Post-production: Soundtrack of the thriller production: Miss Begum

Sound is one of those most important elements within the creation of films. This is because it sets the whole mood and atmosphere of the film. It is very important to plan out the sounds we will use simply because the sounds cause the audience to either be connected to the film or be vigilante in knowing that what their watching is a film with actors. For example if the audience see a gun being fired but hear an alien zapper sound they will become disconnected from the film, realising that it is make- believe where as if they hear a gunshot they will develop a relationship between the characters thinking the situation is a real one.

In order to know what the conventional soundtrack is within a thriller film, we also have to think about what that thriller may be; for example, it could be a thriller opening, a trailer or an actual film. This is why I would need to describe all the different sounds that could be used within a thriller film to make it conventional. Firstly, there are Non-diegetic sounds such as voice-overs. These can be used to explain an event within the scene that wasn't shown to the audience. This is used to give the audience a better understanding of what happened/ what is happening within the scene. Also it helps to create a suspense filled feeling as the audience are then able to determine what will happen next in the scene e.g. someone is going to die etc.

Secondly, there are Diegetic sounds such as the sounds from the TV or a radio which allows the audience to understand what is going on in the scene clearer; this is because the audience are subject to realistic sounds which makes the scene intriguing for the audience to watch.

Finally, there are off-screen sounds such as footsteps which are used to build suspense and tension e.g. creaking floor boards or a window smashing etc. All of the different types of conventional sounds used within a thriller film make it conventional to the thriller genre whether they are placed in the same film or they are used throughout.

In order to create the soundtrack to our thriller, my group used the programme entitled ‘Garage Band’; this program was used due to its wide selection of instruments that it allowed us to use and dissect sounds from. The program was simple to use which was why it allowed us to create a successful and conventional soundtrack that merged perfectly with our thriller film.

 

(image of where sound was used effectively within my own thriller to go here)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The soundtrack we created was somewhat eerie for the audience to listen to, this was done by using garage band in order to find other spectral-like sounds that could be merged together in order to have a desired impact and effect on the audience. The reason why we decided to create a thriller that had an unearthly feel to it was because we was inspired by the soundtrack used within the film ‘Sinister’, within this, the soundtrack makes the audience feel a heightened sense of suspense and tension throughout the film. Furthermore, because my group felt that the soundtrack used in ‘Sinister’ we decided to imitate and utilize some of the sounds they used within the film. My group’s soundtrack sounds as though a super natural being has been recorded during a haunting as the audience hear a low murmuring sound throughout until the film reaches certain climaxes where the sounds heard burst into a fleet of screams and sharp noises. This was done because we thought that the low murmuring sound would help to build tension and suspense while the sharp and louder noises would help to add surprise and shock among the audience.

My group thought that the most effective thing with my thriller was its ability to make the audience feel surprise/shock, suspense or tension at any given time within our thriller. This was due to the way we created our thriller; firstly we used a low murmuring sound throughout until the film reaches certain climaxes where the sounds burst into a fleet of screams and sharp noises. This was done because we knew that the low murmuring sound would help to build tension and suspense while the sharp and louder noises would help to add surprise and shock among the audience. This was the most effective thing about our soundtrack.

Conclusion:

Conclusively, the soundtrack that my group created has helped our overall production to create a suspense/tension filled atmosphere that surprises and shocks the audience at many times. Without our soundtrack, our film by itself would not have the same desired impact/effect on the audience. The impact our soundtrack has had on the audience is that they feel as though they have watched a successful and conventional thriller film, our overall production, along with the audience has been able to create a heightened feeling of suspense and tension among the audience. Lastly, I believe that my group’s thriller film was conventional to the thriller genre due to us following our target audience’s feedback on what type of thriller films they like to watch and feel the most affected by. Furthermore, we have merged the soundtrack with the film in a way that lets them both work in coherence with one another in order to inflict our desired impact on the audience, in turn making our thriller film conventional to the thriller genre.

Research: Narrative ideas (Miss Hawkins/ Ms Heath)

My idea: To start off the title of my thriller narrative was 'The Descendant'. In this plot we see a young man grow up without his beloved dad. Living with his mum he is a normal boy who goes to high school each day, however, he was blessed with special gifts/ powers which his dad also had, hence the name 'the descendant'. Throughout the thriller we see the young boy turn into a man who some may call a vigilante, how ever he is on a search for his dads killers, fortunately for him, they are also on the search for his dads descendant.

Yasmin's idea: The second idea was Yasmin's. Her thriller narrative was called 'Obsessed'. Her narrative plot follows the tale of a dad who becomes obsessed with his daughter after splitting up from his wife. During the plot we start to see the man battle through depression as he places pictures of his daughter up in an empty room with nothing but a rocking chair and a girls doll. the daughter's mum warns her not to go visit her father simply because she gets a sense of danger/ and anger within him. However the daughter does nit heed her warnings and chooses to visit her dad anyway. So every weekend the daughter travels to see her dad, but on this particular day he is not in and has left the key under his doormat, the girl then goes inside the house and starts exploring the rather large household. She then stumbles into the room where her dad has all these pictures, she is freaked out by the sight. Suddenly she hears her dad come in the house calling her name, he ventures upstairs to the room of pictures where he clocks on to the fact that she has seen the pictures, he then goes on a hunt for his daughter as she attempts to run away without being seen or heard.

Jemar's idea: The chosen idea was Jemar's; he called it 'The Awakening' and it is about as a young girl called Amy who lives with her mum Natalie and her father Tom. Within this film we start off by seeing four pictures on top of a fireplace showing family pictures within different seasons. The audience will not see the person holding the camera which will create tension and suspense among the audience. When the family arrive home they feel as though something is watching them, which it is. As we see the family become disturbed over little Amy's sightings of moving figures around the house, we also see each family member attacked mentally while they are sleeping, or while their awake, as they may see something look away and then look back again; they start to hear noises around the house and see what looks like shadows moving around the house. As we move through the opening scene we start to understand what is happening within this house hold and how threatening it is for the family who lives their. 

These clips will be accompanied by slow- paced music as the audience start to see Amy becoming disturbed by her viewing of something standing outside her house looking at her. She screams and her dad comes running and thinks its nothing until he sees the figure himself and becomes disturbed about what he has seen, his wife comforts him and just tells him that it was nothing.

All the sounds and images build up the tension and suspense in the audience when the family is looking down a corridor they see a shadow walking slowly around the corner, just as it's about to turn around the corner the opening then ends and goes onto a black screen where he hear screaming and the title screen comes up saying "The Awakening".

Film Influences:

Paranormal Activity 4:

After watching this film, my group decided it would be the main influence for our thriller film. This is due to the similarities in the narrative/plots in both our film, and Paranormal Activity 4. Firstly, the film is set inside a family home which is said to be the safest place possible for a family, however, when looking back at my groups questionnaire responses we knew that we should play around with this stereotype in order to have a big impact on our target audience.

Sinister:















Sinister is the second main influence of our thriller film, this is because this film has a mixture of all the elements my group wanted to put into our thriller, these were; suspense, tension and surprise. This film does this exceptionally well which is why my group chose to use this as an influence.

Conclusion:
By using other successful films as influences to help us create our own thriller film means that we are able to use all of their strengths to improve our own thriller film  enabling it to have a large impact on the audience and it to be conventional to the thriller genre. My group are able to have confidence in our thriller film due to this, as we feel as though our film has worked around the influences and has been able to create the film depending on the responses we had from our questionnaire.

Questionnaire and results- Miss Gibbins

In order to create our thriller film, we needed to create a questionnaire in order to gather some information and research on what our target audience wanted to see. This in turn, would help us when it comes to actually creating our thriller film, so that we would be able to make it effective on our audience and conventional to the thriller genre.

Pictured above, is the questions I asked our audience. When counting up the results, we found that that the majority of the group liked and watched thriller films more than the other genres. This was a great result because we knew that we could focus on the thriller genres conventions instead of placing a mixture of other conventions inside our film in order to make it more effective on our audience.

This question was asked because it was essential in helping us to plan and build a base for creating our thriller film as we could always relate back to our target audiences answers. The questionnaire would therefore help us when it comes to creating a certain impacting effect on the audience; furthermore, when added to our research of other thrillers, it is able to help us to make our thriller conventional to the thriller genre.

The next question we asked people was “when watching a film, out of the themes below, which theme do you prefer”, this was how we decided on our thrillers genre. The most chosen theme was psychological, due to us setting the film inside a house with a mystery character; we decided that this would be the best place to have the biggest impact on the audience as a home is supposed to be safe.

The theme of our thriller was basically the most important question we could ask the public; this is because the theme is what our thriller will be based around. The theme most chosen being psychological, helped my group majorly as we had a good idea of how we could make ideas conventional to the thriller genre while relating to the chosen theme

The last majorly important question we asked was “what do you think has the biggest impact on the audience”, when asking this, we was relating to suspense, tension and surprise. The most important joint elements were suspense and tension with surprise trailing by only two votes. Due to this, my group decided that all of these elements were needed inside our thriller film in order to have a much needed impact on  our audience.

In our thriller film we didn't choose a single element to be the main one due to our results. This in turn means that our thriller film will have a better impact on all people. Firstly suspense helps create surprise as the audience don’t know exactly what will happen so when something pops out onto the screen they will jump up and get surprised by what they see. Tension helps my group to keep the audience entertained at all times and hooked to the film.

Conclusion:

The creation of a questionnaire has helped with the creation of our thriller film because we are able to make the film relate to the public’s responses. Furthermore, this would help us to make our thriller film conventional to the thriller genre as we are able to use the questionnaire as a base line to create our thriller around; for example: the theme chosen was psychological; due to this we have based our thriller film around the theme of psychological trauma. When looking at the response from the questionnaire, it was clear to my group, that our target audience was 15-20 year old people of a mixed genre who all wish to see a thriller film containing suspense, tension and surprise. This information is essential to our group as we now know who our target audience is and what they want to see within our thriller film. 

Planning: Storyboarding- Ms Begum

What is a Storyboard?:
A story board is a graphical representation of a narrative that has been created, within the storyboard it shows each movement of each character scene by scene. Storyboards may look like square boxes on a piece of paper but they are used by every film maker in order to make filming the actual film less stressful and it also means that the actors, directors, camera operators etc. know what to do and when to do it without having to stop and talk about how they will plan out the next scene.


Storyboards need to contain information about: cinematography, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, narrative, location, duration and the Number of shots.
Including all of these in a storyboard will make producing the scene a lot easier as the producer and the director can work with and around the information they have on the storyboard. Storyboards also ensure that you don't forget any shots/ scenes by accident they make it easy to know where you need to edit the film e.g. fade to black, straight cut etc.

Our Task:
In this lesson we were working within our groups to create a storyboard that represented the narrative my group chose to use. To do this we had to think about how we wanted our thriller to look, how long each scene would be, the locations, dialogue, sounds, lighting and the actors/ people needed to film that shot.

Our storyboards:

Above is the storyboard my group were able to come up with, it's features include clear images and the micro-elements we will use in our thriller. It is well organised and clearly presented, this will help us when it comes to filming our thriller as we can easily understand it and we now know who is needed, when they are needed and where they are needed in each shot. Furthermore, the storyboard  helps us to be sure of our narrative as we can gather an idea of how it will look after filming.

Conclusion:
From creating my own storyboard, i believe it will help me and my group when it comes to filming due to us having a clear understanding of our narrative and how the shots should look when it comes to actually filming. A storyboard will make producing the scene a lot easier as the producer and the director can work with and around the information they have on the storyboard. Also it will help to ensure that we don't forget any shots/ scenes by accident and it will make it easy to know where we need to edit the film e.g. fade to black, straight cut etc.

Planning: Preliminary task- Miss Begum

What is the Purpose of the Preliminary task: The purpose of the preliminary task is to learn how to operate and use a camera. During the task we had to experiment with the camera by playing around with different camera techniques, including the angles, sizes and movements. This was all done to help us gain some sort of experience of filming before we move on to shooting our own thriller films.

Introduction: The preliminary task is where our group is given a camera and told to go out and experiment with the camera enabling us to get used to using the camera. Furthermore we are supposed to make a short scenario in order to show that we have gotten used to controlling and holding the camera effectively.  The preliminary task also tells our group who is the better person behind the camera.

The scenario: In our preliminary task we didnt follow the normal conventions of having a conversation between anyone. Instead we showed two people walking with minimal conversation, and we only focused on the camera angles and movements of two people walking. We chose a few different locations and then edited the clips in order to make the film flow with clarity.

                                                                 

Group Roles: During the preliminary task our group had separate roles in order to carry out the task for example; I was the director of this task and the camera operator, this is because i know how to organize fairly well and i have an eye for different angles and camera movements. that were the group roles and why. The editor of the preliminary task was a joint effort of all the group, this was because we suggested that we needed to all put in our efforts to edit the preliminary task to our best abilities.

Difficulties?: During the preliminary task we was faced with one difficulty, this was the editing of the clips that were filmed, this difficulty came about because my group was not to sure about how to edit the clips and place them together, however,due to us practicing on the preliminary film, we were able to overcome this difficulty and edit the clips together so that they flowed with clarity, and people could understand it easily.

                                                           
Paragraph 4:  Using a hand held camera recorder has helped me to see in myself that I have he eye for angles and angle sizes e.g. Reaction shots/ mid shots etc. These techniques have been developed by my whole group and we now know and understand what is needed to make a thriller film conventional to the thriller genre and we also feel confident to the point where we can look at any genre and create a conventional film for it.

The last technique I have been able to develop and use is to edit the film and clips in order to merge them together to make them flow with clarity and make it understandable for the audience. I will admit that the editing stage came with a few problems and complications, however these were problems were erased with hard work and practice. Within my groups thriller there was many different transitions entwined between the merged clips, these varied from fade to blacks, to montages, to fast-paced editing, these transitions enabled my thriller to look and seem high quality and it also helped to make my thriller look more conventional to the thriller genre. 

Conclusion: This task has helped me and my group significantly in creating our own thriller, this is because i now fully understand how to use final cut pro and edit my clips together. Furthermore taking part in the preliminary task has helped me to develop and train my skills of directing and filming a production and then editing it to make the clips understandable and effective with in an audience.

Planning: Developing ideas in groups (Ms Heath & Ms Gibbings)

During our creation of our narrative's we had to take many things into consideration, such as the characters, the Mise-en-scene and the actual narrative. To do this we had to try our best to make our narratives conventional to the thriller genre, this in turn was done and accomplished by watching thriller movies and trailers in order to see how they build excitement, tension and suspense and then utilize the key information that we was able to pick up. By doing this we have created three very different perceptions of what our narrative is and how it will effect the audience. These factors have been discussed below, along with our final choice.

Narrative ideas:

My idea: To start off the title of my thriller narrative was 'The Descendant'. In this plot we see a young man grow up without his beloved dad. Living with his mum he is a normal boy who goes to high school each day, however, he was blessed with special gifts/ powers which his dad also had, hence the name 'the descendant'. Throughout the thriller we see the young boy turn into a man who some may call a vigilante, how ever he is on a search for his dads killers, fortunately for him, they are also on the search for his dads descendant.

Yasmin's idea: The second idea was Yasmin's. Her thriller narrative was called 'Obsessed'. Her narrative plot follows the tale of a dad who becomes obsessed with his daughter after splitting up from his wife. During the plot we start to see the man battle through depression as he places pictures of his daughter up in an empty room with nothing but a rocking chair and a girls doll. the daughter's mum warns her not to go visit her father simply because she gets a sense of danger/ and anger within him. However the daughter does nit heed her warnings and chooses to visit her dad anyway. So every weekend the daughter travels to see her dad, but on this particular day he is not in and has left the key under his doormat, the girl then goes inside the house and starts exploring the rather large household. She then stumbles into the room where her dad has all these pictures, she is freaked out by the sight. Suddenly she hears her dad come in the house calling her name, he ventures upstairs to the room of pictures where he clocks on to the fact that she has seen the pictures, he then goes on a hunt for his daughter as she attempts to run away without being seen or heard.

Jemar's idea: The chosen idea was Jemar's; he called it 'The Awakening' and it is about as a young girl called Amy who lives with her mum Natalie and her father Tom. Within this film we start off by seeing four pictures on top of a fireplace showing family pictures within different seasons. The audience will not see the person holding the camera which will create tension and suspense among the audience. When the family arrive home they feel as though something is watching them, which it is. As we see the family become disturbed over little Amy's sightings of moving figures around the hosue, we also see each family member attacked mentally while they are sleeping, or while their awake, as they may see something look away and then look back again; they start to hear noises around the house and see what looks like shadows moving around the house. As we move through the opening scene we start to understand what is happening within this hosuehold and how threatening it is for the family who lives their.

These clips will be accompanied by slow- paced music as the audience start to see Amy becoming disturbed by her viewing of something standing outside her house looking at her. She screams and her dad comes running and thinks its nothing until he sees the figure himself and becomes disturbed about what he has seen, his wife comforts him and just tells him that it was nothing.

All the sounds and images build up the tension and suspense in the audience when the family is looking down a corridor they see a shadow walking slowly around the corner, just as it's about to turn around the corner the opening then ends and goes onto a black screen where he hear screaming and the title screen comes up saying "The Awakening".

Summary and choice:  Our group analysed each plot and found many problems and advantages of using each one, for example my plot was the most easiest to actually film as we didnt need many props or angles which meant it was simple, however in order to make the character seem as though they had special powers, we would have to work long and hard in Adobe after effects in order to get it right for viewers, this in turn would waste a lot of time.

Secondly, Yasmin's idea was brilliant simply because it is easy to create tension and suspense each time the girl goes to her dads house, this is because us as the audience know that he is not in the right state of mind to be around her but she doesn't, this makes the audience on edge about anywhere she goes and when she comes in contact with him. However this plot would be hard to create when filming as we would have to find a very big house with specificly designed rooms, for example the room of photos was supposed to have no wall paper and no floor boards, it was to all be bas wood which would have images placed all over, secondly we would have to take a lot of images and have them printed which would cost a lot, also it would take a lot of time.

Our last and final plot was ofcourse Jemar's. Our group chose this plot simply because it had no disadvantages, for example in this plot all we need is someones everyday house, this we decided would be Jemar's, secondly, we needed 4 photo frames which were £1 each from a pound shop. There are many other advantages to following Jemar's plot also, one other that I will touch upon is that it is a simple plot to follow, it is easy to draw up a storyboard on and there are very few risks that we must worry about. All in all Jemar's plot was found to be the best choice for all of us, including the audience. Lastly this thriller narrative is conventional to the thriller genre simply because it is able to build tension and suspense straight from the very beggining, and as soon as the audience notice that the family have entered the same house, they automatically start to emphasize with the characters and start to feel need to tell them that there is someone in the house with them but they unfortunately can't, this in turn builds a relationship between the characters and the audience.

Planning: Pre-production paperwork – Miss Begum

What is it?
Pre-production is the process of planning before the actual filming process of a film begins. Furthermore it is where the producer, director and other crew members choose the locations, actors etc.The pre-production schedule contains the production schedule, location release, location recce, risk assessment and the client release form.

Creating pre-production paperwork helps to give the cast/crew members a sense of direction. If we were to try to go through with the filming process without the pre production paperwork then it would result in many complications including the possibility of being stopped while filming or sued due to any damage etc.

Production Schedule:

                                                                                    

 A production schedule (Shown above)What is a production schedule is a summary of where ceratin scenes will be filmed, what cast members will be needed, the equipment needed and the time the filming will take place. The schedule is handed out to everyone iin the filming team and the cast members so that they have all the information needed.  

Location Recce:

A Location Recce (shown above) is a document that tells our cast/crew members and our teacher where we are filming our thriller film. Also it gives everyone directions on how to get there from our school in case of an emergency. This document is giving to everyone within the cast and crew, this is so they are able to know everything they need to about the filming location.

Risk Assessment:

A risk assessment form (shown above) is an analysis of our location and any risks that may arise while being at that location. The risk assessment singles out these risks and summarises how our crew and cast will overcome them. This document will be given to everyone in our filming team so that they have all the information needed about any risks while being on and around the set.

Client release form:

                               
A client release form (shown above) is a legal document that is used to discuss all the terms and agreements that have been set between the actors and the director and producer. This document is given to everyone who will be a part of the cast members. It also thanks the actors for the agreements they have made and for their assistance in taking part in the filming.                                       

Location Release form:

                                                                   

A Location release form (shown above) is a legal document that discusses the terms, conditions and agreements with the company/council/people that are allowing us to film in their location e.g. Jemar's house. This document is given to the company/council/people that are allowing us to use their location in order to make it clear that we have agreed and will follow any terms and conditions they have set. Also it shows that us as a film production team have understood their rights and our own for example, they have the right to tell us when we will be able to use the premises and we have the right to use them etc.

Being able to create our own pre-production paperwork has been absolutely essential when thinking about the production of our thriller. Due to creating this paperwork, our cast and crew members are able to be briefed and gain all the knowledge needed to make the filming of our thriller a smooth process. Furthermore, we have been able to make legal agreements over our filming location etc. For me, creating the paperwork has helped me understand how difficult and complicated it is to film without them, which will help me if I decide to carry on my career within the media and film industry. Furthermore, doing the pre-production paperwork has helped my group to actually know what they are doing, instead of having to waste time checking over with the director; also they know what is expected of them while on set, this is a key factor because people knowing what they need to do and what is expected of them will mean that the film will be of a high standard and the filming process will flow smoothly.