Thriller: General Preparation

Thriller TO-DO List

I produced a to-do list for my group where they could sign up for purchasing/organising certain items for the thriller, and then tick the box once they had completed each task. This seemed like the most efficient way of organising every item while keeping the whole group involved.

Obtaining all our Mise en Scene

In-School:

Paint pots/brushes...

We searched in the Media Studies Dept. storage containers for certain items. We eventually found some old paint pots and used brushes that were perfect.

Bought Online:

Brought In (from home):

Blood Splattering Dust Sheets

We mixed industrial fake blood with water in a bucket.

Laid the dust sheets out flat on the ground outside.

Got paintbrushes and flicked/splattered blood across the dust sheets in roughly the same directions, hopefully giving the impression of knife slashes.

Then we hung the sheets up on metal bars to dry.

The last dust sheet we soaked the middle of the sheet in the bucket to give the impression of a pool of blood underneath the dead body.

Practicing with Camera Rigs

I spent the time back at my house practicing with two of my friend's camera rigs. One was a stabiliser with a gimbal, and one was a simple hand-held handle utility. The stabiliser made the shots incredibly smooth and fluid, but was incredibly hard to use, heavy and not particularly mobile or practical. The hand-held rig gave shots that weren't as smooth, and actually a little shaky at times, but was much lighter and allowed me to manouvre easily, giving me the ability to get very low to the ground (which was a key part of the one-shot) and rotate round easily. I couldn't decide which one to use so I took both along with me to the shoot, and make the decision there.

Preparation for Evaluation Question 1

1) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• Location: UK
• Genres of film they specialise in: Thriller, Drama, Horror, Fiction.
• Budget Size: High, but not over-commercialised
• Average target audience: Male, 18 - 50
• Similar Directing Style: Quentin Tarantino

• Initial ideas: Miramax, Dimension, Weinstein Co. and Columbia

2) Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Product's target audience: Male, 18 - 40, Western society 

Typical audience member profile: 

• Male, 25
• Appreciates quality of film, strong taste, high standards
• UK/US suburban resident
• Looks after his home and cares for his family
• Interested in: Thrillers, Dramas, Horrors
• Enjoys heart-pounding tension and adrenaline
• Most-likely educated to a relatively high standard
• Middle-income

Features the Audience can Relate to:

• Student-life
• Family and friends worrying about you or vice-versa
• Home and family life
• You and siblings growing up
• Being home-alone

Thriller: Fake Family Photoshoot

One member of my group studies Photography A Level. She was really interested in the photographic side of our Thriller shoot, and volunteered to take some family photos to make the house look more realistic and family based, drawing links within the plot to the answer phone messages and so on. We arranged for the relevant teachers and students to come into the studio and play as the family members alongside our lead actor, Joe. We used a few different locations as well as the studio, like the living room and a country walk.

Here are some of the best before and after processing:

Thriller: Test Shoot

Here is a quick demo shoot path we took on an iPhone 6. We take you through the house showing roughly the areas we would feature in the actual one shot path. The good thing about the iPhone 6 camera is that it has a very similar depth of field to the 35mm lens we will be using on the Canon 5D to shoot. This allowed us to practice and get a feel for the positioning of the camera for each object we would feature and the flow of the whole journey.