Stick Insect Productions: Audience Research

This is part of the audience research I did, as well as Fun and Patty going round the school with questionnaires. I asked a few people a variety of questions including favourite film genre, sub genre of a thriller, and their favourite films and why, and received very different answers from each.

Stick Insect Productions: AS Preliminary

                                        Actors: Funn and Gahlid
                                        Camera: Patty
                                        Directed by: Grace and Patty
                                        Edited by: Grace and Patty

Audience Research: Results and findings from Questionnaire

Here are some pie charts of the key aspects of my groups questionnaire, which would help us with our production work most:

Gender

According to this bar graph, it is clear that the gender of our target audience are females. This could help us with our opening sequence because this will lead us to what conventions we would need to subvert or make generic conventions in order to satisfy our target audience. The target audience being females could also help us with the role of the character (antagonist) of maybe being a female character, 

which would subvert generic conventions of the antagonist being a male character.

How old are you?

According to this pie chart, the suitable age range for our film could be 16-20 years olds. This shows that we would need to follow a few conventional trends which would interest our target audience. For example, the characters in our thriller could be young and represented in a positive light. Seeing how conventionally teens are portrayed in a negative light, this could make our work more interesting and unusual.  We decided that we need to include an unconventional approach as another one of our questions showed that the majority of the public enjoyed both mainstream and independent films; this would allow us for more creative freedom  Another aspect we could contain in our thriller is to have a setting which our target audience would be familiar with. This sense of familiarity would usually make the audience more interested in the product, making the thriller more successful.

What's your favourite sub-genre of a    thriller?

This pie chart specifies what kind of sub-genres we should include in order to satisfy our target audience. It is evident from the graphs that most people want psychological thriller to be included in our opening sequence. However, there is about 25% of our audience who chose "Crime". This tells us that we should include some aspects of crime. This provided us with an insight of what we could include in our project. For example, the use of drugs and women included in sex crimes. This is because our overall result of gender and age suggests that the theme would be relevant and making our audience more interested in our film.

 

Which do you prefer?

This result tells us that the majority of our audience who took part in the questionnaire preferred independent over mainstream  However, about a quarter of whom we asked preferred mainstream. This would allow us more creative freedom as we could then include conventions of both mainstream and independent films as opposed to just keeping to one aspect. This could mean that we could include some aspects of mainstream conventions, but as the majority of our audience preferred independent, we will focus on projecting independent conventions into our opening sequence.

      

Which do you find most important?

We decided to include this question in order to make sure to know what our group should focus on. The majority of the audience picked plot as being the most important, which means that we should include a strong plot for our story. However, the characters and effect also showed to be quite important which means that we should have an important character selection that the audience can root for and have some interesting, unusual ideas about the effects that we can use to satisfy the audience.

Product Research: Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock (1960)

I chose to do product research on 'Psycho' as it is a classic film and very well known by different variety of people.

As soon as the trailer starts the audience can hear the famous soundtrack of the film which implies its a very 'sit on the edge of your seat' film. The first few shots are very fast and close ups of different parts of the body, including the hand scraping down the wall which implies a scream for help, the close up of the foot being still implies a murder and a man pulling down a shower curtain with a knife in his hand implies danger. The man holding the knifes face is blacked out to create a more mysterious and creepy atmosphere.
The shot of the house showing the front door and a lot of overgrowth of plants, looks very run down and old to suggest to the audience the oddness of this place and how its atmosphere is not what we expect. When the women says to the owner of the motel 'Do you have any vacancies?' he replies with 'We have 12 vacancies' which implies to the audience that its an empty place which not very many people go to.







The shot of the house through the car window with the rain trickling down the front window implies the creepiness of the house and what takes place inside it. We then see a shot of the house at night which creates a spine-chilling and eerie atmosphere, with the added effect of the trees on the right hand side adding to the darkness. The lights aren't on in the upper section of the house to show that there is something maybe hidden and secretive up there.

In this shot we can see the protagonist in the shower. She is in a position in which she is seen as vulnerable and alone. She has no idea whats going to happen next and as you can see there is a dark shadow lingering behind the shower curtain. This is technique is used to build up tension and curiosity for the audience.




Overall I really like this opening as it wasn't to obvious what was going to happen throughout the film, and makes you want to carry on watching it. I also liked Psycho as it is a film that builds up tension all throughout and has a really unexpected ending. Hitchcock did a pretty good job.

Audience Research: Online Questionnaire

We decided to make an online questionnaire for anonymous members of the audience to fill out so that we can get the most feedback possible.

Here is the questionnaire in two parts:
Part 1
Part 2

Font Conference

Although this isn't strictly thriller related, I found this comedic video which could possibly help us when choosing fonts for our thriller in the future. This made me realise that our group will have to seriously consider the font we choose for our film so that we don't confuse the audience and still manage to look professional (I doubt that Comic Sans would save the day though.).

Product Research: Shutter Island (2010)

I decided to watch Scorsese's Shutter Island in order to grasp more conventions of the psychological sub genre of thrillers. Overall I found the film to be quite enjoyable, yet dull at times. I think that visually, the film's cold colour scheme proved to be rather intimidating; it's clinical brightness made the film disturbing in an odd sense. I think that the remote location of the film also made the film more frightening as there was no clear hope of escape. On the other hand, I think that the mental asylum location, a patient going missing, and most importantly the windy, cold weather were all very conventional of the film's genre, making the film lost it's originality. However, I did note some interesting aspects of the film which I thought could be useful for our group's work.

First of all, I think that the soundtrack of the film is very effective in portraying an enigmatic, forlorn atmosphere. The repetitive use of the ship horn in the film makes the audience feel alarmed as the sound is very unpleasant. I think that also the use of the string and brass instruments also add to the mystery of the film. I believe that the soundtrack makes the audience feel very isolated and alone. Our group could benefit from using a similar type of soundtrack in order to make our audience feel similarly; nonetheless, I believe that using such a strong soundtrack would limit us creatively.

The camerawork is the strongest point of the film. I think that the variety of wide shots, close ups and angled mid shots are what sells the film. For example, in the beginning scene when we see  Teddy Daniels in the bathroom, he is shot from a close up, showing his emotions, displaying anxiety and stress from the very beginning of the film. Unlike many other thrillers, this film does not seem to have a 'too good to be true' beginning. I think that Teddy's appearance also makes the film quite different from other thrillers - although he is the protagonist, he doesn't look perfect; he looks tired and worn out, adding to the intimidating atmosphere. One of the most interesting shots in the film is the blue room on the ship with the shackles. The camera focuses on them instead of the protagonist. I think that this adds a sense of enigma to Teddy's character as he does not fit the conventional character of a hero. I think that the symbolism behind the open shackles also foreshadows some of the plot in the film in a very clever way - the shackles suggest an escape of some sort, matching the conventions of a thriller. I also think that the use of the dark colours in the shot are very interesting, adding to the sense of tension in the scene.

Year 12 Preliminary Video

Directed by: Patty
Edited by: Grace and Amani
Actors: Fun and Gahlid

Product research- Dark city (1998)

                                         

I found this shot really interesting. This is  because not only can we see the body of the woman and how she was brutally murdered, we can also see John Murdoch in the dark, which may imply that he is up to something mysterious. It could also be depicted that he is clueless of what is going on, as previously, we see his confusion when he wakes up in the bath. I could use this by applying different lighting in the the same shot, to tell the same story in different ways (as shown in this shot).  




During this shot, there is a cross-cut between John Murdoch and the "doctor". This puts the audience in the shoes of John as this fast pace editing creates an atmosphere of confusion and rush. This links to John Murdoch's thoughts and feelings because we are shown that he is clueless of what is going on. The lighting of this shot is intriguing because the darkness covers half of his face. This could resemble him hiding half of his identity or not knowing who he really is. It also adds to the mysteriousness of how he is being portrayed in the opening scene of Dark City.

I really like the background of this title sequence, especially because we see the spiral-like pattern cut on the woman later on in the opening sequence. I also really like the way its from "Mystery Clock" Production, which relates a lot to the film, because Dark City is about the mystery of John Murdoch, and as we see later in the opening sequence, we see that at 12 o'clock, everyone is apparently asleep in the hotel and we are only shown that only John and the "doctor" he was on the phone to was awake.

Product Research: Memento (2000)

Memento (2000) is a very unique psychological Thriller as the storyline is presented in a backward sequence so the plot is shown in reverse. The USP of this film I believe is that the audience is continuously kept on their toes as there is suspense and anticipation to what the actual plot is. Personally I believe that this film is one of the best movies I have watched and also the popularity of this film has resulted in a Bollywood replication called Ghajini (2008) which I have also seen.

The film begins with a close up shot of a Polaroid picture which reveals a blood-splattered location and is shown on screen for approx. 30 seconds. As the audience is introduced to this unknown information without any description to what and how this has happened, it leads to curiosity and suspense as there may be links between this situation and the plot of the film. The character that is holding the photograph is frantically waving it around and the picture is in fact fading which alerts the audience that this film is in reverse.

 A close up of a man is disclosed after a reversed scene of the photo being printed is shown. The close up reveals the man looking bewildered and shocked to what he has just witnessed which instantly notifies the audience that this man may be either the protagonist or antagonist of this film. The confusion which the opening creates allows the audience to make assumptions as the opening is not explicitly exposing what is happening, which then creates suspense and expectations from the audience.

Clear and quick paced shots are presented which highlight the murder of a victim. These props allow the audience to see what the main aspects to the killing are and the props shown may be symbolic later on in the film.

A shot from a low angle is shown as the main character is standing up looking down at the dead body. This highlights the power the man now has over killing the other character which insinuates that there may have been conflict and affiliation between the two.

The dark lighting throughout the opening creates pathetic fallacy and foreshadowing as the light creates a sinister and ambiguous atmosphere. The lighting allows the conventions of a thriller to be highlighted as the location and setting is in an obscure environment which is usually for drama and action to take place.

Black Swan (2010) Product Research

The very beginning of the title sequence of Black Swan the screen is black and blank, but music is played. The music is a slow pace and adds an eerie atmosphere to the sequence to suggest that this film is going to be creepy and spine chilling.

A few seconds into the title sequence the colour red appears on the screen. A different mixture of different reds swirling around and occasionally black would appear in the middle. The use of the colour red, as the colour itself has different meanings, could imply the confusion she experiences throughout the film. The use of the colour black that appears every few seconds is mixed in with the red which could suggest the negativity and depression in her life throughout the film.


After this, there is a close up of the ballerinas feet, giving us an idea what the film will mainly be about. The background is very dark and you can't see anything except her feet. This could be to keep the audiences main focus on the dancer not her surroundings.

The feet of the ballerina are being tracked and after this the shot fades back into the different mixtures of the colour red and black. The next shot is a close up on white feathers which contrasts to the title of the film, but then see the black feathers.

My favourite shot in the whole of the title sequence has to be the mid-shot at the end when the dancer is doing swan like movements with her arms and moving away from the camera, with her face not being shown which creates a sense of mystery, with the fog in the foreground adds to this.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTvo8UPO_Bk

Product Research: Disturbia (2007)

Over the holidays I watched Disturbia and I was quite interested in how the events turned out to be as the opening was not as enthralling in the sense of a generic Thriller. But I really liked the film as it included an antagonist who is portrayed as being very discreet and mysterious thus creating suspension. As the film is through the main protagonist's view (Kale) it allows the audience's opinions to be 'bias' as immediately we assume that the secretive next door neighbour is up to no good. The film was interesting as it included main thriller conventions such as a serial killer which creates enigma until the plot is revealed. This film gave me some ideas that we could include in making our own thriller opening such as having an enigmatic stalker and/or kidnapper by portraying them in ambiguous ways such as dark lighting and quick cuts to not reveal their face such shown in also the opening of Se7en.

Product Research: Donnie Darko (2001)

I decided to begin my research with this cult classic as I think that this is an interesting, enjoyable and slightly unconventional thriller.

I found the very beginning of the film to be relatively creepy and eerie. We never see Donnie's face until the opening title, which shows that his character is meant to be rather mysterious and enigmatic. I think that the use of the light on his face shows some level of depth in his character; we cannot be sure whether he is the 'good' or the 'bad'. I think that this would be a very interesting technique which our group could use in our thriller in order to maintain a sense of enigma which thrillers are known for.

I think that another key element in the opening sequence is the Donnie's bike journey as soon as he wakes up. The soundtrack subconsciously adds tension to the extract through the motif of time which is very relevant to the film. The long shots of the bike journey itself is rather confusing as the sun almost appears malicious when it shines through the trees, which is very unusual in general. The shots also allow us to take notice of Donnie in more detail; his disheveled appearance and young face make us feel more interested as he looks vulnerable. On the other hand, the constant low angle shot of him riding the bike make him seem in power. Again this deliberate confusion is very effective and engages the audience.

However, I wasn't too keen on the typography used in the title. I think that it looked childish as opposed to creepy or intimidating. Personally, I believe that a simpler, bolder font would have made much more of an impact . Nonetheless, I think that placing the title over a very natural yet dark scenery creates a feeling of calmness and serenity, suggesting a too-good-to-be-true atmosphere.