According to International Thriller Writers, a thriller is "the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, and sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative.” I believe the way we incorporated generic conventions creates an immediate sense of mystery for the audience. I originally thought of using a blind victim as the protagonist because of the lyrics used in the nursery rhyme 'Three blind mice'. Our main character has a bandage wrapped around his head and eyes to make it clear that he has recently suffered from a serious injury resulting in him temporarily losing his sight. The way we portrayed vulnerability was filming short clips of Joe (the blind man) walking alone. We filmed over the shoulder shots of the antagonist to hide his identity but to also emphasise that he was cutting up pictures and headlines from newspapers of blind people. These shots were to show his obsession and that he is a risk to the public. I particularly liked the clips of the antagonist getting into his car and driving further into the darkness. By not knowing his exact intentions the audience is left waiting in suspense.
We amplified various thriller conventions by not only showing the antagonist posing with a knife, but him physically sharpening it. This shot of the antagonist hints that the knife will be used in the near future. We previously researched into other thrillers and liked the way a nursery rhyme was embedded into the film, this gave us the idea of using 'Three blind mice'. Usually, the rhyme is seen as positive however we used it in a sinister way by adding minor keys to create suspense. The changes to the rhyme suggest that the blind man could be in danger. Thrillers are often mistaken as horrors, and although we used horror conventions i.e. murder, I would still consider it as a thriller as gore is not included. The Hollywood thriller 'Seven' greatly influenced our opening as we liked how small clips of the storyline were shown, whilst still hiding the identity of the antagonist. Like 'Seven', we had close ups of the antagonists hands, cutting up images from a newspaper without letting on the identity of the character.
The social group represented in our film suggests it would be aimed at young people over the age of 15. I came to this conclusion as the actors used are 17; however older generations would also be able to relate to the storyline. Gender may be considered in a stereotypical way as the antagonist is dominant over the blind man. This is a gender issue as men usually play a more powerful role, however we were aware of this and made our passive character also male. His eye injury makes him particularly vulnerable and easily targeted putting him at a disadvantage compared to others around him.
Our media product 'See how they run' has been influenced by the Hollywood success 'Seven', as this was a major hit I believe our thriller could be popular. If we were to release our thriller film it would be in our best interest to release it in the cinema as it in unique in many ways and could potentially make lots of money. 'See how they run' is a one off thriller production as how we have planned our original storyline to be conclusive and it will not be necessary for a follow on for the audience to understand. If we were to produce a second film we believe it could in fact ruin the intensity we worked hard to create in the first film.
The mise en scene we tried to create was a deserted country setting, to highlight the blind mans helplessness. One of the main props we used was a carving knife as it is a brutal weapon indicating that violence is likely to come without having to show the gore. The advantage of sharpening the knife during the film is it gives a brilliant diagetic sound. We used the lights on the car as a way to get a visible shot in the dark, this worked well as we were still able to hide the identity of the antagonist but it was light enough to see the action. We also had coloured lights within Joe's house, we used a red light to create a sense of mystery on the weapon. It looked really effective when the knife was drawn and glinted in the red light. Whilst filming our thriller we were able to develop our shot types. We used a variety of shots throughout the piece, with a long shot of the car driving up the deserted county lane, and close ups on the important props i.e. the knife. We used a point of view shot to make it clear Joe (the blind man) was being watched and targeted upon.
We realize when addressing our audience that our film could potentially be purchased and shown at home. With this in mind, younger children would be able to view the film and feel frightened by the knife. The knife is a key prop in our film, and we used camerawork like close ups to draw attention to it. In addition to this we adjusted the inside lighting to stress the sharpening of the knife, and that it will soon be put into action. The aim of our storyline was to engage the audience and make them feel as if they could be in that position themselves. By making the audience feel wary and that they could be targeted upon intensifies the action.
Throughout this year I have gradually picked up on various ways to benefit from using the technology available. One of the strengths of the camera equipment was the tripod. By using it we were able to create a steady shot, and produce shots like panning as there was no danger of the camera getting damaged. I thought we also benefited from using handheld shots. This not only made it easier to move about, but what's more gave the impression that it was from the antagonists point of view, and that he was constantly watching his victim.
Final Cut Express was extremely useful when editing our film. Firstly we had to get to grips with basic editing techniques like cutting the piece but progressively we were able to use more advance effects. We decided to use a dissolve on the short clip of the blind mans stick. Further more we changed this particular clip into black and white to show that the antagonist is now in possession of the sticks, signifying his previous victims.
We uploaded all of our material onto Final Cut Express and it was then that we realised we would gain more by refilming a choice of clips. We decided to refilm the shot of the antagonist cutting up the newspaper cuttings as there were unwanted items seen within the clip which took away the suspense we were attempting to make. When viewing the refilmed clip we really saw the advantage of this. When we initially started filming we had unexpected snow, however we worked this to our advantage as we thought it created an eerie setting. Unfortunately the next time we filmed the weather was a lot brighter meaning we had to adjust our plans. Instead of filming the antagonist going through the outside door, we worked around this and as an alternative we filmed him from within the garage entering through the inside door. As the garage was dark, it worked well and we were pleased with the final outcome.
Unfortunately, we had change within our group. Joe decided on a different career path where he had to begin immediately. Therefore he left school causing us more difficulties when wanting to arrange times to film and edit. This resulted in us having the disadvantage of only two group members. Luckily, Joe was still willing to carry on with the filming but was only available one day a week, making it harder for us to reach the deadline.
For our sound track we managed to find an uncopyrighted version of ‘Three blind mice’. Firstly, we transferred it onto itunes which made it easier for us to upload it onto Garageband. After listening to it more we decided it would be effective to add minor keys to create a much more menacing sound.
By producing a detailed storyboard we were able to prepare ourselves more throughly for filming sessions as we knew exactly what we needed to bring. We had clear ideas of what we wanted to capture and how we wanted to edit it in a chronological way. I was able to develop my shot techniques from when we originally done our preliminary tasks. We did a point of view shot from the antagonists perspective making it clear he was targeting the protagonist, making him seem more vulnerable. Overall, i feel i have fulfilled the task well as our storyline was original, we used various shot techniques and editing skills to show what we have learnt throughout the year.
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