Gargage Band Practise.

This is Yasmin's and Briarly's Garage band soundtrack for the opening for the film 'Identity'.

We used a mixture of different sounds to create our soundtrack and used all of these sounds to create tension and suspense for the audience.
This gave us practise and experience for when we do our thriller because it taught us what kinda of music and effects we can use.
We thought the beginning music was a good soundtrack because it gave the opening a wary feel to indicate it will be a thriller.
We also liked how the music started fairly slow then built up to a faster pace to match with the images from the opening of the film. Then, it calms down to create a more relaxed feeling as the pictures on the film was of the man thinking therefore the music related to the pictures that were on at the same time.
We could have improved by blending the ending music better from the music before so it moved along more smoothly. Overall, we thought our soundtrack went well with the opening to the film and it helped us learn more techniques on garage band which could be useful for our thriller.

Planning for Thriller

Which sub genre is it and how is it shown - Conventions.
Our thriller will be a Crime thriller as the character which has tied the character to the chair. As we won't be doing the whole story line we won't need to show why the antagonist has tied the character up but it will be shown as a crime reason.

It will feature some sort of crime from the antagonist but it won't be shown in the opening.

A convention of a crime thriller is: Rivalry between opposites character is strong. Our characters will show an obvious contrast between each other as we can see one is innocent and the other is the 'baddie'.

Suggested locations and why:

As our opening is only two minutes it won't have many locations yet the two minutes will show two locations (
- lift. This will be where it begins, one of the characters will be inside the lift.



- car park. This could change depending on what location we can find when we film.





- Room for Tania and Sian will be a room in college which has an empty corner in the room for Tania to be tied up.



Description of narrative:

There isn't much dialogue until the end of the opening but music and credits will be the main concentration until someone talks.

- Yasmin will be on the phone saying she's in a rush saying she'll get there as soon as she can (business reasons)

- Starts in a lift, whilst Yasmin is inside looking at her watch conscious of time.
(credits appear around Yasmin while music is playing in the background)

- Yasmin walks out of the lift and checks for phone. She sees a miss call but text back to say she's in a rush and will ring back later. Then walks away.

- It goes to a new frame shot of tania tied up with rope and duct tape on her mouth.

- Then the camera will slowly move (pan shot) from tania on to the antagonist (Sian) while the camera is moving to Sian you will hear her talking on the phone leaving a voice message to Yasmin saying:
Sian (sarcastic/sneery tone) : 'It's a shame you can't come to the phone right now but your friend is in a bit of a pickle.'


We copied the idea of the film reservoir dogs as in one of the scenes has a jokey feel to it. They use the music 'stuck in the middle with you' Which changes the atmosphere of what the antagonist is doing.
When sian says her line on the phone voicemail we want it to have a jokey yet serious tone which is similar to what happens in this film.




The joker is an antagonist which jokes about all the trouble he causes, we want out antagonist to give a similar sense (except for the joker's costume) but our character to not be too humourous or it will ruin the mood of the thriller.


- The ending will be a black ground with the credits in the middle.



Who's acting - Description of the characters:

Yasmin Bean:
Business woman, career focuses, organised, friends with Tania (protagonist)
Costume: Work outfit.



Sian Bell:
Antagonist, twisted, selfish (for tieing up Tania)
Costume: All black. Colour represents her trying to be low key as she is doing something wrong (tieing up Tania)





Tania Miah:
Innocent, friendly, doesn't deserve to be punished.
Costume: casual, daily clothing.



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Longroad thriller analysis...

Marking Criteria - Level 4 48-60

- Holding a shot steady
- Framing a shot including/excluding elements appropriate
- Using a variety of shots distances
- Shooting material appropriate to the task.
- Selecting mise-en-scene appropriately
- Editing so meaning is appropriate to the viewer
- Using varied shot transitions and effects
- Using sound with images
- Using titles appropriately.

The Last Breath



- Mark criteria
This group held several shots steady.

This group did frame shots including/excluding elements as appropriate as we see one of the main characters at the very beginning so we know he's in the storyline. Also, when the lady is lying in the bath you see the knife next to her so it gives the audience clues and understanding.

This group used a variety of shots including long shots, close-ups, etc.

This group used materials appropriate to the task but we thought it was more horror based as we felt it gave a more scary feel than thrilling.

This group did the mise-en-scene well because we thought we saw the setting was shown very well through the different shots such as when we saw her open the door and walking around.
The costumes allowed us to tell that antagonist was going to be the baddie by his mask.
The lighting was well used as the lighting varied depending on what was happening and related to the action.

This group didn't use lots of editing but they stopped the music the same time the lights went out which adds impact to the event.

This group didn't use many effects such as fades which could have helped make the opening run more smoothly.

This group used lots of sound with images such as when she screams there is no music which allows the scream to be heard better and its the only noise you hear so the audience focus on it.
The main piece of music they use through out the opening matches with the overall theme they have.

The titles used could have been a bit more interesting in font to match the theme however we thought the white writing against the dark background contrasted well so it was easy to read.

Transporter: Conventions of an action Thriller.

We looked at Transporter to see how it contains action thriller conventions.

- Obvious antagonist
- race against the clock scenario
- Features more violence than other sub genres
- Disruption to Equilitorium requires the protagonist to use action to solve it (must be physically fit)
- Usually involves characters of the opposite sex to drive the narrative - their loyalty will be questions.


Features more violence than other sub genres:

Seeing as this film is an action filmed, it is based around violence and the story relys on physical scenes. We know this film is an action film almost straight away due to the violence. Usually, action films use more violence and a small ammount of narrative as violience most viewers of action films find violience entertaining.

Opposite sex:

The main characters can be brought together by their genders. She uses her feminine qualities to get her way however her plan fails so her gender didn't help.

Physically fit:

The protagonist is skilled in combat and is shown by his power and dominance in the fight we see in the beginning therefore we know that the protagonist will be skilled during the film. Protagonist are usually stronger than average.

Disruption toEquilitorium requires the protagonist to use action to solve it:

The protagonist solves the problem with action in the early beginning which shows the audience the film is action based because the characters try to solve the storyline issues physically unlike some thrillers such as pyschological thrillers solve problems usually mentally without violence.

Psychological Thriller: Fight Club...

We looked at the trailer of Fight Club to see how it has psychological conventions.

Conventions:
-drama/mystery
-danger is on a mental level rather than a physical level
-2 or more characters preying on each others minds to create conflict,or, one solitary character in mental conflict
-characters try and discover their purpose
-characters often have a fear or fascination with death
-narrative-confusion over what is real


Characters trying to discover their purpose:

Edward Norton is trying to find a purpose in his life. He believes being Brad Pitt is what he needs to do as he idolises him. However Brad Pitt is not a real person but he is in Edward's mind. Edward suffers from insomnia which could have triggered his belief in trying to discover his purpose.

2 or more character preying on each others mind:

Brad Pitt is always on Edwards mind as he is his main focus which then leads to Edward conflicting with himself which turns into conflicting with others such as Brad Pitt tells edward to beat up a stranger which will obviously show Edward is in a mental state.

Confusion over what is real:

The audience can find it slightly hard to understand the narrative side of the conversation and storyline between the two main characters. As the film continues the audience realise how Brad Pitt is a psycholoigcal character.

Suffering mental conflict with himself:

This creates Helena Bonham Carter character because it creates conflict with Brad Pitt. Edward thinks that Brad Pitt has got the girl but it actually is himself. This creates more conflict between Edward and Brad as he keeps all his emotions for her locked up.