Evaluation 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression of it from a full product?

In looking back at the preliminary task I did, I can definitely say that there is a gap in terms of quality and it terms of the challenge set. When filming my preliminary task, which at the time, was at a stage when I was relatively inexperienced in terms of aspects such as camerawork and editing, especially in comparison to what I know now. During the construction of my preliminary task, I would only have been able to name a few basic shots (mid shot and close-up) and was only just beginning to get to grips with the process of editing, as it was something I never done before. However, since then, through the use of the editing software of Final Cut Pro on the Macs, I feel I now have a much better understanding of what editing involves and the factors that you have to take into consideration regarding it. Looking back at the preliminary task, I was not aware that the factor of time had such an importance regarding editing. However, through the use of editing software first hand, I now realize this is vital. For example, during the filming of the preliminary task, we had to film a door for a number of seconds prior to it entering and closing to allow for the editing to be easier. At the time, I was aware fully of the importance of this, but now I understand it. This is down to a gradual build of knowledge that the use of the Final Cut Pro has given me.

I have also learnt a lot in terms of the camerawork. Looking back on my preliminary task, I can realize that I made mistakes or didn't take into consideration factors that I would do now or that I did with my final product. For example, since the preliminary task, I have learnt more about position of characters within the frame, as well as effects of the position of the camera, and what this can connote about the characters involved. Looking back I notice that I did not take factors such as these into consideration and so most of shots were just in the centre, as there was not much innovation. As a result, me and Xiangyu wanted ended up using a far greater variety of shots, which improved the quality of our film, and did not make it seem as repetitive as it could have been.

Evaluation 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Firstly, when it came to the process of having to put our footage on the Macs so that it was able to be edited, I did encounter a few problems that were new to me. What was noticeable was that the Macs would not accept the footage we had filmed from our first session as it was not in the correct format (the footage we used was in the format of MPEG). Prior to this, I was not really aware of the different formats footage could be in, even though the camera was not one of the school's. Previously to this happening, I knew that different formats existed, but was not expecting this to happen because we used a different camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A screenshot of editing music on Final Cut.

In addition, prior to filming our final product, I had never used a Mac before and so this was an entirely new experience for me. I did not notice the differences in aspects such as layout and even small matters such as the shortcuts you press. I was unaware of this, as I had previously only used a computer before, and so it took some getting used to. I also used the programme Final Cut Pro for the first time. Before using Final Cut, I had been aware of editing software although I had never had to use one before. Even from spending a short while using the software, I was amazed at the depth that you could go into in different aspects of the editing.As the screenshot above shots, you can even change the volume of the music at different points using the pen tool which was something completely new to me. I also learnt about how to cut clips first hand, cut music and move bits of footage around to increase the quality of the editing.

I had never previously used Weblogs such as Blogger before.

Also, prior to using Blogger for the construction of my final product, I had never previously used any Weblogs. I had used web pages and was aware of how to make, but in terms of Weblogs, I was not aware or used to the features that were available. What was noticeable from the start was having to get used to the idea of updating the blog, as although I had heard of them, I was not aware really of what they were used for. I had also never previously embedded any videos on a blog before. This was a new experience for me as I was unaware that users on websites such as Youtube could choose for you not to be able to embed their videos. This was a problem at first as I had to get used to browsing for videos that were suitable and also ones that were capable of being embedded. However, this did open my eyes to make me think about why someone may want their video not be embedded and in this way, allowed to learn about the issues regarding video piracy in the world of modern technology

Evaluation 5: How did you attract your audience?

We chose to include stereotypical teenage clothes in our film to
relate to the audience of a similar age group.

I attracted the audience for my film opening in several ways. One of the main ways I did this was through our choice of age of the characters. Before choosing the actor of our film, we thought about whether we wanted to include any older actors and if so, what effect this would have on the film. Therefore, after discussing, we came to the conclusion that it would be best to have characters of a similar age as this fitted best with the stereotypical naivety that is found in characters within films of the horror/thriller genre. Not only therefore would it fit with the conventions and therefore the expectations of our audience, but it would also allow them to relate to the lifestyle and personalities that are portrayed within the film. Furthermore, we also chose that the characters would wear just normal, casual clothes of a steretypical middle class teenager to prevent the audience from distancing themselves from the characters and therefore add to the reality of the film.

Additionally, in terms of camera shots, there are many ways in which we attracted the audience in our film. For example, it is noticable in the film that we chsoe many shots, such as the low-angle shot of Greg when he is going up the stairs, in order to make the film seem more attractive. Shots such as the low-angle were chosen by us in order to create tension and suspense, and therefore connote danger to the audience. the shots were also chosen with the factor of lighting being very much in mind. For example, the low-angle shot with Greg was not only chsoen to create tension, but also was chosen to reveal little of the light to the audience, and therefore to connote that there is something hidden behind the darkenss. To use another example, the mid-shot of Greg walking towards the bathroom was chosen to also reveal notmuch of the content of the bathroom. Therefore, we attracted the audience through the theme of mystery that was formed through the elements of the lighting and camerawork. 

Evaluation 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Since the very beginning of the task, ma and Xiangyu felt that the audience for our media film opening would be teenagers 15-19. We chose this age as the actors in the film were of this age and so would be easier to appeal to rather than any age group. Additionally, the characters within the film opening fit with the stereotype of teenagers who go out late at night and get up to no good. Taking into consideration factors the setting, the time of day and the age of characters, we thought that the easier age group to relate to the product would definately be that of teenagers. The teenagers watching the film will see the characters in the film, and be able to realte to them as they are living in a life similar to them. I also think that some of the themes of the film, murder, isolation and quirky nature of the film would be unsuitable and not understandable for people of a lower age than 15.

Also, I believe that anyone about 21+ would be able to watch the film and perhaps be suited to, but I don't think they would in the majority relate to it as much as teenagers would, due to factors such as the lifestyle of the characters. Also, I don't think that my film would be an 18+ because although it is a film of a horror-thriller sub-genre, it does not at any time in the film feature mass gore or blood etc, as this is not what we wanted the moral of the film to be about. In terms of gender, I do think that this film apply to both female and male teenagers as although the actors in the film are all male, this is not a variable which has a impact on the film. Female teenagers would still be able to realte to it as they are likely to live a similar lifestyle (going out late at night) to the characters within the film and so therefore I think gender within the film is irrelevant.

Evaluation 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In order to get a good idea about what kind of media institution would distribute my film, I thought that it was necessary to look at films that were similar and see how they were distributed. As my film was produced outside of a major film studio, it can be classed as an independent film, or 'indie film' for short. The factor of budget, as my film cost near to nothing to produce, also is another reason why my film fits into the category of independent films. Below is evidence that of research into some independent thrillers and horrors and a comparison of these films towards my film.

Whilst researching I came across the website http://www.independentmovies.net/. I found this to be a useful website for my research as it showed a list of independent films from a variety of different genres, including the two I was researching - thriller and horror. I decided to look at some notable independent thrillers and see how they were distributed.

First of all, I decided to research an independent thriller- Stephen King's The Dead Zone (1983). Here is the opening to the film, which is has similarities with my film in terms of both setting and lighting, and the fact that it is an opening which is very eventful:



As a result, from looking at this film which contains similar conventions to mine, particularly in the case of the lighting and the location, I think that it would also be similar in terms of institution. Therefore I think the type of media institution that might distribute my media product would be an independent institution, mainly due to the fact that like most independent films, the budget was considerably low.

Evaluation 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 The characters in the opening of my film are all male teenagers and are middle class. The clothes of the characters are not designer or from other expensive brands of clothing and so this could connote this to the audience. The setting of the film, which is near the centre of town and the time of day could, along with the clothing, connote that the teenagers are having a night out with their friends. Therefore, this links with the stereotypical view of society today that young males of this age group, particularly who are out late at night, are always the cause of negativity and are related to issues such as vandalism more than any other age group.

There are also aspects of the narrative which play a key role in the representation of the teenagers in the film opening. For example, when the two teenagers are going to knock for their friend, they enter the house, as the door is unlocked, without permission. This could connote to the audience therefore that the teenagers are naive and are also rude for just entering their friend's house without asking. Therefore, this could go some way to agreeing with the ideology that teenagers not only do not have a lot of manners, but also perhaps think they are less mature than they would like to think they are.

The teenagers choose to not opt for the help of police for example, when they find no-one inside, and take a huge risk by entering without the house without checking what is inside. They rely upon themselves to solve the problem and as a result, are perhaps not entirely aware of the potential problems and dangers they could be in by entering. This shows a lack of responsibility which is further reinforced by the making of the decision to send one of the friends, Greg, upstairs on his own.

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are many ways in which my media film fits with the codes and conventions of real media products. For example, many aspects of the mise-en-scene were inspired through watching and understanding the aims of real films of the horror/thriller sub genre. The staircase scene in our film opening is an example of this, as it was a sequence that I had found to be typical of films of the thriller/horror genre.

Therefore, by implementing this within our film, the aim was to trigger in our audience's mind memories of similar scenes they had seen in similar types of films. In this way, the use of conventions of our genre, in this case 'the stairs sequence' allowed us to give the audience a strong idea about what the genre of the film was, without actually having to tell them, as it fit their expectations.



There are ways in which the film also develops/challenges the conventions that would be seen as typical of films of the horror/thriller genres. For example, while the opening of our film is very similar in some aspects of a typical horror/thriller film (e.g.location and lighting), there are subtle differences in comparison to your typical modern horror/thriller film. As the aim from the beginning was for the film to be more thought-provoking than scary, it doesn't entirely fit with your typical horror. While many horror films tend to have an eventful opening (as our film does), they also, the majority of the time, show lots of blood and are graphic, especially if they are modern.. We purposely chose not to do this in our film as we wanted the audience to focus on what Greg sees right at the end of the opening. 

We knew that by not including blood in our film, which is what the audience might have expected to see in an opening to a horror or maybe even a thriller, we had to make it clear to our audience that they were still watching a film from this genre. The time of day in particular is one of main factors which meets the typical conventions of a horror/thriller film. We knew that by setting the film at night, the audience would immediately relate the film to the horror genre as we as humans relate the dark to danger. So much so in fact that the word 'night' has been included in the names of many successful horror films of several generations , and features as a prominent theme.

How our film compares with the Codes and Conventions

Now that we have done research into both the codes and conventions of thriller and horror genre, we are now going to see how this compares to our film. We are going to see whether our film is very typical to the genres, and also in what ways it differs in terms of the individual aspects.

Setting - The setting for our film is more typical of a horror genre than a thriller genre. This is due to the fact that the setting is a house late at night, which gives it a sense of tension and connotes danger to the audience due to the time of day. The time of day chosen by us not only connotes to the audience the idea of something evil, but also gives it more a sense of isolation than perhaps there would of been had it been set in the middle of the day. The location could still be seen in a thriller film though, as it is set near the middle of town and so therefore allows the audience to make the link with civilization and reality when watching it.

Lighting - The lighting of the film is dark for the majority of the opening, which not only creates suspense with the audience but also was intended to add a sense of confusion, which is something that both thrillers and horrors tend to do. Despite the lighting being dark on the outside, there are brighter parts in the opening, particularly the bathroom (hence the title 'Don't follow the light'). This differs from what the audience might expect in a thriller or a horror as it is normally in the dark where the danger lies, due to the lack of visibility. We expect as an audience for the light to provide some sort of clarity to the situation, or maybe even hope, although our film in this way is quite the opposite, as it only adds to the confusion.

Here is the opening of a famous horror film - Halloween II, which also uses location, time of day and lighting to create a sense of danger and suspense in a similar way to our film:



Typical Character Types - In terms of a typical character types to our opening, our film doesn't entirely meet the conventions of a either genre, due to their being only male characters in the film. However, although there isn't a female character, there is a vulnerable one who separates themselves from the rest of the group, which is something that is particularly seen in horror films. When a character is alone, this also connotes a sense of danger to the audience as when we are alone we have no-one to defend us. In this way, our film fits the conventions of a horror film, while also could be seen as typical of a thriller due to the psychological edge that is present throughout.

Costume - The costumes of the actors in our film were purposely chosen to be normal clothes that weren't too expensive and so therefore ensured that the characters would not become too distant from the audience. Unlike films of a similar genre that I had researched, such as Seven, the characters did not wear any clothes that added to their status. This is because we chose the age of the characters and the clothing to specifically appeal towards a teenage audience. However, despite this difference with some films such as Seven, the clothing of the age group was very typical in terms of both horror and thriller films. This was used as another way of linking the audience to reality as it gave the impression through the generic clothing that the teenagers were quite relaxed about life before entering the house.

Conventions and Conventions of Thriller Genre

Now that research has been done into the codes and conventions of the horror genre, here is evidence of my research into the thriller genre. As our film is intended to be a sub genre of both horror and thriller, our research into the codes and conventions of both of the genres will tell us whether or not this actually is the case, and how we have done/not done this within certain aspects.

Setting - When doing my research into both of the genres, I realized that there certainly were some overlaps within the codes and conventions of the respective genres. Although this was the case with some of the aspects of a thriller genre, this was not entirely the case with the setting. While I found our that horror films can often feature settings which are isolated and away from civilization, it is sometimes the opposite with thrillers. Many well-known thrillers tend to have busy, hectic locations e.g. city centres. This is down to the fact that thrillers play with the idea that with a busy location, it is impossible to see everything clearly. Thrillers follow the theme of what you can't see, as oppose to people not seeing you. An example of this can be found in the Bourne movies (extract below).



Typical Character Types - Thrillers often follow a protagonist who loses something near the beginning, whether it be their friend or members of their family for example, as seen in the Bourne film series. As a result of this, the narrative of a thriller is often based on the losing of a possession e.g. a person as it appeals to the audience through their own experiences that they have been through. There is often also the character type of the antagonist who is the reason behind the suffering of the antagonist. Although the narrative may be based often on the protagonist's quest for revenge on the antagonist(e.g. Kill Bill films), there may also be a sidekick to the protagonist who follows them throughout the film. They may even be killed off in order to fuel the need for revenge of the protagonist.

Lighting - The lighting of a typical thriller film is similar to that of a typical horror film and therefore is one of the examples in how the genres overlap each other. The use of a lack of light is a way of signifying danger to the audience without them having to see the antagonist. This is therefore a way of building up the tension and suspense which like horror films, thrillers tend to typically do. Below is an extract from the opening of the successful thriller film Seven (1995) which shows a lack of light being used to create tension and connote danger to the audience.



Costume - When doing my research into the clothing of characters in a typical thriller, it was clear to me that most of the characters in a thriller wear very typical and generic clothing, although this depended on the type. For example, in the thriller Seven (as seen above), the characters do tend to wear generic clothes however the police uniform offers some of the characters a sense of authority about them. This is how I have found clothing to be used in thrillers. Similarly to horrors, clothing is used to relate to the audience and to make it seem like they live the life that they do and therefore that also to connote that whatever happens in a thriller is plausible in real life. The colour of the clothing is a factor also, just like in horror films, with dark clothing tending to be worn by the villain (connoting danger) and bright clothing being typically worn by the protagonist (symbolising hope).

Conventions and Conventions of Horror Genre

Below is evidence of research that has been done into the genre of our film. The reason that research was done into multiple genres was due to the fact that we decided to make our film a hybrid genre of both horror/thriller. Here is some research into the codes and conventions of the different aspects of these genres, as we are going to see how it compares to our finished film.

Horror Genre

Setting - The setting in a horror film is generally used as a way to connote danger. It can sometimes be an isolated location, for example, as seen in this extract of the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre. By having a location away from civilization, this connotes to the audience the idea of something unknown, as well as there being a lack of help at hand.



Lighting - The lighting in a horror film is often used as another way of signifying danger. The use of a lack of light can be seen as a way of hiding something that we would be normally able to see as people. In horror films, lighting is often used to play with our fear of the dark as it connotes due to use not being able to see what is there rather than being able to see something. This is what gives a lack of light an element of danger. It is also sometimes the case that horror films contain scenes where there is a contrast to lighting to connote danger. A switch from one scene to another where the lighting changes can often change the mood to the film. This is shown from about 8 minutes on, in the film extract above.

Typical Character Types - There are different kinds of character types that are in typical horror movies. It is not always the case that there is a set number of character types or one or two types. However, there are often common themes within characters in horror films. It is often the case that there is a protagonist and antagonist. However, it may be clear who is the protagonist and they may not even be seen much throughout, which adds to the element of mystery to a film. There may be a vulnerable character who is killed to connote the theme of the film. This is seen, for example, in the opening to the film Scream (1996) below.



Costume - Costume tends to have a lot of purpose in horror films, even if it may seem as if doesn't. The majority of characters often wear normal clothes e.g. t-shirt and jeans for male. By having characters wear clothes that your average teenagers would wear, not only does it appeal more to the audience and make it seem more real, but it connotes the idea therefore whatever happens in the film could happen also in real life. It makes it seem more possible if the characters are average people in an average life and therefore subtlety adds an element of danger to the film.

Final Decision on Name

Having spent long and hard thinking about possible names for our film, me and Xiangyu came to the conclusion that the name should do the following things:

- Relate to the subject and the moral meaning behind the film.
- Be understandable for the audience and to help give a further insight into the plot
- Follow the themes of the genre (horror/thriller) that we want to be remain prominent within the film.

Here is a screen-shot of one of the websites we used to look up names of popular horror films:

We had already previously come to the conclusion that having the name of the film begin with 'the' would be a good idea as it is something that from looking at the image, is common within the names of horror films (The Thing and The Shining for example). However now that we have recently discussed the name again, we have decided that maybe this may not suit our film as our film is not intended to be about blood gore (like films such as The Shining) and is meant to be thought provoking. Therefore, we thought it best to have a name which was a moral or statement in regarding the characters of the film. This is how we came up with the name 'Don't look into the light', as in the plot of the story, one of the characters (Greg) follows the light which is what ultimately leads to danger.

In this way, through the title, it is suggested that the characters had a choice, which goes against the traditional beliefs of horror films that characters don't have a choice. Therefore, we think that this title is convenient as it implies the idea that it is only Greg's greed to find out more that makes him see what he sees.

Editing - Final Corrections

Our process of editing is almost complete, with the only stage left being to correct any issues on some of the shots. The long shot used outside, when me and Greg are walking towards the camera, previously had very poor visibility. This was also the case with a couple of the downstairs shots - the match on action shot where Greg is about to walk upstairs and the medium shot of the door when both me and Greg enter the house. Although these shots were previously too dark to put in our film, we adjusted them using the colour correction tool on Final Cut Pro. Although we wanted to improve the colour on the shots, we were careful we were careful when doing so as were aware that overuse of the whites and blacks could lead to some of the shots being grainy and therefore inconsistent in comparison to the rest of the film

Editing - Fourth Stage - Titles

Now that me and Xiangyu are pleased with how the music fitted in with our film, we are now moving to do the process of including the titles. Having already done some research on Dafont as to the possible fonts that we could use for the titles, we already had a good idea in mind as to what font we would use - Another typewriter (see previous post on font types).

Therefore, our main decision regarding the titles was the timing of them and the positioning of them within the opening. In terms of positioning, we experimented on Final Cut Pro with the different possible positions, and came to the conclusion that overall, the position of lower left was the most effective. We chose this position as, in the majority of shots that we filmed, the position of lower did not hinder the view of any of the characters or props and so therefore was best suited to the audience. We also felt the position of lower left was the most proffesional as we had noticed it used commonly when looking at films such at films such The Life of David Gale and so kept with the conventions of the genre in this way.

An example of a title in our film

In terms of the timing of the titles, we felt that it was best to keep a consistent time between the titles as the film only contained three individuals. Therefore we felt that it would not be needed to have certain titles on the screen for longer as each contribution was of a similar amount. We chose not to have any titles in the first opening shot to allow the audience to take in the shot and did not have any titles very close to the end. We chose this timing so that the titles would help the feeling of suspense and tension, along with the music, that we wanted to be prominent in the film

Editing - Thrid Stage - Music

We are at the stage where nearly all the sequences for the film have been completed in terms of the editing process, and now we need to add the music to the film. Whilst editing, I learnt that it was possible separate the sound and the shots from each other using the tools on Final Cut Pro. Me and Xiangyu found this useful as this meant that, if need be, we would be able to cut parts of the music in order to fit the intended feeling of a sequence whilst not having to actually effect the shot itself.

The toolbar on Final Cut Pro, showing a range of the different icons available.

A screen-shot of our music on Final Cut Pro, showing how we changed the volume of the music at different times to create suspense.

For example, there is a particular sequence in the film where Greg is walking up the stairs that we wanted tense music for to give a sense of tension to the audience. However, when we uploaded the music from Xiangyu's Ipod, we noticed the sound originally did not give off this feel when the combined the music with the film. As a result of cutting, we improved the feel of the film, as we were able to give off that feeling of suspense that the horror and thriller genres are stereotypically known for.

Editing - Second Stage

Now that me, Xiangyu and Greg have together filmed some more shots in our second filming session, we have begun to upload them and add them on Final Cut Pro in their respective places. We have found that whilst adding some of the the new shots, this has helped us in making decisions about editing some of the first shots. I think this is down to the fact that with the new shots, we are starting to get more of a feel of the film opening coming together as a package, even though we know we still have some way to go yet.

A time-line of our film.

We have watched the film through multiple times at various stages to try and ensure that there are no inconsistencies with the fluency and mise-en-scene of the film. So far we are happy with how the two lots of shots have fitted together as it is extremely difficult to tell that there have been two separate filming sessions taking place, which is of course what we intended for the film and audience.

We have also held some shots back from both of the sessions as we are indecisive as to whether or not we will need them in the future and to not want to scrap them for this reason. We feel that after the stage of music and titles our decision may be become more clear.

Editing - First stage

Me and Xiangyu so far have been organizing the shots from our first editing session into order. Even though we know we still have to film another session, we felt that it would be best to get the shots into order so that we had a basis of an opening and so we only had to fill in the gaps. We are getting to grips with the software, and, at the moment, are at the stage of deleting/cutting any unnecessary parts of shots or shots which did not go to plan. We have so far found that most of the shots we have uploaded from the first session work, although there are still definitely bits to add to enhance the quality of the opening and ensure that it fits with 2 minute length set by the criteria. We plan to film another session for this reason.

Second Filming Session

Following the noticeable improvements that were possible from looking at our first filming session, me, Xiangyu and Greg decided to film again at Xiangyu's house. We made sure that the actors wore the same clothes in order to keep the professional look of the film that we intended for our audience. We also had to make sure that factors such as positioning of the actors and the lighting were taken into consideration so that the new shots that we filmed fit as seamlessly as possible into the film opening.

We filmed many of the downstairs shots again and re-did some of the shots in the bathroom as we decided that this would benefit the feel of the opening. We feel that with the new shots we have filmed, the film is enhanced in it's quality due to the increase in the variety of shots used. We have not decided as of yet whether we need to film another session as we are happy with how the opening looks so far when we have looked at it in the editing process, using Final Cut Pro.

The change of actors

Although we had originally planned for two of our friends Tom and Ali to be in this film, we were informed by them, days before we planned to have our first filming session, that they were both unable to make the session due to various requirements outside of school such as clubs. This was not ideal and was not what we wanted. The dilemma was that the film session still had to go ahead so that we could have enough time to have several film sessions before the deadline.

Thankfully, we were unable to contact another of our friends, Greg Smith(left), and he generously agreed to help us film our opening with us after we made sure that he was free on the correct days. We made Tom and Ali aware of our change of actor to avoid any future confusion.

Although we did originally plan for there to be two friends with Xiangyu when he walks up to the door, we discussed this issue and came to the conclusion that excluding this one role from the opening (changing from two actors to one) was not really a problem, as it would not affect any of our planning regarding the plot, shots etc.

Script

Xiangyu and I have decided that regarding the factor of our script, the amount of speech that we include in the opening of our film will be minimal as we feel it would take away the sense of tension and surrealism in the opening. We felt that finding out a background on the characters through the use of dialogue was unnecessary and that the plot was self-explanatory to an extent.

In addition, we didn't want to use a lot of speech due to the fact that our film is of the mystery/thriller genre and so therefore giving away too much information to the audience would take away the mystery behind the plot and the location.

We have already discussed the idea that we want our film to be a film which effects our audience mentally rather than make them jump. This is why we decided to not lots of props that are traditionally used in horror films such as fake blood, knives etc. We intend for our film opening to not be too revealing but to have suspense, and we think that having a reduced amount of speech will help us achieve this aim.

Ideas for Title of our film

After researching some famous thriller titles on the websites, I came across a list of famous thriller films and studied their titles to see if there were any patterns. As the film opening we are doing could certainly be classed as a thriller, I thought that it would be interesting to look at famous titles to get an idea of names for our film.

We thought that it would be important to do this so that the title of our film fitted the genre and did not mislead our audience. The titles listed on the left, of the some of the most famous ever thrillers, tend to have several patterns. For example, a lot of the titles begin with 'the' - for example, 'The usual suspects' and 'the silence of the lambs'. This connotes the thrillers conventionally revolve around 'something', whether it be human, or something we can't touch like an emotion. The titles listed beginning with 'the' seem to have a sense of mystery to them - a sense of not revealing much.With other titles such as 'M' there is almost nothing told to the audience about the film's plot, characters or even themes, unlike other genres.

As a result, I and Xiangyu have decided to go along with this convention that thrillers seem to have and decided to stick our audience's expectations of our genre in this way.

First Filming Session

Our first filming session was one of mixed results. We filmed the basic shots and made sure that we left time off at the end of shots so that we could edit at a later stage. We were happy with the lighting of some of the shots. These shots were generally filmed upstairs as the light from the bathroom made the shots of a higher quality. The position of some of the shots, particular the ones so from round the corners (panning shots) was as intended and so therefore we will definitely be using these shots in our final film.

However, despite us making progress with this session, we did encounter some problems. Our main problem with the shots overall was with the lighting. When we filmed the shots and checked them on the camera during our session, the shots appeared far better than when we uploaded them and tried to edit them. Therefore, we decided that it would be much better to re-film some of the shots before we tried to edit the shots as a whole. The issue with the lighting was that it was too dark on the shots particularly outside and downstairs in some cases. We now know what we must improve at with the shots when we film again, with the lighting and the position of some of the shots being our main problems.

Actors

Me and Xiangyu have decided on the actors that we are going to use for our film opening. We have decided that Two of our friends Alastair and Thomas. We chose these actors as they lived near where we had planned to film the opening as then they would be easily accessible to filming when we wanted. Our plan is to swap cameramen between the shots so that every actor is part of the film. The different cameramen will allow us to have the camera always to be stable when filming.

Ideas for Titles fonts

Recently, when discussing the possible fonts we could use for the opening of our film, I came across a useful website, which I thought might be useful for us choosing a font for the titles that would suit the genre and the intended audience of our film.

I thought that the da font website was very useful as it showed a range of fonts that were categorised into different genres, and therefore made it much more acessible for us to decide on a suitable font for our film. We also thought that it would be good to look at different genres of fonts that were displayed such as sci-fi as we were aware that there may be fonts from other genres that were shown on the website.

After discussing with Xiangyu, we decided that the font another typewriter was one of our favourites as it suited the intended style of our film. We thought that the simple nature of the font was very effective as it was also very clear for the audience to read.