as Thriller Evaluation

Firstly ,I gained inspiration from watching thriller openings and found that many were based on stalking (eg ; man following unsuspecting victim) in an eerie-looking woodland/ dark night setting . Such as ‘What lies beneath’ and ‘Panic room’. So after some planning we decided that we should base our thriller on something that was in total contrast to what is expected. Our triad styled opening challenged forms of conventions in many ways. The storyline was as follows ; A young black girl gets caught up in a triad circle and subsequently owes money to the young female triad leader. She is brought to the hustle and bustle of China town and confronted in the basement of a dodgy Chinese restaurant .The young black girl (my character) is dressed in a navy blue Mac , casual attire, that allows the viewer to acknowledge that she is of lower status than the triad leader, who is dressed in a classy, chic , black Mac , fish net tights and heels (she has a somewhat a seductive hint to her look).Her body guard has a stern ,hard expression, and body posture/language and is also dressed in black . This is reflecting a scene in ‘rush hour’ when Chris tucker and Jackie Chan are confronted by the triads in a Chinese restaurant.

The location was chosen to be in China town. This was to create a different form of thriller. We homed in on bright red colours and had incorporated some shots of everyday people going about everyday errands. This was to create the sense of not knowing what to expect. The fast-paced editing combined with zoom shots, shot-reverse-shots ,low angel shots , panning and tracking shots ,created the tension that was needed . As Our media product was a triad storyline, we used an Asian dominated environment (China town) a Chinese restaurant and two Asian characters . The choice of location and establishing shot ,allows the viewer to see how Chinese people operate in their natural everyday environment.
In the basement scene, the portrayal of the two Asian characters is very much of crime and danger . Many components contribute to this ; Location , lighting and body language . The triads never sit down which show they are of high status.

If our opening was developed into a full-length film, I think that it has the potential to be a major film with correct casting and resources. But as it is , maybe smaller studios would take on this sort of film. This is due to the team that is behind our thriller and the experience needed to create a successful media product.

Our thriller attracts (or would attract) the viewer that enjoys a fast-paced thriller , probably around 16-25 year old males ,although it would appeal to women due to the main characters being female .Asian viewers may be the majority .But this media should appeal to everyone and when we had a preview of the media ,I found that people of all ages ,race ,religion ,race and creeds enjoyed watching it . And in fact, wanted it to continue .This is a strong point of our film and would definitely help in any effort to developing the film.

One thing that I observed when previewing this is that oriental viewers felt allegiance to the film ,which would also contributed to getting viewers to watch the media .Also unique points such as subtitles are very affective.

I have an overall positive view on the technologies involved in making this media product .I learnt how to create affective media , through quality editing. The apple Macs allow you to watch your editing .As you edit ,which is highly useful as you can watch your media product back. Also the fact that you can connect the cameras directly into the computer is good and help with logging and capturing . In contrast with the cameras ,I found it annoying to pre-focus the camera before auto-focusing as this could lead to out-focused shots if not done properly by the camera operant .I like very much that you could manipulate the sound from final cut pro (Mute etc…) which saves time , and the soundtrack software was excellent as it had categorised different sounds and make adding a soundtrack extremely easy.
Most importantly , I have learnt that when deciding to do a media product your team and planning are absolutely paramount . If the planning is not organised correctly you will not have a successful media product . Every one must follow their role within the project.