Final Edit Of The Blog.

We all have been through all of our posts, we have checked that everything fits onto the blog and that there are no technical faults with any links,  pictures or videos on the blog, we each have checked our spelling on each post that we have done, we have checked that the background and colour scheme of the blog goes with the thriller film.
Lastly we have made sure that all of the posts are in order, so the first thing people see will be the audience feedback then the evaluation activities.
There are no spelling mistakes, no faults with link, videos or pictures and no mistake with the order of the posts.


                                        The Existence.

Audience Feedback

This video shows the audience feedback after watching our thriller. This would help us if we did this again as we would know what the audience like and dislike.

Information

All the videos that are on this blog are on youtube.
Type in on the search bar "shscarm" and there will be all of the videos that we have used.

Evaluation question 1

1. The title.
The title of the film itself was called 'the existence'.  As a group, we decided to use this because it was an appropriate name for our thriller, giving the audience an idea of the genre of film (physiological thriller).  It also suggests abnormality, because 'existence' is not a word used commonly in everyday situations, and is often related to spiritual events or the dead, therefore foreshadowing our storyline.  The title also creates enigma as it allows the audience to ask themselves questions about what 'the existence' is, whether it means somebody or a spirit etc.  When researching what name would be best suited for our thriller, we completed some careful research and planning; through this we found name with only one word was most effective. Examples of this are: scream, & identity.  This is why we chose 'The existence', the word 'the' had to be put into the title, otherwise there is a risk it would not make sense and confuse the audience.

2. Setting/Location.
We used a variety of different settings and locations, as during the research process this is found to keep audience’s attention, and they were less likely to be distracted if there was more than one location.  The location on the mood board shows a narrow path, surrounded by woodland at each side, this is a normal road and path used, showing a normal thriller conventions as many thrillers events happen in everyday situations.  We chose this as it creates a feeling of isolation for the character.  The trees represent the pressure that is about to surround her when she can see hallucinations of a girl, the trees and narrow path also represent that she is trapped.  It also gives the audience an idea this is not her fault, and this is what is going to inevitably happen to her.  The second image on the mood board portrays this well, and although this is a normal thriller convention, it is used for a different purpose. 

3. Costume.
The costume for one of the main characters was an important introduction to our thriller, as it instantly showed the audience she was abnormal and the character can be seen fully in a negative light.  She appears several times throughout the film, also showing her abnormality as this is not consistent.  She is wearing a white dress which represents innocence, however it has severe blood stains down it with mud and grass stains as well.  This shows the audience her innocence has changed now, also shown by the pale face and black makeup running down her face.  We decided for her to wear this item of clothing, as it creates enigma for the audience whilst allowing the film to develop exploiting this character.  This goes against the normal conventions of a thriller, as it is typically seen that the protagonist would be male, it is unlikely there is both a protagonist female and an antagonist female.  This could appeal to a wider demographic for our thriller, as it creates an unusual situation which is not typical of this type of film.

4. Camera work.
This image shows a long shot of Tabi walking; this image is successful because we decided to film at a particular time when the sun was setting.  Therefore, this allowed the sun to be shining through the trees where Tabi was walking, the difference between light and dark represents her mental unstableness, that she has two sides to her personality and is in fact schizophrenic.  This is also represented by her costume as she is wearing dark trousers with a white top.   We chose to use a long shot as it shows how she is coping on her own, exploiting her unstable-ness as she falls down during the scene and has extreme hallucinations’ when normal everyday life is going on around her (the public is seen in the background).  This goes against the conventions of a thriller, as alot of thrillers use low key lighting to set a dark mood, however here we have used a selection of lighting making our thriller different from the others. 

5. Title font and style.
The title font and style challenge typical thriller conventions because the majority of thriller films have spaced out writing that is clear and easy to read.  Our thriller goes against these conventions, with the writing being close together, without large spaces and is not easy to read.  This suggests our thriller will not be foreseeable, and this is what we aim to achieve.  We have also used the connotations of black on white to represent life and death, as our main character is struggling in the middle of both of these extremes with her mental illness.  The font we used fits in well with our thriller, and is consistent throughout each individual title font during the beginning of the film.

6.  Story.
The typical storyline for thrillers are dependent on their genre.  In physiological thrillers, it often involves illusions, crimes committed due to a poor mental state or the main character searching for somebody.  In our film, we have illusions, as our main character can see things that are not there.  However, this is not shown in the typical stage of events within our film, as this is introduced straight away suggesting there may be more events taking place when the film continues.  Although we are following the same ideas in our thriller, the way they are laid out is different showing we have been original within completing our work. From having an enigma the whole way through it builds tension for the audience as they do not know who Alex is as it is never explained.

7. Props.
This scene contains certain props, we have used extreme make up and fake blood to create a sense of instability amongst one character, however the most important prop used was the mirror.  This was used to show when the abnormal girl was there, and when she wasn't, this helped make a clear distinction between was real and what wasn't.  The over the shoulder shot in picture 7, show the main characters mind playing tricks on her, with all the hallucinations which are taking place.  If this prop was not used, it would have been significantly difficult to get this message across to the audience, and was extremely important when filming.  This prop is a typical convention of a thriller, and is often used in physiological thriller for the same purpose.  However, an over the shoulder shot against a mirror is unusual, as the series of abnormal events usually take place in the mirrors reflection within thrillers.  An example of this is the film 'mirrors'.

8. Genre.
The genre of our film is shown by the disturbed girl, the way she watches the main character (Tabi) suggests she could be a stalker, a hallucination or somebody who has died.  All of these ideas have a link with mental illness that the audience may have already noticed.  The theme of mental illness links in with our film well, as our genre is a physiological film, with our main character suffering from schizophrenia.  This is also clearly shown as the public are in the background haven't appeared to have seen this girl, showing she is abnormal.  This sets the tone of our film and represents what it is ultimately going to be about, this goes against the normal conventions of a thriller as it is unusual to see the characters together at the beginning of a film.  Usually, one character develops from a series of events, or something that has been triggered such as a past memory in physiological films.  An example of this happening is in 'mirrors' or 'inception'.

9. Characters.
The two main characters are show in picture 9; the pictures are put next to each other to show the differences between the characters appearances.  They are shown in a serious way, as what happens in our film is not based around crime, but about mental disability.  The shot of our main character (abnormal girl) standing over our other main character at the beginning of the film shows proximity between them and suggests they will have some type of relationship later on or already within the film.  This goes against the normal conventions of a thriller, as usually the characters are gradually introduced as the story develops, however in this beginning scene they have close proximity to each other.  This creates enigma for the audience, as questions build in their mind of how they could possibly know each other, and why one is standing over the other one sleeping - this is distinctly abnormal.  The audience don't know whether the person sleeping (Tabi) knows she is being watched or not therefore raising more questions between the characters, intriguing the audience to watch the rest of the film.

Evaluation Activity 2

The character played by Tabi was inspired by the character of Nina Sayers in the film Black Swan. They both struggle with schizophrenia, suffering from hallucinations and self-harm, Throughout Black Swan, Nina generally has a natural appearance, lacking make-up and having her hair slicked back, whereas Tabi has more eye make-up but still in keeping with her hair tied up. Nina tends to be seen in her ballet attire, wearing a pale cream knitted shrug to cover up her wounds; Tabi wears a large knitted jumper in a white colour to reflect her innocence, just like Nina. Nina hallucinates about real people, and sees blood on her body which is non-existent, in the end she sees herself grow feathers and become the black swan for the finale; she also battles with another character, Lily, who turns out to be a figment of her imagination when she is actually stabbing herself causing her death. Tabi hallucinations consist of a young girl, dark eyes and a blood-stained white dress, destroying the innocence portrayed by the white dress. Tabi’s character runs away from her hallucinations instead of battling them like Nina. Both of these characters are protagonists, the films are both focussed on a part of their life, in this case, the end of their lives. Black Swan is based on the struggle of a professional ballet dancer dancing the part of a hybrid between two characters which also reflects her life, she has been split into two people, however The Existence is about a young girl being haunted by a young dead girl of her past. Tabi is playing a girl of her age (teenager) as opposed to Nina Sayers who is a woman in her late 20s. Each film has a dominant female cast, this could be down to their genre both being psychological thrillers which usually have females presenting themselves in a possessed way, and this is clearer in The Existence but more subtle in Black Swan.

Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

Our thriller is aimed at both males and females, aged from 15 – 25. We decided this as be believed our thriller would fit into the 15+ age band well as it doesn’t involve swearing or any sexual acts. We thought that 25 is the oldest age group that would watch it as it doesn’t include much adult content which may not grab their attention for long enough. Whereas 15+ would enjoy it because of that reason. Below are a couple of people we thought our thriller would suit.

Name: Clare Brook
Age: 17
Interests: Clare loves psychological books, programmes like ‘Exile’ on BBC 1, and films like ‘Se7en’. She likes happy, meaningful songs from a classic rock genre including The Beatles. Clare is in her second year at Ashbourne sixth form in London, studying her favourite subject - psychology. Her part-time job is at an insurance company at the weekends, which doesn’t hold her interest too much but does help her with money, so she can go to the cinema and watch the newest films that she likes.  Clare loves the constant buzz in London and also the social aspect. In her spare time, Clare goes to the cinema with her 3 best friends, who also love psychological thrillers. Her favourite film is ‘Cape Fear’ as she likes the enigmas, story line and characters.

 

Name: Dan Cooper
Age: 23
Interests: Dan also loves psychological TV programmes, films and books when he has time. He likes to listen to classical music so he can relax and study to it. Dan goes to Bournemouth University and also studies psychology. In addition, Dan likes going to the sea-side and reading a good psychological book when he has the time. He enjoys the social life there and also the night life. Dan favourite film is ‘Silence of the Lambs’ as it includes an enigma and an amazing story line which he loves. 

Evaluation Activity 5

Evaluation Activity 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS8q9eg9lMs

This is the editing diary.

This is a video of the technologies.

Evaluation Activity 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rDB9L4wR1Y&feature=player_profilepage

We have done this evaluation activity by video. We have played the thriller film whilst analysing and explaining the choices that we have made.

We included the over the shoulder shot when we filmed this. We played the footage of the Preliminary Task so viewers can understand what we mean once they see it.

The Final Poster

Final Piece. The Existence

On our thriller the end 5 seconds were cut off because the film would not upload fully onto YouTube which has therefore cut off the end. In the last 3 seconds Alex hushes Tabi and she realises that Alex is real and not just a dream. Also the title ‘The Existence’ comes up with the music on quietly. Furthermore, some of the music has been cut out during the film on this YouTube clip as it wouldn’t upload properly onto the hard-drive which then was put onto YouTube.