Found Prod - Elliott, Max, Sam H, Jack G: April 2015

In what ways does you media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

Title

The title for our film is “RUSH”. This was not our original choice for a title, our original name was “Forgotten” but we had to change the name because of the context of our thriller. At first it was going to be set in an abandoned house where strange things would happen, it would have almost been like paranormal activity. But due to problems finding a suitable abandoned house, we had to change locations, ideas and our name to suit a new idea. The title “Rush” follows thriller conventions closely as many thriller films imply Danger, Adrenaline and a fast paced storyline and so we thought that we should link our thriller name to the thriller conventions. Rush implies Adrenaline as it represents speed and danger and also gives a visual image of someone moving fast and running from something. Other films that represent adrenaline are “faster” and “the rundown”.

Setting location

We shot in two different locations, one was in a secluded forest and the other location was shot in a dark hallway behind the stage in school. The Forest challenges many thriller conventions as our location represents Paranoia and also it seems mysterious as it all looks the same and you almost feel alone. This is shown in other films such as Women In Black as the location is on an island separated from society, this makes it mysterious as no one knows who lives there and also during the women in black film paranoia is represented through the house as he thinks he’s on his own and also through sound. As you can see from the picture to the side, we filmed our thriller during a bright day, we done this so that it would contrast with our final shot which was shot in the dark. The use of the forest created tension and adrenaline because the rapid editing as it felt like the protagonist was being closely followed as some of the camera shots were behind tree(s).

The dark setting we secondly use created an claustrophobic atmosphere, similar to the horror/thriller ‘saw’ or ‘The Purge’. It built up tension because the protagonist is tied up to a radiator while hearing footsteps and other noises. Setting our scene in a dark location follows conventions for a thriller. If you’ve seen the film ‘The purge’, you’ll notice that only bad things start to happen when it gets dark and so we chose to start our thriller off with light and then end with dark.

Costumes and props

The costume stays the same for George played by Max O’Connnor throughout the thriller. George is dressed in stereotyped teenage clothing, he is wearing a blue hoodie, black trousers and blue trainers. We chose for George to wear plain clothes because it shows how he is an average teenage school boy. The average clothing links to other thriller films such as ‘the purge’, the family who get terrorized by the antagonist are an average family. You’ll notice in the film, the stalker, who is being played by Elliott hart is dressed in black to show he is the antagonist. Black clothing links to codes and conventions of a thriller as usually the antagonist is dressed in black to show he is either dangerous or just the bad guy. In the last scene the stalker wears a mouth protection mask and we chose for him to wear this because we wanted to hide the identity of the stalker. Much like other films such as ‘Strangers’ use masks to hide their identity so it brings a sense of ambiguity to the film. The mouth mask is used to create fear towards George. As well as the mouth mask, the stalkers outfit changes in the last scene as he is seen wearing a black apron to add to that sense of fear. The apron gives the stalker a psycho personality with gives him an identity.

Props

In our thriller we used a face mask for the antagonist to use to try and hide in identity, this is used also in thrillers to hide identity such as in the thriller ‘the bone collector’.

We also used a chain with was held by the antagonist as it represents his power as he is holding a potential weapon and threatening the protagonist. This appears in many thriller films as it shows power between characters.

Camerawork and editing

We used a range of shots in our thriller. The film started off with a high angle shot of the protagonist laying, tied up against the radiator. This set the scene of our thriller and also showed that the protagonist has no power and the fact he is tied up adds to that. Also in this shot the protagonist moves his head and looks around which conveys confusion and shows he is unaware where he is. These types of shots are commonly used in thriller films because it shows who the dominant figure is. An example of a film where this happens a lot is ‘iron man’ as they want you to know that iron man is the most powerful by using a high angle shot. We used establishing and long shots for example when the protagonist ran. The use of the eye line shot helped us see the panic of the protagonist as the camera is very shaky to show his sprinting away from the antagonist.

This shot makes it seem like the camera is the eyes of the protagonist so whatever we see is what the protagonist sees, this helps build tension as its making you wonder who and why he is running. We saw this shot used in a thriller on YouTube which was made by a student and we thought it was effective cause it keeps you wondering who he is running from.

We used rapid editing in our thriller and were a massive part of building tension throughout the opening of our thriller. We chose to use this because it makes our film look fast paced and exciting, this also linked to our name of our thriller ‘Rush’. An example of rapid editing used is in Fast and Furious, it is used in this to make it fast faced as it fits the films context. We also used continuity editing which played a big part in the editing process, due to re-shoots we had to make sure the clothes and props we used were the same, otherwise it would show that we filmed different parts of our thriller at different times.

Title font and style

The font of the title is 3D text written in big, bold capital letters. The word ‘RUSH’ was originally written in white but we changed it to green as we thought it contrasted with the background, being black. We took this concept with the title of ‘Faster’. The word ‘RUSH’ looks big and in your face which implies that the film is going to be filled with fast paced action. The size of the font is large and takes up most of the screen.

Story and how the opening sets it up

We discussed in our group what we thought our thriller would be classed as and we all thought it was a crime thriller. We came to this decision because clearly the person running is running from someone but no one knows why, has he done something wrong? You soon find out that the protagonist is running from a stalker. This is similar to the film ‘strangers’. Our opening starts of fast paced with the protagonist running away from something, this sets up well as we establish the location and one of the characters. We’ve made it so you have no idea why the protagonist is running and who he’s running from. This follows the conventions of a crime thriller because the stalker is revealed at the end. We don’t really give anything away in the film regarding who the stalker is, we used camera angles to make it look like you’re seeing it from the stalkers eye view. Many film opening start of like this, giving no clues about who the antagonist is such as ‘SAW’. A group of people wake up in some sort of house with no memory of how they got there and all they see is a video on a TV of a doll telling them what to do.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The opening starts off with the protagonists tied up in some sort of hallway which looks like the stalkers hideout. It looks like this because it has a flickering light and the hallway is quite cramped making it uncomfortable for the protagonist. It then switches to the protagonist running away from someone, we chose to use an action before narrative because it helps identify the situation and characters. You can immediately establish the genre of this film because you begin to ask questions like why is he in a forest? A forest is an eerie environment which makes you feel alone and seeing the protagonist running from something makes you think, what has he done? And who is he running from? This tells us that it is a crime thriller. Although most thrillers start off with a murder, we chose not to include a murder in ours to keep the audience wondering.

How characters are introduced

The protagonist was introduced tied up in a strange hall way which is possibly where the antagonist lives. The protagonist is shown tied up against a radiator. From this we can already see the distribution of power as the antagonist is sitting on a chair in front of him. We also use a low angle shot to show the antagonist having more power.