Our Thriller - Mise-en-scene

For our thriller opening, mise en scene plays a key part in the main aspects of the film, as it includes the setting and props of the film, costumes used, the body lanuguage and how the main character acts and also the lighting. 

             The setting of our opening film is in a fairly regular house, a little disorganised with paperwork and other items lying around, and also drugs which the main character will take with him. The props used in the opening include scales which are on the side which is seen when the main character walks into the kitchen, and salt which was used to represent drugs. The character has his passport in one of the cupboards, and these are all the main props for the scene in the kitchen. In the scene upstairs, where the main character is rushing around to pack up his things and leave, he gets his bag and packs clothes, the passport and a mysterious package in a draw under the bed. The audience isnt aware of what is inside the package adding to the uncertainty in the scene. 

           The main and only character is dressed in a black suit and tie, making him appear as formal, despite the fact that he is in a panic and the fact he collects frugs from his house suggests that he isnt formal, and is a shifty and potentially dangerous character as he is clearly running from something. The body language/how the character acts also shows the panic of the character as he is looking to get his things and leave, which is represented by his sense of urgency in the film. Lastly, the lighting used in the film is not specified in any way, its just daylight, which could perhaps show contrast between the location and the character, as the location and light is very normal, yet the character is not by no means, and the contrast can be seen. 

                 The mise en scene is crucial for our film in order to display the mood and feeling within the film, so the audience can get a clear idea of the genre 

Filming

For filming we used a HD Canon Camera and Tripod for our opening sequence to a thriller film. We spent a day filming for our first draft of the thriller sequence in which we needed Oli Taylor as our main character wearing baggy clothing and carrying a large bag on his way out of the setting of a house in a neighbourhood. 

During this day of filming we started with Oli hectically walking into the house in which our camera man held the camera and followed Oli go into the house to cause cinema verite. During this scene of the thriller we also filmed close ups of Oli opening the door and a match on action of him going into the house. We then filmed the rest of the thriller in the house. This included filming long shots and wide shots of Oli walking into the kitchen and chaotically trying to find something which we soon find out is a passport. We then do another long shot and cinema verite of Oli running up the stairs and then hectically grabbing everything he needs and putting it in a bag. During this we also filmed close ups and extreme close ups of what Oli is doing and a wide shot as each prop is placed on the bed ready to be packed. We then finished with cinema verite in which Oli walked out of the house quickly to suggest the tension within the thriller. 

What went well during this day of filming would be the different types of shots that we managed to get as we managed to create a match on action shot and filmed shots such as close ups, long shots, extreme close ups and wide shots so that the target audience could see everything that our main character is doing. What also went well was that we managed to follow conventions of a thriller through terms of lighting and mood of the sequence as throughout the thriller you can see it is very chaotic and suspenseful heightening the tension of the thriller. 

What we could have improved on would be the use of mise-en-scene as we could have used more props such as drugs to heighten the tension further and allow the audience to make a judgement on our main character on whether he is a antagonist or protagonist. We could have also improved our mise-en-scene in terms of clothing as Oli does not look like he is suspicious through his clothing therefore we could have had him wearing darker clothes such as a hoody and jeans or a black suit.  Another improvement could have been he lighting at the end of the thriller as due to the timing of the day when Oli enters the house it is daylight and when he leaves it is dark therefore we could have filmed him entering and leaving at the same time so that the lighting did not significantly change. Therefore we can change problems such as these once looking over our rough cut of the thriller.

Overall the day of filming was successful and we managed to gain lots of shots that followed our storyboard. Our thriller filming day was also very well organised and flowed smoothly during the day. 

Questionnaire Analysis

What is your gender?

• Female
• Male

For our first question we asked 30 people whether the audience member was female or male. By asking this question we can see what sort of genres apply to each individual person depending on social group. This is important to the decisions of our thriller opening sequence to see what sort of thriller conventions and thriller films apply to different genders. By looking over our data we found that 16 people were male and 14 were females. The reasoning behind this could potentially be that the location we located our data from had a higher male population. 

 What age category do you come under?

• 16-20
• 21-30
• 31-40

For our second question we asked what age they were. This is important to the decision of who our target audience should be so that we know what thriller genres suit to different ages. From our data we found that 18 people we asked were between 16 and 20, 7 were between 21 and 30 and 5 were between 31 and 40 this may be due to the location we located our data and therefore the majority of people were between the ages 16 and 20. This helped us later on in the questionnaire to find out what thriller genres these ages of people preferred. 

What thriller genre do you enjoy?

• Action
• Horror
• Psychological
• Crime
• Romantic
• Supernatural

For our third question we as what thriller genre our audience enjoyed the most. This was important to our decision when making the thriller opening sequence to see what ages of audience preferred what genre of a thriller. We soon found that the majority of 16-20 year old females and males preferred action thriller films, the majority of 21-30 year old females and males preferred horror thrillers and finally the majority of 31-40 year old females and males preferred crime thrillers. This was helpful to us enabling to choose a target audience and following the genre of thriller they prefer to suit our target audience. 

What do you notice the most in thriller films?

• Pace
• Sound
• Props
• Costume
• Camera shots
• Lighting

Our fourth question consisted of the most noticeable conventions for our audience within thriller films. This was important to the making of our thriller opening sequence allowing us to find out what our target audience noticed the most in a thriller film and therefore found most important in a thriller film. By our data we found that the majority of people between the ages 16 and 20 noticed pace and sound of thriller films the most. Those between the ages 21 and 30 noticed props the most and those between the ages 31 and 40 noticed costumes and camera shots the most. This is helpful for deciding our target audience knowing what our target audience notice and find important within a thriller film. 

Do you think it is important for a thriller film to be suspenseful and tense?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure

For our fifth question we asked whether our audience found importance in the suspense and tension of a thriller film. This is important for the making of our thriller opening sequence as if the majority of our audience find it important to have suspense and tension in a thriller film then this is a key convention that we must have in our thriller opening sequence to suit our target audience and produce a successful opening sequence. From our data we found that everyone who participated said yes, suspense and tension is important for a thriller film. Therefore we shall add these conventions in our thriller opening sequence. 

What do you find the most appealing factor in a thriller film?

• Suspense
• Confusion
• Mystery
• Protagonist (Hero) Vs Antagonist (Villain)
• Characters
• Plot

Within our sixth question we asked our audience what they found was most appealing in a thriller film. This is important when deciding what to produce in our thriller opening sequence as by knowing what our target audience find most appealing we are able to use these ideas and put them in our thriller opening sequence successfully making the thriller more interesting and eye catching for the target audience. By looking at our data we found that those between the ages 16 and 20 found he factors confusion and suspense most appealing. Those between the ages 21 and 30 found the plot most appealing and those between the ages 31 and 40 found the mystery and confusion most appealing. Therefore we shall consider this in when making our thriller opening sequence. 

Out of these films (if any) what ones did you find most suspenseful?

• Shutter Island
• Fight Club
• Psycho
• Panic Room
• Sherlock Holmes
• Seven
• Abduction
• If other please state: ……………………………….

For our final question we asked what films (if any) did thriller audiences find most suspenseful. This was important to the making of our thriller film as by finding out what other films are suspenseful and eye catching to thriller audiences of different ages we were able to observe these films and notice key thriller conventions that could go onto influence our ideas. From our data we found that people between the ages 16 and 20 found the films Shutter Island and Psycho most suspenseful. Those between the ages 21 and 30 found Panic Room and Fight Club most suspenseful and those between the ages 31 and 40 found Sherlock Holmes and Seven most suspenseful. Therefore the thriller conventions used in these films were considered and influenced our ideas for a thriller opening sequence. 

Questionnaire

Audience Feedback - Rough Cut

Our second lot of audience feedback was on an older generation so that we could see what an audience of different ages would think of our opening sequence to a thriller film. As shown by the video we can see some positive points about the thriller however also ideas on how to improve. This consisted of lighting as it is light at the start and dark at the end and also the credits during the opening sequence could be more interesting. 

Audience Feedback - Rough Cut

Rough Cut