Media Studies - Thriller Opening - Delusion

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Thriller Evaluation, Question 5,6: What have you learnt since completing your preliminary task. Also how did new technologies help out in the process of making the thriller film.

Since completing my preliminary task I have learnt how to create a more crisp edit, this allows the film to flow more and not have an unprofessional feel about it. This is due to the experience i gained from doing the preliminary task, as I now know where to apply transitions and effects. After completing the preliminary task I noticed that you cant over use camera angles, for example a birds eye shot, if as a production company use too many the film will be confusing and feel like its the same thing over and over again, making it boring for the audiences. The main thing is the plot, after the preliminary I learnt how to build tension and keep the audiences on the edge of their seat, which is vital for a thriller film, the cliff-hanger keeps them hooked.

New Technologies

In the planning new technologies helped us out as we were able to research other Thriller films on YouTube, to help with our shot selection. For example the car boot shot what is featured in Jackie Brown gave us real inspiration, as shown at the bottom. While shooting the thriller we used mobile phones to contact each other when filming is and where it is taking place. During shooting our cannon camera let us review our footage through the digital screen making it easier to see if we needed to reshoot a clip, this makes the filming process so much faster as we don't have to keep going back another day to reshoot. Finally during editing the clips where rather dark there for we used a colour editing tool to make all the clips brighter, improving the quality of the film.

Thriller Evaluation, Question 2: How is masculinity represented in 'Delusion'

In the opening to 'Delusion' at the start the male character Charlie is shown to be less dominant figure compared to the female, this challenges the stereotype of the generic feature as the male character should be dominant, Charlie is shown to use his emotions from being scared where they should be stronger then the female -Molly- who is shown to be fearless when she is first introduced.  In the ending to the opening the dominance has flipped showing Charlie to be the dominant character therefore, it leads the audience to believe in the woman and her dominance although is immediately struck down in a click of the fingers when Charlie is shown to be alive and  Eve is dead, he stands over her showing that he is the dominant character, the lighting in that scene can be misleading though as the lighting almost shows she has the most power as the light beams down on Eve. The dream itself can be symbolic as it can represent that every man is not who you expect them to be, strong and powerful what a male should be compared to the female in context to thriller films, although in his dream he is weaker, this challenges the stereotype as it shows men fearing women.

Thriller Evaluation, Question 3,4: Who is the target audience, what aspects appeal to them.

Our film 'Delusion' is aimed out thriller film lovers between the ages of 16-22 year old. I believe we will attract ages in that bracket due to the characters that we casted. we were unable to cast characters 18+ as that would make our film more professional, although we chose character that look older than they are both Molly who plays Eve who we believe is a generic femme fatal name, this links into 'Once Apon A Time In America' and Sam are 17. Although having characters that are 17 as the audience can relate to them, rather than having a 50 year old, as the audience can put their selves into the characters shoes, making it much more engaging for the audience. Another reason why this opening can be relatable as it uses contemporary moral anxieties, for example stalking, this is when we uses the 360 shot from Eve not being there to her being revealed behind him without Charlie knowing. Another one we use is the fear of death, Charlie dreams about dying, these both are relatable anxieties making it seem like the audience is actually in the film at more depths.
       Another aspect of the film opening that with appeal to the target audience is how confusing the opening is. As 'Delusion' starts the audience have no idea what's going on, if its a dream or real life creating willingness to watch more, although as it unravels the audience still don't know why Eve played by Molly is laying there dead after Charlie played by Sam has just woke after having a dream about Eve killing Charlie. All this makes the audience want more as they want to understand what has just happened making them continue watching the film. You could say the title of the film 'Delusion' is how it makes the audience feel, deloused. Another aspect of the film that makes the opening more confusing is that there is no narrative, this makes the audience read between the lines making the opening however they want it to be, therefore different people will interpret it differently, maybe the dream is the other way round.
       The final aspect that will attract audiences is camera work and shots. If the camera work is shaky the production will seem unprofessional also if there is a lack of camera angles the film will get boring. therefore we decided to fit as many different camera angles in as possible such as a birds eye shot, which is shown below, this attracts the audience as it shows Charlie to be weaker but also doesn't reveal his surroundings so you never know what's lying ahead of him. The camera work in the opening to our thriller was shaky at times although this can add to the affect as it makes the film more suspense filled because its almost representing nervousness

 

 

 

 

 

Thriller Evaluation, Question 1: Choose 2 aspects you can evaluate.

Location

For our thriller we wanted a secluded area what hasn't got much life. Being secluded is a generic thriller theme therefore we were sticking to the genre. We found St. Andrews car park. St. Andrews car park is a perfect place as it has an open roof but the roof is surrounded in lights making it perfect for shooting in dark but also has endless opportunity's making the opening to the film exciting, or main character Charlie could fall off the side! Another reason why we chose this car park is that this location is a very common place, therefore in this film we are making a normal location into a dangerous, mysterious location. We knew shooting in the dark will always be a challenge although the effect of it makes it fantastic as you never know what's coming from any angle!

Lighting

We filmed our opening to the thriller film 'Delusion' at night time, the reason we chose this is because the depths of the night are always mysterious and you never know what's waiting for you round the next corner. The non ambient lighting from the car park lights creates shadows and the wet ground creates reflections therefore this leads the audiences to jumping to conclusions, thinking someone is there when actually they are not, this creates a dream like affect making the audience feel the same as Charlie our main character. In the opening we used Chiaroscuro lighting, a generic thriller theme. As Charlie parks his car we use a very controversial use of lighting as he goes from being in a dark car, to having the lights come on, this leads the audience to believe that Charlie is the dominant character as 'the light is shining down on him' although towards the end of the dream the lighting gets darker and darker showing the Charlie is not going to be the dominant figure therefore the lighting in the start of 'Delusion' makes the audience confused because its almost telling them a different story. Especially at the end of the start of 'Delusion' where 'the light is shining down on Molly although she is dead.

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