Vanished Thriller Evaluation

The brief in which we were given was to create an opening of a thriller which lasted for two minutes. We had to build suspense for the audience to ask questions into what the opening is trying to indicate. Our aim was to clarify on how an opening can lead to questions and keep the audience in suspense to what happens next. Before we started to create our thriller, we looked at sequences of openings from last year’s media students to see what techniques they used to produce and how effectively they used it. We spent one of our lessons looking at a documentary on film openings. The different methods which we looked at were dramatic techniques, how sound build up tension and establishing shots. Also, before we made our actual thriller, we were given a practise session based on a game of cards. In order to develop our match-cutting skills, we had to film using the 180 degree rule, shooting from only one side. This helped us understand what we had to do in our real thriller. The thriller we watched ‘Flight Plan’ was very good as it kept us in suspense to which the person was that kidnapped the little girl. It made us confused at the same time because we wasn’t sure if the lady was actually mental or if someone was playing mind tricks deliberately. Another film we watched was ‘Arlington Road’, this movie used isolation to make it very confusing. Openings are essential in a film because it helps build up questions throughout the film giving the audience the chance to find the answers. The main openings that have influenced me were the ones I have named previously and ‘What Lies Beneath’. This helped us a lot when making out thrillers because we saw what props they used, what type of soundtrack was used to build up the tension and what symbolises horror. Here is the video for one of the trailers that influenced us, Arlington Road.



Our trailer represents young boys and girls who are in most danger from stalkers and serial killers. A lot of teens, nowadays, use the internet and social networking sites to interact with friends and family. However, they don’t realise how dangerous it is when they give little details about themselves when they go on sites such as: facebook, hi-5, msn, bebo etc. Stalkers can use the littlest information about someone to get close to them and vulnerable teens may fall for the act and decide to go meet them. Sometimes, the outcome of this may not be as dangerous but sometimes the worst can happen and the victim ends up running for their life. In our trailer, we show a teenage girl running for her life but as it is only the opening, the story remains unknown. As no-one can see the stalker in our film, most people would assume that the stalker is a male because in real life, we mainly hear of male stalkers and killers.
I think our trailer would be suitable for “DVD release” or a “made for TV” film. The reason why i think its suitable for DVD release is because the opening raises a lot of questions and people like the sort of films that have a twist in it and keeps them entertained throughout the whole film. I think its suitable for TV aswell because it is a typical thriller opening as we have used a weapon in it and most thrillers have weapons. We used symbols such as angel of death, woman in black, knuckles crackling and these are the features of a thriller, therefore, people are going to want to watch it. I don’t think that our trailer would be distributed around the world or even be distributed around cinemas because we didn’t use a lot of our footage and for a trailer to be in the cinemas or around the world, it has to be set in different locations with a different storyline; the storyline we used was good but it was very common and people tend to get bored of watching similar movies.
My target audience was 15+, teenagers and adults of both genders who enjoy watching thrillers because of the build up of suspense and psychology playing with their mind making them wonder who the suspect is. Their lifestyles would consist of watching films, playing computer games, crime documentaries. Our aim was to make our audience anxious because at the beginning of our trailer it seems completely normal, as it is just the scenery of a graveyard but the soundtrack gave a clue to what was expected to come.
I would attract our target audience by advertising on billboards, magazines, newspapers and on the internet. I would use the internet the most to advertise because it is accessible all around the world and everyone who has access can view it. Magazines and newspapers are also very good to advertise as people read these things on a daily basis, however, this may not always be the best option because nowadays, people tend to discard newspapers and magazines as internet is taking over; they can view information online. I would use billboards because, personally, when I see billboards on the streets I get more tempted to watch it if the image looks good and interesting.
Our first initial idea was to create a similar scene from the film “What Lies Beneath”, however, we could not do this as the production was impossible as the college toilets were too small for us to move around in. We decided to go for a more “easy, do-able” scene by the use of scary music and different camera angle shots and the location making it a typical thriller opening. The synopsis of the film is based on a teenage girl (me) in the graveyard running away from a stalker (Fahmida). We do not see the stalkers face but we see angles of her leather gloves, feet and the kitchen knife in her hand. The whole group participated and gave their own ideas which made it easier to conclude our trailer. We filmed in only one location, however, even this was not easy as the weather was against us and the graveyard was either muddy or slippery as we had to film during the time it was snowing. We wanted the weather to be a nice, clear day so it would be easier for us to film but, unfortunately, it wasn’t. However, the rain did make our trailer look good as it made the graveyard seem cloudy and scary. The weather made us lose a lot of precious time, hence, the reason why we fell behind some other groups in our class. We didn’t have a script because we chose to not use any dialogue as this would keep the audience more tense. The whole group put effort into making the storyboard and creating a shooting schedule. This helped us a lot because it made us feel organised and prepared to go out filming. Everyone in the group was given a task when we were filming and no-one felt left out. We always asked each other for opinions about the angle or shot, this kept the whole group focused and everyone had a chance to tell each other if the angle would look right or not. The group decided to film in Stoke Newington graveyard as it was quite close to the college and would not take long to get there and back. This graveyard was quite isolated, therefore, creating tension and suspense, which was our main aim. I had to play a role as a lost and frightened girl running away from a serial killer until I fall over and the stalker is behind me. This made the outcome effective. Producing this thriller made me learn how the group need to have more than one idea in case one idea backfires and need to work as a team to produce a good piece of work. Personally, I found it quite hard to act and keep my face serious and the other group members found it hard to film as the shots needed to be perfect.



Here is a close up of my face as it makes the audience feel scared for the victim.

I have showed an image of me running from a distance as it allows the audience to see how fast I was running to get away.

This is the establishing shot of my movie. I have used this because it shows the setting and makes the audience feel even more interested to watch it as graveyards make people feel scared.



I have learnt a lot about filming from producing this product and from producing the match cutting exercise. Film-making is very hard as you need to have a lot of time on your hands in case mistakes occur and you need to be focused to prevent mistakes from happening. Planning a film is the easiest part if you have a variety of ideas to choose from. This is easy because all you’re doing is brainstorming ideas and it is “easier said than done”. The actual filming is the hardest because you have to take as many shots as possible of a particular shot just in case a shot has not been done perfect. Also, because you may need to use a shot more than once in your film. Filming is also hard if you’re planning to film outdoors because if it is raining or snowing, you have to be prepared to carry on filming in whatever the weather. Every group member needs to be present all the time as everyone has a task to do and needs to participate in creating the perfect product. For us, the editing was a bit of a problem as we didn’t cut out the word “action” and everyone could hear it. The soundtrack we used was very good as it created suspense like we wanted and made people who watched it ask questions.