INTRODUCTION Explain your pre- production task (thriller storyboard) and some broad ideas that shaped your planning Candidate #1234 John Smith AS MEDIA STUDIES POST- PRODUCTION REPORT (1200-1600 words max.) For my AS Media pre- production coursework, I decided to research and create a storyboard for a sequence from a thriller film. I planned to target my film at a mainstream audience of 18-30 y/o, as these are the typical consumers of this product. PRIMARY RESEARCH Use YOUR OWN examples not those studied in class. Students who rely on Silence / Terminator and not their own bullet point notes from homework will receive a lower grade. Establish the conventions of thriller you could refer to micro- feature use, genre or narrative conventions, or character etc. PRIMARY RESEARCH INTO SIMILAR MEDIA PRODUCTS To better understand the generic and technical conventions of the thriller genre, I started my research by undertaking primary analysis of some successful contemporary thriller films. 1. Silence of the Lambs The first text I chose for close analysis was Jonathan Demme s The Silence of the Lambs. The opening sequence deploys a number of conventional generic features. Low key lighting is used, alongside an ominous piece of non- diegetic music to establish a tone of unease and tension from the first moments. The diegetic sound is initially a woman s laboured breathing, which suggests she is running, as is quickly confirmed by the cinematography, which deploys a series of handheld tracking shots to follow Jodie Foster s character as she runs through woodland, creating the sense for the audience of following, or stalking the character. Audiences familiar with other examples of the genre such as James Cameron s Halloween for instance - would recognise this killer s eye view use of the tracking shot as typical of the genre, and assume Foster s
character is being targeted as a victim. The dominant representation of women in thrillers is as passive victim, and the film initially seems to conform to this. When Foster is revealed to be in fact an FBI Agent on an assault course, and is to be the active protagonist in the film, the audience is taken by surprise, since this traditional representation is subverted. 2. Terminator I went on to analyse the opening of James Cameron s Terminator. In the opening sequence of this 1984 action- thriller, Cameron introduces a hero, a villain and a victim. These roles are established using a wide range of techniques. For example, Cameron makes the hero, Kyle Rees, seem vulnerable compared to the Terminator. This is achieved in part by selecting an actor who is physically smaller than Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Kyle Rees. Also, Reese is first introduced in a dirty side street, surrounded by litter and filth. In contrast, the Terminator is first introduced arriving on a hill overlooking the city, implying his dominance over the people below. 3. 5 th Element Another similar media text which I used to inform my pre- production was Luc Besson s 1997 film The 5th Element. In this film, Besson uses mise- en- scene to establish Bruce Willis as hero Corbin Dallas. In one early scene, the audience is told all they need to know about Dallas background by the use of a close- up tracking along a shelf in his apartment. Certain objects, like poker chips, medals, photographs and certificates all help the audience to quickly understand the character s back- story, and establish his heroic nature.
SECONDARY RESEARCH: CRITICAL AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES SECONDAY RESEARCH 1 Explain what you found out as a result of your research on the internet into the thriller genre (we undertook this work in class). Also refer to and apply your knowledge of relevant theories Todorov, Propp, Neale etc. Don t just state what you ve found try to apply it to something you ve seen OR something you intend to do, As well as undertaking primary research into similar media texts, I also researched and applied the ideas of critics and theorists to help me understand the genre. My research into genre theory made me familiar with the work of Steve Neale, whose theory of repetition and difference argues that genre identities are not fixed sets of established conventions, but are open to subversion, evolution and variation. The opening moments of Silence of the Lambs seem to establish repetition of familiar generic elements, but the variation of the stereotypical gender roles within the narrative of this highly successful 1990 thriller are an excellent example of Neale s idea of Difference. The wider narrative of Silence of the Lambs clearly deploys Todorov s Five stages, with the initial equilibrium of Clarice Starling s FBI training being disrupted by the information she receives from serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Archetypal character functions, as identified by Propp, were also clearly incorporated into the narrative. Clarice is plainly the Hero, her quest to end the serial killings of Villain Buffalo Bill and rescue the Princess (Catherine Martell, the senator s daughter). These clear links led me to conclude that the thriller genre tends to conform very closely to the narrative theories of Propp and Todorov, and I decided to incorporate this into my production by clearly signalling the stages of equilibrium and disruption to my audience.
SECONDARY RESEARCH: AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUP SECONDAY RESEARCH 2 Explain what you found out as a result of your focus group feedback. How did your intended meaning match your group s reading? What did you learn to improve use of narrative / genre / microfeatures? I also undertook some Audience research. I took a first draft of a storyboard to an audience focus group to discover whether or not my intended meaning had been adopted. All members of the focus group were able to identify the genre of the sequence. Through discussion, it became clear that mise- en- scene and cinematography were the particularly on costume, indicating that dark clothing and the use of a coat hood to shield a character s identity created suspense and the sense of the character as threatening and intimidating, while another comment suggested that the low- angle shot and the use of silhouette created by the lighting had a similar effect in establishing the appropriate audience response. The focus group was equally clear in indicating that less conventionally threatening costume and framing which showed the female character in my sequence in an open stance with her face unobscured connoted that she had nothing to hide, and suggested that this character was potentially a victim, or an identification figure for the audience since she just looks normal like someone you might actually know. From this section of my research, I concluded that audiences make use of relatively minor elements of the image to help them understand characters and events. I decided that this information would help in the creation of my victim in particular, and so I dressed the character of the victim in white, sporty clothing to try to communicate
her innocence and conform to audience expectations. I also decided that I should add some objects to the opening scenes that help the audience understand the character s innocence and goodness, and so I deliberately placed a teddy- bear and pictures of her family and friends on her bedside table. One member of the focus group considered the images and approach shown in the mock up storyboard to be rather clichéd and simplistic. This suggested to me that more informed members of the audience might be looking for a greater degree of surprise or subversion in my actual Pre- Production. For this reason, I decided to incorporate a degree of hybridity at the outset of the sequence. I used a bright, sunlit opening, rather than the low key or night- time lighting typical of the thriller sequences I had analysed, and showed my character interacting in a light- hearted and non- threatening way with others, to suggest to the audience initially that the sequence might be from a high school romance rather than being overtly thrillerish from the start.
EVALUATION OF PRODUCT EVALUATION Now consider your actual film in light of your research, planning and storyboard. What worked well? How far does your film match what you learned in your primary and secondary research? How technically strong is it in terms of micro- feature use? How would you change your production if you could re- shoot it? Why? My group combined ideas from each pre- production to develop the final film a sequence from a film thriller that we entitled Hostage. I was very pleased with the way the film introduces the characters of the villain and the victim. My research had shown how important mise en- scene was to achieving this effect, and the use of bright lighting, diegetic music and costume defined the innocence and goodness of the victim very clearly, in a similar way to Kyle Rees character in Terminator. The same techniques helped to clearly signal the Equilibrium stage of the narrative, since all appears normal with no overt sense of threat established through a more familiar set of genre conventions. Similarly, I thought that the use of darker lighting and silence worked well when we cut to shots of the villain. In hindsight, My audience research had indicated the importance of micro- elements in constructing meaning for the audience, and texts such as Silence of the Lambs, Terminator and 5th Element provided me with some useful ideas to support my own character creation. In my storyboard, I used the smaller, younger of my two actors to play the victim and the taller, older actor as the villain. Like Terminator, this contrast helped audiences understand the threat faced by the victim. I also used low- angle shots when establishing the villain, to force the audience to look up to him, and thus understand his dominant role. The use of mise- en- scene neatly tied in with my earlier idea to use a teddy bear and family photographs on the victim s bedside table, in order to connote innocence and establish a relationship with the audience.
In terms of narrative, I think that we could have developed the background of the victim even further, perhaps by making more of the relationships that are hinted at by the pictures in the photo frames. In the 5th Element, Besson introduces the hero, Corbin Dallas, while he is making a phone call to an old friend. I think it would have helped character exposition and audience sympathy if the actor playing the victim had spoken to someone before the attack. However, the addition of heavy- breathing diegetic sounds during the shots of the villain worked very well to connote the monstrosity of this character. However, if I were to re- make this film, I would spend more time on the edit so that some of the action matched the beats of the music, in order to enhance the action. I would also fade out the original non- diegetic sound track and fade in the new one currently, there is a bit of a jump from one to the next, which breaks the sense of realism in the sequence. Overall, I think I our media product is very effective, because it has been informed by comparable media texts in order to conform to the codes and conventions of the genre effectively, because it meets many of the expectations of a target audience of a mainly male, 18-30 year old audience, but also subverts some expectations in order to challenge stereotypes. (1677 words)