Thriller Research Evaluation Question 3

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

Unless some film company/ conglomeration/ director got interested in our opening titles for the film idea 'Resonance' with a good contract such as Universal or anything of potentially american influence, I would try applying for a sum of money through some company like the UK Film Council (set up in 2000 by the Labour party to promote the UK filming industry) that may be interested in financing a unique concept film with a assassin pianist, or even a high end independent filming company would do, but distribution would depend on their connections with cinema chain
s and all. With the success of thriller films like the Woman in Black, it wouldn't be a bad idea to promote an idea like ours to boost the impression of thriller films and general films in the British industry.

This second option is probably better as it feels better to produce a British Film with only British financing I think, but this is becoming more and more rare and shouldn't be expected to happen with the money that can be made through a global conglomerate.

On the other side of the course where I've been studying the British Filming industry, I became aware of MultiStory which is a local micro-budget company that I believe would take on a film idea like ours that could possible reach the typically high concept values of popular, more mainstream British films in the cinema chain. A small advantage with making a micro-budget film is that we would be outside the mainstream cinema chain like Empire cinemas, and will be still able to show our product at indie theaters that would allow the production companies with actors to have a Q&A session afterwards with the audience, so they can talk to the audience in person.

Thanks to the world we live in, we could even post our film on YouTube as a way of distributing the product for free, unless it came to a point where you can get paid for how many times a viewer clicks YouTube advertisements from if our videos actually starting to catch on. The use of the tag function and posting information/ updates/ advertisements on social media sites like Facebook would be a great way of trying to get our product out there.

 If we had the expense and begun a micro-budget company, we would start by buying a domain name for a site, so that we could post what our company does, the films we do, have done, and are coming, list of cast members etc.

An alternative to making a bit of money from efforts made with producing the product would be to join a streaming service online (Distrify for example) like what the micro-budget company MulitStory has done with films such as Verity's Summer where you have a choice to rent or buy the film, which won't make a lot of money, but then in our realistic cases, it is better than nothing, and anyhow, it seems to be catching on recently with making small films viral so it would be worth a shot.

Thriller Research Evaluation Question 2

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our products such as Resonance probably represent killers/ psychopaths in the light that they aren't as mad/ cold as you think, as we tried to get into the opening titles that the pianist was the killer. We also definitely represent businessmen as having an identical dress sense, and waiting around with patience in their posture and movement- a quite neutral representation.
We represented the businessmen as equals in their clothing, as a way of implying their potential insignificance to the case, that could hint at the reason for the assassin killing the guy for the case.

Overall, the characters in our opening titles aren't obviously developed yet to a grand extent hence the opening titles /very bland, so relating them further with a social group is tricky besides your stereotypical businessman in black and white, and an assassin that contradicts the cold blooded stereotype, but at the same time sort of represents psychopath.

Thriller Research Evaluation Question 1

1) What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions?

In both tasks, we've used the the concept of dim/ dark lighting very well to fit in with the stressful, eerie environment, as well a very contrasting choice of clothing in Resonance where the assassin (the supposed villain) is in black whilst the seemingly good guys are in white shirts and black ties- a formal businessmen look.

A way we have probably challenged a form in a typical thriller which is to have a character die in the opening titles, which I believe isn't too much of an issue, as how the potential film continues from that is unknown; maybe it focuses on around the character before he dies- we cannot be certain hence why we can get away with this, even if it looks like we've tried to space a whole th
riller film into the space of 2 minutes by killing something from the start.
*UPDATE- We recently re-filmed the opening titles, & made the titles appear before the assassin seemingly runs in to kill the businessman.

We have try developing on the character of the killer by making him not seem cold- blooded, and that there is a sense of morality and reason in this person, such as with the assassin in the titles for Resonance who we originally planned to reveal that the pianist was actually the assassin at the end by having the pianist leave the room with the assassin's hooded gear on the floor. Similar can be said for the detective who is shown walking to the interrogation with some form of emotion/ struggle before he enters the door with a cold sounding persona.

We've challenged the idea of a dark, spooky setting in the main task, as the settings are in bright white stairways and corridors, but keeps the tone of a thriller intact with the briefcase being of the only black objects in the area- hence visually targeted by audience throughout the piece as the enigma. The music I made also hints to a dark atmosphere under all the light in the setting.

Opening Titles Finished

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okhFfY_rJ3Y
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSvhCud_x0Y-

2nd version of Opening Titles which is improved from the original after peer to peer feedback on the lack of mise-en-scene, and the likelihood an audience member won't understand what is going on at all, as the case is meant to be the whole focus.

Opening Titles: Filming Vlog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzsjfZqvzE0&feature=youtu.be
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel

Opening Titles Editing Stage

What we have collected from our research into general Thriller films is that the opening are often  very simple, repetitive scene like the lift descent at the start of Speed , or begin as if its any old romance/ dull or boring, or even a happy/ light-hearted film such as the psychological thrillers The Birds, Pyscho, and even the more modern ones such as Malice (which I intend to review some time soon- after fining out my parents were recently watching it after I interviewed them on paper).

I did my job in doing the building blocks of the editing for my other 2 peers whilst Sam got on with the vlog. When I imported that shots, it seemed to not take up the whole screen on the preview, so I did the thing of enlarging each shot to fit the screen which wasn't a big deal (Ctrl + Drag).
It became quite a challenge at one point, as when I walk into the office, there's shots of Sam hiding behind the door which involves having to cut shots and switch back and forth- where we decided to do  a series of hard cuts (no fades) to keep the viewer focused on the screen whereas the rest of the piece involves tonnes of swift/ soft fades to each shot.

For the piano shots, I had made 2 versions of my piano track; a simpler 2 handed version that Sam could easily mimic when we filmed him on the piano. In this piece we plan to keep this new version of the track, so it fits with the shots we've taken regardless if the viewer knows a lot of music theory or not.

We collectively added in a 'film/ cross dissolve' video transition on Adobe Premiere to make the whole opening feel smooth with the soft, dark music rather than a bunch of hard cuts to each shot; the only time we use hard shots is the part I am walking into my office where it constantly switches to Sam who is hiding behind a door for the right time to pounce.

My peer Bradley took on the editing from the building blocks I had left which was all the scenes in the preferred order all the way to the end. With this we both worked on the scene I get my neck broken by Sam and agreed the lightning was too light on my face, so he got my face darkened to make it realistic to the dim light scene I was in.

My peer Jack took control of laying out and creating the credits for us (including made up names for roles such as Executive Producer and Costumer Designer that would be legitimate in the actually film industry (but not necessary at our stage).

Opening Titles Filming Stage

Us 4 in these 2 pics to the right and the top split the roles up in the final piece;
Me (white shirt guy in the middle)- focused on the electrical music , acting, and a large proportion of the 1st version of the opening
Sam (Hooded guy on the right)- did the final piece of editing for the 2nd revamped version of the opening titles, as well as playing the assassin
Bradley (white shirt guy to the left)- cameraman as well as minor acting and editing towards the 2nd version of the opening
Jack (white shirt guy to the right)- main cameraman and guy behind the typography/ credits of both tasks, and actor

 Last week, we begun the majority of the filming; making sure we kept the continuity in our hairstyles & outfits. A picture of me, Jack & Bradley (my peers) at the top shows us as typical-looking
 businessmen in a black & white clothing to set the thriller scene with the white corridor/ window scenes (quite area of the school; especially during lessons) we were going to have in the top of level of our school.
My friend Sam on the left is equip with his dark hooded Assassin look to contrast the other characters who are working with each other in some way, and as we've decided this opening should be recorded without a mic, and left with my made- up thriller music/ theme (that runs for 2 minutes), it's a good idea to have this contrast, so that the viewer can distinguish possibly who's the bad guy/ opposing side.

We will be probably uploading 1/2 video blogs soon about us explaining, as a group, our different roles, and what we have done to make the opening in a nutshell to these blogs.

After talking a lot between ourselves, we got my peer Jack primarily to guide/ direct what was happening in the opening, and regardless of planning a story before, we did make up what we were going to do on the spot, as we feel this works so much better for us if we plan what is going to happen and worry about the location on the day by mutually agreeing.

We planned and we have filmed a death scene to go in our titles, but if we come to the editing, and find that after a bit of research, not many other thriller opening have death scenes e.g. breaking of necks, we will probably scrap the strangling and leave the opening unclear as opening should be to an extent i.e. the hint that the assassin is probably going to kill the businessman (I).


Without planning exactly for any particular weather, it turned out to be raining outside by the window/ staircase we were going to film with me, Jack and Bradley (guys focusing on directing and filming this piece) meet up with a briefcase and move to our work stations whilst the Assassin is following us. If the rain is noticeable in the shot of the final opening, that would go well with a miserable, dark, black & white mood.
The filming studio, which is right next to the staircase (where the Assassin will come in to kill me whilst working at a desk) has got a lot of empty boxes and lightning dotted around which involved us having to move this stuff to the other end of the room away from the filming- specialized computer; the Tricast, so that nothing unnecessary was in shot of me walking to the desk, sitting down, and having my neck broken whilst working.

During filming the staircase/ window scene, we filmed a medium a shot of me in a smart/ broad posture gazing out of the window at the poring rain; waiting for Bradley to come up a staircase to hand me a case- and then with a silent, gestured discussion, Jack comes into shot and instructs us to follow him out of the shot down a corridor- leading me to singly go into the studio (my workplace to be unknowingly killed). With the staircase, the other camera filmed a shot of the Assassin in the corner of the shot looking up from the bottom the staircase; watching us 3 interact and walk off (pretty much a POV shot).
These shots where a lot of the characters and surroundings are still should make putting in the opening credits simple enough of a job in terms of similar colour, layout etc. etc.


Whilst filming in the studio, we noticed with all the lightning and other equipment was a health and safety hazard with their wires going across the floor, and likely to trip us up, so when we were moving all the stuff to one end of the studio, we made sure the odd wire was tucked/ put somewhere away from where I would be walking into the room and sitting down briskly.

For the studio, we turned the room light off and replaced it with a dim lighting facing me at the computer to make the screen's brightness stand out more, and the focus of the shot to the audience.
With my friend Sam's creativity, we got the 2 HD Cameras to film my death scene, by one of the cameras being hidden underneath of the 2 monitors looking up at me, as well as a medium shot of seeing me side on; having my neck broken by Sam- that way, when it comes to the editing, we have more choice in shots available.
We collectively set up dim lit lightning onto me whilst i'm working at the desk to give that dark/ eerie feel, and even a sense of insensitivity.

For the editing,  my peer Bradley and I  plan to share a role in the editing of the film, an fortunately I have the software adobe Premiere at home which should come in good use when working outside of lessons with my peers/ individually- with obviously coming to a general mutual agreement on what to include and how we should do it.