Chris Buckingham's Thriller Evaluation

In our thriller opening we are able to incorporate many generic conventions into our opening scene. These conventions include establishing the protagonist, setting, plot, genre and narrative, as well as incorporating the creation of enigma.
In the opening shot of our thriller, we see our protagonist looking at his reflection in a mirror. This helps establish him as the protagonist as he is the first person the viewers see, and in many films, not just thriller films, the first person the audience gets to see is typically the protagonist.

The thriller opening is set in run down public toilets. This is clearly shown to the audience as the setting can be seen in almost all shots. Midway through the opening scene there is a flashback and the setting changes from a public toilet, to a family home. There is an obvious change from the cold, harsh setting of the public toilet to the warm and generally inviting setting of the family home. This again helps establish our protagonist as he is the first character we see in the flashback, and is the first person to talk in the film.

Our group was able to create a narrative for our thriller. We were able to do this by reversing different segments of the background noise taken from our original shots and use them in our opening scene. This created a mixture of peculiar sounds which helped create a genre as well as giving the audience an indication of the protagonists’ state of mind.

In our thriller opening, enigma is created for the audience at various points, predominantly during the flashback and also near the end of the opening scene during an upwards panning shot of some numbers on a wall. At both these points enigma is created, but as well as this, it also gives the audience an idea about the plot of the film.

The conventions that are incorporated into our thriller opening indicate that this film has a sub-genre. The sub-genre would make this film a crime thriller. This is because the film incorporates elements from the crime film genre as our film follows the protagonist, (the criminal), as he commits multiple murders to get his revenge.

When creating our thriller opening we were influences by other thriller films. A particular film that heavily influenced our thriller opening was ‘Oldboy’ (2003). We were influenced by the use of flashback in the opening scene, and also the films plot. Both Oldboy and our thriller show the protagonist in both the past and present through the use of flashbacks. As well as this, we were also influenced by the console game ‘Condemned 2’ as the appearance of our protagonist was based on ‘Ethan Thomas’, a character from the game.

There are a few different social classes and stereotypes represented in the opening of our thriller, and there is an obvious contrast between each of these. The main and most obvious social differences are of the protagonists past and present. In the past, during the flashback, the protagonist is shown as a typical working class person, in a stereotypical ‘happy family’. however, in the present, he is shown as a lower-lower class person. From this the audience gets the idea that protagonist is now a person that has very little to live for, as he now has nothing.

Age groups are also represented in our thriller opening. The characters in the thriller opening represent the ages of 18 - 25. This is because the protagonist is aged 19 during the flashbacks, and 22 in the present, however the audience are unaware of this. Although the audience does not know the ages of the protagonist, or the other character, the protagonists sister, seen in the flashback, it is obvious that these characters are between the ages of 18 - 25.

If our film was to be produced, it would most likely be produced and distributed by a small independent film company. This is due to the low budget and quality of our film. If our film was to have a larger budget, and possibly be of higher quality, it could be produced by a larger film company, but not a major studio such as the BFI or any other major British or Hollywood studio. Our particular film is a ‘one off’ and doesn’t offer the opportunity to have a franchise or sequel. Although our thriller film has a small budget, there is still an chance for some merchandising. Certain products such as t-shirts, mugs, jumpers and posters could be possible merchandise for our film.

Our thriller film is aimed at 15 - 29 year olds, particularly male teens, and young adults. Our film would be given a film classification of 15. This is because of the frequent use of strong violence and strong language. As well as this, viewers under the age of 15 may find particular scenes quite disturbing, especially some of the murder scenes.

Some films that are similar to our thriller film include Oldboy. Oldboy is similar to our thriller film as they both use flashbacks in their opening scenes. The Punisher is another film that has similarities with of our film. In The Punisher the theme of revenge is similar as in The Punisher the protagonist tries to get revenge on the people that killed his family and in our film the protagonist wants revenge on the 6 people that killed his sister.

After looking at both the questionnaire and interview research results, we were able to decide who to aim our thriller at, and also what should be included in it. From our results we could see that a large proportion of people preferred flashbacks and the contrast between the past and the present. Due to this we included a flashback in our opening sequence. Also, from our results we found that most people who filled in the questionnaire were aged between 16 - 21 years old. This influenced our decision to make our film appeal primarily to that age group.

Personally I feel that there are certain parts of our opening sequences that could scare younger children. For example, the main characters appearance, when not in the flashback, may scare younger children due to his threatening look. Throughout the opening sequence we used a range of different camera positions and angles to help show as much of the protagonist as possible, especially his face and expression. We also tried to used the camera in a way that made the protagonist seem as if he was walking towards you, almost as if he was coming to get you.

Our opening sequence doesn’t necessarily make the audience side with a particular character, however I feel the audience shall naturally side with the protagonist as his sister has been murdered. Although our film is about revenge and murder, we didn’t include any violence in the opening sequence as we wanted to create enigma. In doing this, we went against our research as we found out that violence does get the attention of the audience. But by doing this we were able to focus more on establishing the protagonist and the setting, as well as creating suspense and enigma. Originally we were going to use a soundtrack in our opening sequence but this idea was later changed. we reversed segments of the background noise, then used them throughout our opening sequence instead of a soundtrack as we though it would make the sequence seem a little more eerier.

Whilst filming our thriller opening sequence I helped with filming and lighting. The strengths of the camera equipment used was that it was able to pick up a lot of sound. This was useful as we did have some dialog in the flashback of our opening sequences. As well as this, we used some of the other background noise that was picked to create the reversed noise effects. There was a slight weakness with the camera equipment used as the batteries ran out quicker than expected and also the tripod we used frequently got stuck. This made it hard to perform panning shots. During the filming process there was only one problem we had and this was with the lighting. In some places the light was unpredictable, but this was quickly resolved by using artificial lighting in the darker settings and by blocking out the light that was to intense in brighter settings.

In this project I was able to do many things that I was unable to do in my preliminary project. In the thriller project we were able to use a wider range of camera shots and many different camera angles. As well as this, in this project we were able to used a lot more editing techniques to help bring our opening sequence together. In editing, I learnt many new and useful techniques such as how to manipulate certain sounds and also how to layer them. As well as this, I also learnt how to use the many different transitions to help create certain effects in different parts of our opening sequence.

Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt many things in the progression from the preliminary task to the final product, and I feel my thriller project has been much more successful than my preliminary. I feel this was because of the planning and research that has been put into our thriller project. Throughout the planning stage the research we gathered about the audience through questionnaires and interviews really helps with the development of our ideas. As well as this, watching many different thriller film openings enabled us to see the different conventions we could incorporate into our opening sequence. All of this really helped us when creating and storyboarding our ideas.

During the planning and filming of our thriller opening, our main ideas didn’t change drastically. The only changes we had were some slight camera angle changes due to restrictions of where we were filming. However our original storyboarded ideas didn’t change.

Since starting this project I have become more confident when using both the camera equipment and editing software. I have learnt a great deal of new editing techniques, I have enjoyed both the editing and filming process greatly.

After receiving some audience feedback we found out that most people were pleased with the way we created suspense, primarily due to the reversed background sounds we used. As well as this, many people commented on our character development in the opening of our thriller film. They like the way we were able create contrast between the past and present and the juxtaposition of the protagonist between the two. In addition, the audience commented on how enigma was cleverly created through the plot and mise-en-scene.

Overall I am please with the outcome of my groups thriller opening sequence, and I feel it has met the brief of the thriller project. However I do feel that my group and I could have been more adventurous with some of the camera angles used as well as the font used for the credits.

GARY HAWKINS' THRILLER EVALUATION

Our main concern relating to generic conventions was establishing aspects like the character, setting and plot. In order to establish the setting, we used a range of different shots and angles. This allowed us to establish the setting in full. In the transition between the present and past (0:37 – 0:45), there are generic conventions in the contrast between the two; in the present you have the character in a dank, ugly setting looking lousy and demented, then it jumps to the past where the character is in a nice, warm setting looking happy. This helped us to establish the character as it really emphasises him in two minds, as well as his mentality in those two periods of time. This is much like the opening of Oldboy when it jumps from Oh Daesu in the present with his face obscured by shadow to the past when he is sitting drunk in a police station after being arrested. There is a great contrast between the two time periods; something we were heavily influenced by in our thriller as we wanted to emphasise the present to the past. The plot of our thriller plays by generic conventions as it has a plotline of revenge. Oldboy, once again, and Deathwish influenced this as the killings that are to happen later on in our thriller are carried out in a similar way – he wants to get revenge on his sister’s killers in the most brutal, twisted way imaginable. Oh Daesu’s confusion about his abduction was an influence on our character’s confusion of why his sister was murdered, which is part of the enigma. We didn’t give too much away about the character’s motive in the opening as we wanted that to be the enigma while establishing that it is something to do with his sister. Another generic convention is the use of a wide variety of different angles which we used to portray the character’s confusion, hostility and demon-like anguish, like 0:13 – 0:17 when the character’s shape appears distorted and hunched like a beast. Mirrors are another generic convention and they play a big part in our thriller (0:13 – 0:17; 0:17 – 0:22; 0:33 – 0:37) as it’s the place where our character goes when he needs to compose himself and adds that shroud of mystery to him. To create enigma, we have left the question ‘Why has he changed?’ open while the biggest enigma is the numbers on the wall and what they mean. This was really well-received in our feedback: the audience picked up on the enigma of the numbers and his change and questioned them. The numbers on the wall were the most effective according to the audience. This is great as we wanted the audience to question the numbers and leave it completely open to interpretation. The audience also said that we created a good deal of suspense, particularly our use of non-conventional sound to create atmosphere, which made them wonder “what was coming next”. Our use of conventions indicates some other thrillers that have influenced our thriller. An example of this is the first shot (0:13 – 0:17) when the character raises his head; the influence comes from Terminator 2: Judgement Day when the Terminator rises from the foetal position to add that beast-like demeanour. The computer game, Condemned 2: Bloodshot’s, Ethan Thomas was a massive influence on our character physically and mentally as they are both on a trail of vengeance and the appearance of our character was based heavily on Ethan Thomas. One of the ways that our thriller challenges and develops generic conventions is that we haven’t used any kind of external music soundtrack but the diegetic sounds of the public toilets we filmed in to set the atmosphere, plus a couple of non-diegetic sounds (i.e. 0:03 – 0:12; 0:56 – 1:11) played in reverse to evoke a more disturbing atmosphere. I think that our use of conventions indicates the subgenre of our thriller – crime/psychological thriller – as it has the emotional, twisted characteristics of a psychological thriller mixed with the crimes carried out by our character and his way of working against the law and taking matters into his own hands.

Social class is represented in our thriller, particularly in the contrast between the character in the past and in the present. In the flashback, the character and his sister appear to be from a middle-class background. This is made clear by their house and appearance – they are obviously wealthy as they can afford expensive luxuries. This scene shows us the interior of their house, helping us determine their social class as middle class. In the present, there is a great amount of contrast between the social classes; in the present, the character is presented as almost not even belonging to the social structure. Because of the events that happened, he has left his home and become wild; living wherever, sleeping rough and not working. This gives us the impression that he is part of the underclass in the present. Gender is represented in our thriller; it shows the male taking revenge for his sister, reflecting the stereotype that males are the stronger, dominant character.

I don’t think our production is something a major Hollywood studio would produce as it has an underground feel and is probably more suited to be an art house film. It’s the grittiness of it that condones it from being a big-time film. It may, like Oldboy, have the potential to be a successful low budget (with a grand total of £1.50 in expenditure) film, with some kind of independent label backing it. I think the film offers opportunities for merchandise as there are things that have the potential to be created as merchandise such as t-shirts with the infamous 001-006 printed on them, or a print of a corpse-chalking with “Matt Doel was here” underneath it. Small-circuit DVDs of the film are a possibility too. I think this is also the sort of film that could push a small amount of advertising through small forms of media such as subway stickers, posters and leaflets. As it’s an underground film, it’s better suited to these forms. I don’t think that it offers franchise opportunities as it is a one-off production as the storyline can only go as far as this production, and any kind of sequel would be unnecessary.

The age group our thriller would appeal to is 16-21 year-olds. These figures were attained from our questionnaire results. It would be given a BBFC certificate of 15 as it contains strong violence, disturbing scenes and strong language, though it doesn’t contain any sexual nature. As well as it being a massive influence on our thriller, Oldboy is similar to ours because of the flashbacks, which is something we play on heavily. Deathwish is another influence as the film’s component of revenge is something we wanted to incorporate into our thriller, developing the idea further with the “numbers on the wall”. Our production would appeal to those who appreciate cult films; a film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans, such as The Evil Dead and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Regarding the age and gender of our target audience, the younger side would probably enjoy the action and the goriness, while the older side would probably be more inclined to the grittiness, plot and enigma. Females would admire the sweetness and the emotional connection between the brother and sister. I think we incorporated a good balance of these things in the opening itself, but more-so the general plot of it.

In order to grasp what the audience wanted to see in a thriller opening, we composed a questionnaire comprised of ten questions and handed them out to thirty people. The results from the questionnaire showed that people like flashbacks and time jumps. This is something we took into consideration as it helps to establish the character and the character’s background. Results also showed that people thought the most important thing to establish is the character; it allows the audience to understand the character and sympathise with them. We achieved character establishment by using a range of different shots, such as 0:22 – 0:33, which shows the character as agitated and also gives the impression that he is preparing himself, or 0:33 – 0:37 where his temper is displayed. We tried to make these establishments clear as it lays out the character’s state of mind. The shot 0:13 – 0:17 makes the character appear beast-like and misshapen – another reflection of his state of mind. In order to emphasise the character, the public toilets do this well as the character is the central focus of the shot. The audience liked our character development, stating that the contrast between the time periods was effective, particularly his psychology and the fact that you are always discovering things about him. Our questionnaire also showed us was that people like contrast between the past and present in flashback scenes. We took this into consideration, making sure there was a large amount of contrast between the two time periods. What we emphasised most was the character’s state of mind and the mise-en-scene. The mise-en-scene in the present is dark, dank and generally ugly. There is also very little use of bright colour, while there is a lot of colour, cheeriness and animation in the past. In our feedback, the audience said that our use of mise-en-scene was really well-constructed and effective, particularly the costume and lighting. The juxtaposition in 0:37 – 0:45 is central to the film as it is where the contrast is. To attract the audience, we decided to include things they could engage with and even question, such as the back-tracked sounds and the enigma of the film.

There were a couple of problems with the camera equipment, especially the tripod during our first filming session as the handle became loose and we couldn’t manoeuvre the camera, also causing the tripod head to go lopsided. Luckily, we had about an hour’s worth of footage from that session. There are a couple of shots we actually used in the final cut when the handle wasn’t working and the footage appears wonky, like 0:37 – 0:41 and 1:21 – 1:26. The batteries were a weakness as they ran out quickly, even after being fully charged. Because of this, we had to know exactly what we were going to film so no battery life was wasted. In hindsight, this was probably an advantage as it kept us efficient. Our camerawork was very well received; not getting a single bit of negative feedback. The audience favoured our use of a wide variety of angles, saying it was “creative” and “clear”. This is great as we wanted our experimentation to show and whatever we were trying to establish made clear. Apart from that, the camera was user-friendly and easy to use. The layout of the buttons was straightforward and setting up the camera and affixing it to the tripod was straightforward too. During filming, the only problem we faced was to do with the lighting – we had to continuously experiment with where the light should be positioned. We had to stop filming a number of times because of a glare from the light appearing on the wall or too much light being concentrated on a single object. However, we resolved these issues by facing the lights towards the ceiling; the light would be evenly distributed around the room. In contrast to our preliminary task, there were differences in terms of things we could do to enhance our thriller. The extended running-time was great as it allowed us to experiment a lot more than the preliminary and keep a nice, even pace throughout the story instead of rushing through it. Because of the extended running-time, we were able to explore with a larger variety of different shots – something we weren’t able to do in our preliminary task as we were given instructions regarding what shots to use, etc. The fact that we weren’t limited to a number of shots was an advantage as we had more room to explore and develop the conventions. My editing and post-production skills have improved because of this task – I have a wider knowledge of Premier as we were able to experiment more with it. Because I did a lot of editing in the preliminary, I already had an understanding of the software, though I did find the software slightly difficult to use at first as there were a lot of functions and controls that I wasn’t used to, although the layout made it slightly easier to use. Because of the exploration, I have learned more about the software, like being able to un-attach the audio from the footage. This was very important to us as we experimented with the un-attached audio: reversing it, layering it, etc. We did this a lot throughout our film to evoke a creepier atmosphere and create a sense of mystery. We also experimented with different effects to make the mise-en-scene more appealing, like cross dissolves in the flashback scenes to signify the change between the time periods. We didn’t use any sort of filter, which I regret as it might have enhanced the atmosphere and made it creepier, though we were against using a filter on the flashback scenes as it’d make them look too tacky. With the audio, we chose specific back-tracked segments and used them where we thought most suited them, like the audio of me screaming while the flashback transcends to the present. We did this to foreshadow that something dreadful has happened to his sister.

Because we were given a longer amount of time to plan our thriller – compared to our preliminary when we were only allowed one lesson’s worth of time – we had more time in the planning stage to explore different conventions and watch more thriller openings. Doing this allowed us to gain a deeper knowledge of the genre and the sub-genres related to it. The film that stood out most was Oldboy - the film that was a major influence on ours. During this stage, we decided to split up and research different elements of the genre and come up with rough plot ideas. From this, we learned about a computer game, Condemned 2: Bloodshot, the story of an ex-agent whose life has descended into alcoholism and homelessness because of earlier traumatic events, basing our character’s appearance and state of mind on the game’s protagonist Ethan Thomas. We decided from the start to use Oldboy elements as it appealed to us and contained perfect flashback elements. Storyboarding was very useful as we were able to draw out a shot and alter it whenever we thought a change had to be made, also using it as a checklist. This gave us a great deal of ideas and helped make our thriller successful as we were able to mix two or three ideas together that each member had thought of, such as the plot, which was originally about a schizophrenic assassin with some scenes filmed in a town centre. We scrapped this idea as it proved too complicated and didn’t have the grittiness that we wanted. My use of shot types has definitely improved as I now know how to establish character and setting through the use of various shots, such as 0:13 – 0:17 which establishes the character effectively. Having the freedom to experiment with shots also helped my camera skills. I’ve discovered that it is a good idea to engage with the audience and have them place themselves in the characters’ shoes, and that I’m able to do this with shot variety. I feel a lot more comfortable with the equipment now as I had a lot of time to work with it and get used to it, particularly the camera which I’m confident with now, but wasn’t very during the preliminary because I hadn’t had much experience with it. I am confident that the final product fulfils the task and reflects the conventions of the thriller genre. I am confident particularly because of the editing which we spent a lot of time tweaking and perfecting, and that it is unique in itself because of things like the lack of a soundtrack and, instead, diegetic sounds of the reversed audio, which also goes against the conventions of the thriller genre. I think we established the character, setting and plot effectively, though we could have experimented more in post-production with transitions, etc. Overall, I am pleased with our production and think it is a success, and our audience liked it which is the main thing. It’s good to know that, from the feedback, we effectively established the main character and setting, as well as setting enigma, especially the numbers on the wall.

Gary Hawkins

Arfan's Thriller Project Evaluation

Far From Fairytale (FFF) establishes its location with the first scene of footage in which the audience clearly see the main character in a run down public toilet (PT). The location appears to be very damp and filthy which sets the mood and tone of a thriller film opening. In order to achieve a legitimate setting, lighting couldn’t of been too bright which is why we used the light already present in the location. The PT is a good place to introduce a thriller movie as it incorporates enigma and questions in the audience’s minds. The opening is based in the present although half-way through there is a short burst of flash backs revealing the character past self and girl which is connected to the plot. The flashbacks show a more positive antagonist revealing a bit of his nature, the relationship with the girl and attitude. As the flashbacks end we are back in the present with the antagonist who proceeds to cross off a number on a hit list and departs as the main title shortly appears after. The opening sequence leaves behind many questions particularly about girl in the flashbacks and the hit list. We wanted to keep the whole sequence a mystery which is why we didn’t want to explore too much of the flashbacks or the hit list leaving it to the audiences imagination as to who and what they are, although all these answers are revealed later on in the film. During the full opening sequence there is a mixture of close up, medium close up, medium, over the shoulder and lower angle shots. Questions also come to mind when the audience sees the main character, who at first is staring at himself in a mirror and then seems to be preparing himself for something, possibly murder, this is done using an over the shoulder shot. This is typical of a lot of thriller films, in which a character stares at himself before committing a crime this could be linked to paranoia or hysteria. The character appears to be in a mess, as he has bandages over his hands and arms, and mud on his face which gives away the fact that he doesn’t really care about his appearance. During the entire opening sequence there is no music although there is a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The diegetic sounds heard, are the sounds within the PT such as water running and a flashback sequence in which the main character speaks. The non-diegetic sounds are played throughout the opening varying between being louder or quiet. These sounds are diegetic sounds which have been reversed to give off mysterious distorted sounds.


The hit list and the fact that the main antagonist is out to murder signifies that this is a crime thriller. The plot is based around the idea of revenge although the antagonist gains his own justice by committing crimes which is why he is seen as a criminal in the film. His appearance is pretty much that of a rough criminal which I think hints towards his motives and personality.

Oldboy was a big influence in terms of plot and style. The flashbacks and character contrast ideas came from Oldboy, as the film did well when putting these to aspects together. Our film is similar to the vengeance trilogy by Park Chan-wook in the sense that it is about revenge, Oldboy which is part of the trilogy helped influence the story and how it would shape i.e. During our opening there is a flashback sequence featuring our antagonist in the present and a flashback showing him in the past thus contrasting attitudes and looks. This is also done in Oldboy as we see the protagonist Oh Dae-su in present with flashback followed up showing him in the past. A character shown in the past and present can really influence the audiences way of thinking and judging the character i.e. when Oh-Dae-su is first shown the audience may think he is a murderer whereas when shown in the past the audience would be surprised to see a drunk and overweight character, as opposed to the fit and darker individual. For the character design and appearance we were influenced by the computer game Condemned 2 as the character featured in the game suited our characters personality and appearance. The character featured in the game is Ethan Thomas, we based our antagonists look on him i.e. bandages, dull coloured long sleeve top, wet hair, boots and trousers. Our character had mud around parts of his body, which helped create a rough look.


Both men and women are present in the opening i.e. the main antagonist is a 22 year old Caucasian low class male and his sister (flashback) is a 19 year old Caucasian middle class female. At the age of 19 the antagonist is believed to be of a middle class family. There is stereotyping in the film as you see a comparison on the antagonist when he is middle class and low class. He is shown as middle class in the flashbacks. Also the fact that the antagonist is a man and a murderer is also a stereotype, as men are usually established as murderers, i.e. Halloween, scream, etc.

The themes in the film are very commercial and I can see it being remade by a Hollywood studio. I think the story would sell well as it is unique, although it shares some traits with films already made. The fact that its mixes these traits together helps ensuring that it may have a successful future. It would be released as it offers a different perspective from a criminal’s point of view in a thriller film and because it would generally offer something different to audiences, as most thrillers are the same. It would explore the characters origins as well as his current situation. A sequel may not work but a prequel could, and merchandise would sell very well due to the films wide use of costumes.


During research a questionnaire was created with questions being answered by different age groups. During the results my group and I realised that our age group was 15 to 27 year olds as this particular age group enjoyed thriller films according to the questionnaire results. Due to the fact that the film would have violence and foul language we rated it 15, this supports our target audience.

15 to 27 year olds would find the film entertaining although even older people may also enjoy it. As it is for everyone really, as long as you understand the plot you’ll enjoy it. The film is targeting both male and females as both sexes have shown a keen interest in thriller films. The Punisher and Oldboy are similar films to FFF as they have similar plot structures and character development which is why they also appeal to 15 to 27 year olds. I know this because after looking at the results received from the questionnaires, this group seemed to enjoy thriller films and this is why I think that FFF will also appeal to them. The Punisher shares similarities to FFF in terms of plot as the protagonist vows to avenge his family who have been killed by criminals. In FFF the antagonist does the same in which he wants vengeance for his sister’s death, tracking down and killing the ones responsible. Oldboy shares similarities to FFF as it contrasts the same character from different perspectives (time) such as flashbacks. The characters personality is different during the comparisons and he also appears to look different. From our questionnaire results we learned that our target audience liked to see enigma so we thought by combining our own ideas with existing thrillers films we would create enigma to the point where the audience is left clueless. Thriller films have generally had a strong fan base as oppose to the past, so people don’t mind experiencing new films. Because this film is independent I think that it will gather a lot of viewers and a large fan base due to its appeal to the designated target audience. Our target audience is ranged between 15 to 27 year olds both male and female, as these were the most likely people to watch the film and enjoy it. I think a lot of 15 to 27 year olds females would find the flashbacks quite cute and funny although the rest of the footage (present) may confuse them leading them to question it, this is what we want. Generally the opening would appeal to 15 to 27 year old males because it would be interesting due to its genre, the audience will be keen on what happens next. A lot of people will at first find the flashbacks and hit list confusing although it will all be explained later on.


We wanted the audience to get a clear picture of what the antagonist was like, so a majority of camera shots were focused on him, which lets the audience see his body gestures and facial expressions and at the same time empathise with him. Everything is visible to the audience in the shots, so as well as having a general idea of how the protagonist felt and looked, they can also see his environment which may have some impact on his behaviour and thinking. The camera shots help create the character, plot and enigma due to their effectiveness and mixture together. The same can be said about the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds which are constantly being played so that a mood is set for the opening. The audience during the opening is given enough information which leads on to the rest of the film, a lot of it is questioned as it seems to be random, but this helps create the mysterious and enigmatic mood for the film.

The only weakness I found with the equipment was that we were not allowed to move the tripod with the camera on it, but apart from that it provided the group as a good tool for pre production and it was easy to use, once everything was explained to us beforehand. The strength was the fact that it was user friendly and very easy to use. At first we were not sure which aspect ratio to film in but we soon learned it was 16:9 widescreen. Later on during editing there was bug in the software which caused our aspect ratio to change into 4:3 which left one remaining scene as 16:9, this remained as a problem throughout post production, although during the final days we had left editing, we managed to change it into 4:3 so that it matched the rest of opening.


We used a larger variety of camera angles and shots in our thriller opening as opposed to our preliminary this was because we had more freedom to explore which shots that we liked and disliked, and also because no rules were set for this particular task. An example of this is that we used a panning shot which we were not allowed to use in our preliminary task.

Before using adobe premier, I had some knowledge of editing with windows movie maker which helped me recognise some of the functions of premier which seemed slightly familiar. Gradually after pre production we moved on to post production from which I was aware what I was doing, although at times I needed help with some effects. I did a fair amount of editing during the preliminary task which I think helped me get up to speed on how to work the program. We didn’t use any of the effects in our opening as they were programmed to work with 4:3 footage, although we did make use of cross-dissolves and fades which helped set the mood and differ the flash back from the present, something we had to make the audience aware of. We reversed the audio of some of our raw footage and used it in the opening so that it sounded distorted and mysterious. The dissolves and sound effects really helped our opening in developing a tone and mood which I think helps it engage the audience.


Prior to the setting of the coursework my group and I researched thriller films so that we can familiarise ourselves with the genre and we learned that there were many sub-genres i.e. crime thrillers and action thrillers. Keeping in mind about sub-genres we decided to produce our opening to a crime thriller film. During our research we came across thriller films such as Oldboy and the Reservoir dogs. Our first planned story was about an assassin suffering from a duel personality and filming was scheduled to be in a town centre in day time. Although we scrapped the idea as it was too complicated and revealed too much in an opening scene. The group divided briefly to research into story ideas and after learning about Oldboy and Condemned 2 we decided that we would use elements from both them i.e. Oldboy flashbacks, revenge plot and Condemned 2 costume and character designs. Storyboarding was brilliant as we referred to it when ever we forgot at what stage we were in during pre production and it helped keep track of what scenes needed to be filmed and which ones had been completed. Storyboards were essential in helping us save time and establish what was going to happen in the next shots.

We used a mixture of different shots to establish the character and location. Shots such as close up, medium shots and medium close ups were used continuously and helped explore the character, so that the audience can he see what he was doing and what his reaction was to what was going on around him. I feel we could have used a variety of different shots and see what the outcome would be like as it could highly benefit us. We spent a lot of time nevertheless exploring different shots and how they would appeal to the audience. As time went by I felt very confident and relaxed about using the equipment as I had gotten use it and it was very easy to use. I am confident that my product has fulfilled the task perfectly, as the group and I spent immense time on improving and finishing it. I think it distinguishes itself from other group openings in the sense that it makes use of diegetic sounds and plays around with them creating unique sounds which are then used in the soundtrack and because of this it doesn’t feature any music, which is notably recurring in every other opening. We also make good use of our surroundings and use many different locations to establish the themes and atmospheres around them. Due to the feedback received from an audience I believe my end product is successful. The audience did display some criticism this was mainly at the first flashback scene in which the antagonist is adjusting the camera and when he sits on the sofa next to his sister the camera appears to be facing upwards when it should be capturing the antagonists body language. Looking at this scene I agree with the audience but I am disappointed at the fact that this scene was very simple to film but we managed to make a mistake. I will approach camera angles with more caution and ensure that they are of a good standard. The opening was also criticised for its font which was a constant debate during post-production although the group concluded times new roman looked fine. I agree with the audience that using a different font would give the opening a unique feel. Other than these two errors the audience responded very positively to the film, praising everything from camera shots to mise en-scene, the soundtrack was praised for being unique with no music being played. I believe from the audience reaction and work put into it, our end product was an overall success.

Matthew Doel's evaluation for thriller film project

Thriller Film Project – Final Individual Evaluation


My thriller incorporates generic conventions in many parts of the opening two minutes. These conventions are things such as establishing the setting, the main character, the plot, themes, narrative and creating enigma.


In my thriller the setting is quickly introduced as in almost every shot the background can be seen. This clearly shows to the audience that the movie is set in run down toilets. The main character is also established straight away because he is in the first shot that you see. This shot is a close up of the mirror which shows the reflection of the characters face. Within the first two minutes enigma is instantly created. Enigma is formed by creating questions in the audience. The viewer will want to know what is happening and why it is happening. Near the end of the opening two minutes a close up panning shot is shown of a wall with numbers on it. These numbers help to create enigma, but also gives the audience an idea about the plot of the movie. My group and I made a narrative for our thriller by reversing dialogue from our original shots and playing it to create mysterious and delusional sounds. The conventions that are included in my thriller indicate a sub-genre, making it a crime thriller. This is because the film follows the life of a criminal and contains multiple murders. Other thriller films had an influence on my thriller opening. Movies such as Oldboy had an influence because of the immediate flashbacks that take place and the plot is quite similar to my thriller. The flashbacks in Oldboy and my thriller show the main character in both present and past. The console game Condemned 2 had an influence on my thriller as I based the appearance of my character on the main character from the game ‘Ethan Thomas’.


There are different social groups and stereotypes represented in my thriller. In the first two minutes a clear contrast is shown between social classes. For example when the character is in the flashback a stereotypical working class person is shown. However when the character is in the present time he is represented as being the lowest of the lower class. This gives the audience an idea that he is homeless and has few possessions. Different age groups are also represented in my thriller because when the characters sister died he was 19 and in the present time he is 22. My thriller therefore shows the difference between two age groups. The flashbacks help to create what a happy stereotypical family is like.


A small independent company would produce my thriller movie because it is a one off. This is because it doesn’t offer the opportunity to have a franchise or a follow on movie as the story line could not be continued. Another reason for it to be produced by a small company is because there is a low budget to make the movie with. Due to the low budget no big stars would be featured in the movie as they would be too expensive. Even though my movie does not offer the chance to have a follow on movie it could merchandise. The merchandise products that could be made are things such as clothing, like T-shirts and jumpers. Posters and mugs could also be another possibility as merchandising products.


My thriller movie would be aimed at 15 -25 year olds. The movie would be given the age rating of a 15 because it contains quite strong violence due to all the murders that take place and strong language. It also contains noises and disturbing scenes that would be inappropriate for people under the age of 15 to see. Other films and media sources are similar to my thriller movie. Oldboy is similar to my movie because it uses flashbacks to show past events. The punisher is another example of a movie which is similar to mine because of the theme revenge. In the punisher the main character is trying to get revenge on the criminals that killed his family just like in my thriller movie where the main character is trying to get revenge on the 6 people involved in the killing of his sister.


After my group and I had looked at the research from our questionnaires and interviews it helped us decide what to include in our movie and who to aim our thriller movie at. Results showed that people like flashbacks as they help to show the characters past. This is one of the main reasons why we included flashbacks within our opening sequence. I feel that particular points in my thriller opening could scare younger children because the noises are quite loud at some points and are also abnormal. When there are close shots on the characters face it could also disturb younger children because he looks menacing. My movie tried to capture a lot of shots showing the characters face and body to show the viewer what he looks like. Another way we used the camera was so the character walked towards the screen a lot of the time to make it look as if he is almost coming to get you.


The movie doesn’t try and make you side with anyone in particular because although the main character has lost his sister he is planning brutal murder on the criminals that killed her to get revenge. However I feel that there is a general tendency to side with the main character. We did not want to show any violence in the opening 2 minutes because we wanted to create questions within the audience, creating enigma. On the other hand violence does draw people’s attention to a movie as we found out due to the questions and surveys. We went against this though as our movie doesn’t rush straight into action because we wanted to create a suspense, enigma and establish the main character and his surroundings. Originally we had a soundtrack, but we later decided to change this to just sound effects as we felt it gave a creepier feeling to it. The reason for our choice of location being the toilets was because we wanted to pick a dirty and horrible place to fit in with the characters appearance that was rough and dirty too.


Storyboarding is to create a timeline showing the order of the shots you are going to film, the type of shot you are going to use and what happens in the shot. This proved a useful thing to do when it came to filming because we could go straight into the filming without having to think up ideas as everything was planned out.

I did not do much filming in the movie because I was the actor is almost every single shot. However I had to help transport the camera around when moving from different locations. I found this quite simple because I had practise at doing it from the preliminary exercise. The only problems we faced while filming was to do with the lighting, in some shots there was a glare coming off the lighting but this was resolved by just blocking out the light. In other shots however it was too dark to film so we had to use extra lighting to increase the brightness in the room we filmed in.

I did many things differently from my preliminary project for example the camera shots. I feel that in my thriller I have used a lot more different camera shots. Also when it came to editing I learnt new skills to change the appearance for some of the shots in my film. I added different transitions to give the effect of a flashback taking place. I learnt how to add titles to my production so we could include credits in our movie opening. The best skill I feel that I have learnt is how to separate the video from the sound on one shot; this meant that we could then reverse the sounds to give us the unusual sounds that we then used in our thriller. Learning how to make sounds fade in and out was useful because it meant we could add multiple sounds at once.

The main reason why I think my thriller will be more successful than the preliminary project is because of the planning and research that went into the genre of thrillers before we started making it. I watched lots of openings to thrillers to see the conventions used. I also wrote essays on the opening two minutes of thrillers for example Batman to help me practice my analytical skills.
Overall I am pleased with the video my group and I have produced. I feel that it has met the brief and the work is of a good standard. I feel that the editing went really well because I found it easy to grasp and therefore making it quite quick to do what I wanted. Some of the transitions between shots have worked really well making it a good transaction between two shots. I enjoyed the whole process of filming; acting and editing which I feel made me more enthusiastic towards the work.