screenplay, I have decided that this idea may be to hard to pull off. This is because it might be quite diffucult to film in front of green screen and make it look realistic. Also, the props and location I need is hard to access, therefore, I will be going with idea three.

Idea 3: Recce's

I have taken photos of the locations which I think will be suitable to film in.

For the video message, I have decided that the girl should film it on the bridge to reveal her location. This area shows isolation as there are usually no people around which suggests that she is vulnerable.

I have walked deeper in the forest to take these photos. The area is generally quite quiet so I think it will be ideal to film when it is just getting dark. The only problem with the woods is that there are quite a lot of pathways, therefore, it may seem unrealistic to get lost. But this can be solved by filming off the pathways.

Textual analysis: 2am The Smiling Man

The beginning of the film starts with a close-up shot of a young man walking alone at night. We can generally assume this will be from the genre of horror as it hits many of the stereotypical conventions of horror. Credits are shown on top in the colour white which is used to strongly contrast the dark background. Along with this, non-digetic music can be heard which is synchronous to the situation. It has a low bass and is in minor key, again, showing the conventions of a typical horror film. This is not continous but there are short bursts of this non-diegetic music occasionally which signifies the foreboding the coming events.

There is only one protagonist which is typical in a short film. The portagonist is a young white male. As the demographic of horror films are usually teenagers, this makes him relatable. This can link with Hebdiges theroy that media portrays teenagers as either 'fun or trouble'. The fact that he is walking alone at night can be seen as irresponsible and dangerous, therefore, conforming to the theory. Followed by a cutaway, the antagonist is revealed in a long shot wearing a beige suit and walking/dancing in an unatural way. The fact that the antagonist is a actual person seems more frightening as it is more realistic. Shot rerverse shot is also used to show the antagonists reaction change in a close-up from smirking to a worried facial expression. This suggests that there is something wrong and so evokes curiousity and fear from the audience. Furtheremore, there is low lighting to set the mise en scene which is a typically convention of the horror genre.

The narrative is linear as there is a an equlibrium.This is portrayed by the progression of shot where the pace of the shots speeds up as the narrative moves along. The first few shots are rather slow so the audience has a sense of where the location is. This is amplified by the long shots to establish the setting which sets the tone of the film as it is a long dark street, stereotypically to something from the horror genre. As the scene hits the climax of events, there is fast paced editing to show the franticness and panic of the protagonist. The utilisation of constant cutaways and eyeline matches reflect on the characters change of emotion throughout. This shows the contrast of both characters as binary opposites.

The camera angles and movements are used to exaggerate his emotions. Many of the close-up and mid-shots are in shallow focus tso the audience is only focaued on the protagonists facial expressions. This demostrates his fear. Furthermore, the composition of some of the shots are using the rule of thrids so the protagonist is carefully postitioned to be in the focus. It is also used so the audience is unknown to whats going on in the surroundings which create fear to the unknown. There is use of a hand held camera to show the chaos of the situation which also shows the distress of the protagonist. The shot is quite shaky which can suggest theat the character is to overwhelmed with panic that it is hard to focus.

Throughout the film, there is hardly any dialouge except for the protagonist asking one question. This surely is echoing at the audiences thoughts of what does the antagonist want. However, this question is left unanswered which consequently leaves the audience curious. This drives the narrative along as it creates an engima where there is a plot which is left unanswered to engage the audience and keep them guessing as to what happens next. There is a lot of non-diegetic music throughout to exemplify the appearnce of the antagonist each time he changes movements. This adds the the shock and jump scare which creates the stereotypical representation that the antagonist seems to move very quickly without noticing. The non-diegetic music is quite atmospheric and has a lot of sustained notes to draw out the climax. The crescendos in the music suggests that something bad is going to happen and build the tension and suspense. Moreover, the non-digetic heartbeat relfects on the fear of both the protagonist and the audience as we are unaware of where the man went. This question is then anwered with a clash of dissonant chords to announce the prescene of the smiling man who is shown in close-up.