Thriller Evaluation: Earlstoke Estate

Thriller Evaluation: Earlstoke Estate

We were given the task to create an opening of a film using a thriller genre. We started using a storyboard and a basic plan, but by the end of the film we really began to feed into the conventions of a real thriller production.
We studied a few thriller films to gather ideas, for example Arlington Road helped to give us the idea of the solarised flash scenes. We used this idea but changed the theme to make the real purpose of the flash scenes a mystery.




We also looked at The Shining, this film was an older film but the opening still helped to inspire us when making our opening. For example we noticed that using simple music in the beginning then gradually building to a heavier music can really help to build tension. We applied this technique to our film, as the film started with an establishing shot with the name of the estate where the action will take place up until the bus stop scenes. But when the character reached her point of danger this was signified by the change of depth and tone in the music. This really helped to create the tension that we were going for.

We also used small techniques that relate to conventions of a real thriller opening. The alley way was a dark red, which usually symbolises danger; this really helped in creating atmosphere. The location was naturally lighted red and this was our main reason for choosing this particular location.
The solarised attacks created a sense of ambiguity. The audience is left wondering whether the attacks are a flashback, whether they are premonitions or whether the girl is hallucinating. We were able to create this effect by continuously flashing back to the normal settings so the audience are left wondering “is this really happening?”.
We also used a technique towards the end of the film. As she begins to get on the lift it is in slow motion, the door continues to start closing in sow motion, then when the ‘man’ starts pulling the lift open it returns to a regular faster speed. In contrast with the sound change, and the characters facial expression it creates suspense as the audience wonders what happens next. This also is a convention as it is a climax and many film openings end in a climax in order to get the audience started.
The isolated estate, the red bus, the roads are all a sense of representation of London and help to connote danger.







When creating the characters we decided to have one main character instead of confuse the audience with many different characters. The main purpose of having one character, was to create a sense of isolation which helped by using a sequence of long and medium shots.
The character was a female, young adult aged about 18. The use of this character fit in to the usual stereotype of female characters. They are usually vulnerable which we can see because of the body language, and the fact that she was alone helped fulfil the stereotype. The fact that she was young, which we could tell by her clothing (which is again stereotypical), also helped make the audience feel more scared for the character and made her look even more vulnerable.



If our film was to be successful, I think it would be more national than Hollywood, this is because of the characters and storyline. I think it would appeal more to British consumers as a ‘made for TV’ type film, maybe being shown on Channel 4 or BBC3 as a short film. This is because i feel that this is the type of film that would have a low budget and its audience would probably be TV consumers instead of "DVD buyers". If It were to become successful on TV then maybe a sequel would be released in cinema as it would attract more funding and it would already be popular.
For this reason I think that our film would appeal more to young (16-25’s) aspiring film makers or artists, rather than an upper class business audience. I think our audience would consist of both males and females because the opening is not just about the fact that it’s a female, but it’s more concerned about the suspense and tension that is being created, meaning that it is not gender biased. But it may appeal to boys more than girls as the main character is a female and she fits the stereotypical attractive female description. Our ideal consumer would probably be ‘Tasha or Justin, 16 and 19, in college or university, loves shopping or football, goes clubbing quite often, shops in Topshop or Primark’ Our ideal audience normally spends their free time watching their favourite soaps and dramas, and would therefore come across our film. The reason i think this audience would be attracted to our film is because i think they would like to see the films resolution.

Because of our target audience, we would have to be particular when attracting the correct consumers. We would probably include a well-known underground music artist in the cast that would attract our audience to the film. We would probably target bus stop billboards and advertisements on buses. This is because a large portion of our target audience travel by bus and this would be an effective way of advertising. Another effective way would be by using trailers to give the audience a taste of what they could expect, But the trailers would be passed around through mobile phones by using Bluetooth, I think this would be an effective way of attracting our younger target audience as they are Familiar with using Bluetooth to send music and other miscellaneous things.

During the process of the project, I think I have really progressed and have a better insight into using the technologies. At the start of the Unit, I was not very confident in filming and the different angles to use, I am also better at knowing how to set up a shot. I have also learnt how to frame shots and to time the shot before the character enters the shot. I have learned a great deal of techniques using Final cut pro. We were all taught how to first log and capture our work which is very time consuming but learning how to edit using the system, I think was very complex but in the end we were able to learn how to use it correctly and as I became more used to it, I found it much easier to use. Learning to soundtrack was very successful, as we were taught the basics first. After we were confident, in using it we were able to improve our soundtrack and it really helped to add emotion and helped the film to conform to the thriller genre.
When we started the coursework we were introduce to blogging and as we continued using this system I really started getting better at using it and being able to upload videos to our blog. It is also really interesting getting to know how far other groups are getting and looking at their work.

I believe that we have really progressed since our preliminary filming session. In our match cut exercise, we found it hard to get the scenes to switch smoothly. The match cuts were very noticeable. But since then we have really gotten much better at using final cut and filming. We also took a lot more time to storyboard our film and plan locations and filming days. This really helped as it allowed us to spare time and prevented us from missing out vital shots. Most of all it really helped that all of the members in our group worked together, as all of our knowledge was put together to help make every step successful.

Update: sound editing

We had finished forming our film, now we needed sound to make it complete, and to have the full "thriller effect" . In the beginning it was very hard to try and make a soundtrack for the film. Because we had to start from scratch and obviously had no experience it made it even worse. We started off listening to all of the different instruments. After we had listened to most of them we started trying out different sounds, for different events in the film. For example with the opening we wanted a sound that was not to complex but still that the film was supposed to be a thriller. We used more complex music for the walk down the alleyway and the attacks, only to build tension, but still kept it a minimum in order to prevent it from looking amateur. when we started to get used to using soundtrack, we started adding little sounds to create a different sound that would not be that easy to copy. by the end of the session we ended up completing the whole soundtrack and it really made the film look and sound alot better, and also made it look quite thrilling!

Update: Editing contd.

After we had the structure, it became easier to start forming all of the extra details. We began to insert the attacks (premenitions) into the charecters walk down the alleyway. After we inserted the attacks we used solarization to add effect and also to let the viewer know that the attack is at a different time (or not actually happening?) . We made the clips very short in order to build tension. We made it a sequence (had various attack clips), then at the end when the girl made it to the end of the alleyway she began to make her way on to the lift, we did this in slow motion in order to add effect and create suspense and then when she finally makes it onto the lift....... We used many match cuts in order to show the different angles but we still tryed our best to make them look smooth. We all had to come in at different times depending on how convienient it was for us. then in the end we all contributed to the editing in order to ensure that no one was left out.

Update : day 2 of Editing

When we returned to college we really began to meet up whenever we had free time in order to meet our deadline. On the first day back from half term we started puting together most of the film and managed to at least form a basic outline of the film. We started with the establishing shot, then we added some bustop scenes and afterwards we continued with the alleyway scenes. We left it at that and decided to leave the rest until the next time we had free.

Updates: first day of editing

In our first day of editing, me and my group decided to come in on the half term and get some extra work done. We first began by logging and capturing all of our work. This took a very long period of time as we had many clips. We decided to group the clips up into sections in order to make it easier when we started putting the film together. by the end of the session we started putting the pieces together. At first we were finding it difficult to make sense of it. But after moving the shots around we started to get an idea of what we wanted the outcome to be. By the end of the day we only managed to put together the very beginning of the film and decided to leave the rest until we returned to college.

final filming day... Thriller))

we started by filming the final scene of the opening...which was the bus stop scene. This scene was left to last because of the weather. We first filmed the bus stop from different angles. We then filmed the main charecter at the bus stop from different angles in order to include match cut when editing. we also made sure that we included close ups of the different bus stop signs in order to use them whilst editing. After finally completing the bus stop scene, we then went back to the alley way in order to complete some missing shots involving the stalker. We were able to find a boy who was willing to help act as the stalker as there is only girls in our group. we used alot of over the shoulder and point of view shots in order to keep the stalkers identity discreet. We also filmed the lift clip. We had to film this many times in order to get the outcome we were trying to achieve. We include handheld aswel as using the tripod to film the lift from the inside aswel as the outside. at the end we then viewed our footage to ensure that we did not forget to film any relevant footage, this was done in order to avoid delay when editing.

Second Filming session

In this session we got alot more done, this was because we had alot more time to film. We decieded to focus on the alleyway scene for the duration of this session. We started with the preminition shots. This had to be different because this is the part where she gets stalked and attacked. We startded by filming her start her walk down the alleyway, we did this at a certain angle because of the lighting. We first filmed it at a medium shot from the back, this shot helped to capture her looking back in suspicion. After this we went on to film her walking down the alleyway from the front, then over the shoulder {this footage was captured using handheld} . then we used a close up of her face as she is walking to show expression and connote fear. After we completed this part. We started to include the stalker... we filmed a short series of shots of the 'stalker' from an over the shoulder view and also from a POV. we decided that we do not want to include any full shots of the stalker in order to create suspense and build tension. After capturing some footage of the stalker we filmed the attack... this was quite difficult and we had to film it many times in order to get the correct angles and in order to avoid an amateur look. after filming the attack and using various angles, we decided to go back to the class room to view our footage and decide what we need to do for our next filming session and what needs changing.

update: storyboard and pitch....

After our final practice session were given the brief of our project, This was 'Create the opening of a thriller film up to 2 minutes long, including titles' . We were told that before we can go ahead and start filming, that we had to produce the storyboard, then pitch the idea to the class. Me and my group decided that We would leave the title to the end. We came up with this short plot...' a girl is at a bustop, on the way from a party, with her phone in her hand texting her friend. She gets on a bus and shares a couple of lines of dialogue with a 'man'. when she gets off the bus she continues through an alleyway. as she is walking she feels suspicious as she is alone and starts looking around cluelessly. She then has a 'preminition' that she gets attacked.... then realises shes only seeing things.. she then enters an elevator. ' We then storyboarded our our plot, brokedown our camera angles to every shot. After we were completing this task, we had to pitch our ideas in Dan's lesson. We explained the plot, then told the class about the different camera angles we would use.The sound that would be included and the location that we would film in. We decide to play it safe and film in an old council block in angel.. This ensured convienience to all of our group members. After we pitched our ideas, Dan gave us feedback and first was a bit confused with our plot. But after we explained the simplicity of the filming and told him that most of the techniques would be done during the editing, he was ready for us to get started.

practice filming sesion

we were given a task to help us practice filming for our thriller coursework. we were asked to film someone reading a newspaper in a thrilling way using 12 different shots. we were asked to include a POV shot and an over the shoulder shot. i was put into a group of 3. We first prepared a storyboard in order to plan the different shots . In the next lesson with Dan we began to film, we used the common room and turn the lights out to make it more thrilling. we included a shot from outside the door as well as a point of view shot. We also included the over the shoulder shot that was asked of us and we had to shoot the same scene many times in order to get the shot we were aiming for.

In the next lesson with Andrew we were asked to start editing the footage that we had captured. We cut the shots up into small parts and than rearranged them to make sense, we also had to cut and edit some of the shot as we were able to because we applied the 5 second time gap to our footage.

I was quite happy with the camera work, we got a really good point of view shot and some other good shots. it was particularly hard when using the handheld technique and we had to be really careful.

The editing when really well, we used the new techniques that we learned from the tutorial session with mickey and applied it to our work. It helped improve our footage and helped our footage to make some type of sense as there was not much acting so we rely on the camera work and editing to tell the story.

We also learned that it is very hard to find good area for shooting (mise en scene). This was the mise en scene also plays a big part in telling the story. But at the end i think we did manage to create some sort of suspense. We did this by using a slow zoom then sudden close up of the newsreader then we ended the film by using a black screen.

I think we did manage to use conventions from a real thriller film, i think this was done by using similar mise en scene like the dark isolated room and the use of camera shots for example the point of view shot.