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.
