Research of Codes and conventions of the thriller genre

What is a thriller?

A thriller usually consists of a battle between the protagonist and the antagonist, when there is a distuption in the equilibrium. The story then shows a chain of bad events building tension and suspense for the climax. The main aim of the protagonist in the Thriller genre is to retire justice, wile the antagonist seeks to destroy it.

Key specifics that support the Thriller Genre:
-Low-key lighting
-Quick cuts
-Shadows
-Tension Music
-Changes in the angles of shots
-Diegetic sound of breathing
-Black and white shots
-Montage of shots
-Protagonist is in the mercy of the Antagonist

Characters:
The protagonist is often a brave who seeks to restore the equilibrium.
The antagonist will have a hidden identity that the audience will uncover as the film progresses. Often the antagonist goes out for revenge from a past event.

Themes of thriller:
The storyline will be designed so the audience will think that it can happen to them, which will make them feel scared.

Cinematography of a thriller:
There will lots of closeups and extreme close ups of the protagonist character, this is often to show their emotions, also it can be used to focus on props to aid the narrative.
The shots of the antagonistic character will be cut quickly and will aim to hide their identity, e.g. A shot of the back of them, a low key shot, the silhouette, or shadow of the character.

Editing of a Thriller:
The director will include lots of jump cuts because there will be things happening that the audience is unaware of but is essential for the film to make sense. Cross cutting is a key point in editing as it s used to build suspense which is essential for a thriller. Continues editing is used to help the audience understand the film better.

Representation

This video is a Vlog of one of my group members explaining the representation of the film.

Story boards

 

Production planning

Movie pitch

Peer Feedback on Blog

Response:

What works well feedback:
I am pleased with this feedback as I feel we took additional time to insure a strong visceral effect for the narrative.

Suggestions feedback:
This feedback is very interesting and we are going to take this and add another side to our characters maybe through developing a subtext for each of them.

Questions to think about feedback:
As I have previously stated I feel that the audience need to understand and feel for the subtext of the characters so they can furthermore become invested in them and enjoy the product as a whole.

Initial Ideas Pitch & Evaluation

Class Preliminary Film

What is the purpose of the preliminary task?
The purpose of the preliminary task was to learn how to film a piece and develop our post-production skills. This consisted  mostly of editing our short clips we had filmed and create a short production. In out preliminary task we were handed with the task of using the rule of match on action within out film as well as the 180 degree rule and the eye-line match.

What difficulties did you face?
Throughout the duration of the post and pre-production of our preliminary film we had a variety of different difficulties. One example we had whilst shooting we had to piece our clips together carefully as we had a variety of different shots and we needed them in the correct order to sustain our linear narrative. We were also limited with equipment so we had camera shakes and other factors that effect the cinematography of our film.

How did you plan out the shots?
We produced a story board within our class to create a clear narrative shot by shot to furthermore structure and create our film.

What did you learn about continuity editing?
During our post-production stage we edited carefully and made sure each of the transitions fit smoothly.

What did you learn about demands of filming a sequence?
I learnt a variety of things about the demands of filming a sequence but most importantly there cannot be flaws within different shots as each transition needs to fit the narrative to keep a clear structure.

Media presentation evaluation:

Media Evaluation:

I decided to do my presentation on the release trailer for Call of Duty Ghosts multiplayer mode. ‘Epic night out’ appealed to me because of its action filled sequences with a variety of interesting media theory embedded in the production.

In my presentation I used examples like the ‘Male Gaze’ by Laura Mulvey and the hypodermic needle model as the way in which the piece was produced these factors were very influential in my liking towards the piece as they shown and said so much to draw in a mass audience by targeting a variety of different niche audiences. Throughout the duration of my presentation I feel like I projected my explanations well to my audience and gave a brief but well described description of my reasons for liking the piece and what in found affective. One of my classmates told me that one thing I done well in my performance was using a variety of media terminology throughout as well as keeping their audience engaged in my talking and invested within the production I shown from some comical explanation. For example, I used some of my classmate’s faces on a picture to convey my narrative of anyone being able to play the game.

Summer Task 3 - Representation (how media forms portray events, issues, individuals and social groups) Misogyny in the media.

Summer Task 3 - Representation (how media forms portray events, issues, individuals and social groups)

One of the key principles underpinning the A Level Media Studies course is the concept of representation and the role the media plays in shaping our understanding of the world. Media theorist David Gauntlett argues that:

"Popular media has a significant but not entirely straightforward relationship with people's sense of gender and identity."  ('Media, Gender and Identity', 2002)

Essay title: Discuss the role the media plays in shaping our views and opinions on any one group in our society. Is this representation positive or negative?

(e.g. specific groups within gender, age, disability, regional identity, ethnicity, sexuality, class/status etc.)

The media plays a role in shaping our views and opinions on groups in our society in a variety of ways. The initial statement of shaping another’s opinion is a negative concept but within terms of the media they can give light and darkness upon any social group depending on their presentation to the audience. My example of a group in our society is women in the media. Women are both negatively and positively presented in the media but in modern times misogyny in the media is a commonly occurring theme. The role in which the media plays is the influential role as proven by the theory of the Hypodermic needle model. The hypodermic needle model is simply explained by the media producing something, for example an article in the Sun newspaper quoting that ‘all women are paid less than men’ as this has been produced in a public newspaper most of the reading audience do not question the quote and believe it just to its place in the media. This furthermore supports my point of the media have an influential role on society because the majority of spectatorship of any media believe everything they have been presented with. This influential power could be used both positively and negatively again but in most cases the media convey through their publishing’s false controversies and unproven stories or facts. Linking back to my example of misogyny in the media many women are publicly slurred by the media and are given a bad name or reputation from this as proven by my example of the hypodermic needle model.  Referring to gender and identity the medias role as the influential factor of people’s views and opinions is misused putting forth those of high social and economic class than lower. An example would be the way in which an elderly women of the social and economic class group A would be presented in comparison to a young woman from a social and economic class group of C or D. The difference between these would be major, even though they may both be presented to different niche audiences it is typical that he women of higher social and economic class would receive praise, whereas the other women would be slatted using explicit descriptive words. An example from theorist David Gauntlett would be Gender Diversities and this is a key point in the example of misogyny in the media as there are many more accounts of female negative representation than male, especially when the appeal to the male audience in most cases come to the theory of the Male Gaze by Laura Mulvey because men may only chose to pay attention from the placement of visually fulfilling women which again is a slur against women in the media as they are shaping the society’s opinion and views of women as a whole as they may only been seen in a visual and sexual non intelligent light. To conclude I believe that the Media fulfils a negative influential role in shaping our views and opinions towards women as a whole in media due to the lack of truthful coverage and their use as an eye catching sentiment of many media products.

Summer Task 4 - Media Institutions (how the media industries’ processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms) research.

 

Year 12 AS media film, an extract from 'Redemption'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVHv1HpoD8Q

 

This is a link to my final production piece for my year 12 AS media A level from last year and I achieved band 1, grade A for this production from the AQA board. This film is a small extract from 'Redemption', a film produced in theory by myself and my partner in production; Owen Vint.

Monologue, 'A gaggle of saints' from Bash latter day plays.

Monologue, 'A gaggle of saints' from Bash latter day plays.