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.
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.
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.
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.
