Jonathan Russell's films

The thriller we have created uses forms and conventions of typical thrillers. Our film is a hybrid of the horror and drama genre, as the full version would contain some meaningful messages about crime in society today. It is a simple story of someone investigating a girls disappearance, however the fact that the world we have created was for the youth of today. The house scene conforms almost exactly to scenes from 'Seven' or 'Gone Baby Gone' which is where we took our inspiration from. The fact that the story builds up from the party, to the attack scene, then to a murder shows how much it acts as a successful thriller.
Our piece is mainly focused on the youth of modern day society. Our representation of this particular group changes as the story progresses. The first images we see of the hooded character walking, acts as the stereotype that the majority of youth in the United Kingdom wear hoodies and are involved with a large percentage of crime. This automatically gives the audience the notion that this character is likely to be the enemy in the piece. We then cut to the series of shots showing three hooded individuals breaking in to a house (keeping the stereotype) and then the party scene. The party scene was intended to show the recklessness of youth and their connection to crime and use of drugs and alcohol. The attack scene also introduces the representation of gender, showing weakness in the female character and strength in the male. After the attack we return to our hooded character from the beginning. Through the voiceover we can understand that he is the heroic character of the story challenging what we thought previously in the piece.
As the thriller genre is one of the overruling ones in popularity, we would aim for distribution from large film companies, who have the ability to show it in cinemas and then sell DVD of it. I would also consider independent companies such as Film 4 who guarantee to show there releases on a free well known television channel to attract more figures.
Following rules and guidelines from the British Board of Film Classification, our film would probably be rated a 15. This is because it includes violence, drug use and gory images. This would also be more effective as we intended for the film to be aimed at teenagers over fifteen.
We attracted our audience through tension and suspense. Our piece continues to build up suspense until the very last minute when the audience is left hanging as the bloody sheet is thrown over the screen creating the questions and leaving people wanting more. Because of the relationship that is created with the character the audience feel drawn to him. Once this relationship is constructed it creates interest and entices the audience to keep watching.
During the construction of this product I have seen how composition, lighting and camera angles make a film, not the quality of the camera. The camera we used was my own personal one as it still had better quality than the schools, however we managed to create some beautifully lit shots through use of stage lighting which gave the film the ambiance of a thriller. As I was mostly in charge of the editing I worked for hours with macs and my knowledge and understanding of Imovie progressed and advanced to a semi-professional level.
Viewing our final piece I can appreciate how effective some of the shots are and how the story is especially well written. I have learnt how much consideration and planning there has to be for the shoot. We needed prop lists, the final storyboard, actors and lighting. I understand now from experience that things never go to plan. Many problems did occur while filming, not including outtakes. We had originally planned in the storyboard for the hooded character to have a gun, however we filmed past the point he reveals the weapon without realising. In the end we continued to film without the gun and adapted the story slightly. Locations needed to be considered as well, for weeks we thought of appropriate places to film until Adam showed us his house which had been damaged by a burst water pipe and we decided that would be an appropriate setting for or thriller. Actors needed to be contacted to come in for shoots and we also had to visualise the piece as we were filming, as in many cases we filmed at different times meaning we had to be aware of continuity within the scene. The party scene for example was shot on two separate days, one with the couple and one with the others. The most important aspect was creating the storyboard and deciding on framing. We had to think about how to make the shots effective, however when we came to shoot it, it did not always go to plan. We realised that not all shots would be possible with the space we had to work with. We all enjoyed the production of this film and are all very proud of the final outcome.

After our first video edit, we showed it to our class and also to some of our individual friends and families. Everyone agreed that it had a lot of potential and really captured the audiences interest. Some of my friends especially liked the suspense and tension created by the music during the search scene. However our teacher Mr Silverwood, did have some concerns about its length. We took into consideration what he had suggested and managed to cut a whole minute off the final piece. We focused on cutting down the party scene and the beginning, as we agreed the house scene could not be cut down as it was vital to the story and to creating tension and suspense.
Once the final version was edited and finalised we put it on youtube and received comments on it:


Lucysilverwood1 Block Use Amazing, great shots and love the music choice.

flyingfluffaflang Block User really like this well done, its epic :)

addyb1991 Block User really love this, dead well put together (y)

This was our final storyboard which we kept on set to see the shots and angles we had decided on. The end of the storyboard shows the hooded character walking into the room originally with the gun, however we scrapped that idea after we forgot to add it in and it we deemed it unnecessary.

I edited together this 'making of' to discuss some of the issues we came across during filming and to also show some of the behind the scenes footage and photographs we took on set.

This visual storyboard was created with original dialogue to help us visualise how some of the ideas would look and to see it flowing as one movie. I worked by creating different short storyboard for my section and character originally and then viewing them as one to see whether they offered any potential which could be continued. This storyboard was one of the first ideas, you can see how we took ideas and certain aspects from this and incorporated it into the final piece for instance the walking of the character and the interrogation scene which we included in the story with some minor changes.

Action thriller: Often these types of thrillers involve features such as a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. They usually contain, guns, explosions and action packed fight scenes. They often have background elements of mystery films and crime films. Notable examples are the James Bond films, XXX, and the Jason Bourne novels and films.

Conspiracy thriller: In which the hero/heroine confronts a powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she knows Films such as Enemy of The State, Sum of All Fears and The Ghost.

Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients. Some examples include Seven, Reservoir Dogs and Inside Man.

Disaster thriller: In which the main conflict is due to a natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. the Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and the 1974 film Earthquake.

Drama thriller: In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists. Examples include The Illusionist, The Interpreter and The Prestige.

Science-fiction thriller: Alien and Sunshine are examples of science-fiction thrilers.

Horror thriller: In which the main character is put in danger and their main enemies are unrealistic creatures in which they must destroy to achieve their goal. Films such as Sam Rami's, Evil Dead 2 and Drag Me To Hell fit into this genre of thriller.



Erotic thriller: In which it consists of erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as Basic Instinct, The Second Skin and Fatal Attraction.

Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. The Innocent Man by John Grisham is a well known example of the type.

Medical thriller: In which the hero/heroine are medical doctors/personnel working to solve an expanding medical problem. Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Crichton, and Gary Braver are well-known authors of this subgenre. Nonfiction medical thrillers are also a subcategory, comprising works like The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Films such as Awake and The Flatliners are other examples of medical thrillers.

Political thriller: In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him such as The Manchurian Candidate.

From the very start this opening sequence we can tell it is a thriller. People often relate the thriller genre to murders and crimes so as we see the pictures of mutilated corpses and a had circling names and religious references it become obvious what sort of film we are about to see. The use of quick cuts and flashing images adds to the effect of suspense, and the text is deliberately made to scribble on and fade off and on again which is almost hard for the eye to take in something so fast, creating an uneasy feel to the piece. The extreme close ups of the fingers and the razor blade, peeling dead skin of them makes the audience uncomfortable because it places us right next to it. The non diegetic music is very disturbing and has been constructed to create an atmosphere of unease and tension, with very high noises and sudden changes in pitch as the constant technological beat remains in the background.
The use of extreme close ups also makes the audience ask questions as we do not see the person circling or holding the razor blade, because of this sense of insecurity we feel fear, and fear in this case is used as a major overruling factor of the movie as it does stray into the horror genre.

Universal All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.

Parental Guidance General viewing, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 8.

12A May be unsuitable for under 12s. Those aged under 12 are only admitted if accompanied by an adult at all times during the performance (cinema only).

12 Suitable only for those aged 12 and over.
No-one younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game.

15 Suitable only for those aged 15 and over.
Nobody younger than 15 can see a 15 film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game.

18 Suitable only for adults.
Nobody younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema.
No-one younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18 rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game.




Under these guidelines our film piece would most likely be rated a 15 as it contains violence, drug use, and gruesome images. Our target audience would mostly be for teenagers as we visualised this as something people of our age can relate to, which means the certificate we would see it under would be appropriate for our target audience aims.


Some of the previous information was provided from www.bbfc.co.uk in research.

I originally came up with the concept of our main character. I imagined the character to be more of a heroic one initially, taking inspiration from character such as Rorschach from Dave Gibbons's graphic novel 'Watchmen' and I was especially inspired by Robert Rodrieguez's comic book film adaptation of Frank Miller's 'Sin City'. I was really interested by the investigating characters and I wanted my character to be trying to solve a murder or kidnapping which introduces the thriller genre however I had to tone down the characters heroic factors, otherwise it might become to unrealistic. Another aspect of the character Rorschach, was the almost poetic language he used and how he leaves out the unnecessary words, creating characteristic with his almost growling frightening voice. I acquired this as one of the hooded figures characteristics as he has very little dialogue in the piece and speaks in short sentences and phrases. Having loved the look of Rorschach's mask I wanted to bring that into reality without making it look unrealistic, I gave my character a neck warmer or bandana to also create the secretive side or hidden personality to him, which I believed only made him more interesting to the audience.

The voiceovers really stood out in my mind as being effective and drawing the audience in. It also acts as a way of telling the story without the use of onscreen diegetic dialogue. It also allows us to understand exactly what the character is thinking and the emotions they are feeling on screen. I always linked it back to kids cartoons and television shows when the character would speak out loud and we look back on it and see how bad it looks, but with this it works because our aim of audience would be intellectually mature to understand the concept we have created. I wanted to create a character with similar characteristics, however I decided to give my character a hooded jumper to relate to the stereotype of young criminal is today's society and challenge that by making this character the determined, heroic, protagonist of the story.

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Two shot

Semiotics:
Describing what the image contains in the frame. Keeps the interpretation of the picture separate from the description of the content


Denotation and Connotation:

Denotation:
describing what is in the image. e.g. horse, cart, man, fire, colours, framed, shots

Connotation:
Interpretation you put on the picture or which is suggested by the picture. e.g. love, conflict

Audio:
Our groups final introduction to our thriller 'The Unburied'. This introduction originally had other music to create moods and emotions to be felt by the audience. We originally had music from 'The Watchmen' soundtrack by Tyler bates during the search of the house toward the end of the piece to create tension and built suspense. To create the mood of the party we also had the original soundtrack as 'Spitfire' by the Prodigy to create a feeling of youth and also insecurity as the song is full of hard sounds and eery effects. During the opening credits until we see the long shot, over the shoulder shot of the hooded figure looking at the house, we initially had the song 'My Body Is A Cage' by Peter Gabriel. This non diegetic track acted extremely well in applying a horror feel to the start of the piece and intending to create a slow pace which we would later contrast and quicken the pace with the Prodigy.
However because of the copyright measures put in place we were unable after a series of attempts to put our video on youtube as the audio was disabled time after time. We had no choice but to swap the audio with something basic, so I used some of the loops on the apple Ilife sound effects and managed to create an acceptable alternative to the audio.

Originally I created the story of the hooded man. Most of the shots if not all including him in were from my initial story boarding. Originally we wanted the introduction to be more split up and contain more flashbacks, like Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' of Robert Rodrieguez's 'Sin City' we all liked the idea of mixing the story up so it make little sense and then has a clever twist at the end. However we realised that this idea would be harder than we imagined and if it was not done well it would be very confusing and not successful. We then planned to keep the idea within reason, we decided to show the hooded character walking until he sees the house. We would then see the events of two nights earlier, keeping the audience asking questions about our hooded character but also answering previous questions about the house and the horrific event which had taken place there.
I had always pictured the interrogation scene to be quick and also misplaced. The scene takes place before the hooded figure sees the house, however it also comes after we see him walking. As it is explained this way people recognise and it becomes clear to the audience where it takes place. In actual fact we shot the interrogation scene while we were shooting the house scene as it seemed much more practical. Make-up was a big issue as we needed the character of the evil male to be beaten up to show the lengths the hooded character would go to to find the missing girl.

The representation of race and nationality in this piece is that of a small peaceful african community living in 'Botswana. The piece opens with a series of long, birds-eye, tracking shots of the vast african landscape. the beauty created through these images act as a mental link to our perception of the native characters living in this area even before we meet them. The non-diegetic music is used to suggest the peacefulness and total serenity of the country, using native african music. It also acts as if the land itself is alive, joyful and singing songs of praise, again linking to our view of the societies living here.
Our introduction to the first characters are not through usage of dialogue or much action but a long-shot of a man and a little girl walking along a road positioned to the left of the frame and walking towards the back of the frame. This shot is met with a voiceover of a women s explaining she was the little girl we see before us. We then follow this parent and child and see what they see. The sequence cuts to long-shots of different animals, emphasising the characters love for the animals and the country. The voiceover acts as evidence to this we she says 'I was taught to love my country'.
The relationship between the father and daughter is also emphasised through the animals. In most cases we see a parent animal and a younger one, in elephants, rhinos and meerkats showing the closeness of the father and daughter's relationship.
The little african girls Journey from a young age to care about the nature and animals is shown from a series of shots of her and the animals. At first we see long shots of the animals alone, next we see a long-shot of the little girl standing below a giraffe and finally a medium shot of a meerkat on top of her head. This shows love growing and eventually leading up to her adults years.
A peaceful aura has been created specifically for the purpose of structuring our love for the character, nature and preparing us for the story through use of clever shot work, peaceful diegetic sounds with glockenspiel and african instruments. This works effectively in drawing us in to the nationalities life, and by creating such a dramatic contrast between our modern everyday society and theirs, it almost feels alien to us which only intrigues us more. the Representation of the african race is that of a peaceful society.

There are two major representations of youth and young people within this piece. Starting off with an establishing shot, long shot of a backstreet or ally way of the main adult character Jackman. As he turns the corner he runs into a couple having either an intimate moment or some sort of dispute. It strongly suggests a dispute as it cuts quickly of the woman straightening out her skirt and the male character with the knife out. This suggests a sexual assault may have been taking place between the couple, being a stereotype that crime in the UK is mostly by young people in society. As the fight begins with a low angle shot of Jackman on the floor and then cuts to the younger individuals standing, the younger male character first starts with aggressive language in an accusation which shows power in the younger individual. He then pulls a knife in an over shoulder, two shot of the younger male behind Jackman with a knife to his throat acting as evidence again to the stereotype of young people carrying knives. Through this the director attempts to communicate with stories i the news and false mediated reality.
The point about the couples dispute is questioned in a close-up of Jackman's face saying calmly with the knife still on his throat 'Was he attacking you?' to which the woman says nothing but shows a look of fear. This suggest the male could be taking advantage of the girl reinforcing the point of crime in the UK.
The representation of strength in younger people changes when Jackman changes to Hyde turning around with a crazed face in a close up shot. The music creates the feeling of terror and the dialogue shows shift in power between the two male characters. The young man is now speaking nervously and not finishing sentences while hyde, now has the upper-hand, talking confidently and even jokingly implying it his sick, evil pleasure. The camera is constantly switching close ups of different characters, to show how this mood has changed. Hyde is shown to be toying with the young character. In contrast with the messages of youth earlier in the piece we know see the weakness in youth and strength in adults.
The costumes in this piece has also been constructed to show binary opposites. There is Jackman wearing a shirt and suit while we see the stereotypical hooded youth. This gives Hyde the appearance of a higher standard or higher class to the young male creating power.
After hyde has killed the male, he playfully skips over to the woman in a child like manner and begins to talk about lions, introducing the intellectual aspect of the killer, creating a contrast to our stereotypical view of young offenders in society. Her weaknesses are shown through her pleading and asking questions to which Hyde give no answer.
The stereotypical view of criminal youth at the end of this piece is challenged by Hyde, shown as the psychopathic criminal suggesting against this stereotype. The final shot of the sequence shows a long shot of Hyde jumping on the male individual after having broken his neck earlier in the piece showing his violence and aggression. The audience is shocked having been pushed and pulled in feeling emotions to the three characters and how our perceptions can be changed.
Also the close-up of Hyde holding the women against the wall mirrors the image at the start of the sequence with the young man physically replacing the characters to show the change in power and therefore opposing the stereotype of a violent, aggressive criminal youth of modern day society.

In the opening five minuets of Survivors, we are shown the importance of families almost straight away in the opening credits. Opening with an extreme long shot of the earth as if from space, we are given an idea of the whole planet, its life, population and scope of landscape. We then cut to long shots of busy street filled with hundreds of people. This is to show the size of people on the planet and emphasises how many will be wiped out by the virus. It is also fast-forwarded to show indifference and similarity between thousands of people that will ultimately share the same fate.
The music is used to change the audiences feelings towards the characters we see in the opening. When the classical, orchestral music gets louder, the shot showing indifference cuts to a series of shots showing singe or couples of people. We see a medium shot of a just married couple standing by the doors to the church, smiling and throwing a bouquet of flowers followed by a medium shot of a couple laughing. This shows unity and singles out these families, lovers and friends by using slow motion contrasted with the sped up effects used to create the sense of everyone being the same. We also see a women dancing on a beach in a 180 degrees medium shot symbolising individuality and innocence.
An effect has been used in post-production during these shots to show the virus slowly creeping over parts of the screen. This could suggest how the virus will wipe out all of this love in the world and symbolising all the families lost. It continues to fill the screen and cut to the main titles . The credits have ended and it cross fades to a medium shot with a narrow field of focus showing faceless people walking by. Some slow-motion is also added to create tension. The out of focus people could symbolise the majority of the population that will be wiped out by the virus, and when one man, clearly in focus walks into frame and past the camera, this could resemble the survivors of the virus in its minute minority.
The story opens with a long shot of an airport walkway, then there is a cut away to a tracking shot of a couple walking alongside an escalator. The character 'Abbie' is shown through dialogue and emotions to be a protective worrying mother and it becomes clear to us that she will be one of the main characters in this series. the sequence then cuts to a middle class kitchen, we get a sense of Abbie's concern and caring nature towards her son who is away in holiday. Her partner and her are talking to friends and in this conversation we can tell the male character is very positive suggesting Abbie is over protective, we are shown the great difference of opinion when he says 'he's in perfect health'. The shot cuts to a over the shoulder shot Abbie looking down, with a shallow field of focus to separate the two characters opinions and emotions towards the child. This positive representation again will be contrasted later in the program as we see the loss of all the family, love and caring the world.
On a school field we see a teacher, father and daughter a wire fence covering the frame, symbolising the loss of life and dooming these few characters from the start. Being shot through the fence or bars, segregates these people and it gives the audience a predictable idea of these characters fate.
In the prison scene the use of low-key lighting and mise en scene with costume creates the sense of isolation. No families for these men, no love in their life, which is contrasted with the previous scenes and shots emphasising the love through families on the planet. The scene shows the gloom and depression of the send of the world, expressing again the importance of family at an apocalyptic time. The white uniforms worn by the inmates and the guard uniforms creates the contrast of virus deaths and the survivors as only a few guards can be seen in shot with the majority of inmates. This also creates the binary opposites idea from Levi-Strauss of survivors and the doomed percentage of the world who will die from the virus.