Our Thriller Opening - Storyboard Image

This is a rough copy of our storyline set out in a storyboard format we have done this to help us out when filming our thriller opening so we know how long out shots need to be, what order they need to be in and what shot types we need. This will also just give us the basics of whats going to happen in the opening but we may change from what is drawn due to it not working when filming.

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing refers to arranging and cutting a sequence of shots to maintain continuous and a clear progression of events. Terms associated with Continuity Editing are-
- Establishing shot
- Shot/reverse shot
- 180 degree rule
- 30 degree rule
- Cross-cutting
- Matched on action
- Eyeline match
- Re-establishing shot

We need to guide the audience through a sequence of events, and in the process show them what they want to see and when they want to see it but only in a matter of 2 Minutes to excite the audience and make them want to watch on. We will do this by including the above terms in a way that will creating an interesting opening to our Thriller.

In the opening two minutes of Taxi Driver (1976) we see an example of a continuity editing technique that is  used the majority of the time. A shot/reverse shot is when one character is looking at the other character and but they are off screen, and then that character is off screen and the other character is seen talking back. Since the characters are shown facing opposite directions, the viewer assumes they are talking to each other.
This stops the viewers feeling confused about the spacial awareness in the scene and makes the clip run smoother and more consistent so you don't realise that the cut has happened. In Taxi Driver this lets us listen to the conversation going on between the two characters, whilst establishing who they are, their personalities and characteristics.

Thriller Name

We have decided to call our thriller film #followed because our film is based around a man getting close to the girl he stalks on the social network site twitter, as people are "followed" easily on twitter. We have decided to use the # to make the title eye catching to the teenage audience as twitter is the most used social network site. Also the title shows that the film is very up too date.

We realised that Followed is a very cliché  thriller title, but with the use of the hash tag before the title and that its set on twitter, the name appears as original and links to the social networking aspect of the film which is an important part.

Our Thriller Opening - Storyline

In our opening we will have a conversation between the antagonist/stalker and the protagonist on the social networking site, Twitter. The girl will be in her bedroom, which will be a typical girls bedroom, reading a magazine with her laptop. The girl will receive a Direct Message on Twitter, which is the antagonist trying to contact her. She ignores the Direct Messages but shows her vulnerability and uneasy feeling towards him, these messages come through on her iPhone and iPad. The antagonist will then save these message's in files on his computer and show his obsession with her and the extent of his interest. The shots will include photos of the girl and tweets from Twitter, and messages and status's on Facebook she has made, which the antagonist keeps. At the end of the opening a message will come up on the antagonists laptop from the victim he is stalking.

Our Thriller -Storyline

In our thriller we will establish a girl being stalked by mysterious man who has a strange obsession with her. The thriller will be portrayed from the antagonist's point of view, in most thrillers are shown through the protagonist's side instead of the the victim's. The man's reasoning for his obsession is not revealed until the main climax of the film when the girl gets abducted by the character. The audience discover that the stalker of the film is a long lost brother who was put up for adoption when the girl was very young and she stayed with the family. Out of jealousy, the stalker abducted the girl to put the parents through the pain that he went through when losing family. The film will finish with the stalker about to get arrested with no escape and with this in mind, he commits suicide.

Production Company Profile

Tsunami Studios is a feature film production company specializing in International productions, which creates quality films for the international marketplace as they are featured on the internet. Based in the United Kingdom, Tsunami Studios focuses on producing creative and enticing films in the Thriller and Film-Noir genre to create motion pictures that echo to audiences both locally and abroad. Tsunami's focus is a Crime Thriller film; which principles Aimée Kemp, Anna Higginson and Danny Buckley have been involved in  along the whole process by executive producing, producing, directing and consulting throughout the film companies existence.

Another Production company that has produced similar Thriller films to Tsunami Studios is Fox Searchlight Pictures. Fox Searchlight is an American Film division of Fox entertainment group alongside the larger 20th Century Fox. It specializes in in independent a British Films, which is like Tsunami Studios. The thriller film that connects mostly to Tsunami Studios and directed by Fox Searchlight Picture is One Hour Photo, which is a disturbing  story about an employee of one-hour photo who become obsessed with a young suburban family.

Ident

This is our Ident for our production company this will appear at the start of our thriller during our opening.

Preliminary Task- Final Edit

This is the final version of our preliminary task. We uploaded the video onto Youtube and have analysed the clip and reviewed the areas we did well and what we made mistakes in. Now we have watched it through we know how we can improve our filming when going in and creating our thriller opening, for example during the video there is a jerky camera movement, which we now know that we can improve on by creating a smoother pan on a tripod, which will avoid this happening in our opening. We also found out what we did well, for example at the very start of the video the close up on the splash was very effective as we were unaware of who the character was. In our thriller opening we would like to create the sense of mystery again by creating a situation where we are unaware of the character.

Preliminary Task: Shotlist

Shotlist
-In our Preliminary task we have used the following camera and editing techniques to create a short clip of a tense scene.

1. Handheld camera used to make you feel like you are running with the character and like you are involved in the scene. An example of this we have seen is the beginning of the thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
2. Camera stationary using the tripod performing a reaction shot.
3.High angle shot focusing on the stairs.
A matched cut is then used to speed up the scene and make the cut smoother.
4. Reaction shot of the character after the fall, he is looking worried and panting. The camera is stationary on a tripod.
5. The camera zooms out from a close up view of the character to see whether anyone or the antagonist is there.
6. The camera is stationary as the character runs towards the camera.
7. A cut is made to show the character running past the camera to give the sense to the audience as to where he is going.
8. Another matched cut is shown to emphasise the character walking/running through the door. It shows him putting his hand on the handle, ready to open the door.
9. A matched cut is made to show the character coming out through the other side of the door to speed up the scene and perform continuity.
10. The camera is tracking the character from behind when he walks over to the female sitting at the table.
11. The camera shows the male sit down from a side view shot and the shot also shows the female sitting, waiting for him.
12. The shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule are then used to show dialogue between the two characters. As the woman speaks first, an over the shoulder shot from behind the male is shown to emphasise the woman speaking.
13. Due to the 180 degree rule, the camera cuts to the woman's shoulder to show the man responding.
14. It is then repeated again.

Preliminary Task- Script

PLANNING

Script-
In the storyboard the slides 12,13,14 all use a form of dialogue.
In slide 12 the female character says " Have you lost them?"
In slide 13 the male character replies panting " I think so!"
In slide 14 the woman replies " Hand it over..."

Preliminary Task- Storyboard

PLANNING

Storyboard:


Explanation of Storyboard-
1.Camera following behind running character towards the stairs.
2.Character looks behind himself to create the sense that someone is following him so the audience become tense.
3. Shot of camera facing down onto the stairs where character is running, he trips and falls over building up on the tension for the audience as he is trying to get away fast.
4. There is closeup of the characters face looking worried.
5.The camera then zooms out as character is looking around again to check noone is after him.
6. Character starts running towards the camera again.
7. He then passes the camera and the camera follows him towards a building.
8. Character runs up to door and opens it and starts walking in.
9. You then see the character coming in the door from the outside now facing him.
10. The character is then followed by the camera to where another female character is sitting and waiting for him.
11. Character sits down and is faced by the woman.
12. The characters then has his back to the camera and the woman is speaking to him.
13. The camera switches to the other characters perspective giving a different composition and the male character then speaks.
14. Dialogue is then used again to show the different characters speaking, by focusing the camera on the female.

Group Priorities

Group:

• Results of your surveys and a formal identification of target audience - who are you aiming at?
• All posts need images and videos
• You now need to look at less well-known Thrillers for their individual elements and styles - e.g. for narrative, for character types, for credit specific elements.
• More different ways of posting things

Themes and Symbols used in Thriller films

Generally, thrillers show justice or injustice (or good or evil) fighting against each other, with an overall feel of suspense. The story of a typical thriller film will usually be shown from the protagonist's point of view, following events that the hero must overcome. This point of view allows the audience to become more involved in the events themselves and therefore closer to the characters. However, other points of view are sometimes included in the telling of the plot. Often they will be short clips from the villain's side, allowing the audience to see how the antagonist acts by themselves or how they used to. -For example in a flashback which creates empathy for the villain and possibly allows the audience to understand why they have become the evil party.

Most typically, events covered by the film are important to the films progression and lead directly on from a previous scene. There are usually lots of action scenes between the characters, which keeps the audience guessing what will happen next and how the characters will interact with each other.
During the scenes where the characters are simply talking to each other, the audience generally understands what is happening but never gets the full explanation of the plot or the events taken place, which allows the film to retain its mystery. Usually the motive of the antagonist and their relation to the hero is shown at the end or near the end of the film and the audience is then able to understand why the characters have acted in this way they have. If the motive is left unrevealed, the film will end on a sense of suspension and confusion which keeps the audience wondering what might have happened.

The typical setting in a thriller is in an Urban City. Thrillers can also be set in quiet country areas, where everyone leads poor and simple lives; often the villain will come from a small village. Usually only a range of colours will be used, the main being black or grey if it is set in a city environment, to show how normal and mundane life is. However other strong colours are often used at particular plot points; for example if there is a lot of blue we can assume that someone has or is going to die (but not always) and if there is a recurring theme of red (E.g. alarms) then we figure out the characters are in danger.

The camera shots are usually very steady or move around a lot. If there is a scene with a lot of dialogue, the camera will be still and focus more on the characters than the background. If there is more than one character in the shot, the cameraman will use for example, an over the shoulder shot, using the 180 degree rule to show the characters relate to one another. If the camera is moving around a lot then an action scene is typically taking place; the increased cut rate allows the audience to feel more involved in the action and keep them on the edge of their seat. More camera movements are also used to portray vulnerability or to show that something has gone wrong, which increases the suspense. Usually the lighting is dim and hides parts of either the characters or the environment, which makes the audience wonder whether there is more to the characters than they originally thought. The props used in thrillers are usually either large or easily identifiable. For example, knives or swords.

The main identifying theme of a thriller is often based around something that occupies a lot of what society thinks about and is worried about; these can be anything from kidnapping and isolation to terrorism and its effects. Most often the point of the narrative will be from the hero's perspective and the perpetrators of the crime will be established as the villain.

Character Types extended

The two main characters (antagonist and protagonist) in a thriller are set apart from each other in a particular way the audience views them.

The heroes in thrillers are often men that are accustomed to danger in their jobs or lifestyles (E.g. policemen, spies etc) or are ordinary citizens that have been pulled into danger by accident. The male hero usually has an aim to defeat the evil of the situation and will persevere even if nothing is going according to plan.
The villains in thrillers are also usually male, normally tall, well-built and with a shady sense around them that they shouldn't be trusted. This character may have some physical deformity ( if their secret is hidden throughout the majority of the film) or a traumatic experience that has changed their outlook on life or humanity. Usually they will work alone.
Other supporting characters are most commonly on the protagonist's side and will attempt to help them. Although sometimes these characters will betray the hero and leave to support the villain or another third party. Female roles are often innocent and helpless until their help is needed. However the female role in The Silence of the Lambs shows that the hero can be a woman who is determined, strong-minded and will push anything out of her way to figure something out.


The types of clothing that different characters wear are very typical and generic. In general, most characters will appear smartly dressed or at least well-dressed, however different types of thrillers and setting may cause the dress code to change. Often the villain will wear form-fitting clothing that emphasises their build and therefore power and creates a contrast with the hero of the film.
One prominent feature of the character's dress are the colours used. Colours of the character's clothes will draw parallels to their personality. -Villains appear in dark clothing (usually black). While innocent and young characters wear pastel colours to emphasise certain aspects of themselves. A bright colour like red will usually draw attention to that character and show their differences to the main party. Red is also worn by alluring female characters to show that they are sexy or attractive.

Character Types in Thrillers

For our Thriller we needed to conduct research on the different characteristics and manners of the individuals  that are found in thrillers and how their roles relate to the film.

Characters in thrillers include: 
-convicts 
-criminals 
-stalkers
-assassins 
-down-on-their-luck outcasts 
-innocent victims 
-prison inmates 
-menaced women 
-characters with dark pasts
-psychotic individuals
-terrorists 
-police officers
-escaped convicts
-fugitives 
-private investigator 
-drifters 
-duplicitous individuals
-people involved in twisted relationships
-world-weary men and women  
-psycho-fiends. 

When planning our Thriller we need to take into consideration how to incorporate the commonly used and typical characters in a thriller into our own production. We will search further into the type of characters from this list that we would like to include in our Thriller and do some research into the individual characteristics they have.

Our Moodboard for our Target Audience

 

This is our mood board we created to help decipher what our thriller opening will include. It establishes that we are looking into more of a crime thriller as a sub genre due to the images of police, detective aspects. From looking at the mood board and the photos we've selected from the internet, you can see that there is a image of a little boy. This tells the audience that we want to attract a wide range of people including men, women, parents, teenagers. The photo of the innocent boy indicates that we want to capture the eyes of a mother as they would be able to relate to the opening through motherly instincts.

Target Audience Profile

Narrative Theories

Narrative is about how stories are told. Applying different models of narrative structure to your work may reveal unconscious things that you did in the way you constructed it.

Binary Oppositions - Levi-Strauss
Claude Levi-Strauss introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to look at narrative structure. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. Examples of binary oppositions that might be found in some moving image narrative might be:

Good vs. Evil
Male vs. Female
Humanity vs. Technology
Nature vs. Industrialisation
Dark vs. Light
East vs. West

Beyond its application to individual narratives, Levi-Strauss's theory can and should be used to assess groups of texts and genres. The binary oppositions of a Thriller include-

Protagonist vs. Antagonist
Law enforcement vs. Crime
Detective vs. Criminal
Mainstream Vs. Outsider

Character Types- Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp studied Russian folk and fairytale's before deciding that all narratives have a common structure. He observed that narratives are shaped and directed by certain types of characters and specific kinds of actions. He believed that there are 31 possible stages or functions in any narrative. This may not appear in the same story but will appear in the same sequence.

Propp believed there were seven roles which a character may assume in the story-
Villain- Struggles with Hero
Hero- departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to donor and weds at the end
Donor- Prepares and/or provides hero with magical agent
Helper- Assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the her
Princess- a sought for person (and/or her father) who exists as a goal and often recognises and marries hero and/or punishes villain.
Dispatcher- Sends hero off
False Hero- Claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero

Enigma Code- Roland Barthes'
Barthes' enigma code is explained as being a tangled ball of threads that needs unravelling so that you can separate out the colours. One the text starts to unravel, you encounter the absolute plurality of potential meanings. You can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint giving a meaning the that piece of text, you can then unravel the narrative from a different angle, by pulling at a different thread which creates an entirely different meaning for the text. This theory suggests that any text, such as television  a film or a poster makes the audience question something and intrigue the audience to draw them in.

Barthes' Theory of the five codes is a way of grouping signifier according to the role they play in the text.
These are categorised as-
The Hermeneutic code- the voice of truth
The Proairetic code- the voice of empiric's
The Semantic code- the voice of the person
The Symbolic code- the voice of the symbol
The Cultural Code- the voice of the knowledge

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is used to show two characters in a scene from two perspectives but not from a direct observation of the other person. It makes the audience assume that the two characters which are usually sitting or standing opposite each other in a scene are looking at each other.
It is shown through the editing of the scene where one character is portrayed looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. This is usually displayed to the audience as an 'over the shoulder shot'.

Results from our Questionnaires

By using Survey Monkey on the internet, we were able to create an account and produce a survey for a range of audiences to complete. In total we managed to get around 15 people to fill it out who were of a variety of ages and gender. Along with the interviews which helped us by giving more of an idea of who to aim our thriller opening at. We collected a range of responses however some areas people chose similar answers which will help us identify our target audience and help us decide what story line our thriller should be. By sharing the our survey monkey questionnaire to social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to select a variety of answers.
To help analyse the results, I have created graphs and collected the data from each question:

By including this question at the beginning of the survey, it helps us identify the age range in which the public are interested in thrillers. The pie chart shows that more teenagers took part in the survey than middle aged citizens. This helps us to establish the targeted age to aim our thriller opening at and what sub-genre to select.

From looking at the pie chart displaying the answers from 'What do you expect from a good film?', we can see that the majority of the people that we asked would watch a film if the storyline/plot interested them and it was a unique style. This indicates that we need to make sure that our thriller storyline needs to be unique and capture a majority of the audiences' eye.

We decided to ask the audience what Thriller would attract them the most as it will give us an idea of what sort of genre is most popular. For example, The Dark Knight which is known as a crime/action thriller, endured to keep the audience watching with the action-packed scenes, giving them an adrenaline rush. The Black Swan and Shutter Island were also popular choices which may establish that the people questioned, enjoy watching recent films rather than 1990's films like The Sixth Sense.




How would you describe a Thriller film?

• A dark twist that happens to either the main character or the supporting role.
• Eerie effects.
• Cliffhanger, mystery.
• Tense, exciting, mysterious characters and good music.
• Dark lighting, eerie effects, motivated cuts
• Eerie, a twist in the storyline, realistic
• Thrilling to watch- on edge of your seat.
• Dark lighting, fast paced storyline
• A story line which may be quite complex with some twists and good acting.

In this question, it seems that a lot of the people asked answered 'Different/unique storyline' which suggests to us that we need to create an original plot which isn't cliché and contrasts with other thrillers. Nobody selected 'Adventure' which shows that not everyone is excited about action and that they want a fast paced film which gets the adrenaline pumping from the start.





What makes a good Thriller opening in your opinion?

• A clear introduction to each main character and an introduction to his/her life. 
• Camera angles and good music.
• Immediate action.
• Fast paced introduction, exciting action scenes and pulsating music/fast music. 
• Introduction to characters, intense scenes and music, different camera angles to identify different/important aspects of the film/scene.
• The music.
• Building of tension.
• Camera angles.
• Starting with an action scene with different camera angles.

The majority of people in this question preferred a Psychological thriller which isn't that surprising as most thrillers involve a mind-twisting plot that captures the audiences' eye. Mystery and Action were also very popular which will help us to decide upon which sub-genre to pick as mystery provides an exciting plot for the audience, which will attract them.

In order to know what our target audience dislike about some current thriller films, we decided to ask them. The most popular answer was films 'ending with an anticlimax' which is very common in thrillers as they are hard to master the ending to compliment with the film. Also everyone would prefer a different ending, some people have different opinions about the film's ending. Another common aspect in thrillers is an unrealistic storyline which also seemed popular with the audience asked. So in our thriller we need to think carefully about the plot, for instance make sure that the storyline hasn't already been used and try not to make it cliché.

From the analysis of these particular questions, we have found that our target audience prefer more recent and popular films like The Dark Knight, Black Swan or Inception.They tend to interpret thrillers as being the majority of the time having unrealistic storylines but more ending with an anticlimax. The majority of people asked tend to enjoy more of a Psychological thriller rather than for example a Medical as the film is more enjoyable when it includes a mind-twisting, tense and mysterious plot.

Online Audience Research

By gathering some audience research together, it will help us to identify our target audience in the genre, thriller, and what sub-genres of thrillers is most popular. So by doing some research it will help us decide on a sub-genre for our opening, such as a psychological, crime, mystery etc.
I have decided to look into a thriller film which will have a particular sub-genre.

The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest:

When researching 'The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest', I found some interesting websites which can help establish the popularity and people's opinions of this film. One of the websites I found was http://industry.bfi.org.uk/exitpolls  in which I could click on a particular film and it would lead me to a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. In this spreadsheet, I found out that the majority of the surveyed public were female however the percentage of men to women was very close at 49% to 51%. This tells us that this film was popular with both men and female. When looking at the 'Sources of Information', 30% of the public heard about the book beforehand which establishes that most people when going to see films, see the film because they have read the book already. This occurrence has also happened in the Harry Potter sequel, The Help, Mama Mia, Life of Pi, and the film before the The who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I have researched 'The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest' thoroughly and I found on Amazon some personal reviews from the public. From looking at the results, the majority of people said they thought it was a 'great film' which indicates that a crime thriller is a popular sub genre. I think this is because it builds up a lot of suspension throughout the film and the action involved keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.
When focusing on the target audience of this film, the research shows that more people over the age of 35 saw this film rather than people under the age of 35. Perhaps this is because the film is quite complex and not suitable and appealing to the younger ages as the film involves murder and experiences with court cases. This film was cleverly produced as it attracted both males and females. I think the fact that the film included aspects in which females could relate to but also for the males, the film involved a lot of action scenes.

Audience Research- Online

As previously said we have decided to carry out online audience research and find some secondary data that people have found, we have also completed primary research with interviews and questionnaires. In order to discover our target audience we are looking at opinions, figures and reviews to help us establish and guide us to who we need to aim our production at.

I was able to collect data on IMDb with a rank of the Highest Rated Thriller feature films with at least 1,000 votes. I have collected the Top 24 and published them in a excel graph which picks out the main information for them that is needed for my research. The original page is linked here.











With the help of this information I can look into why these films were so successful and how the Thriller was received so well and what an audience likes now. I am going to research into some of the older films and newer ones and try and find some recent information from them both as the audiences are different with each film.

Alfred Hitchcock Psycho
I thought the best place to research a Thriller was to look at the classic Alfred Hitchcock films and look at there reviews and figures. I decided to look at Psycho as it is the most highly rated of his films and it is the most popular meaning it could have some good information about it.
Psycho was rated no.11 in the Top rated Thriller films from IMDb. I decided to start my research on this film by looking at YouTube which gave me statistics from the original Psycho trailer itself and who watched it.
The link to the YouTube clip i got the statistics from is here.

The target audience shown from this film seemed to be Males aged 35+ possibly because it is an older film and wouldn't appeal to the younger generation as much. I could also see where the trailer was mostly viewed which was the U.S, U.K and Slovakia. This information could help us reach our audience once we have established who they are. The YouTube clip of Psycho had only 14,885 views on this particular clip but 0 dislikes showing how popular and good well received it has been.

After using YouTube I decided to find in more detail why the audience liked this film so much, I used the information from Rotten Tomatoes to do this.The information shows that 90% of audiences liked this film. Audience have written reviews on this website and this is a random example of some of them which have all issued 4-5/5 stars. Information from Rotten Tomatoes is also very recent information which makes the information more valid for what audience enjoy now.From this information you can see that the majority of the audience have found that they enjoyed the suspense of this Thriller and the slow build up of  tension that is created. The top review also explains how they enjoyed the twist in the film. Many of the reviews I have read have explained how they believe that it is a Horror which may be an element of our Thriller opening that we would like to incorporate in and possibly attract the audience that prefer this. I have not come across a bad review of this film so far which gives us a good indication of what this audience enjoy in a Thriller.

Inception

I decided to look at a more recent well ranked Thriller. Inception was rated no.3 in the Highest Rated feature Thriller films and was released in 2010.

Inception's main trailer on YouTube has received over 14 million views with only 886 dislikes. Unfortunately the statistics for Inceptions trailer have been disabled so  I decided to look at the audience that have ranked the film on IMDb itself and see who enjoyed it the most.

From this information you can see that both Males and Females enjoyed it just as much but more males have voted giving the impression that more gave watched it. I believe both males and females enjoyed it because it had a male and female lead. Under 18's rated this film the highest and seemed to have viewed it the most, whereas the lowest votes and least came from the over 45's which makes us believe that the target audience were not them and they did not enjoy it as much.

Both US and Non-US users seemed to enjoy the film equally.
From the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes you can see that the film was very well received mostly getting 4 or 5 stars out of 5 and receiving a 93% success rate of likes from the audience. This film is very different to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho as it is described as more of a mystery, or as one of the reviews said a Sci-fi. The audience of Inception seemed to enjoy the 'pulse-pounding and utterly mind blowing edge of your seat thriller.' which I believe is what you want your audience to experience in any type of Thriller so I believe this is a good convention I want to incorporate into our own. It is also clear that storyline and the depth of the story really makes a difference for success and failure for a thriller.



After contemplating what film to look at for a final piece of online target audience I decided to use Rotten Tomatoes list of the top Movies that involve mystery and suspense which I believe is one of the main conventions of a thriller. A film that was rated as a high no.2 on the list was also on at no.9 on IMDb's list, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Although I have already researched up a Hitchcock film I believe that his work is some of the most famous pieces ever and that all his productions are rated so highly that getting information about why the audience enjoyed his films then and now really gives us a good understanding of what an audience want in a thriller.

Alfred Hitchcock Rear Window 
I looked on IMDb again as I believe that it had a good amount of statistics and enough votes for it to be reliable information. On average Rear Window seemed to be well received by both male and females equally and had a wide range of ages liking it. I believe this could be because mostly a male is lead but they have a strong female character present in it also. It seemed like over 45 enjoyed it just as much and under 18 showing that it can appeal to all age ranges. I was also happy to see that Non-US and US users enjoyed the film although US users slightly more. I will continue to research why the film was so well received.

I decided to use Rotten Tomatoes to find the audience reviews as I feel as if the people who use it really enjoy their film and know what they want from them and so I find that this will give me a really good implication of what makes the audience really receive the thriller convention and take pleasure in watching it.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film obtained a 95% like rate from audiences and an average of 4.2/5 stars.
From the reviews I can see that the conventions of a thriller are very present in this Hitchcock film especially the sense of voyeurism which the audience seemed to really enjoy. The audience keeps repeating 'The Master of Suspense' which they are referring to Alfred Hitchcock and I believe that his films are successful because of the classic suspense and mystery of a Thriller. From the reviews and the link between the films I have looked at I believe that suspense and mystery are key for the audience in a film and some of the worst thriller films possibly looked at action and had a different approach to a Thriller.As I was searching further into Rear Window I realised that Alfred Hitchcock's work was not just received well by the audience but was also a inspiration to other Directors.

http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/film/4ce2b6955c6ba is the website which I came across which had information about Hitchcock's films and how Rear Window was 53rd in the Critics poll and 48h in the Directors Poll with 11 directors voting for it. I believe that many Directors have come to Alfred Hitchcock's work to discover their audience and how they would like to have their films received and I have found some very enlightening and helpful information for my own Audience Research.

Audience Research- Online

Audience research

When doing my audience research about thriller films i found out that lots of people went to see thriller films  if they were a remake of a novel and the book being such a huge success. this was the case with films such as We Need to Talk About Kevin 39% because it was based on the book and The Girl Who kicked the hornets nest, which is part of The Millennium Trilogy over 51% of people who saw this had read the book.

The demographics of an audience is always key. The gender of the person, what films men and women like is always different. Age is important for a thriller because they need to know what certification to pitch the film at. Other demographics would be
-Ethnicity
-Class
-Region
-Sexuality
-Religion
-Family
Another thing that is important about an audience is their Psychographics these are things that are different with every person that change their views of films. For example one's interests may change the way they look at a film, an example would be somebody who has read the novel may want to go see it when it has become a thriller film. Other psychographics are:
-Ideology
-Beliefs
-Morals
-Values

Another thing found when doping my audience research is that with thrillers its very even in gender when it comes to thrillers for example The Girl Who kicked the hornets nest.

Male	49%
Female	51%

and for We Need to Talk About Kevin it was

Male	46%
Female	54%

i believe it is slightly in favour of females in both these films because of a female main role.

Online Survey

Following on from our previous post about research methods we have now created our online questionnaire. Below is our online survey that will help us expand our research about our target audience. It will help us discover in more depth what our type of audience wants to see in a Thriller film. Our interviews gave us a good amount of detail but our answers were from a limited age and is not representative of the target audience. This online survey will help us to understand what a variety of demographics and psycho-graphics like to watch and give us a real insight of what to include in our Thriller opening.

We made the survey involve both open and closed questions to gather as much information as possible but we didn't make it too long so people will be more likely and willing to complete it. The questionnaire can be accessed here and we have also posted it on our social networking sites to gain more people to complete it.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Thank you for taking part.

Audience Research- Interviews

For our first form of Audience Research we decided to directly speak to people in the form of an interview.We decided to ask questions needed to give us an idea of what people of all ages enjoy in Thriller, and what they expect from them.Opinions were also important as it gives us a closer insight into what they do not enjoy in a thriller so we can not make the same mistakes as some Thrillers made. We have decided to do an Open questionnaire as it is more likely to give us the information we need.

I interviewed a mixture of genders and ages.

My Interview
First person- Age 16, Male
Second Person- Age 27, Female
Third Person- 45, Female

What do you expect from a good Thriller?
First: A twist in the storyline and a mystery
Second: Cliffhangers, jumps
Third: Entertainment, Racing heart

What do you enjoy in a Thriller?
First: Believable character, watching closely to not miss anything, confusion, leading you to believe something else
Second: Different character personalities, big climax in storyline
Third: Good storyline, believable characters

How would you describe a Thriller?
First: Always gets you thinking, your always on the edge of your seat
Second: Scary, Real -life (believable), dark, jumpy, tense, scary music
Third: Tense, Jumpy, Keeps your on the edge of  your seat

What makes a good opening to a Thriller?
First: The start of the Thriller shows the ending of it (creates confusion), mystery
Second: Gets your questioning, tense music
Third: Immediately catches your attention, big beaty music, you question until the end of film (doesn't give anything away)

Your favourite Thriller?
First: Inception because the start of the film shows the ending. The credits of Inception also show the mystery as the title 'Inception' is made out of a map
Second: Taken because of the suspense
Third: Fracture because it is about outwitting a cold hearted murderer and the tension

Audience Research -Interviews

When establishing which methods of audience research to use, I think the best methods to use is an online survey to perhaps attract the teenager's opinions as they tend to use the internet more with social networking, and also do individual interviews to grab the middle aged/older citizen's opinions.

In the interviews we need to provide direct, specific questions that relate to our task in order to make our audience research as beneficial as possible. We need to ask questions that involve their likes/dislikes, their favourite thriller films, what they tend to expect, sub-genres and then link to a thriller opening. For an interview, open questions tend to be used to receive answers which include more detail, opinions and feelings. Whereas when a questionnaire is being provided, closed questions tend to be used which involve single answers, short phrases and also yes or no. They usually include tick boxes. They are more convenient and easy for the audience but you don't get as much detail as you would with interviews.

An example of a closed question would be "What sub-genre of a thriller would attract or interest you most out of the following? (please tick the boxes)"
-Action
-Psychological
-Crime
-Historical
-Mystery

An example of an open question would be "What do you dislike the most about thriller films?".

Anna's Interview:

I have decided to interview 3 people, the ages I have included are a male of 19 years (person 1), a female of 45 years (person 2) and another male of 50 years (person 3). This will help give an insight as to whether middle aged people are interested in Thriller films and if they are attracted by them. But it will also give me an idea if teenagers are interested as well.

"What do you expect from a good film? e.g. characters, camera angles, storyline, special effects etc.

Person 1: Good use of actors, something different about it. If British film, it will attract me more as good actors sucha as Colin Firth will be used.

Person 2: Well known actors involved with a good, interesting storyline. A film that engages the brain. If a humorous film, needs to be able to make me laugh. If a Thriller film, I would want to be genuinely scared which includes a good atmosphere within the audience.

Person 3: Has to have a unique style which includes a different storylines to other films.

"What is your favourite Thriller film and what made it enjoyable?"

Person 1: Inception. I think it is a good film as it is mind twisting and captivating as its about a dream inside a dream and so on. It engages the brain because it is a mystery and it keeps the audience like myself interested.

Person 2: My favourite thriller film would be Taken as when I was watching it, I didn't know what would happen next. It kept me captivated with the motivated cuts involved. I felt I could relate to the storyline as I am a mother of the same aged girl.

Person 3: The Silence of the Lambs. I enjoyed this film as it is plausible and well acted. It brought a good, unique storyline out into the world at the time. It was ahead of its time.

"How would you describe a Thriller film?"

Person 1: Camera angles from the antagonist's point of view to give to sense to the protagonist's that someone is watching them. Built up of tension in many parts to excite and build up hype of the audience.

Person 2: Dramatic, spooky feel, mind twisting. The music involved to be pitchy and strong. I would expect there to be occasional silences. Perhaps the music included would be recorded by an orchestra- non-diegetic sound.

Person 3: Weather conditions to be gloomy, dark and foggy or raining. Tracking of the cameras moving stealthily down corridors.

"What attracts you most in a Thriller film?"

Person 1: Good actors, action involved, fast speed and adrenaline pumping. An interesting, different storyline.

Person 2: Adventure, excitement. Usually completely different from normal way of life.

Person 3: Plausible storylines, fast pace, exciting.

"What makes a good Thriller opening in your opinion? E.g. music, camera."

Person 1: Introduction to some characters, clue of location. Motivated cuts included to hype the audience.Built up tension used by different pitches of music.

Person 2: Action sceme, perhaps a preview of what's about to happen- keeps the audience intrigued.

Person 3: Built up of suspense. Powerful imagery which draws attention and creates focus for the rest of the film.

"What sub-genre of a Thriller would interest or attract you the most?"

Person 1: Action, mystery, historical.

Person 2: Adventure and mystery.

Person 3: Historical, Serial Killer, Crime.

"What do you dislike the most about Thriller films?"

Person 1: Too complex, ridiculous, badly acted.

Person 2: Too realistic, if it ends with an anti-climax. -Need to end with Drama.

Person 3: Unrealistic, too long.

From looking at the results of my interview it shows that a wider range of people from different ages and gender is needed to discover what people really like to see in a thriller film. However, the interview does show that most males tend to have the same opinions, for example both the males I asked both said for 'what they thought makes a good thriller opening' that a good thriller opening needs to include a build up of tension and suspense.
I think to gain a real insight into what people may like, dislike or prefer in films, television programmes and in our case, the opening to our thriller film.

Audience Research- Interviews

What is your favourite sub-genre for a thriller and why?

Answer 1 aged 49 (man):
My faviourite sub genre is a crime thriller, due to you not knowing fully whats going to happen until the climax of the film.
Answer 2 aged 19 (man):
I like an action thriller due to the intense fight scenes and there normally being a strong battle between a good character and a bad character
Answer 3 aged 49 (woman)
i like to watch thrillers that i have read a book of because i like to see if the intensity is portrayed in the film

Faviourite thriller film and why?

Answer 1
My faviourite film is probably Harry Brown due to it being very easy to relate to for me and that it has a strong meaningful storyline
Answer 2
My faviourite thriller is deja vu with denzel washington i like this because i like the full on action through out the film and the tension between the two main characters, and denzel washington is my faviourite actor
Answer 3
I like the films of the Millenium trilogy, due to me having read all three books and enjoyed them. i watched the films and they reached my expectations because they had me gripped all film long

What do you not like about thrillers?

Answer 1
I dislike thrillers when the storyline is very obvious and there is a lack of mystery, i like to find out what happens at the very end
Answer 2
I dont like a love story in a thriller, i like it when its all about the storyline
Answer 3
I dont like thrillers when there is too much action and explosions i like it to have me on the edge of my seat, but not to make me jump and be scary

Audience Research Methods

Different audience research methods used can help us as a group to identify what aspects are important at the beginning of a thriller film, the type of audience that watch thrillers and how we can entice the audience at the start. This will help us establish what target audience to aim our thriller opening at.
Different audience research methods include; Questionnaires,Interviews, Focus groups, Online questionnaires and Data Collection.

Questionnaires
A group of closed questions ask to the public, or your audience to extract specific information you want to know for research.
A benefit to a questionnaire is that you receive useful information quick and it is easy. You can also give a questionnaire to a large portion of your audience or the public without wasting time.
A drawback to using a questionnaire is that the public partaking in the questionnaire may not be able to explain their reasons for this as it is a closed question, so you do not receive as much information and it may not be very strong.

Interview
An interview is when the researcher will ask the public or audience open questions, they then extract information on what they want to know and follow up or probe their answers with ones to get more information and detail from them, in a conversational way.
A benefit to an interview is that you gain a better insight into the customers wants, their opinions, their likes and dislikes and there is no set questions meaning you can work your questions around their personal feelings.
A drawback to an interview is that it is time consuming. This is a problem because it is very informative but asking enough people and bringing the information we gathered together from everyone means it is hard to analyse and will take a long time.

Focus Groups
A focus group is a small group of people who have a discussion about a particular product or in this case a topic. It aims on a discussion more than responses to formal questions.
Benefits of a focus group are that the researcher can get information from body language, by seeing a response like this they can tell how they feel about that specific topic, the information is also easy to get, you are able to probe more answers and gain a deeper knowledge of their views and opinions and you can also gain the information quicker than if you interview people individually.
A drawback to a focus group is that focus groups may not be able to stay on topic and you can't gather the information you specifically need, the public may also feel peer pressure to answer like everyone else.

Online questionnaires
An Online questionnaire is a questionnaire that you created set up online for the general public to be able to complete. It can have open and closed questions on it.
Benefits to an online questionnaire is that is it usually free, fast and simple to set up, quick and accurate to gather results as the website that your survey is linked to will gather the information for you. Anyone can access it on the internet  also meaning that it is more valid to the population because you do not have to send out and collect the questionnaires that may not be able to reach the general public but using the internet it is possible.
A drawback to an online questionnaire is that people may feel less obliged to take part because they have not been specifically asked to take the questionnaire, there also may be technical difficulties that could postpone or stop people being able to access it, both giving you a lack of information.

Data Collection
Data Collection is done to gather secondary research online from existing websites to gain an insight into the likes and dislikes, the success and fail and general knowledge of the topics information you need, in this case about a specific genre.
Benefit to online secondary research is  that the data  is already collected meaning it is cheap, easy and quick to gather.
A drawback to this is that the information may not be specific to your topic that you are looking for, so it isn't completely relevant to you. You could also not gather information from reliable sources making your data wrong and you may base your idea or topic on that.

From the benefits and drawbacks we have decided that we will complete the secondary research data collection but make sure it is from reliable websites such as, boxofficemojo, IMDb and independent.bfi. We are also going to do a small interview consisting on 3 people each, all different ages and genders making it informative but not time consuming, we are also going to create an online survey giving people opportunities t fill it in and giving us a large, informative and representative result that we can use to help us find our target audience.

Our Audience

In Media Studies, audience is the term used to describe those who consume media texts. For instance, films, television programmes, newspapers, magazines etc.  For many obvious reasons, media producers and institutions like to consider audiences in groups. To investigate how large their share of the mass market was, television companies and advertisers came together to perform new techniques of market research. This involved quantitative surveys where they attempted to count how many people they reached. Most commonly used was the system of television ratings which still today, has an enormous effect of the workings of TV stations.

We can divide our audience into two categories; demographic and psycho-graphic.

Demographics involves the audience's:
-Gender
- Ethnicity
- Age (certification)
- Social Class
- Region
- Sexuality
- Religion
- Family
- Education/Occupation

Psycho-graphics involves the audience's:
-Interests
- Likes/dislikes
- Attitudes
- Ideology (your ideas of life)
- Beliefs
- Morals
- Values

Group Analysis of The Usual Suspects

This clip is the start of the thriller The Usual Suspects, it does not include the credits which is a pan of the sea introducing the actors in the film.

The Usual Suspects is a crime thriller, written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. The thriller which received 2 Oscars starred Stephen Baldwin and Kevin Spacey, the film includes a twisted storyline about a boat that was destroyed and the key to the mystery lies with the one survivor whose story leads to five crooks in a police line up.The conventions of a thriller are shown through the camera, editing, Mise-en-scene and sound to create tension and mystery.

Camera by Whole Group
In terms of camera, there is a frequent tilt involved to reveal an identity or a situation. For example when the fire is lit there is a slow tilt to establish the character on the boat urinating to prevent the fire from spreading any further. This presents a sense of mystery to the scene as the camera slowly reveals the body of the man but the tilt is cut just before the character's identity is shown. 
Between cuts there is a zoom in on the ropes which gives a sense of voyeurism as to the audience, it feels as though the scene is being watched.

Mise-en-Scene by Aimée

Mise-en-scene is used to portray the thriller conventions into the opening of The Usual Suspects by creating tension and mystery. The location of this opening scene is firstly shown by the camera by using a pan, it is the sea and the pan of the camera that shows the wide range of emptiness which establishes the setting. The sense of being alone in this scene makes the audience possibly feel tense as to why it the characters in the scene are alone and if them being alone will create danger. The location is established in the scene with editing showing a matched cut and the camera showing a zoom on ropes giving the impression that they are on a boat, supporting the credits of the sea. The props in this scene give a sense of the characters and the mystery of the opening scene. After the credits you are introduced to the scene by matches being lit for a cigarette in a line which was then dropped into some fuel, this creates a sense of danger for the audience as fire may be hard to control, we are then shown another fire source later on in the scene which is a gold lighter.This may create tension as to whether the lighter is going to be used to create fire but it also shows the wealth and power that that character has in contrast to the box of matches. This is a binary opposition possibly showing the protagonist v antagonist or weak v powerful, the use of binary opposition create a tradition convention for a thriller. The wealth of this character is extended by the used of camera showing a close up of a gold watch. A eye-catching prop used to create apprehension is the leaking oil barrel, after seeing the fire being created by the small matches makes the audience realize the possibility and danger that there may be a fire. In the scene you are shown various dead bodies firstly by the fire passing one man and the wealthy man walking past another with a gun indicating he is the antagonist, this constructs the sub-genre for this Thriller that it is crime and violence which are main conventions of a thriller.The lighting of the scene is very dark but the characters are shown through a reaction shot when the lighting up of a cigarette from the gold lighter is used revealing the face; again fire being a hazard.The lightening at the end of the scene is brighter to show the character and his importance when he is speaking to the investigators.

Editing by Anna
In the first 5 minutes of Usual Suspects, editing is used to emphasize the slow motion and detail in the scene. A slow cutting rate is identified to show the slow motion of the cigarette dropping to provide a tense feeling to the audience as they know it won't be a wise action to do. The slow motion is supported by the build up of sound which is known as a crescendo. This helps the audience to build up excitement for what's to come in the film as sound plays a big part in making people tense and eager. This is also supported with the slow cutting rate.
Near the end of the first 5 minutes, a zoom in on an area of ropes is shown to portray the sense to the audience that someone is watching the scene which is called voyeurism, commonly used in thrillers. After the camera zooms in on the ropes, editing is used to use the effect of dissolving to help hint to the audience that the next scene where the first character that speaks was the person watching through the ropes. The character in the next scene tells the audience the sense of the time and location when the previous scene occurred by saying: "It all started 6 weeks ago back in New York..."

Sound by Danny 

This thriller has the non diegetic sound of an orchestra playing over the petrol lighting. This gives the effect of tension because the orchestra playing feels like something big is going to happen with the sound bridge building up to something. At the very start the lighting of a match the diegetic sound is over emphasized to add more drama to the scene this builds the effect of that he will use that light to do something important. Also you can hear the diegetic sound of pouring before you see what he's pouring or what/who hes pouring on, this adds the effect of mystery it gets the audience asking themselves questions of why and who so builds the thriller effect of mystery. The non diegetic sound of footsteps does the same you only hear them first so they also build this effect. Also the loud volume of the explosion shows how epic the explosion was giving the effect nothing will be left.

Group Analysis of The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American thriller that blends elements of the crime and horror genres. It was directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine and Scott Glenn. It is based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Thomas Harris. In the film, Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Lector to apprehend another serial killer, known as "Buffalo Bill". The film involves hyped scenes and action to excite the audience.

Camera by Whole Group
The use of camera in The Silence of the Lambs can create intense scenes and suspense to portray the thriller conventions. At the beginning of the first 5 minutes of the film the camera sets the scene and identifies the character by using a tilt to show the hill Agent Starling is climbing up and slowly approaching the camera on, which makes the identity of the character clearer to the audience. Voyeurism is portrayed when the camera follows the female which makes the audience feel as if they are involved and chasing the character. This can also bring in a sense of mystery which is a thriller convention early on in the film by making the audience question why she is running. The camera helps show the personality of the protagonist as it shows a side shot of her face where she is gritting her teeth as if to show determination.
A zoom of the camera help establish the FBI building, which gives us a sense that this thriller will be related to a crime. The camera also zooms in on Clarice running which helps the audience to see her in context. Once in the office camera is used to show the reaction shot of the character when she see's the the shocking photos on the wall. After the reaction shot a point-of-view shot is shown to help the audience understand why she has reacted in the way she has and also tells the audience that the photos are an important aspect to the plot of the thriller.

Mise-en-scene by Anna
Mise en scene is used in the Silence of the Lambs to help establish the story line,  characters and location in the first 5 minutes of the film. The opening starts off in a known spooky location of a forest which gives out a eerie feeling to the audience and as forests are known to be spooky and mysterious, it links to how The Silence of the Lambs is shown as a thriller to the audience. The two ropes shown when Clarice Starling is running up the hill indicates to the audience that another person is meant to be running alongside her. This shows the determination the character has in the film and that she is possibly alone in the forest.
A medium shot is then shown to identify the character and what she does as on her jumper is says: "FBI Academy" which indicates her career and more information about the main character. The jumper she is wearing is sweaty which shows she is hard working and committed. The audience also soon know that the film involves mystery as a man runs after the woman, wearing a hat with capitals on the front reading: "FBI". The scene in the forest includes foggy weather and with the leaves on the ground establishes the season, Autumn. The foggy location is known to the audience as spine-chilling as it makes the audience aware that perhaps something might jump out or give out a sense of voyeurism. -This helps portray a thriller.

A long shot of the building establishes the FBI Academy and the people that work there are wearing different clothes which shows they are at work and gives a sense of mystery to the audience. When the main character is near the top of the building, she is surrounded by men in suits who are looking down upon her as if to say 'you don't belong here'. It shows the proxemics in this part of the building, especially in the lift where Clarice is the only female, the amount of men featured shows the dominance they have. Proxemics is also shown when Clarice is in the office as she looks like a schoolgirl who's noisy and interested in everything. A motivated cut is then used to help the audience get eager to know what she is staring in shock at. Once the cut to the photos on the wall is shown, this helps identify the plot to the audience as there are newspaper article headlining "BILL SKINS FIFTH" which tells the audience that the film will be gruesome with also the help from the photos shown. This helps establish that the silence of the lambs is a thriller as this genre usually has some gory scenes involved.   

Editing by Danny
Editing is used to portray a thriller during The Silence of the Lambs, when a match cut is used when the main character goes into a lift. This portrays a thriller because she goes into the lift last when its full, then is the last to come out. What this does is show the importance of the situation, that she has to go to the very top of the police building to talk over it. A motivated cut is used when you see the main characters face in reaction to what she has seen on the wall. This portrays a thriller because you see her face before you see what she's looking at so its not a normal reaction shot because it leaves you on a cliffhanger like a traditional thriller. A cut from the opening credits to the location is used to portray a thriller. It cuts to a very secluded location which is covered with fog. This links to a thriller because everything is hidden.

Sound by Aimée
The sound used in The Silence of the Lambs is used to create an immediate sense that it is a thriller and that the situation in the film is already untenable. In terms of sound the music plays a big part in the opening of this thriller by creating an eerie situation.The piece of music starts as high pitched then starts getting deeper and then becomes high pitched again. This music gives a tense suspense for the audience as the camera also works with it showing the forest but the mystery and suspense of not knowing what is going to happen. As we are introduced to the character when she is running the music starts getting faster, more mysterious and higher pitched, this builds the tension  and makes us think that she is running away from danger or possible unknowingly is approaching danger. The music is then stopped, but the music possibly being in that area of the scene shows that the setting itself there may be dangerous and that's why tension is created. When agent Starling is in the office the trill on the clarinet and music then starts again when she see's the crime wall with the deaths on it, this makes the audience tense as the same music was used in the forest making a slight indication that it may be linked. The diagetic sounds of the eagles squawking and the clear crisp sound of the leaves makes a tense situation as the character Agent Starling is alone which makes the audience uneasy. The sounds of the prison gates and gun shots creates a picture of crime and death which is a sub-genre and convention of a Thriller. Finally dialogue is used both to introduce the character and create anxiety. The character is approached by a man calling her "Agent Starling"; he is a higher rank than her as she answers "yes sir". This helps introduce the character and establish her role, Mise-en scene also helps support this. She is also seen panting and out of breath which bring ups the question of why? and if she is running from someone, if so who?