Section 12: ANALYSIS OF COMPLETED THRILLER

Target was a film created, scripted, filmed and edited by myself, Naomi Angel, Connor McMahon and Kelsey Thompson

Narrative Structure- In our piece, there is no direct dialogue audio except at one point during the news report scene. Instead of using dialogue to create the scene, we used the actions of the character. This was done to try to convey emotion via action rather than speech, as actions are much harder to convey points across than words are. It was also a chance to test our skills with body language and facial expressions.


Thriller Codes and Conventions

• Protraction – We used this as we wanted to loop the beginning of the film to the ending. The Audience would know what was going to happen due to the corkboard hierarchy, but this was done to raise the audience’s curiosity and make them wonder what had happened and why he was killing all of those people.
• Transformed City- This is seen as a contrast to the outside of the house, where it is a typical welcoming street, to the inside, where the audience discovers a killer lives. We used this to give the film a slightly more surreal feel to it, but the plot still remains believable, and keeping the location in a small enclosed street allows for bigger contrasts to the nature of the character’s crimes.
• The Question and Answer Model – We used this as it creates much more suspense and causes the audience to wonder what is going to happen next, how the character killed these people and why he did it.

Camera Work

• First Scene- A close up of the main character Brad Hope. We did this to try and express the sense of panic he felt as the audience can see him breathing deeply and slowly, as if he had just run a long way.  
• Second Scene- This shot heads into a Extreme longshot as Brad runs from the camera, which allowed the audience to see that even though Brad must have run quite a long way, he still has quite far to go.  
• Third Scene- This was a close up, panning shot of Brad running past the camera towards his house, which we felt would be effective as it shows he is slowing down due to exhaustion but it also makes the audience think he is almost home.  
• Fourth Scene- Heads into a long shot of Brad running up to his front door. And then a  close up of Brad getting his keys out of his pockets. This was to highlight the different angles and so we could get a shot of Brad’s panic as he tried to get his keys.
• Fifth Scene- The camera pans down to show how Brad dropped his keys, which again highlights his panic as he grabs them and opens his door. It then skips to a close up of Brad shutting the door and breathing deeply to highlight his relief at being safe inside his home.
• Sixth Scene- A close up of Brad taking off his coat and gloves and then him looking into the mirror to highlight his fears and to show he still isn’t completely over what he did which indicates that he must have just escaped.
• Seventh Scene - Mid shot of Brad walking towards the camera and then away up the stairs which highlights that he’s tired and wants to escape what he has done.
• Eighth Scene – Close up of his back as he walks up the stairs and then a close up of his hand opening the bedroom door. This is to build suspense about what the character’s room is like, which is slightly an anti-climax as it is a normal bedroom.
• Ninth Scene – There is a pan shot around the room which then focuses on a corkboard which is the focus of the room as this helps explain the films plot.
• Tenth Scene- This is a close up shot of Brad about to cross off the list and then a shot of a girl and then Brad shaking his head. This is slight foreshadowing as it makes the audience wonder what just happened, and why Brad looks confused. He then crosses off the top picture in a mid shot, and this creates suspense as the audience will start to realise what has happened, but it will also leave them with more questions.
• Eleventh Scene – This scene shows a slight longshot of Brad sitting down on the bed and then an extreme close up  of him turning on the tv with the remote. We did this in order to help move the plot along effectively.
• Twelfth Scene – This scene shows Brad smiling and leaning back, closing his eyes as the camera zooms into an extreme close up. This was to highlight Brad’s smugness at the situation and to make the audience realise that Brad had gotten over his initial shock and was now completely relaxed.

Mis-En-Scene
The Snow in the first scene indicates that this is during the winter time, and that also gives a clue, though it is subtle to what is happening, as a frequent disorder in the colder months is the ‘winter blues’, a depression. The calmness and normality of the street is also a contrast to what had happened not too far away from it.

This is repeated inside the house, as everything seems normal and it seems as if nothing interesting happens there, as if it were a normal family home.

Inside his bedroom, it seems like a typical bedroom, which is slightly an anti-climax. We did this because we wanted to create a contrast with His real life, and his double life, in order to create the desired effect of a separation between he was was at home, and who he was when he was working.

Sound
The music to begin with is simple loud breathing with a black screen. This created tension as it made the Audience wonder what had happened and who was breathing. The majority of the sound throughout the opening is natural sound, which we used in order to make the thriller seem slightly more realistic. When he begins to head up the stairs, the music we chose is slightly calming but also has a negative vibe to it, and this indicates that Brad is coming around to understand what he has done and that he is coming to terms with it.


Editing & Graphics
At the very end of the thriller opening, there is a shatterizing effect on the title ‘TARGET’ which we felt would be effective is it implies the shattering of a life and of several other things in the storyline. It is also a good way to tie in the music at the end as it fades off as the screen is blank, ready for the next scene.

The credits which crawled across the screen for our names were, I believe, effective as they didn’t draw too much attention away from what was happening in the film, and instead they were more subtle, which is a contrast to the ending title.

In editing, we had to make a lot of changes to lighting in attempt to try and make it darker which would create a gloomier atmosphere.