" Catch it, Kill it" Finished

" Catch it, Kill it" Finished

Question 5

Our thriller mainly focused mise-en-scene and character stereotyping to attract and address the audience. The location of the thriller was inspired by Peter Weir's "Witness", we felt that the gritty public cubicles were a very uneasy place to be. We seem to grip the audience with the sense of entrapment, foulness of the toilets and the sense of vulnerability it the scummy public toilets, due to these factors it will help build suspense. The audience will be able to relate to an instance when they were in a cubicle and didn't feel comfortable or threatened, this will help attract audiences because they will engage with the scene.
Another way we attracted our target audience is by including two characters the same age as our target audience, this was done so when they watch the film they can potentially relate to the character. The main focus of the film is of the gay character, this was done so the audience could relate, engage and even feel sympathetic for the character, this was done with the use of follow shots, master shots and also the whole shot revolving around the gay character. A small minority of the audience will also be able to relate with the gay character because they may have been in situations where they were victimized because of there sexuality. The film addresses social issues on how those who are different are victimised not admired for there decisions. One of the main points of the film was to address how homosexuals are victimised, this will attract a specific audience of homosexuals because they will be able to relate with the plot and emphasise for the main character.

Those within the target audience will also be able to relate to the film through the clothing of the main character, it portrays popular high street fashion which will help attract our target audience because they will engage with the characters style and attitudes.

The finale of the intro leaves the audience at a cliff hanger, the villain has the main character pinned up against a wall. Audiences will be attracted to watch more because they will be curious of what happens, does he escape? is he killed? A main aspect of a thriller film is the use of a cliff hanger to create suspense and create an attraction from the audiences. 

Question 2

The ways in which gender is represented in our film are portrayed in two different ways. One of which is a homosexual character who wears skinny jeans and a denim jacket, we chose this costume because it is part of the current fashion trends worn by teenagers today, this enables our target audience of 16-25 year olds to relate with the character. The old denim look was also chosen because in Shane Meadow's 'This Is England' the costume is used to show the time the film was set and also for the audience to engage with the old vintage style. This use of costume is an intertextual reference helping highlight the issues of homophobia and racism also brought up in 'This Is England'.













"Recent controversies over Hollywood’s negative depiction of homosexuality have focused on how such portrayals marginalize and silence gays and lesbians. Organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) argue that films such as Basic Instinct and The Silence of the Lambs demonize gays and lesbians by portraying them as psychopaths.

In his book The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo analyzes the representation of gays and lesbians in Hollywood films from the 1890s to the 1980s, and demonstrates a history of homophobia. He argues that Hollywood’s portrayal of lesbians and gay men has often been cruel and homophobic. Gay and lesbian characters have been defined by their sexual orientation, and lacked any complex character development"

It seems as if we didn't challenge the idea of male dominance which is prominent in such films as Essex Boys and Taxi Driver where woman are seen as an object by males. Yet we twist the idea, this is done by showing a conflict between two males, one gay and the other straight. So in a weird manner we are still conforming to the idea of 'Male dominance'. Our film also suggests that the area in which it is filmed is filled with corruption and crime, therefore representing Norwich as a hostile place.

The villain wears large baggy hoodies which help shadow his face creating a sense of enigma, this technique was taken from the extreme use of  Chiaroscuro lighting in 'A Third Man'. This was used to create a sense of split personality's where the villain is torn between good and evil. Also the hoodie was used to represent the 'Chav' social group. In 2010 there was a huge scandal claiming teenagers wearing hoodies are anti-social and commit crimes from looting a store to stabbing a rival gang member. We used hoodies to follow the common negative stereotyping of teenagers by the older generation which seem to paint all teenagers with the same brush as those small few who actually commit crimes within there estates. Hoodies are also seen as very intimidating so we decided to use extremely low angled shots to reinforce the negative stereotype of teens.


 I wanted the characters to look as normal as possible, as a group we were trying to achieve a gritty British thriller and achieved this by using realistic locations. The normal costume was done because characters like Harry Lime, Pope in Animal Kingdom and Travis from Taxi Driven all appear to be normal yet all have hidden secrets. 

Studying fashion trends I saw that Hoodies were greatly fashionable in the 2000's and that the denim look is highly fashionable now. What I have tried to do is use costume to represent different attitudes towards homosexuality, in the 2000-03 there was no such thing as civil partnerships until in 2004 all that changed. It seems that at the current time homosexuality is widely accepted, whereas ten years ago it was highly frowned upon, so in our production we are showing the difference in old and new views. This technique was highly used in Shane Meadow's 'This Is England' with the use of costume representing the racist views of the time. Our production targets homosexuals and the negative views against them, our main goal was to shock people, we may offend some people, but I think the only way to get a message through is by shock. This technique is also used in This Is England, the uncomfortable scenes help change people views on issues being addressed because they get to see it in a different light. This Is England was originally made to stop the youth from joining racist cults and organisations like BNP. In the same way our intentions was to make a production which highlighted the was homosexuals are being subjectified and stop it. 


To conclude I think that the representation of gay people sympathetic, audiences will engage with the character because he controls the first two minutes, with a range of high and low angled shots following him. The gay controls the shoot and this allows audiences to engage with his character thus feeling sympathetic when he is confronted by the hooded villain. 

Question 1

The opening of my thriller is called "Catch it, Kill it", it is a two minute introduction to a thriller film which attempts to challenge common thriller conventions and stereotypes yet still lie within the genre. The primary location of our thriller is in a toilet cubicle, we got a great deal of inspiration for this from Peter Weir's "Witness". I I liked the ways a place filled corrupt crimes driven by money and power. We also used the toilet to reinforce ideas of isolation and claustrophobia within our film. The first way I think our media product challenges the thriller conventions is by involving homophobic issues. I feel that homophobic attacks within society are a major problem yet nothing is done about it, it's as if homosexuality is a 'Taboo' subject and this is why I have chosen to include it in the film. Before 1976 being homosexual was treated as a medical illness and even a criminal offence. Some Christians frown upon the topic of homosexuality, many believe that being gay is 'Wasting the seed' and 'If a man sleeps with a man like he would a woman both should be stoned to death'. Also in 2008 one in every five homosexual people were victims of hate crimes, this is why i want to make a film on the issue. I feel that homosexual people are being subjectified for there sexuality and not them as people which I think is wrong. With this in mind i feel that our thriller targets issues still around today meaning it is still very much relevant to today's audiences in a time filled with anti-social behaviour and hate crimes against those who are different.

Peter Weir's "Witness" has been extremely influential, the specific sequence where Sam Lapp, the Amish child witnesses the brutal killing of a police officer in the run down seedy toilets in 30th street station in Philadelphia. The great use of extreme close ups, claustrophobic spaces and non-ambient lighting very inspiring. The mise en scene in witness helps illuminate and describe the thriller genre effortlessly. Films like Kill Bill and Taxi Driver have been very influential with the intense use of claustrophobic spaces, for example the coffin in Kill Bill helps create suspense and an ongoing feel of isolation, we decided to use the cubicles because we found they looked very menacing. We decided on making our thriller very scummy and gritty, we feel just as in the Artctic Monkeys 'When the sun goes down' music video the gritty look gives a very British feel, which is what we want to achieve with our production.

From the scummy cubicles to the gritty lighting, the characters in in the "Witness" toilet scene are used to express Peter Weir's feelings about American culture, showing how it is a corrupt country driven by money and bloodshed. We attempted to achieve the same thing in our thriller, using the two characters to help represent the homophobic attitudes in contemporary Britain. I think that using a suburban area, which seems relatively busy as a murder scene will shock some people, also I think that the suburban area helps because it doesn't fix the film to one location, it could be anywhere around the country. In our thriller we seem to reinforce the idea of male dominance because the gay character shows attributes of a female character.

Strangely the killings in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" were very influential, because the difference between Ordell and Louis is show by the location of there killing. Ordell is very controlled and takes his victim to a dark suburban plot, where as Louis kills Melanie in the middle of a car park in broad daylight. The locations say alot about character, Ordell is calm and collected whereas Louis is ruthless and doesn't care who knows. We used the idea of location to represent characteristics and views on homosexuality, the cubicles show how the topic is pushed to the side and ignored by society (shown by the run down toilets) and also how people like to keep there true feelings on gays locked up until they crack, just as the hooded characters did when he saw the opportunity to attack.

As a group we also wanted to highlight the idea of hoodies being associated with crime, and reinforcing the stereotype of anti-social behavior committed by them.

News story by Matt Drake...

Britain was mourning the latest innocent victims of violent crime last week after a spate of senseless murders.

"In every case, the killer’s sullen face was hidden beneath the disguise of feral society – the hooded top.

Across the country, violence, vandalism, theft and disorder are an everyday menace, created by faceless gangs of youths with little fear of ever being caught. Streets, trains, buses and shopping centres have become no-go zones for terrified citizens who have been intimidated by hoodies for too long. The latest victim, just 14, was set upon yards from his home on Thursday night and fatally stabbed in the throat by a baying mob of hooded thugs.Today the Sunday Express calls for a crackdown on this terrifying trend and demands that police officers get tough and order hoods to be removed in public places.Just as banks ban people from wearing crash helmets on their premises, we believe high streets and public transport would be safer if hoods were outlawed and exclusion zones imposed."

This is just one of many articles which generate a stereotype of teenagers as " Hooded thugs", It is news story's like this which make the older public scared of the younger generation. In our thriller we are reinforcing the idea of hooded thugs through the killer wearing a hoodie to protect his face, casting a shadow which shows a darker side to his character. 

Question 7

Over the duration of the AS Media course I have been able to develop on my filming skills from the preliminary task to our final thriller production. When filming my preliminary I found that my time management was inefficient and I found myself falling behind. When filming the thriller we made sure that we had made a storyboard to make filming fast and effective. Yet we still seemed to fall behind with prevented shoots due to acting problems, weather issues and problems with lighting. Many times before we had to re-shoot scenes because the images were unreadable, this became a problem because we filmed a lot of our production in the snow, so re-shoots became awkward once the snow had cleared.

                                            (example of unreadable shot)

Editing was difficult also because as a group we decided to collect all of the raw footage we then began to edit instead of progressive editing after every shoot. We decided to do this because we found that we would think of better ideas of shots as we filmed, so it would be easier to edit all of it at once with a large range of angles to choose from instead of going back and applying different shots which may not flow. This then put us behind everyone else because they began editing whilst we were still shooting, this wasn’t a problem because we thought it was better to take our time rather than rush the edit.

Whilst filming “Catch it, Kill it” with aid of the preliminary task I know understand how shot plans, story boards and floor plans are vital. Also I grasped the idea that a storyboard is just there to guide, it isn’t a fixed plan of shot by shot. whilst on the AS Media course I learnt about shot reversed shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. During the preliminary task I broke the 180 degree rule resulting in a re-shoot, having learnt from my errors the same mistake weren't made during the shot of the thriller.

                   (look at my preliminary task, it will help illustrate my points)


Looking back at the planning for the opening of "Catch it, Kill it" I put forward the idea of homophobic attitudes, this was because I thought that it was an issue relevant to the times and also commonly pushed to the side by television and press. When deciding on costume we looked at the current trends of teenagers and did this by visiting sites like Topman.com and also looking at films from Shane Meadows. We did this because we wanted to appeal to our target audience of 16-25 year olds by wearing the latest fashionable clothing. We went against the common thriller convention of wearing black trench coats and trilby hats, this was because we felt it wouldn't suit the theme of the piece. When shooting our Preliminary we wore our normal school clothes because there was a strict time in which we could film, whereas with the thriller we had alot of time to plan and research costume which meant we were able to make the intro to our thriller look realistic, and used costume to connote specific aspects of characters and also target the ongoing issue of hoodies in society and how they are linked with crime. Considering the idea of lighting it was very hard to film outside because a large percentage of our shots were unreadable and had to be cut out, this became a problem because it was hard to follow the plot so re-shoots were organised. Whilst filming I suggested the use of very low shots of the hoodie to give an ambiguous nature to his character. 


Whilst planning our thriller as a group we were very influenced by Peter Weir's Witness and also Terry Winsor's Essex Boys, we liked the ways in which location was used to emphasis feelings of loneliness and distance from society. For location we decided upon toilets, we felt that they had an element of claustrophobia and also the cubicles showed how the issue of homophobia was taboo subject commonly brushed away by society. 
When deciding upon a film title it seemed to find us, instead of us looking and experimenting with different names. Whilst shooting in the toilet there was a sign above every sink saying "Catch it, Bin it, Kill it". This was a government campaign done to prevent the spreading of germs and we felt it suited the themes in our thriller, and also the cubicle location. 


Before starting the Media AS course I had made some skate edits for friends which I edited on free online editing site, this editing software was not to dissimilar to Adobe Premier Elements used in school, this meant that the editing process was easy enough to master. The use of fade to blacks within our production helps avoid awkward jump cuts from different locations, this enabled the plot to flow better and made it easier to read by audiences. If "Catch it, Kill it" was made into a full length film I think that the prolonged fade to black at the end would suggest the intro sequence as a flashback, because the shots seem to be held for a long time and only focusing on specific actions. For example when the curly haired character (me) goes to the toilet it suddenly jumps to a shot of me washing my hands, this seems very unrealistic, with the use of effective cross dissolves the sequence could have looked like a nightmare. 
When deciding upon a soundtrack for the opening I didn't want to overcrowd the piece with an annoying soundtrack which would distract the audience from the action on screen. The soundtrack chosen is by Moby Gratis and is very melancholy with an eerie feel which i felt suited the uneasy mood of the piece. 
After receiving feedback from teachers and peers on the film I adjusted aspects of the film. For example there was one shot which most people found unreadable and confusing so it was removed to make the film easier to read, this feedback was useful in improving the final product. Overall I think that I have learnt a tremendous amount about the connotations of camera angles, inter-textuality and the narrative structure of films, although being stressful and time consuming I enjoyed making the film

Question 6 :

Before I undertook the Media AS course I had no pre-excisting knowledge of the website "Blogger", this online blogging site is vital to the Media AS course. Blogger allows students upload, organise and showcase work in a sufficient way, Blogger is also useful because you are able to search for work under specific labels making it easy to navigate through blogs. The blogs are also very useful because it allows students to document there work digitally meaning there is far less paper work to take care of because finished work can be stored on the internet.

There was a drastic learning curve when it came to the cameras, being a skateboarder myself I was used to filming other people skateboarding which is relatively easy. There is a drastic difference when it comes to serious productions like our "Catch it, Kill it", I have learnt how camera angle and composition can say so many things about a character and even change the way the character is perceived by the viewers. Realising that a picture says a thousand words, using two minutes of footage to my advantage I tried to fill each shot with as much hidden agendas and inter textual references as possible. noticeably the consistent link to Peter Weir's Witness with the toilet sequence, we also did this because we liked the way that Peter Weir's film showed a difference between to different cultures and attitudes towards each other, yet in our production we use sexuality and try to fixate upon the negative stereotyping of homosexual people. This was done to shock the audience, not warp there views to believe hate crimes are justifiable.
My knowledge of camera angles has also increase tremendously from vague to a wide understanding. I have learnt  different camera angles ranging from extremely low close ups, pan shots, tracking, follows and master shot. i know understand the connotations camera angles can give, for example in "Catch it, Kill it" there is a extremely low angled shot of the hooded character (Will) as he ambushes the other character. The extreme low angled shot represents Wills power, intimidation and also how he is over powering. whereas if there was an extremely high angled shot over will it would completely change the mood of the piece by removing wills power and authority. If i wanted to create a consistently smooth shot from any angle we used a tripod or even a dolly. Yet sometimes we found it hard to get a smooth panning shot using the tripod because it was very awkward to maneuver and the turning plate would stiffen creating awkward jerks during shots.

Keeping to our timed filming schedule was very difficulty because we would have to adapt our ideas constantly due to actors not turning up and radical idea changes. In the end we had to postpone the shoot until  we had a solid idea which was simple and meant we didn't have to rely on other people, which is why the only actors are Will, Austin and I. We realised that filming in winter would be changing because of the early nights, we soon found that some of our footage was unreadable to others and resulted in re-shoots, yet the dusky weather created perfect locations to shoot because they included common aspects of the thriller genre like wet, cold dark streets and also gave a very dismal representation of Britain.
When we captured the film we used a program called Adobe Premier Elements, although being very limited it helped me generate new skills needed for editing very quickly. whilst editing I experimented with the fade to blacks and cross dissolves found in the large effects library, yet some successful and others looking very amateur. Sadly with Adobe there wasn't the option to alter brightness of shots manually, there was just the option to increase brightness, which sometimes resulted in the shots looking extremely pix-elated and tacky. At first editing was very tedious and un-successful, but once there was a chronological outline of the final product it was easy to see what needed to be changed and helped visualise the final product.
Music for the film was extremely hard to find, after searching many internet outlets such as unsignedbands.com, ccmixter.org and mobygratis.com. Personally i found it hard finding a suitable track which was full of suspense and speed, i then realised that most fast paced soundtracks made our video feel like the opening to an Action film. But this affect was used very well when making the trailer for animal kingdom because it enabled the film to appeal to a wider audience than just thriller fanatics. When placing titles we didn't want to distract the viewer from the action on screen so we placed the subtly in the corner of shots.

REPRESENTATION OF AGE - Skins clip

The first opening shot of the clip is a slow zooming crane shot, this shot helps the audience engage with Tony and also represent how the youth is very self-loathing. A common stereotype of teenagers is that they are untidy and lazy. This is contradicted by the extremely fast jump cuts of tony doing exercises with a very upbeat soundtrack showing the energy of the youth. The fast jump cuts also help show the precision and cleanness of Tony’s actions, which helps emphasise the control that the youth has.

The first thirty seconds of the clip focuses heavily on tony which connotes the vanity of the youth which focus heavily on visual appearances. 

The first thirty seconds of the clip focus heavily on Tony's actions from a range of close ups to medium shots, but these shots seem to always be on the eye line of Tony which helps the audience interact with his character and also see the youth in a positive manner. The extreme close ups on Tony's IPod doc helps signify how teenagers are in touch with modern technology. When the father is shown to the audience he storms into Tony's room like a screaming buffoon, this immediately represents adults as violent and inadequate of keeping control. Whereas Tony on the other hand is shown to be very calm and collected, another aspect which challenges modern stereotypes. The use of costume in this sequence also accentuates the differences between the two age groups. Both father and son are in boxer shorts, the father’s physique reveals his barbaric nature whereas Tony has a slim fit figure showing the youth yet again in a positive manner. The next shot is close up of Effie sneaking past her father; this shot uses the rule of thirds with the father’s ogre like stomach covering one third and Effie covering the other. This shot helps undermine the father’s power over the children and reinforce the power of the youth.

The extreme close up on the fathers face whilst he is shouting at tony shows how parents are viewed by teens, very up front and in your face. Throughout the clip Tony seems to be the centre of attention, when something happens there is a shot of the action and immediately a reaction shot from Tony, this could have been done to represent how when you’re a teenager everything revolves around you, thus reinforcing the idea that teens are very vain.

Throughout the scene with Tony and his father there is never an eye line match, this technique helps represent conflict between the two age groups, also the extremely slow zoom which focuses on the two characters reinforcing the idea of conflict.
When Tony is sitting in the toilet the voice of the father is heard yet not seen by the audience, the door helps show that there is a barrier between the two different age groups. The father seems to be presented from a teenager’s point of view, very demanding, angry and frustrated. This helps the target audience of 15-19 year olds engage with the picture. Most of the shots of Tony in the bathroom have a fast pace which helps show the energetic nature of the youth.

The next scene is of Tony eating breakfast, the diegetic sounds of the father shouting in the background connotes his lack of authority and power, this is because his presence isn’t seen showing how Tony doesn’t take him seriously, representing how the young do not respect the old. The next shot is a close low shot of tony with the father towering over him; this rejects normal shot conventions because it shows the cool calm Tony controlling the situation. This was done to show how the young were traditionally over powered by the old, whereas in modern culture there has been a power shift.

A medium master shot of Effie and Tony helps represent the unity and security. Whereas the adults are always in single shots which shows how they are ditched from each other, this shows a lack of companionship between the older generation.

Question 4

I think that "Catch it, Kill it" will attract a more specialist audience. I think this because of the indie styled opening which may attract a more articulate audience, also the use of unknown actors and directors will narrow the audience down to those who truly enjoy film, art and culture. After taking a survey asking what is the favorite genre of a range of ages spanning from under tens to over forty-fives. The survey enabled me to find which age group was most interested in thrillers and helped me decide our target group. Through taking the survey i was able to observe that with age people have a wider taste in film, meaning it would be easier to achieve an older target audience ranging from seventeen on-wards.   Specifically we have targeted the sixteen to twenty-one year olds , we have done this by using modern fashion and  issues of homophobia so they can relate and engage with the piece.

This being the case I also think that older audiences will also enjoy and identify with the more challenging aspects and ideas addressed in our film. Some men may find the film very interesting because it covers the issue of homophobia in a blunt fashion, those who watch Warp films would also find it a pleasure to watch because of the sheer realism throughout and the way male dominance is challenged in the film. I would expect my male audience to consume films such as Se7en and also American Psycho due to there obscure nature and psychologically challenging themes . Although some men may feel unconformable watching a film surrounding such a taboo subject. This is similar to  Shane Meadow's This Is England where there are very graphic scenes which many people found disturbing to watch, for example the racial beating.To a female audience i think the film will be very interesting because they will be able to see how males are victimized in many similar ways to women.Also I would expect that the females interested in my film would also consume films such as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this may be because of Lisbeth Salander's femme fatale character and how this contradicts common stereotypes of male dominance.

. Just like in Jackie Brown the common convention of a male dominating cast is broken with Pam Grier with the leading role giving her all of the power. In our production we stick to a mainly all male cast yet we show some men with feminine characteristics which contradicts the common stereotype of males being above women, using female characteristics we show attempt to show equality between both genders.

I think that our Thriller will attract a middle class individuals, those who enjoy an evening out, art, modern culture and music. The middle class seem to be more accepting to new adaptations and individualistic ideas that are put forward, where as upper-class people don't enjoy change, they enjoy old classics featuring big stars and well known directors. Our production is very individual because it includes unknown actors, soundtracks and also unknown directors.

Animal Kingdom

In David Michod's stunning thriller bringing old styled suspense and mixing it with beautiful cinematography, thus creating a masterpiece of its age. The film consists of some very generic conventions, for example the ambiguous nature of Pope resembles that of Bill in Kill Bill, Harry Lime in The Third Man and also the man in the shower scene of Psycho. All of these characters are very stereotypical of the thriller genre, they are the building blocks for mysterious thriller. Without enigma the film would seem to rushed and anti-climactic whereas with the use of enigma films tend to have an uneasiness about them which makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.



The use of dim ambient and non-ambient lighting is very effective throughout the film. The scene when Pope is carrying J's dead girlfriend the mise-en-scene combined with beautiful camera angles, non-diegetic sounds and narrow dim lights helps illustrate the swell of emotions between the characters, this is clear to the audience.


The film seems to appeal mostly towards seventeen to eighteen year olds. This may be because the film follows a young boy who faces issues felt by teens/youth, yet the film also tackles controversial taboos like drugs, crime and even love without being cliché. Another reason why the film attracts a teen audience is because it isn’t too patronising, the twists and turns throughout the film leave themselves unexplained which enables the viewer to engage with the film.



The film challenges common thriller conventions, for example the killing in the car park. This wide open space rejects all common thriller settings and helps illustrate how the police force have no moral boundaries and will show no retaliation. There is also an inter-textual reference between this killing and the killing of Melanie in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. The wide open spaces, the extreme ambient lighting, it almost gives a feeling of realism to the scene.

J’s underacting gives another sense of realism to the film, showing the true nature of common teenagers. Also this continual silence could also represent J’s innocents whilst he is surrounded by a family driven by crime.
 The title of the film "Animal Kingdom" is wierdly rienforced by the Incestuous nature of the mother, this helps represent the unity within the family like a pack of lions in the wild.

Question 3

`images on Prezi

Sin City

Sin City

The opening of Sin City instantly presents the genre before and image is projected on the screen. There is a sound bridge which includes car horns and police sirens, this helps reinforce the thriller genre beautifully and helps represent the location. The non-diegetic sounds of a sleazy jazz music which also connotes rundown 1940’s New York, a stereotypical thriller location. The film comfortably slides into a wide establishing shot from a black fade; this shot connotes the female characters loneliness and isolation within society. The wide open space also shows the female’s vulnerability in a society corrupt with sex, drugs and crime.

The immense amount of chiaroscuro lighting helps form an enigma on the male characters face with the use of shadow; this exquisitely follows the general convention of having an enigmatic character to create mystery and suspense. This use of shadow is similar to that in Carol Reed's A Third Man. 

  The poetic narrative helps emphasise the intellectual nature of the thriller genre, also the use of narrative helps the audience engage with the male character like Billie in Essex Boys. There is a variety of shots which are stretched out for a very long time; this was done to show a likeness to Carol Reed’s A Third Man which is one of the most iconic thrillers of its time. The use of long shots helps the audience engage with the piece whereas with jump cutting it feels too rushed.

The use of extra-long cigarettes, Zipo lighters and silencer guns helps reinforce the genre at a basic level and also gives a sense of elegance and class. There are effects which are added during the edit which also show that the film is a comic styled piece, examples of this is the use of black and white with subtle colours coming through, which gives the film a Marvel comic feel. At the end of the opening there is a extreme crane shot where the camera rises revealing that the male character is submerged in a gritty looking city. “I will cash her check in the morning.” This is the last sentence spoken by the male character, this shows the corrupt money driven society we live in, in other words he is summing up a life to mere money.       

Psycho (1960)

Director : Alfred Hitchcock

Psycho is a iconic 1960's thriller, it's noir styles helps show a realisation of events happening behind the scenes of the hippie movment during the 1960's. The film connotes generic aspects of the thriller genre, for example the very dim lighting and use of enigmatic figures to create suspense.  



The iconic shower scene shows the great diversity of Alfred Hitchcocks film knowledge applyed to such a challanging genre. The non-diegetic music helps creates suspense with a dark obscure feel. In this scene  Marion Crane is in a rough dimly light shower room, this confinment is a common thriller convention. At 0:45 in the clip a figure is presented behind the shower curtain, the blurred figure fills the audience with fear. The use of Enigma helps build suspense and says everything about the male character, also the blurry shower curtain makes it look like the two characters are submerged in water one being prey and the other the mysterious predator.  As the scene progresses the speed of the shot cuts quickens to add suspense to the scene, also it adds an element of confusion as if we are witnessing the murder for the girls point of view.  

Another way the Alfred Hitchcock establishes suspense and terror is through extremely fast jump cuts. These extremely fast close ups create a sense of confusion and also energy withing the piece.

Survey...

Survey

I intended to find out the most popular film genres between different age groups and see what age group was most interested in thrillers and target my film at them. The pie charts are arranged in age order.

For the under 10’s category there isn’t really much variety, this is due to the knowledge that implants will not understand the complex storylines of thrillers and horrors, yet also there is a age restriction on many complex films which may challenge views that children haven’t confronted at such a young age.

For the 10-15’s there is still a problem with age restriction to the form of films the can view. Yet due to the internet teenagers are able to watch films illegally online for free, this is a factor which is damaging the amount of people who go to the cinema. From the pie chart it is obvious that the main film genre watched is action films, this may be because they are heavily advertised on internet sites such as Facebook and Bebo commonly used by teens.

As shown above in the 16-21 categories it is obvious that there is a wide variety of film genres consumed. Information from the IMDB shows that Thrillers and Action films are the most heavily watched by 16-21, and this information is backed up by the pie chart. Looking at this data the target audience would been 16-21 year olds, this means that to gain attention I will need to research clothing and common stereotypes of 16-21 year olds. This won’t be challenging because I am currently 16 and understand what people my age find interesting in film.

This pie chart shows that 22-30 year olds most commonly watch intellectually challenging films, with the exception of comedy. The reasons for this may be that people of this age group are not amused by childish animations whereas they like controversial storylines, or in this case laid back comedies. This age group is very diverse.

            The 31-45’s are less widely diverse compared to 22-30’s. The pie chart shows that the most watched genre is Thriller, this may be because it stimulates the mind and challenges common conceptions on issues raised within society, for example Crime, Prostitution and Gangs.

This pie chart shows that people above the age of 45 enjoy watching very old well filmed movies. Western films were commonly made in the 1950’s all the way through to the 1980’s.

Undergoing this survey has helped me realise that the Thriller genre is for the more intelligent minded 16 onwards, this may be because they will understand the issues presented and understand what the camera angles, costumes and location represents.