Final Product: It's not over

Post-Production: Soundtrack of the thriller production

Post-Production: Soundtrack of the thriller production

Why are soundtracks important in thrillers?

Soundtracks are very important in thrillers as the soundtrack sets the mood and the atmosphere of the thriller. Also the soundtrack create tension and suspense in a scene the soundtrack in a particular scene is used just to create tension and suspense. The sound track is also very important as it chills the audience for example without sound a thriller is not very chilling however if a person closes their eyes in a thriller with the soundtrack and the sound affects the person can still visualise what is happening therefore soundtrack is very important in thrillers.

What effect does effective sound have on the audience?

An effective sound chills the audience in a particular scene and also an effective sound can control the way the audience feel for example leading up to an attack the soundtrack can pick up tempo making the audience feel very uneasy and their heart pumping where then attack is over the sound gradually fades out leaving the audience more comfortable and at ease.

What is the conventional soundtrack in a thriller?

The conventional soundtracks in thrillers are soundtracks themselves, diegetic sounds and non diegetic sounds.

Soundtracks are very conventional in thriller as they add an additional level  of drama, suspense and tension for the audience watching.

The diegetic sounds in thrillers are conventional as the sounds can be very chilling when they can be seen where the sound is coming from or on screen sound.

Non digetic is conventional as this is used to chill the audience as the audience cannot see where the sound is coming from which gives them a very chilling response.

The programme that i used to make my soundtrack was logic pro. I used this proggramme it had a varied sound for user to use such as the light turning of it also allowed us to finisy the sopound and import it into our thriller. to use and logic pro was compatible to final cut pro and it was easier to import our soundtrack to our thriller to final cut pro.

I created a soundtrck that is chilling and a soundtrack that is aerer, the soundtrack delivers the chosen feelings to the audience as the with the soundtrack the adience can still visualise and be chilled by the soundtrack. My inspiration for the soundtrack was from various thrillers and in particular the soundtrack from the thriller Chuckys Bride was one of the main inspirations to create a chilling soundtrack whihc can create chilling visualss for the audience.

The soundtrack in my thriller at first sounds very quiet and calm and it represent the reality that the antgonist is in, then the when the antagonist goes into his flashbacks the soundtrack picks up in volume and in pace to make a significant point that it is a flashback and the antagonist has alot pain during these flashbacks and the soundtrack interprets this pain.

The things that were effective about my thriller soundtrack was that my sound track created emotions within the audience and it was effective in chilling the audience. Also my soundtrack was effective as the audience could understand that the antagobnist was having flashbacks and the audience could understand that the antogonist was having a flashback that was effective.


Conclusion:

I believe that my soundtrack has helped my production as the soundtrack has added another elemnt to my thriller as the soundtrack make my thriller much more chilling and creates alot of tension and without the soundtrack the audience would not have been made to feel that way.

With the soundtrack i believe that my thriller is more conventional as all thrillers have a soundtrack to make the audience feel a cretain way and my thriller has done that  with the soundtrack.

Post-Production: Audience feedback

Post-production: Audience feedback

What is audience feedback and why is it important?

The audience feedback id the results that I had obtained from the the questionnaire that i gave to my target to fill out, about thrillers which enabled me to get a better understanding of what the audience thought about thrillers what they thought about the conventions characters, thriller genres and many more. The feedback was important as the audience feedback gave me a clear picture of what to include in my thriller to make my thriller a success with my target audience and to make an idea thriller for my target audience. Also the audience feedback helped me plan my production of my thriller and from the feedback also i improved my production to make my thriller the best and the most appealing to my target audience.

Focus Group:


After my audience feedback i screened my thriller to a focus group to watch my thriller. I chose to screen my thriller to friends and younger people as this is the age group that my thriller was aimed and and i wanted as many young people to watch the thriller to tell me what they thought of y thriller as it was aimed mostly at that age group therefore it was only appropriate to invite them to the screening.

The focus group was beneficial as it showed what understanding the audience had of thriller conventions and what thriller conventions the audience liked compared to the conventions in my thriller.

Positive comments:

Leonardo aged 18 said" I loved the the whole concept of the antagonist being obsessed over the victim and the use of flashbacks to demonstrates his obsession was great and easy to understand"

This comment was beneficial to us as it meant that our narrative was a good narrative that audience could easily follow and that it was not too confusing, also the obsessive nature of the antagonist and the flashbacks we were hoping to achieve that recognition that it was a flashback that was most pleasing.

Emma aged 20 said" it was very chilling when the antagonist went into the female victims room and smelt her jumper and then slowly creeps into her bed it was very chilling"

This comment was beneficial as we wanted that scene to be very chilling and creepy for the audience and we got the desired response from the audience.

Sophie aged 19 said" The location was really good as it was in the house but in the female victims bedroom this created tension and anxiety as I could anticipate something bad was going to happen"

This was another great comment as the location that we chose was to create the exact feeling of tension and uncertainty and the audience anticipating that something will happen but they are kept in the dark as they don't know what lies in the room. This also meant that we got the location right as we archived the desired feelings within the audience.


Constructive comments:

Mia aged 20 said " Some concepts did not seem right as the antagonist creeps into the bed surely the victims would have woken up from the movement"

This comment gave us a criticism about our thriller  and it made us look at our filming which looked right at the time we were filming.

Ben aged 21 said" The lighting in the thriller could have been better as it was very hard to see in a few scene such as the end scene where the antagonist enters the room in the dark"

This comment showed our group that our lighting could have been better and what scene that the lighting could have been better in.

Sarah aged 19 said" The antagonist could have worn a darker colour t shirt in the scene as it would have been more conventional for the antagonist to have a dark costume"

This was a beneficial comment as it showed us as a group that we need to pay attention to little details and this could a point to remember for future productions.

From the feedback have you followed the brief and created a successful thriller?

I think that we have followed the brief as we have made a thriller opening which is 2 minutes long. Also i think that we have created a successful thriller as our thriller is very conventional as it has conventional themes such as death, obsession, friendship and death which the audience can recognise and we included the themes that the audience expect to see. Also the thriller was successful due to the conventions we use such as iconography, conventional characters which were the antagonist and the female victim. Lastly our thriller was successful as from the focus group the feedback we got was the feedback that we wanted to receive when initially making the thriller.

Conclusion:

The audiences feedback was still very important even though we had produced our thriller as the feedback showed us if our thriller was successful and also if the thriller we made was good and made according to our plan. The feedback from our target audience meant that they could see our thriller that was aimed at them and the film company could see our work and the feedback would enhance their reputation as most of the feedback was good, this would also leave the option for use t release another thriller with the company with the success of our first thriller.

Evaluation: Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Questions 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The preliminary task:

The preliminary task is a short 30 second sequence which we made as a group as a taster production before the final filming for our thriller.

The purpose of the preliminary task was for us individually and as a group to learn how to film, how to operate the camera and for us to see what filming was like, it helped to identify our strengths and weaknesses, therefore the preliminary task was an eye opener. In addition, the preliminary task helped us experiment with camera angles and camera movements. All of these experiments we did helped us to gain a better understanding in how to take certain shots, use camera angles and movements that we practiced which could be potentials to use in our final thriller filming. Also the preliminary task taught us how to use a tripod and how to operate a tripod for example the tilt shot is archived using the tripod and a pan shot.

Also the preliminary tasks purpose was for us to put the 180 degree rule into practice which had to be used in our thriller. Furthermore with our preliminary task finished we had to use final cut pro which is an editing software which helped us learn how to edit the preliminary, hence the editing of our final thriller. Also the preliminary task taught us how to present our work through a timeline and how to select footage. It also taught us basic transitions and editing techniques.
Lastly the preliminary tasks purpose was to help us with the group roles. For example the preliminary task helped us chose and see who in the group was best suited to what role, for example who would be the best camera man and who would be the best person to be the director. The preliminary task helped us as a group designated key roles to each member of the group which helped in the production of our thriller as well.

My preliminary task:

 

Four areas that I am now more confident (Filming and Editing):

 I am now more confident in the framing of shots to get rid of unwanted background space. For example the close up shot of the antagonist in the thriller when the antagonist is shown going into deep thought about his relationship with the female victim. This was a much better framing of shot as the antagonist could be seen and the main detail off the antagonist face and eyes were shown to show the audience that the antagonist is having flash backs. This showed my confidence in handling the camera and framing the key scenes and shot to deliver a chilling response from the audience.

This is the close up of the antagonist as the key details can be seen which are his eyes and his face to show that he is having flashbacks.
 
The improvement of framing our shots can be seen as our final product in the thriller captures the main details as the preliminary framing has a lot of background

I am more confident in filming the key details and giving attention to detail in the filming. For example I can now capture emotions of the characters which are significant in the scene. The best example of the confidence that I have developed in filming now is when I filmed the eyes of the antagonist and zoomed into his eye of the antagonist which then later shows his flash back. This has now enabled me to capture the most significant detail as the zooming into the eye and then a flashback of the antagonist is the most important detail for the audience to see and I did that to enable the audience to understand this in the narrative.

Another area I have improved is using transitions to help the audience understand emotion for example using a fade to white to show the antagonists flashbacks. The use of fade to white was used in every flashbacks of the antagonist to outline the importance of the narrative.
Fade to blacks are also used to show time has passed and that the antagonist is becoming more and more obsessed over the female victim and that soon he will commit a crime or murder. This is an area that I have definitely improved on.

 The attention to detail in the in the preliminary task is not very good as there is a lot of unwanted details in the shot which does not make the shot look good. Also there are others in the background of the shot which make it look relay basic and unprofessional. Also the audience maybe confused by the extra details in the shot and it does not appeal to the audience as they would not know why this shot is significant.

The attention to detail has improved a lot as in the thriller there is no unwanted details in the shot as there is a close up into the eyes of the antagonist which is the most significant part of the scene to emphases the flashbacks that the antagonist is going through and the audience can easily identify that.





In the preliminary task the capturing of the movement scenes were not as good as the movement was not captured fully and as a result it looked very basic and unprofessional in the shot.






In the thriller the capture of the movements are much better as the movement is captured at a variety of angle and the shot and the movement scenes look much better in the thriller to create a more fluent scene. This is one example of the movement captured in our thriller.



In the preliminary task there was a lot of background noise and a lot of background people in the preliminary task which made the filming look very basic and of a beginner’s level. The noise was loud and there were a lot of unwanted sound which can confuse the audience.




In the thriller there is less or no background noise as we used sounds to take the background sounds out and the sounds made the audience feel a certain way hence the sound was used. Also in the thriller there are no other people in the background and there’s is only detail in each shot which is relevant to the target audience.
This is the example of less noise and attention to the detail that I used in every scene.



Did we make a successful thriller?

I think that we made a successful thriller as our thriller has all the common conventions that a modern thriller should have. For example in our thriller we have an antagonist and a female victim as the character use significant iconography which was the blood and the knife.
The thing that I most enjoyed in the thriller production was the filming and the story boarding as it was good to see our ideas coming to life exactly as we planned it on the storyboard,
The thriller could be improved by there being more use of low key lighting and colour to make it a more chilling opening for the audience. I would have liked to use a red filter because this will connote danger and death towards the audience which will chill the audience.
The main things that I have learnt from the whole process are how to work, effectively in a group well and how to respect each other’s ideas to produce a final idea which we all agree on.
I learnt how to film and how to edit the filming as this was all new to me and it was a good experience as now I have more than enough skills to make a film or a short video by myself. Furthermore the process has taught me what the steps and process are when a film is made.

Evaluation: Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the media product?

Evaluation: Question 5: How did you attarct your target audience?

Question 5: How did you attract/address your target audience?

The importance of doing the secondary research into existing films:

The secondary research in existing films was important for me as it gave us an indication on how to address the thriller audience through conventions and how to attract them.

The target audience of thriller films:

From my research into thrillers I found out and I believe that the thriller target audience ranges between the age group of 15-40. Thrillers have a big range as there are my different thriller genres and it is the most appealing to this age range which I had to appeal to from my research.

Also thrillers are not aimed at any specific gender as thrillers are based on unisex narratives for any gender to watch and understand. This gender appeal made it easy for me to attract and appeal the audience as both male and females would watch the thriller. Also to make it appealing to the audience I ensured that there was an attractive and young female victim who would appeal to the audience and attack many others.

There are specific ethnicities in thrillers which the audience expect to see, for example to attract thee audience in my thriller I used a female victim who was of white ethnic background a the audience expect to see the white ethnic background female to be the victim as they are the most likely victims of crime. In addition the ethnic background of the antagonist is of a black ethnic background as the audience expect to see a black ethnic antagonist as they are most associated with crime, however there can be different ethnic background antagonists in thriller but to appeal to my target audience best I chose to use a black ethnic antagonist.

The occupational groups that thrillers are aimed at are E,D, C2 and C1. Thrillers are mostly aimed at student’s and the you eople who like to go out and have fun and they like to have a thrill when watching thrillers once a week to watch something and the unemployed.

The hobbies and the interest of the target audience is that they like to go out and have a good time and watch a good thriller. Also the target audience is fairly young and they like to party and fun with groups of friends.

I believe that from thriller films that target audience enjoy setting, iconography and the conventional characters. The audience enjoy the setting of the thrillers as they are set at home they enjoy the thrill of the location as the audience feel the safest at home and that security is taken away from them during the film. Also the audience enjoy the use of iconography as it gives a thrill and a chill when the knife is a murder weapon used to kill the victim or any other character. Lastly the audience enjoy the conventional character which are the female victim and the antagonist also the audience expect to see them in every thriller. The audience enjoy seeing a young and attractive female victim and they are chilled by the appearance of a dark, mysterious antagonist.

Further to this, the emotions that I believe that the audience are likely to experience are that they sympathise for the female victim and they fear for what is going to happen to her, also the audience feel helpless when they know what will happen to the victim but they cannot help her. The audience also fear the antagonist and are chilled by the attacks. Lastly the audience feel lost and isolated by the dark settings and the isolated locations.

This was good research as it meant that for my thriller I had to consider delivering all the emotions that the audience like to feel hen watching a thriller and appeal to the target audience. Also I meant that I could make a thriller that the audience wanted from the research gained.

My target audience:

From my research the target audience I wanted to attract for my thriller was the ages of 15-40 for a conventional thriller. 15 was the minimum age that our thriller would attract as a 15 year old will be bale to watch our thriller and it they can handle the thrill from our thriller. Also the gender that I wanted to attract is both genders as both genders watch thrillers and they both find it appealing. We also keep an open ethnicity groups in our thrillers as are thriller narrative can be universally understood.

Addressing my target audience:

I carried out a questionnaire as I wanted to know what my target audience thought and I wanted to get their response on what they thought about thrillers which would help me in my production of my thriller and it would be the most appealing to the target audience as I would have made my thriller to the target audiences feedback and liking.

The importance of a primary research such as my questionnaire is to find out what the target audience want in the thriller film that I will make. Also this primary research is important because it means that I can find out which a specific target audience want in my thriller. Also this questionnaire will give me a lot of feedback and it will give me good idea if my thriller idea can be suitable to what the audience want.
I asked people from the age of 15 and above this was because my thriller film that I will be making will be for those who are 15 and above. Also thrillers can only be viewed by people who are 15 and above. I had to ask only the target group that I was aiming my film at otherwise the questionnaire feedback would not be very helpful.

Some key questions I asked to ensure I was attracting my target audience:

This is one of the question that I asked my target audience:  

What attracts you to Thrillers?
Excitement, Thrill, Tension, Suspension

This was an important question to ask the target audience as I needed to know why the audience watches thrillers and what attracts them to thrillers. This was important to me as I could attract my target audience y giving them the desired experience from their feedback from the question in what attracts them to thriller.


 













The graph shows that most of the target audience are attracted to thrillers due to the tension and excitement. To ensure that I attracted the target audience and I addressed my target audience I made my thriller excitement and I built up tension by using soundtracks which will create tension and fast editing to create excitement.




Another key question I asked in my questionnaire was:

 Which of these are common conventions?   

Iconography (blood), Victim, mise en scene, low key, lighting

This question i asked the audience to see what conventions they knew and this gave me a good indications of the types of conventions that the audience knew there were.

The result showed that the audience knew that that one of the convention was a victim or the female victim and iconography(blood). This enabled to attract my audience as i used these conventions that the audience were use to and i used the conventions that the audience would understand. Lastly it meant i could address the target audience as they could see the their desired and expected conventions in my thriller.



  How do thrillers make you feel?

  Scared, Chilled, Shocked, Frightened

This was another key question that I asked my target audience as i wanted to know how thrillers my chosen target audience feel to ensure that i can deliver that feeling towards the audience to make my thriller a success.

The results show that most of the target audience felt chilled and scared. To attract my audience and to address the target audience i ensured  that my thriller would chill and scare the audience. For example on way i archived this was by using chilling soundtracks and very scary shots to address this felling that the audience like to feel.




What do you dislike about Thrillers?

Graphic scenes, Violence, Death,  Murder, The antagonist


This was another key question asked as I wanted to find out what the audience don't like in a thriller as I did not want to include anything in my thriller that the audience did not like and i did not want to use something that will put the audience off my thriller.

The results show that most of the audience disliked the antagonist and death in thrillers however these this was expected as the antagonist and death chills the audience the most and it would not be a thriller without a antagonist or death. Therefore is used an antagonist in my thriller and the theme death as well as this will chill the audience as they dislike the antagonist and the thee death.


I asked open questions in the questionaire to the target audience and they were the following questions:

What makes a Thriller entertaining?

The response that i got from this question gave me the answer to what the audience think makes a thriller entertaining. From this information i used it to make my thriller more entertaining and this would address the audience and attract the audience as my thriller is entertaining to the audiences standard.

What was the best Thriller you watched?  

Name of film

Why?

This open question allowed me to gather information on the type of thrillers that the audience watch the sub genre of thriller they watch as well. This question indicated to me what sub genre my thriller should be and what film should inspire me to make my thriller which would then attract the audience and appeal to them.

Overall the primary research was important because it helped me gain a better understanding of what the target audience wanted to see in my thriller and it helped me in my production of my thriller as with the information from my primary research i knew what the audience was expecting and i could make a thriller that was idea for my target audience. This helped me attract and address my target audience as because from the primary research I could make my thriller idea for the target audience from their feedback of my questionnaire.

Audience Feedback:

After creating my production, I held a focus group because i wanted to show people my thriller and I can receive their view on how my thriller appealed to them. The people that were asked to come and view the production were friends and young people who were in the target audience that our thriller was aimed at. Below is some of the criticism that I received.

These are the pictures of our focus group.

One bit of feedback that I received from the focus group was that our thriller was "very conventional as it had conventional themes such as death, friendship and obsession, also the thriller is a very modern thriller that made us feel very isolated and chilled"


Another feedback that we received from the focus group was" The thriller narrative is very easy to understand and the thriller was very chilling as the obsessive antagonist is shown and especially when the antagonist smells the victim jumper and enters the victims bed"

Bill aged 18 said that " The thriller was not appealing as i believe that the thriller was similar to other thrillers where there is an obsessive boyfriend or an obsessive antagonist"


Furthermore, Meah aged 20 said" The identity of the antagonist could have been hidden to create more tension  or there could have been more emphasis on the antagonist when he was in the victims house without her knowing"








How did this make you feel in terms of attracting your audience?

After the feedback that I received from the focus group the positives and the negatives i felt that I had made a conventional and appealing thriller that attracted my chosen target audience to the best of my ability and the audience liked my thriller and the effort that I put into making the thriller.