Class Certification

After researching 'Thriller' films we decided that we wanted our target audience to be mid-teen and up. After looking at lots of different films in the thriller genre we found the majority of them were classified 15. We chose our target audience as mid-teens and up because 'Thrillers' tend to be quite dark and would inappropriate for younger audience, also they are at times are hard to follow therefore wouldn't suit younger people.

We looked at the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) Classification Guidelines and this is what they said for a 12...

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs

Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.

Nudity

Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex

Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence

Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

This was their guidelines for a 15...

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

After reading over the guidelines we discussed which classification would be best suited. We decided that there are elements that fall into both classifications, but in a thriller there would be more of the 15 aspects so we went with 15. 

Plot Outline for 'Untold'

Our film is called 'Untold' and features the themes of being lost and confused. The 2 minuet opening of our film features a young girl doing her normal daily things such as shopping around a busy city or getting on the train but suddenly she has a flash back of something sinister that happened to her in that exact place, she starts to get worried and rushes off and more and more flashbacks keep happening. We want to create the effect of the girl being watched so we are going to use lots of high angle shots. The flashbacks will feature scenes of being attacked, lost in a empty city and disposing of a weapon in the river.

Influences and Inspirations

One of our inspirations for our 2 minuet film opening is Joel Schumacher he has directed films such as 'Lost boys', 'Phone booth' and 'The number 23'. We like the fast paced effect he has used in his films. In 'Phone booth' he uses a lot of close ups and extreme close ups to show strong emotion and reveal important parts of the film e.g. A hidden gun.

A guess a film institution that sticks out to us is '20^th century fox' because they do a range of thriller films and you see there logo attached to many famous films and everyone knows and recognise it as a prestigious film institution.

Prelim Evaluation

Planning and Preparation

The planning and preparation for our preliminary task went pretty well, we started off selecting one piece of dialogue from a selection of three and created a storyboard using this dialogue. I found the story boarding quite easy because I could imagine the shots in my head therefore found it easy to draw onto paper. Before the lesson we started filming, we asked our friend whether she would act in it and arranged a time when we were all able to film and it work out to be in a media lesson. The storyboard was very useful when filming because we knew exactly what we wanted to do, therefore it took less time.

Practical Skills

Before we started filming we only had one actor so Jordy was in it also, even though we were working together it still worked out fine because we would stop to look over the shots and discuss our ideas. After we finished filming we looked back at the shots, we ending up being quite disappointed with the results and found a lot of shots that didn’t fit and didn’t match up to each other so we did it again in our spare time.

The second time we started filming was better because we had more time and could finish filming in on go. We stuck to our original storyboard but added in several shots before and after the dialogue, by doing this we could use a wider variety of shot types. This time we found it a lot easier and didn’t take so long.

From this task I have learnt about using the different shot types and angles first hand, also how different shots are used for different thing and some don’t work at certain times. It seems easy making short clip, but there is a lot to think about and things have to be planned. We found that when we looked back at some of the shots they didn't all fit or there were small things that we hadn’t noticed that didn't look quite right. We were able to acknowledge to bad thing therefore we can learn from our mistakes and use this for our next piece.

I also learnt how to edit the shots on the computer, for example cutting shots so they fitted and making them flow together. We realised how important continuity editing can be, especially when we looked back a our final product and realised some mistakes in the shots. But overall we feel our finalised piece was very good and generally flowed.

Another thing that didn't go so well was loading the shots from the camera onto the Mac's. This turned out to be very time consuming, so we decided to load it on to the normal computers and used Windows Movie Maker. We found that the software was straight forward so the editing was completed quite quickly. Although we didn’t use the Mac's this time we were able to play around with Final Cut Express on another small task, therefore are able to use both of the softwares.

What Have You Learn't From This Process

From doing this Preliminary Task I have leant how to shoot and edit. I found out that the planning and preparation is very important if you want a good final product. If I could do anything differently next time, I will defiantly make sure everything would fit and do each shot a couple of times to make sure we get it right, because it was very frustrating when you would spot minor thing that looked wrong. I found that me and Jordy work really well together because we are generally on the same wave length, and can both discuss and contribute ideas. We also share the work load and both want to do well making us a good team.

Genre research

Our chosen genre is 'Thriller', during research for chosen genre we were unsure of the difference between a 'Psychological thriller' and 'Thriller', but soon enough we found out the difference to be mainly in the ending. A 'Psychological thriller' makes the viewer question the ending as not all is clear and leaves you on a loose end. A 'Thriller' is more of a suspense and builds up to the climax of the film in which

Here are some examples of a 'Thriller' film that have given us some inspiration.

All of these films are part of the 'Thriller' genre we chose these 3 films because they are good example's of what happens in a 'Thriller. All of these films show heart pumping suspense and the eventual climax at the end of the film. Most thrillers are usually rated 12A-15 because they want to appeal to teenage to middle aged audiences. They have a dark theme and usually quite violent so younger audiences wouldn’t enjoy them.

*Phone booth- Starring a young Colin Farrell and is filmed in real time. The film is mainly just one scene of a man in a phone booth on the phone to a mysterious threatening male. Because the film is in real time the characters don’t know what is going to happen to them and neither do you so it's a real suspense 'Thriller'.

*Tell No-one- Don't be put off by the language barrier in this French 'Thriller' because even though you have to read subtitles the suspense is not killed while trying to figure out what happened during the death of a young woman. Starting off the story is the main character getting an email from his (supposedly) dead wife.

*Obsessed- Starring Beyonce not your usual 'Thriller' but the action is definitely mot held back in the shocking climax to this film. About a Husbands traumatic experience with his co worker.