Our Thriller Opening

Question 7

Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

As a group we have learnt a lot about the technologies from the process of constructing this product. One of our main improvements was the use of camera angles and movements. We also found out that when filming we were filming we had originally used Hannah's camera as it was supposed to be a very high quality camera and it was when taking pictures but not for filings do instead we used my Sony camera which is a similar build but is made more to take videos than to talk pictures.

We found that there were other things that made out filming lot easier for example: the tripod was really helpful when it came so filming as it meant that we could balance the camera so it wouldn't shake, as when we doing our preliminary task our footage was unprofessional, of a bad quality and we hadn't really thought about our environment. I already knew how to use a camera however i did learn how to enhance the shot and make the zoom out in the pan smooth so that the movement of the camera didn't stutter. I think one our most skilled shot was the 360 degree shot, as we had managed to keep the speed of the turn table going whilst filming although it did take a very long time to get it right in the end it was worth it. We have taught ourselves how to piston the camera better for different shots and made many adjustments so we held the camera better as well. I think overall his has really improved the quality of our opening and has also given us some good experience for when we do our A level course work.

Editing at the beginning had been a major problem for us as a group because we didn't know where to  start. But as we went a long we got better and more comfortable with the software and found it much easier to edit and find new techniques or we would research new techniques so that we could get all of the affects we wanted to incorporate into our opening. Two if our most used skills that we had learnt was the cropping of an image and split clipping, we used these a lot in the 360 shot as when people spoke we needed to turn the music down but when the camera was turning it would of backup and we increased the speed of each turn otherwise it would have taken to long and our audience would have found the prolonged turn to be quite boring. We also found that the match on match shot of van needed a lot of editing for it to work as we needed to use transitions and we needed to crop the second image so it fit with the first and the two flowed to gather properly. The music was something i found particularly easy, but the whole of the group had taken turns as shortening or lengthening sounds and muting background nouse from some of the clips as it was unnecessary. I found that when using iMovie its not as difficult as it initially seems you just need to know what your doing and where things are.

Press was something we were introduced to by our teacher at the art of the year and since i have been using it i dough that i really liked the variation of templates there were and the fact that they were easier to set out and fun to make your own.

Photos from our filming:

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience was both genders and from ages 15-25. We attracted our target audience as we initially made surveys, so that we could look at what age group and interests our audience has. When receiving the information from the questionnaires, the answers gave an insight to what kinds of films people watch, what they look for in a thriller film ect. When we sat down as a group we could see all of our feedback was similar, this gave us our audience age group and targets to aim for. As a group we used a lot of different techniques to try and accomplish this such as: Mis-en-scene, sound, editing and different variations if shots and camera angles. We also did some research in the different distribution companies as a lot of people look at who has made the film and will prejudge it during the credits.

For music in our opening scene we had some to an agreement that we would use the two compositions, Conspiracy and Silent gill, both instrumental and mainly piano based. We used these songs in our opening because both were different in pace and tone however when one cause suspense to start with as it was quite calm and quiet the other built tension throughout the interrogation. Another reason we used instrumental pieces such as this was because we didn't want to take there audiences attention away from the plot and the characters in the film we just wanted to fill in the gaps where there were area of prolonged silence. It was create the chilling atmosphere as the music helped as it went along, when it goes from the calm music that i almost too calm to nothing, that builds the audiences suspicions as what had happened but being completely positive about it. The type of music wasn't stereotypically was our target audience would listen too but at the same time it fit well with the scenes that were placed on top of it, as without the music there video would look awkward and wouldn't have the same effect at all.

April's costume was something very casual that showed that she was a normal teenage girl from a middle class heritage and was only going to where friends house so didn't need to dress up. However, April is wearing very dark clothing which could suggest something bad is going to happen or she's potentially going to be in some sort of danger.
Susan Richmond's costume however was a very smart professional outfit and shows that although she's a women she is an authority figure in her work. S he is dressed appropriately for the occasion as it shows she's doing her job and is taking the situation very seriously.

The four main areas we filmed were: Platters, April's bedroom, The Greene household and the dining room. We chose these places as they were normal day to day areas, they weren't too far fetched which i think worked much to our advantage as they were believable and you would generally see teenagers. Also platters is the area where we filmed the red van driving past, as it is the wooded area that when dark would be quite frightening to be near or in.

Props:
The teddy bear- this is a clear sign of innocence because when you ink of a teddy bear you thinking of a child, the bear was simply on the bed when we were filming but to also show the fact that she is a young 16 year old girl who isn't very mature and maybe fairly childish.

The tissues and water:
The tissues and water were something we found a lot when looking at other thriller interrogations when the friends and family were just being questioned rather than told they've done something wrong.

The investigators notebooks and pen:
Also we found a lot that an investigator carries around a notebook and pen to make sure they remember all the details when they are doing their search, it also adds to the look and makes them look more professional.

April is roughly the same age as her target audience and because of age and stereotypically gender she is vulnerable, she does play the damsel in our opening however the shot at the end although portrays her vulnerability it also shows her strength as a character.

Susan Richmond is not your everyday investigator because she is more head strong and she is the authoritative figure in the beginning, she wants to find April and she came across more friendly when she was asking questions as it is a sensitive subject that needs ti be handled.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our thriller are both for men and women who would be within the ages of 15-25. We all dis a survey with 10 questions on each to gather information from our peers and potential audience is that we could see what kinds of age groups are we looking to ai for and what kinds of aspects do they look for in a thriller. The majority of people who answered the questionnaires were of the 15-25 age group and we mainly female, as group we wanted to make our thriller intriguing to both genders as we would then get a larger audience which would continue to make the film more popular and successful. When asking what typed of thrillers people answered with mainly psychological thrillers or suspenseful thrillers that always leave you on the edge of your seat.
Although a lot of people said their favourite type of thriller was psychological we decided against it as is seen a lot and also because with the limited time and materials we have it would be very difficult to pull off to a good standard.
I found the target research extremely useful as it showed me what my target audience expectations are and what are the standards i would have to meet to successfully make a thriller film that people find entertaining.

Now we are finished with our final product i think it does meet the targets that we set for it using the information we received from the surveys. It is set in the modern era as straight away there is a mobile present whilst April is sat in quite a modern day bedroom. The plot also works well with the surveys feedback as it shows that a lot of people like the films with mysteries and suspense and throughout our opening there are quite a few twists and aspects that make you wonder who would have taken her and would intrigue our audience to continue watching if we were to make the whole film.

You could compare our film to quite a few thrillers like Nerve as they include a very modern setting with the internet sonf social media being one of the main topics in the film and the large variety of technology we use as props in our film also shows a stingy link to electrical.

I think as a group we chose the right target group to aim for and the audience isn't too young to watch this type of movie but is not too old to not enjoy the film. We've used conventions that you would see in real media products and we aimed for what our audience had given su back through the information we received. Using technology is such a big part of society today that in a film it makes it more relatable to everyday life rather than being set in an era with out which would generally be aimed at an older audience.

Question 3

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

Media institution means a company tat owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as TV, radio. motion pictures or the internet.

Film Distribution means the process of making a film available for public viewing. There are a lot of distribution companies all over the world you have some large like Miramax and some smaller. 

Warner Bro's

Founded by Albert, Jack. L, Sam and Harry Warner on the 4th April 1923

Global leader in the marketing and distribution of feature films

Makes between 18-22 films a year.

We used Warner bro's as our distribution company as it is well known for films like: The Dark Knight, The Conjuring ect. With how well know Warner Bro's are as a international we thought the they would be good to use as our distribution company, they would be able to distribute the film to a mass audience globally, they are also a conglomerate company where they would be able to benefit us using cross media convergence and also because of how well known they are people are more likely going to watch the film with high expectations. 

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Gender- In our thriller we do not have the conventional strong dominant male as the authority figure instead we used a female investigator, our thriller is aimed at both genders but personally i think that girls will be more likely to watch it because of the plot of the young girl disappearing. We have completely gone against stereotype in our thriller as we haven't used a male at all for any of our characters as we didn't see it as necessary. Women are usual seen as the weaker sex physically however are seen as the more mature but to a strong female character that has both isn't really seen in a lot of thriller films.

Age- Our audience is 15-25, this is because most of the characters are under 18 but over 15 except form Poppy, so we thought that this would be a good age group to aim at instead of the mid to late 20's.

Race- As we have not made any stereotypical characters that are based on race hopefully our thriller attracts a culturally diverse audience instead of more of one than another

Class-We tried to show that April was from a middle class background uint he type of house she lives and the clothes she was wearing. Also showing the type of clothes Poppy is wearing this also shows the middle class background which is casual but still appropriate to be worn while being interrogated.
Similar for Susan Richmond as she wears smart clothing that is seen as normal in a work environment but still shows her authoritative position, which also helps portray her as a ver serious character doing her job.

Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our product uses and develops thriller genre in our own thriller to endure that the audience can recognise the aspects of a thriller in our opening scene. We did this through the genre of music we used, our props, costumes, setting and editing. I think we used a lot of conventions that you would see in real media products in our sound and editing as we could then really think about and improve as we go along which was the main reason we re-filmed so many times as we weren't staffed that our opening looked as professional as it could be even with the limited tools we had. Using the techniques and tools we have learnt over the time since our preliminary task we found that they acme very helpful in making the film look eerie and it helped build suspense in our opening.

For example: the titles and credits in a real thriller film are very important as they can sometimes determine how popular the film becomes and if people continue to watch the film after there fist impression. My group and i decided on the title 'APRIL' because it was short and it stood out, as through our research we could not find a film with the same name. Also the title has to link somehow into the film which also helped us with our decision because the main character's name is April giving a direct link between the two. The credits at the start of any film especially thriller films are very important as if the film states that it has been distributed by Warner Bro's then people are more likely to watch it as they are a very well known and global film company. Stereotypically credits are small enough to be barely noticeable this is because they are normally played when the film has started son they give you an indicator of who is in the film but at the same time doesn't distract you from the start of the film.

In our thriller opening i found that the music is incredibly important as it causes suspense and the sound effects make moments more intense or set the mood for others. We initially use the composition Conspiracy which then moves onto to Silent hill which then leads to the sound of Poppy's heart bating erratically when she is being questioned. In a lot of Thrillers and for the same in ours there are long periods of time where there is no dialogue just simply music or sound effects.

We used quick close-ups near the end of our thriller of Poppy's face to show her emotions and her looking disoriented  this could also have made her look suspicious to the audience as she zones out of the scene with the echoing of people voices in the background.
Our last scene of our thriller was very dark and shows April, beaten, bruised and vulnerable, which shows real media conventions as this would be scene in a thriller film. We took this shot fist with her eyes closed and then show them opening but it also expresses all the emotions she's feeling in that moment emphasising her injuries as if to say those are only the ones you can see.

We used a lot of different shot in our opening a one very commonly used in thriller films are shot reverse shot and match on match as most of the time either people would have an argument or others would run out of a room from fear or anger. For example we used a shot reverse shot between Poppy and the investigator, this would make sure the audience knew that this was April's younger sister. Also as the investigator introduces her self and makes sure that she is talking to her sister we also used a pan of the room showing all of April's family and friends to emphasise that she just a normal teenager under 18 who lives at home with her loved ones.

Thrillers generally use a lot of props and costume to ensure the audience understand what type of film it is. In most thrillers they usually have weapons of some sort and i think because we don't it does add to the suspense as no one is carrying anything harmful but a girl in her late teens just disappears into thin air.

Filming Experience

Since we first began i think that my filming skills were lacking and needed some definite improvement, as we went along i found that it became easier to change the angle of hot as i got used to how it would work when its pieced together in the end. As a group we had filmed 5 times all together as we had to do a lot of refilling for our 2nd half of our opening and we were indecisive as to how we wanted it too end. Every time we re-filmed, the quality of our filming got better and so did our acting, at the beginning everyone felt awkward having to act in front of a camera but the more often we did the more got used to it and relaxed.

One of the shots i took was off April walking away from the camera when it went from clear to blurry , when we were filming the first time the reason i took this shot was an on the spot idea. I was not sure if it would work but i felt like it would work really well and luckily it does, i find with this shot its actual adds some suspense to the scenes and it symbolises that something bad is about to happen to the audience.

Another shot i took was the footage of April walking down the stairs as this shot had to repeated multiple times as when we had first filmed we hadn't noticed that the coat on the side of the stair railing looked like it was in the way and even though is indicated what she was doing you could be positive.

My favourite shot is the one i took of April when she looked all bruised and beaten, i loved this shot because i found it so effective and as soon as i had removed the sound and overlaid the footage with music and sounds effects it made it scarier and intriguing as it is the end shot we needed it to be something that gets the audience to want to see what happens next and ask themselves questions about it

Overall i think my filming and our filming as a group has improved immensely, as before we had no clue as to what we were doing but now we can all edit and film different shots for different effects and we have all improved our general skills when using the tools on iMovie.

Editing Experience

Now that all of our editing has finished i found that it has been quite extensive because we have now re-filmed and edited almost 6 times including our:News report, re-filming the second half 3 times, our 1st half and any singular shots that needed to be redone or broken down slightly more. Editing has become one of my favourite things since we started this opening and as its finally priced together i can how see where to changes we needed were made and how much this improved our opening as whole. Also the feedback we were given from our peers helped a lot as it showed us what people thought of our product as we went along from an audiences perspective rather than just ours as we were less likely to pick up on the smaller details that we needed to improve as we went along.

I found throughout our editing experience I was the one to do all of the music and the sound affects and pricing in the music and sorting out the timings for the ending where April opened her eyes which i was glad to fond a sound affect for which made it more intense and sudden. This experience has really shown me how much music and sound affects effect the quality and flow of a film. I also find that the editing took a lot more work than i had initially expected, as i thought it would be more filming. 

As a group I'm glad that we had started filming very early on into our coursework as it really helped us time wise as we had managed to perfect things, that we wouldn't have been able to change and improve if we didn't have that time. I think as a group we worked really well although some people did not do as much editing as others we were able to spread out the jobs between the four of us quite well. When we first started the topic we had done a preliminary task which wasn't very good but int he time between then and now i think all of us in the group have really improved and have gained a lot of new skills and experiences. I think my own editing skills have improved enormously since restarted and have progressed to get better throughout, it took some learning curves but i also found that if i wasn't sure of something someone in the group knew how to do something or if not we would would do some research and find out.

Also for the match on match on the van we found it very hard on how to make the two images blur together to make one smooth movement. I found that by using a transition and cropping down the second image i was able to line up the two shots and use the transition to pull them together. At first i found that the transition didn't work but then looking closer to the computer tools, there you can shorten the transition so it was quick between the two shots to make it less obvious and the shot was then clearer for longer.

Towards the end of our editing it did start to become a bit of a chore as at some points we felt so close but so far to finally finishing. Some of my favourite shots that we took were: the van, ending shot and when we filmed Hannah leaning back in her chair and the shot changing half way through. I think these were my favourite shots because they took so much time to figure out and make them work, that when we had got them right they looked really good and you could see how much time we had spent on them.

Initially when we had created the ending to our Thriller there was scream, at the end but now that we had changed that to the beaten face coming through the title and then the loud sound emphasising it i prefer how we changed it and in my opinion it links better to the genre ofd the film and works better.

Re-filming 3rd March

Finally this is was our last time filming and I'm glad that we decided to change our ending as now everything fits into place so much better also our 360 degree turn although we found was very hard to do we still manages. As luckily Hannah has a Lazy Susan (a turning disk in the middle of her table) where we were able to place the camera and do the shot in one go but the turning of it at a consistent speed was really hard as either someone was seen or it went too fast or slow at times. So it took us a long time to finish this. 

For our last shot we had changed it completely from the other times we had filmed. For this i had done Paige's makeup to make her look like she had been abused which thankfully turned out really well. We also used a simple black pair of tights to make the gag as we weren't sure what to use but we found that they were the closets thing we were going to fins.

After doing her makeup in Hannah's house there is a wall in her kitchen that is a drag grey that worked perfectly with the filmed lightly to use as place to film Paige, and we would edit it by darkening the background so it doesn't look as textured and fit better at the end as the shot Fades through the title.

When editing we found that when we originally filmed the shot of April walking down the stairs and putting her shoes on that a coat was in the way so although there was the indication that she was putting her shoes on you couldn't actually see so we decided to retake the shot. As we had done it before, i found it very easy to retake the shot it just took a while to get the right position from above to get the angle we needed for the shot.

I think the shot of Paige opening her eyes is one of my favourite because with the correct sound effect and piece of music i will be able to give the shot some more intensity and impact as she opened her eyes so quickly. 

Production schedule for 3rd of March

The reason we are re-filming our 2nd half again because we were not completely satisfied with how our Opening ends and we thought that we would change the ending completely as we think by doing this we could get a much higher grade using a better ending. We also found that we were using quite a stereotypical ending that has been used in previous films, so we thought that we would start the 2nd half fresh and come up with another way to end our opening scene and make it less predictable

We will still be filming at Hannah's home after school on 3rd of February. We will be continue using the same props and Outfits that have been used previously, and my outfit will be with the white blouse and smaller amount of makeup as we decided it worked better. This time however we will be using a remote rather than Hannah leaning over the TV, we will be using the Kitchen table as one of our props and also a glass of water and some tissues.
Characters: will be Susan Richmond, Hannah, Jessica and Poppy.
People that will be present will be: Myself, Paige, Hannah, Jasmine and Lacey

Last time we had re-filmed we had planned to use a school camera but ended up using my own as some of thew members in our group hadn't given in our permission slips. However to our advantage my camera had worked really well and improved the quality of the film with little to no blur, but the battery was not fully charged so we had to recharge half way through filming so it had taken a bit longer than expected. So we will have to make sure it is fully charged this time. Also instead of filming the interrogation in the living room we will be doing a 360 degree shot so that every time a question is asked a new person is answering the question. Also after the screen goes black at the end of our opening we will have our title come up and then a fade in of April's face all bruised and battered with her eyes closed before they suddenly open.

The production schedules that we have used to guide us each time we re-film and the story boards have really helped and i think they have kept us on track although we may have slightly changed and improvised while filming.

After we have re-filmed this last part of our opening which will hopefully we will be finished so we can start editing on the Monday 5th March. We should be finished with all of our editing and filming after a couple of weeks.

Re-filming 10th february

When re-filming it took a bit longer to get started as people were late or they we needed to focus. but after everyone was on the same track we got started properly. Like the first time we had filmed the the 2nd half i took a point of view shot of Poppy sitting down as we thought that it was a good shot to keep as it was then adding to the variety of different shots we were using. This also gave you a shot before having the closeups off Poppy as this is where i ask if she is Okay.

We found it easier to put the news report on this TV this time as we knew what we were doing as we have now had a bit go experience with our timing so we could get it right when we were filming the news report last time.

We filmed this shot of Lacey walking out the house except unfortunately because of the time of day we filmed we couldn't use shot from last time showing the sky which was one our favourite shots so we had to retake the shot in the day. Which still worked but the one before hand would have worked better especially for our Thriller/suspense theme.

When re-filming Hannah was the one who took the close-ups of Poppy's face which worked well as we had managed to get them at the right angle. However when we looked at these after filming one was talking using the flash so did not match the others but we did not find this out until we started editing.

I think as a group this time we were more experienced which meant that we found it easier to swap and change which shots we took. We also Had another investigator (Matthew) as generally you would see a lot of thrillers have more than one investigator present. We found that this worked quite well as the focus was more not the questions and Poppy than on the rest of the characters. 

Re-filming 2nd half story board

For frame 4 we decided that we would do the Pan whilst Poppy gets put o answer there door bell to save time and so that there is a link to her walking out of the living room and opening the front door in the next frame. 

In Frame 7 after briefly talking to the investigator she invites her into the home by opening the slightly wider and stepping to the side. Here i thought it would be good that whilst they talk the ,music should fad out slightly and be more in the background rather than being too loud. 

I think for Frame 10 it would be good to have the heart beat get louder as it shows each closeup, generally when people are nervous or upset they bite the inside of there mouth or there lip so the close up of the mouth works well as it is a known nervous tick that most people have.

For Frame 14 the match on match between the Investigator and Poppy works well and the wide shot shows both characters. Showing The Investigator thanking Poppy fir answering her questions.

With our storyboards as a group we use them more as a guideline rather than a set script as when we are filming we finds it better to sometimes improvise or use a slightly different angle that works better for us and we feel looks better generally. 

Planning for 10th february.

We will be re-filming in the 10th of february for our second half of our opening scene, so as a group we made another production plan so we knew what we needed to do on the day:

The filming will take place at Hannah's house after school.

For props we need to use the TV to show the news report, Note pad and pen for investigator to make them look more professional, Also we will be using a fake business card to give to one of the family/friends like you would stereotypically see in an investigation as the family are always given a contact incase of extra information.

Characters will be: Susan Richmond-Me, Co-worker-Matthew, Samantha Jones-Miss Court, Poppy Greene, Jessica-Jasmine and Hannah and Laura are Extras.

People who will be: Paige, Matthew, Poppy, Jasmine, Hannah, Laura and Myself.

Shots that we need to re-film:

• Extreme close-up of the news report
• Long shot pan of the room
• Halfway through the pan, do close up of my face as i start talking
• Point of view, shot reverse shot of the conversation between Jasmine and myself
• Cut to the conversation between Matthew and Lacey
• Close-up of Lacey's Facial expressions, hands, eyes and mouth
• Mid-long shot of Lacey running out of the house
• Long shot of Lacey speed walking out of the the front door slamming it behind her
• Pan around as Lacey sits down against the wall
• Low angle shot of view, showing the sky
• Screen goes black.

Video discussion about re-filming

Our discussion

Match on match of van

When doing our match on match shot of the van we found that it was harder than we first thought to make it flow past without looking like it was jumping from one shot to the other. We tried multiple different ways of attempting to get it to go past almost unnoticeable, because the shots were very slightly different we had to crop down the actual image of the van to make it exactly the same between the two shots. We also found that by using a transition that blurs two shots together, which cause represent the passing of time and which indicates that something bad has happened while the van carries on past. Although this shot was the hardest to edit i think this is one of the best in our whole opening scene.

Re-filming the 2nd half

When we started editing we found that a lot of shots in the second half were blurry and we would need to re-film a fair few of the shots to improve the quality of the ending. Unfortunately we found that the reason the shots were blurry was because we were Hannah's personal camera which is more designed for pictures rather than videoing. So we will have to refill the majority if not all of our last section to improve the quality of the film. We also found we didn't have all the shots we needed and some were unusually short or were too fast as we needed to pace ourselves a little better. We decided since we are all available we will be re-filming on the Friday 10th February. We will be using either my camera as it is more used for filming or a school camera to ensure that our filming is clear. We will also be taking shots to make sure we have enough and that we have some to pick from that are better quality.

Titles and font research

The font used to open a film is very important as it is generally the first thing you see and it also has to match the genre of the film. The font for Thriller is normally in capital letters and like all movies has to stand to show the name of the film. Also the font of the Title of the film in my eyes should be different to the font used for the credits, showing the names of the actors and actresses. As a group we were trying to think of the name for our opening scene and thought we woulod stick to something fairly simple, but we knew there wasn't a film with the same so we are calling it April. The font of the title can determine how popular the film becomes as it would generally be the same Font used to open the film that is used in the posters. If the title were to look childish and unprofessional then the audience may assume that the film may not be very good or could be quite boring. Also in the start you would need to show the names of the compnaies and the distributors of the film. So a well known company would not be particularly impressed that because of the font and how their names are presented to look amateurish.   

Insideous is a well known Horror/Thriller film. The title here is very bold with a dark background and a deep red title that has an almost blood splatter affect which immediatly shows the audience what type of movie it is. It also shows a well know a well known film director which would also increase the popularity of the film because a lot of people prejudge a film by who is the director and producer. His name is also in bold and is made to stand out so is white instead of red otherwise the two titles would be likely to crash so you they would need to be different colours to make sure they both are noticable against the background.

Fonts i researched:











When i was researching i thought that these fonts could really work for the opening as they were very bold and were all different fonts but were still fairly similar the middle two i found were although quite scary and very bold they wouldn't work as well as the one at the top or the bottom because i found that these two were commonly used in Thriller films where as the other two were more on the Horror side. My personal favourite is the last one as its bold but its not no too big although simple i think it would still work really well with our opening.

Doing this research has proven useful as it has shown me how the Titles of a film really do make a difference and also how many different fonts are available to use as there are multiple for alll genres and occasions.

Location Research

As a group before filming we needed to decided where we were going to film our opening scene and what background we wanted for different areas of our film. We came to decision that we would use Hannah's house for multiple reasons, her house was closer to the school and was very close the location we decided that April was gonna disappear at. Also her house it quite spacious so it would be easier to move around and position the camera where we wanted to take the our shots. The road outside of Hannah's house it conveniently quite so we weren't going to have too many interruptions meaning we could really use the outside area to our advantage.

The main places in the house we are going to use are the bedroom, living room and kitchen. We also needed to use the front of Hannah's house especially for the beginning where April is shown leaving.
The bedroom and staircase worked well for our 1st half of our opening s they were perfect representation of how a teenage girl would generally live and the lighting in those areas give a warm cheery atmosphere in the house.

The living room and kitchen will be used to film the investigation in the 2nd half of our opening. We are using these areas as they are the main areas a family would congregate, especially in this kind of situation.

Not far from Hannah's home there is a secluded wooded area with a road in front of it that is mainly quiet.This is where we filmed April's disappearance as it is the perfect place for the van to drive past without too much interruption. The woods also immediately indicate that something bad is going to happen as the forest is thick and of an evening would become dark and scary.

Our news report was located in our media room at school because the green screen made it easier for us to film over and put in an image behind our reporter. Also in our media room we already had the props we needed as we only needed a table and chair to be placed in front of the wall to create our report.

Props and costume list

April's costume consists of, black jeans, a black vest top, some black converse, a green parker jacket and a burgandy back pack.
My group and i decided that this would be her outfit because we wanted her to remain casual as she is only supposed to be going to her friends house so wouldnt need to be overly dressed or madeup. We choose quite  dark outfit because we wanted this to portray that something isn't right as someone as bubbly as Aprils's character would stereotypically be seen in light cheerful/colours. We decided on using the backpack because we wanted it to look fit for purpose as generally when you stay round a friends house you would carry a big bag with you.

Poppy's costume wasn't as thought out as we just wanted her to look casual but comfortable as when you find that a a close family member is missing you wouldnt be too fussed to make too much effort as you would too destraught and worriesd.

Susan Richmonds costume was a smart black blazer, a white blouse, dark trousers, red lipstick and a note pad and pen. As Susan is the investigator she needs to look professional and meet the standards of what you would thing an investigator would wear. We chose the colour red for the lipstick as we said that it would represent a type of danger. We also introduced the note pad and pen because we wanted to make her look as professional as possible as possible, also shoing that she is afficient as he writes April's friends and families replies to her questions.

We wanted to use a red van because its stands out and symbolises danger, alos he red van is very noticable however it would be hard to find and people generally wouldn't expect such a brightly coloured vehicle to be used. It would also allow our audience to make their own assumptions about what happens to April.

We used the living room because every house has one and would therefore make it easier to take the shots needed and the inteveiw. We also wanted the living room to symbolise a place filled with Apri's loved ones, to show how many people care for her and the damage her Disappearance has caused.

For the rest of the people in the scene we kept the costumes simple so they were just in every day clothes and hadn't made too much effort otherwise it would look very staged and we wanted it to look more prfessional and show a representation of a real trauma that has affected the family.

I found that this list was very helpful as we needed a guideline so that when we wre filming we all knew what we were wearing, which also meant we weren't taking too long to decide our outfits on filming day.

Target Audience

Questions I used in my survey:

 1) How old are you?



2)Do you like Thriller films?









3)What's your favourite Thriller film?

• Gone Girl 
• Prisoner
• Saw 
• Inception
• Dark Knight
• Black Swan 
• Jaws
• Sixth Sense
• Orphanage
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Some for these were quite popular so more than one person chose some of them such as Gone Girl.

4)What do you like about Thriller films?

• Suspense
• Mystery 
• The Chase
• Shock
• Other

For this question most people put that Suspense and mystery were the main themes that drew them to thriller films as it gives the film adrenaline and intrigues the audience

  5)What is your Gender?

6)Do you prefer the Title to come before or after the opening of the film?

7)Are you more likely to watch a film if you like the actors?

Most people said that they would be more inclined to watch a film with famous actors that they know because generally they're movies would be good however others said that based there decision on the plot of the film although they would still sway there decision on tho the main characters are in the film. 

9)What do you think would be a good name for the Main characters (April) sister?

10) do you think the music/sound effects improves the quality of a thriller film?