Timetable

I have made two timetables showing all of the groups free periods and all of out media lessons. By using this we will be able to work out when we can film during the day.

Alice Humphries

Filming Attempt #4

We are hoping to be able to continue filming tomorrow (1st February). All members of our group have are free period 5, so we can leave school at lunchtime, and hopefully get the rest of the filming done. We may have to get a taxi from school to Parks farm, which would cost £10, or £2.50 each.

Alice Humphries

Questionaire Results

I have put the information i gathered from the questionaire about thriller films into a chart so you can see it clearly.

Laura Jolley

Filming Attempt #3

On the 23rd January we had planned to film again and get the final shots for the coursework. Georgina couldn't come because she was working and didn't have time to get there. Alice, Lizzie and myself were planning on meeting at 9-am in the Parks Farm woods but on the morning of the filming Lizzie wasn't well. Alice was being picked up by her so this meant she couldn't get there either. As I had the camera, I decided to go to the woods alone and get the few shots that I could. I was in the woods for around an hour and got several different shots. I had a few attempts at our final shots of the shoes in different places, I got some point of view shots, worms eye view shots and other random shots of things that we might be able to use in the film.

The deadline is becoming nearer and we are going to run out of time to get everything done as every time we try and film somebody cant get there. So far Lizzie hasn't done any filming and we haven't got much done.

Laura Jolley

Ideas for The film

I also had an idea for the end of the film. After the credits there can be one final shot with titles saying '2 days earlier' at the bottom. Willow gets in a car, starts the ignition and tuns the radio on. This will look like the beginning of the film and will make the audience want to carry on watching. My Dad has a green MGB GT which i think would be perfect for this shot as it is a classic car and sounds brilliant when the ignition turns on.

I did get some shots of this idea when i was filming on sunday. Willow got into the car, turned on the radio to Pink Floyd - We Don't Need No Education ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwTpZpwjtIE ) and started the ignition. Because I was trying to film myself on my own, the camera is on the dashboard and it is just a still shot. It would have looked better if the camera had moved and zoomed in but this wasn't possible. If it will contribute to our film dramatically then we can re-film this at a later date.

My thinking behind the Pink Floyd song was because the car Willow is driving is an 80's style car it looked better with some old classic music. Also I thought about the target audience and most people in our target market will know and/or like this song. I think if a film starts off with a good song it draws you in more.

Laura Jolley

What Are The Typical Characteristics of a Thriller Movie?

A thriller is a film that provides thrills and keeps the audience "on the edge of their seats" as the plot drives towards a climax. the tension usually arises when the characters are places in a menacing situation.

Thrillers usually take place in ordinary suburbs/cities, though sometimes they take place in exotic settings like foreign cities, deserts, polar regions or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citezens unaccustomed to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger, like police officers or detectives. While such heroes have typically been men, female heroes are becoming increasingly popular.

Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. While a murder mystery would be spoiled by a premature disclosure of the murderer's identity, in a thriller the identity of a murderer or other villain is typically known all along. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

In recent years, thrillers have been slightly influenced by the horror genre; they have more gore/sadistic violence, brutality, terror, and body counts. Eg- Eden Lake.

Alice Humphries

Masked people's setting -- Laura's Loft

An idea i had for a location in our thriller was the loft in my house. The masked characters could have this as their 'den' and there could be a shot with around 5 sitting in here with candles and very low lighting. This could also be where Willow is died up at the end when she is gagged. We could also drape material over the eves to make it look smaller and scatter litter on the floor so it looks like they are squatting there.

A problem with this is that I am moving house in a week's time and if we cannot film there this weekend we will not be able to. We could use any loft but this one is empty which will look better.

Laura Jolley

Masked figures-protectors of the forests

Today when we were filming, I came up with a few ideas of the background of the masked people. Because we don't know why or what they're doing there, I thought of giving them a reason for being there and doing what they're doing. Many thriller's have cults which show and also represent the whole background and reasoning to the film. Then I thought the woods could belong to the goddess Artemis also known as the Lady of the Beast, who is the Greek goddess of nature, whom before the God of War, she was the most feared God of all, as she manipulated the weather to destroy her enemies and cause pain to all living creatures. Artemesians have been following her for thousands of years, trying to keep her memory alive and trying to live on her traditions and rules. Although recently there have been less and less followers, some are still believed to be alive and living. These rare few still keep the traditions by believeing that no human should pass across they're beloved Artemis' grounds; the woods, the forests and the parks of world. Men were dismissed as a 'peace offering' to the world, these killers thought that leaving one gender to live was good enough, but if a woman so much as dare to walk through, the consequences were drastic. A rare few have lived to tell the tale.

Elizabeth Neal

Questionaire--

I have composed a questionaire about different aspects of thrillers for people in the media class and anyone involved in media to fill out. This will show us what different peoples views are on what thriller films should include. As these people are going to be the audience it matters to us what they think as we want them to enjoy watching it.

Laura Jolley

Photos From Filming Attempt #2

Alice Humphries

Character Profile of Willow Emmerson

Willow Emerson is our main character, based on an innocent teenage jogger.

Willow Emerson is 20 and a true sport fanatic. Willow joined a rowing club when she was 9 years old and has progressed to a high level at the age of 20, whilst still going strong. Not only rowing, she also runs everyday, different routes, different lengths of time and different running grounds. She lives in the heart of the country where the community is close and everyone knows everything about everyone. Her parents were eagerly into sport too, and so the competitive, determined streak rubbed off on Willow.

Her family background is complicated, she was extremely close to both parents; Ava and Ethan Emerson. As she was an only child, she was always the centre of attention but never spoilt. At the tender age of 18, she lost her parents to what the police called a freak 'joint suicide', it took many months for Willow to come to terms with this and even later to convince herself that there was no way her parents would leave her in such a way. From the age of 18 until now, she has been researching the woods where they were found and trying to keep their memory alive. As she was 18 when her parents were sadly taken from her, she legally allowed to live by herself with benefits from the government. She lives by herself in their grand family home, and dedicates her life to her parents, she knew deep down the reason behind their death was more dark than anyone was letting on.

Laura Jolley, Alice Humphries and Elizabeth Neal

Filming Attempt #2

Yesterday (8th Janurary 2010) we finally began filming. Unfortunately, the person we were planning to use as our actress failed to turn up again, so we decided to use Laura Jolley instead, who is a member of our group. Although this means that we may have to change the storyboard slightly so we have more scenes without Willow in them for Laura to film, this will make it easier for us in the long run as we won't have to rely on anyone else to get our filming done.

Alice Humphries

Filming Attempt #1

Originally we planned to film on Monday 3rd Janurary, but due to our actress having prior engagments we had to postpone until Saturday 8th Janurary.

Alice Humphries