Post production: Soundtrack of our thriller

Introduction: Soundtracks are important in thriller because they set the atmosphere and tone for the thriller. The soundtrack gives the audience an impression of what themes the film will associate with.
 The audience will be filed with tension due to the effective frightening sound. It is crucial for sound to be used at different times, this is because it is decisive in making the audience connected or disconnected to the film.

The conventional soundtrack of a thriller is that the soundtrack will contain features of sound that will create fear, tension and suspense. In addition, Non diegetic sound is used with our soundtrack this creates a atmosphere of fear creeping into the audience. However, the non-diegetic sound didn't have to be specifically soundtrack, it could have been voice overs.

Within our thriller we used diegetic sound to so that the audience could have an idea what is going on in the scene. In addition, we used non diegetic sound with the soundtracks, this was to create a atmosphere of tension amongst the audience as the antagonist was approaching the female victim in her bedroom.
For our sound the film that influenced us was psycho in terms of the use of non-diegetic sound as the antagonist is appearing to the female victim.


This Image shows the software we used to create the sound for our thriller production. The software we used to create our sound was Logic pro.

Conclusion: In conclusion, the soundtrack we created along with our other sound has made our thriller really conventional.

Post -Production: Audience feedback

Audience  feedback and Importance:

Audience feedback is comments you receive from people in your target audience on the film production you have produced. This is important because it set aims of what you need to improve for your next film production

Before the making of our thriller production we carried out a questionaire to carry out a research for our target audience to see their liking and dislikings within the thriller genre. The questionaire helped us to make our thriller film very conventional. The questionaire was our foundation to create our thriller around. For Instance, our thriller mostly highlighted the antagonist character  as in the questionaire most peole said they found the antagonist the most appealing.

Focus Group:

In my group we chose ken to take screen shots of the focus group, since he has natural talent of taking good pictures. This was beneficial for understanding of thriller conventions and film making because it tells us how film production work functions.

Positive feedback:
For our film production, we received positive comments:

"The sound really matched up well with the action that took place"- Sean aged 17

"The editing in this film was excellent it really created more anxiety with the action"- Dwayne aged 18

"The cinematography was top standard every film shot that was taken had a contribution to the action" -Katie aged 17

Negative feedback:

Unfortunately, for our film production we also receive negative comments;

"I was confused a bit by the editing for it didn't add any significance to the action"- Ryan aged 18

"The sound at times didn't match up well with the action especially in the flashback"-Brian aged 18

" Some of the cinematography didn't add any significance to the thriller"- Laura aged 17

These negative comments give our film production aims for our next film.

The audience feed back has been very beneficial for us as it has given us aims to achieve  and aims that we can enhance on for our next thriller production. Even though there were negative comments they were constructive at the same time. Therefore, these comments should motivate us for our next film production.

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

Final: It's not over

Evaluation 4): Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation: Question 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What media institution would you use to distribute improved from Rex997

Evaluation7) Loooking back at your premilinary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 preliminary task:

The preliminary task was a short 30 second clip that we were to film in preparation for the real production. The aim of this was to be introduced to the process of filming and editing. Another aim was to find who would be suited in a role within the thriller film production. Most Importantly, the preliminary task was used to reflect on and see what we could improve on in terms of cinematography and editing for the final product.

Video of the preliminary task:

  

Technical filming areas I have now improved in:                                                                                   Within filming, I am now better at shooting from a range of angels. This was evident when a low angle close up shot was taken of the female victim as she is walking home and there is emphasis on her foot movement. This provides more analysis for the audience and allows them to understand that she is walking home alone. I wasn't really confident in taking close ups and angles in my preliminary this was mainly because we didn't understand the importance of low angle camera shots, during a conversation.

 

 

Also, I am now better at shooting film movement. A tilt shot was used to view the male antagonist as he comes into the kitchen to murder the female victim. The film shot shows more emphasis on the male antagonist as he enters the kitchen. For the audience the camera movement will create more tension and suspense as the tilt shot makes him more intimidating and superior. Again, in my preliminary, I didn't really experiment with movements. The tilt we used was more focusing on where the 2 characters were walking on rather than them.

With editing, I have improved on using sound that is useful and appropriate to the scene. For instance, we used diegetic sound of rustling and breathing when the male antagonist approaches with the knife to murder the female victim. This use of the diegetic sound will make sense to the audience for they will hear dialogue from the antagonist that will contribute to the tension that has been created. In my preliminary, the sound we used didn't make any impact in any scene apart from natural sounds you expect to hear. This was because we didn't understand the importance of the use of sound.

Also, in editing, I have Improved the use of a reaction shot. In other words, I have made the use of a reaction shot more significant in our film production. A reaction shot is used when the female wakes up from a brutal dream(of the antagonist murdering her). For the audience, this will create a sense of relief from the tension they were having. But they are truly mistaken. In the preliminary, the reaction shot wasn't really valued as it was used only during conversations. We were not expansive enough with the reaction shot, in other words in other words the reaction shot didn't add any significance.

In our preliminary task we also lacked understanding in the importance of the use of background space in film scenes this is shown in our Image.

 

In our thriller, we eliminated unwanted background space when we filmed a mid-shot of the make antagonist coming into the kitchen to murder the female. This showed that we improved our knowledge on the significance of background space. 

 

 

PLEASE PLAY THE LINK BELOW WHICH DESCRIBES MY PROGRESSION FURTHER FROM THE PRELIMINARY TASK.

 

"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/136869152&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;visual=true"></iframe> 

 

 

 

 

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  ;                                                        Personal reflection:

The thriller was up to a good standard. The reason why I think it was is because it fulfilled conventions that a thriller is expected to fulfil. 

  

 I mostly enjoyed the editing that took place for the thriller production as we experimented for the  right sounds to use in this production. This was with the use of the software's final cut pro and logic pro.

Evaluation5):How did you attract and address your target audience.

Secondary research:

I used secondary research in order to help me attract and address my target audience. The reason is because secondary research helped me to identify the conventions that are used in a thriller to appeal to the target audience. For instance, secondary research helped me to identify the convention of a female victim with the colour of the clothes that she is wearing to connote her vulnerability.

Further from my research, I found the target audience of thrillers are people aged between 15-40, unisex, employed people, students or unemployed people. Also, the target audience are all ethnicities, it is not specific to one race.

The thriller audience enjoys conventions that are in the thriller genre, mainly the types of characters, especially the male anatgonist who is used to intimidate other characters in the movie and to be the person that the audience fears. Another convention, that is liked by the audience is the Iconography used. The iconography in thrillers is usually blood, weapons and money and all these conventions appeal to the audience into seeing what happens next.

The emotion that the target audience feel towards the thriller genre are tension, fear, excitement and suspense. These emotions among the target audience mainly occur when the action is taking place. Overall, the audience will have enjoyment in unique characters and plots that are twisted.
From my research, I decided that the target audience for my product should be:

Age/s: 15-40

Gender: Unisex

Ethnicity: Diverse

Occupation: Mainly students/employed and unemployed people

Hobbies/Interests: Socialising, watching thrillers and horrors, going out and being thrilled in many ways.

Attracting my target audience:

I designed a questionnaire to receive the expectations of my target audience and what they wanted for my media thriller product. The questionnaire results helped me to realise the elements and conventions that I needed to include within my thriller. This was good because the results were specific, relevant to my ideas and the feedback was from people I wanted to appeal to.


Four questions asked in my questionnaire:

One key question I asked was "What thriller character appeals to you the most out of a female victim ,antagonist and a protagonist? Most answers I received were for the male antagonist. This meant that I needed to make the male antagonist the main focus in my thriller film, to make sure that I was addressing my target audiences needs and desires.

Another key I asked was "What is your favourite sub-genre thriller? The options were out of psychological,crime,horror and action. The results showed that most people said that their favourite was psychological. This meant that I should use a psychological element within my thriller to appeal to the target audience and try to attract them.

Also I asked a key question of "What gender victim do you prefer?" between a male or female. The majority of the answers were in favour of a female becoming the victim. This means that I need to have a female as the victim, in order to make it more appealing.

Feedback from my target audience:

Positive: People in my target audience had enjoyed the thriller I made with my group here are the some of the positive comments I received:
"The thriller had carried out my expectations, in terms of making me excited but with fear at the same time. I found the characters very appealing in different ways".- Sean Mutiso 17 years old.
"The thriller lived up to the standards of the film genre, especially with the tension that was created"- Jordan 17 years old.

Negative: However, other people in my target audience had disappointing feedback to say about my thriller, here are some of the negative comments:
" In my opinion, the thriller was too typical and also it didn't create much tension as I had expected".- Samuel 18 years old.
"The narrative of the thriller was too complex for me, it was hard to follow the thriller, for it wasn't making sense".- Chloe 18 years old.



Focus groups:

These focus groups show the production and work of our thriller production in process.