Our Final Thriller: "Alice"

Audience Feedback

Evaluation 7- What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the preliminary to the full product?

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

"What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?"

We used a range of different technologies during the process of our product.

Blogger:
We used Blogger as the site for our Blog and were we post items throughout the process of making and reaching our final product. Blogger has allowed us to view how far our initial ideas have changed from our final idea. We have used blogger at school, at home and due to there being an iPhone and Android app we have also been able to use it whilst out on filming

Social Networking sites:
We used social networking sites such as twitter and Instagram to post tweets and pictures/ videos of the process and procedures we took to get to our final product. We also used the two networks as a way to promote our film and get a following and interest from our target audience. We used these from our phones and online. Account: KEGGPRODUCTIONS.

Flipagram and Youtube:
We used Flipagram and YouTube to create videos of different things that we either found out, or changed throughout the process of making our thriller opening. Flipagram, we felt, would be a more interesting way of presenting our ideas instead of normal videos. We used YouTube to post videos that we did do and then shared the videos and Flipagram's to blogger.

Prezi and Microsoft Powerpoint:
We used Microsoft Powerpoint and Prezi a lot during the process of making our product as we felt it was an easy and clever way of informing our audience of the different stages we were at with our product and were we got our ideas from etc.

Apple Products and Pinnacle:
We used Apple Products such as iPhones and iPods to take pictures and film videos for our product. Our Thriller Opening was filmed on iPhones as we felt that the camera quality was of a high standard and that we would be able to achieve our aims with this piece of technology. We used Pinnacle Studio to edit and put together the different videos and create our finalised Thriller Opening. We cropped and lengthened the videos and also changed the colour to black and white in order to make the audience feel more tension. We also used Splice, an app for iPhones, to edit together our Prelim task.

Preview's of our twitter page and Instagram page, used to promote our film and create an audience. Also an image of our company logo and our final video on YouTube.

Evaluation 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

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

Evaluation 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

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

How does your media product represent particular social groups?



Alice                                                    Esther

A key character I have chosen to use in this evaluation is the main character in our thriller, Alice. We have chosen this character in particular as we feel that the similarities and differences between her and Esther from Orphan (2009) are clear and easy to identify.

The similarities between the two characters are based on the appearance, costume, the role in the film and representation.

The first similarity is based on the appearance of the characters. We can see that Alice is pale, looks gormless and her eyes are wide with pain and control. In addition, we can see that Esther also is pale and has similar features to Alice in the way they come across and in particular, their dark eyes and dark rings underneath them. However, for effect, we used dark make up for Alice to enhance the intended purpose for the character, as she needed to look unpleasant to get the message across.

Costume also plays a big part in identifying the characters as it shows a clear representation of what and who they are. In this case, Alice is wearing a school shirt showing in the picture above as this indicates she may be a young school girl with many problems to follow. This creates empathy as the audience will feel much closer to the character as she is so young and vulnerable. In contrast, in the specific picture displayed above, Esther seems to be wearing a low- cut top and also a ribbon is shown around her neck which may have some indication into the type of character she is in the film. This provides a huge contrast in characters, however, in other scenes throughout the film 'Orphan', is represented in a vulnerable way also and shows how her identity may be false or hidden in some way. This is shown by her pretty collared shirt and neatly done hair.

The role both characters play in the film are also similar as Alice plays the main antagonist in our film as she brings pain and distress into people's lives. Even though she may be young and her vulnerability is shown, Alice is clever but sly in the way she acts and uses her power as a young school girl to promote this. Esther also, is highly intelligent, manipulative, incredibly charming and lacks remorse. Both names, 'Alice' and 'Esther' have different hidden meanings to them. For example, 'Alice' was chosen to provide a sense of vulnerability and weakness as a young school girl. However, the name 'Esther' provides a more religious aspect as the name 'Esther' is biblical which adds to her character. These are the differences shown between characters as we can see that they both have very different interpretations for each film.

Due to us being sixteen year old girls, we chose Megan (Alice) as the main and atypical character as we felt that this would be the most effective and have a better impact on the audience. Normally, you would see a little girl as innocent, quiet and shy but in this case, she is a sly, cunning girl as she plans evil, possessive events on innocent victims. However, this could be an under-lying meaning of what her past was like and her cause of death.

In contrast, our new and updated character, Kayleigh, Alice's older sister is a typical, caring and loving bigger sister in this situation and provides a contrast between characters.

Evaluation 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
by Kayleigh Beard & Georgia Seth

Title:
Due to our thriller being set in a dark, gloomy environment, and the name of the young girl being 'Alice', we felt the title ‘Alice’ suited our film perfectly, due to its simple yet effective tone. The font used to present our film in the opening title delivers the creepy image we aim to give off to the audience when seeing our title, and we believe the font ties in well with the title. We also decided ‘Alice’ could mean a lot of things due to the simplicity of the title name, leaving the audience guessing as to what it can mean.

Setting/Location:
Our original set idea was a park with a dark gloomy forest where we wouldn't have to stop and start whilst there were members of the public around, as we grew up using the park Rapheals Park in Romford seemed like the best idea. On our first day of filming we found the perfect place to set the film, it was a dog track but also could be used for people cutting through the park. Luckily it was a cold and a cloudy day to set the mood of the film. We had some difficulty when members of the public walked past as we then had to pause and start again, to ensure no-one other than the characters were on the set. On our second day of filming we got to the park and it was packed with families across the field due to it being a hot day. We then had to walk to another park around 20 minutes away, and find a spot that wasn't over populated with loud people. The grass was wet which meant we had to find somewhere on the pavement but a similar looking forest setting in the background. Once we done this we began to film.

Costumes:
Due to ‘Alice’ being filmed in a public place, we felt the characters that we portrayed needed to dress sensibly and normally, we decided to dress the main character, Alice, old-fashioned but with a hint of modernism so that the time-period was miss-leading and could be interpreted in various ways. We started with picking out a plain white school shirt but ensured the top button was done up to look smart. Then found a classic black pleated skirt as these are traditional and compliments the white shirt and cardigan. As the forecast on our first day of filming was set to be cold we found a classic burnt orange cardigan to keep her warm and ensure the costume didn't look like school uniform. We then picked knee high white socks as this would keep her legs warm and worked well with the rest of the outfit. The black pointed ballet pumps are quite modernised as they are accessorised with a bow. This adds simple detail to the outfit without being too outrageous.

Kayleigh was dressed smartly and in all black, this reflects her mood and how she was upset and finding it hard to cope with it being her sister that died. We also intended for the audience to believe she may have just come from the funeral and that's why she has turned up at her place of death bearing flowers.

Rosie and Helena were dressed in tracksuits and trainers, just what you'd expect to see young girls in when spending the day at the park. Dante also wore running clothes just to suit what he was doing in the film.

Title, Font and Style:
We decided as a group to use this style and coloured writing as this is what our focus group found was the most effective. We believe that the title 'Alice' covering the dark gloomy trees contrasts well with the theme of the film. The audiences' eye is quickly drawn by the young girl sitting in the centre of the woods, the reader can quickly assume that this is the character 'Alice', the way she is dressed fits the mood of the film and how she is possessed and a troubled little girl. The quote made by the Daily Mail, "Once you see her, nothing can save you" entices the audience to want to see it and maybe even buy it as it lets the audience know this is a thriller film. The five stars just makes the film more appealing to the public.

Camera Work and Editing:
We used an iPhone 5 to film our thriller. We tried to use a range of shots, including long shots, close ups and over the shoulder shot. We did this to look like we was more capable of a variety of shot types and angles. Our opening shot is a high angle shot, presenting the river and how this is relevant to the rest of the film, and allowing the audience to take in the Mise en scene of the area. We also used point of view shots, to engage with the audience and put them in our characters shoes, such as the innocent teenager receiving the text, and the sister laying down flowers at Alice's place of death. This also gives the audience an idea of the characters state of mind. The extreme close up of the camera panning into Alice's face emphasises horror and fear of her. As a group, we felt having the right camera shots was vital for each scene as we needed to emphasise the thrilling nature of events that were occurring, and needed to make the audience as uneasy and tense as possible whilst watching ‘Alice’.

Story and How the Opening Scene Sets It Up:
We knew from the start that we was going to use various story lines to cross cut in and out of various story lines. This we believed would be effective as they will never lose the viewers attention. We made sure that the same clips weren't ongoing for too long unless it was necessary. The story line for our thriller is the idea of a young girl drowning in a lake in an abandoned park and now haunting the place. Whether she is murdered or takes her own life is not suggested and is left to the viewers imagination. This is effective as we didn't want to give too much away. As the thriller is set in a modern day setting and leaves the opening on a cliff-hanger many doors are left open for when the opening is followed up with a main movie.
Genre and how the film suggests it:
The genre of our film opening is a thriller. We believe the black and white colouring creates a sense of eeriness and meets the connotations of a thriller. This is because having taken inspiration from similar films such as Cabin in the Woods, it became apparent that dullness creates the mysteriousness that the genre aims for. Also the fact that thrillers are supposed to make the audience ask themselves how things have happened and make assumptions is another way Alice meets this criteria. The cross-cutting leave the audience asking themselves how things have happened. For instance, why the boy is being watched. The fact that the boy is being followed also gives the audience the immediate impression that Alice is a thriller as this is very similar to the world famous thriller Orphan. The camera angles and mysterious acting give the audience a scared, confused feel as they are worried about what will happen next, as well as being unsure about who the girl is. The concept of a possessed girl fits into the main connotations of a thriller which can then add a horror/mysterious feel to the opening. The fact the genre meets these other genre conventions means it made sense to take ideas and inspiration from famous films such as Orphan and Cabin in the Woods.

How characters are introduced:
In the opening of our thriller, we firstly introduce Megan Beard who plays our main character Alice as we felt that she was the most important part and therefore needed to let the audience know this. The next person who was introduced was Dante Dragan as we felt that he played another important role as one of the victims in the opening of our thriller, he was then followed by Kayleigh Beard who played the protagonists sister as she was affected in a different way based on their relationship as two sisters. Lastly, we introduced the last two victims, Rosie Hopwood and Helena Kavanagh and felt that these characters added emotion and empathy to the story line as it showed how girls of a similar age to the possessed girl had the power to affect them also. 

Behind the Scenes

Editing Diary

As we used one of the school computers, we used the program Pinnacle which enabled us to add our individual clips and filming footage and we could edit and play around with the footage we had. Neither of us had any experience in using the program Pinnacle and we did not know how to use any of the features which the program had. This was a bit of a problem as it took a bit of time for us to adapt to it and get used to the features involved. After a few times of using the program and trying out new things whilst experimenting, we eventually adapted to the program and began to edit our footage.

Firstly, we put all the clips on using an iPhone 5 USB lead and put the clips in the order we firstly established and deleted any 'bloopers' and un needed clips and played around with the speed, colour effects and the length of the clips. Once we decided upon which clips we wanted to use  in our final thriller piece we then started to put them into an order which would make sense to the audience member watching our film.

We decided upon an order, played around with the editing effects on pinnacle and then started to put together and produce the opening to our thriller. We cut and changed the order of clips in a way to suit the storyline and allow the audience to follow and understand the cross-cutting in and out of scenes. We then added the music and fitted it around the length and speed of clips. Once this was complete and we reached our 2 minutes we then decided on what titles and font would be best suited. After trying out different transitions and styles we finally uploaded them to the thriller and finalised the opening movie.
 

Music

We have decided to use this music as it has the ringing at the beginning that is quite childish yet creepy, this gives the audience some idea of what to expect throughout our thriller without giving to much away. It builds tension effectively and doesn't loose the viewers interest.

Story Board

Changes

Before we filmed our thriller we had loads of inital ideas, which unfortunately, we wasnt able to fulfil during filming for various reasons. Here is a video explaining the changes made to the opening of our thriller 'Alice'.

Character Profile

Name: Megan Beard
D.O.B: 28th October 2002
Age: 11 years
Height: 4'11
Eye colour: Brown
Hair colour: Brown

Megan is old enough to listen to what we have to say and do and wear what she is told for filming. She coped well in the cold weather and wasn't afraid to share any ideas that she had. She is a good actress and performed to the best of her ability.

Name: Kayleigh Beard
D.O.B: 12th July 1997
Age: 16
Height: 5'4
Eye colour: Blue
Hair colour: Blonde

As Kayleigh is Megan's sister and they have similar features we thought it would be for the best if she was in it playing her sister to make the scene more believable. Kayleigh didn't need to be instructed on what to do either as she was also directing, therefore this saved a lot of time on our final day of filming.

Name: Dante Dragan
D.O.B: 1st November 1998
Age: 15
Height: 6'0
Eye colour: Green
Hair colour: Mousy brown

Dante is someone we know from our previous school, Marshalls Park, he is a nice boy that has some acting knowledge as he used to study drama. He also was good with coming up with shots when we was unsure. He got on with what he was asked to do and wasn't at all argumentative and was willing to cooperate and share his own ideas.

Name: Rosie Hopwood


D.O.B: 20th August 2001
Age: 12
Height: 5'4
Eye colour: Brown
Hair colour: Mousy brown

Rosie is a family friend of Kayleigh's who is also a close friend of Megan's, this means that she won't be shy during filming as she is familiar with the rest of the cast and directors.

Name: Helena Kavanagh
D.O.B: 8th June 2001
Age: 12
Height: 5'2
Eye colour: Brown
Hair colour: Mousy brown

Helena is a friend of Rosie's and was happy to come along on the day to make up the numbers and ensure Rosie didn't have to do the scene alone.

Final Teaser Poster

This is our final teaser poster.

Out of the 12 people we asked, 10 picked this one over the DVD cover below. Some of the comments made included:

"She looks better in the middle" and, "Your eye is drawn to the girl"

We believe that the title 'Alice' covering the dark gloomy trees contrasts well with the theme of the film. The audiences' eye is quickly drawn by the young girl sitting in the centre of the woods, the reader can quickly assume that this is the character 'Alice', the way she is dressed fits the mood of the film and how she is possessed and a troubled little girl. The quote made by the Daily Mail, "Once you see her, nothing can save you" entises the audience to want to see it and maybe even buy it as it lets the audience know this is a thriller film. The five stars just makes the film more appealing to the public.

 

This is the second final teaser poster, this only recieved 2 votes.

Someone quoted about this one, "I don't like how you have to search for the girl", this assured us that using this one wasn't the right choice.

Although we prefer the sky in this image as it has more of a creepy effect, we didn't like having to place the title nearer the bottom just so that you can actually see the top of the trees. Everything looks as though it has been bunched up at the bottom of this image, with it left quite bare looking at the top.

Alice, Costume

Final Costume- Alice

Our final costume for the character Alice looked like this. We was going for an old-fashioned look but with a hint of modernism so that the time-period was mis-leading and could be interpreted in various ways. I started with picking out a plain white school shirt but ensured the top button was done up to look smart. Then a found a classic black pleated skirt as these are traditional and compliments the white shirt and cardigan. As the forecast on our first day of filming was set to be cold we found a classic burnt orange cardigan to keep her warm and ensure the costume didn't look like a school uniform. We then picked knee high white socks as this would keep her legs warm and worked well with the rest of the outfit. The black pointed ballet pumps are quite modernised as they are accessorised with a bow. This adds simple detail to the outfit without being too outrageous.

This photo gives you more idea of the colour of the cardigan.

We decided on the day of filming to add a simple silver necklace under the collar but isn't shown in this image. We did this to ensure the audience didn't see this outfit as a uniform but a traditional every day outfit.

Giggles during the preparation process!

Health and Safety

When we first visited the location of our thriller opening we realised that there were a significant amount of risks that could be encountered for actors and ourselves during the filming process. The location of our thirller opening is in a forest, therefore, we had to make sure the path in the forest that we was going to use was clear of: large branches, tree roots, large stones/rocks, and we had to be aware of any mud and the shallow river that was near by.

The river could be of potential danger due to it having a steep river bank that in some places is well hidden by forestry. The river is only shallow and has a hard concrete and stone river bed and could be of serious harm if someone was to fall. In order to make sure that our actors and ourselves will be safe during filming and away from any risks, we are going to use a pathway further down away from the river.

Also, when we first visited the location we found that certain areas of the forest was muddy and impractical to walk or run through and if attempted to would cause a loss of balance due to feet sinking in the mud quickly. Due to the mud being so bad we decided on a hard, solid surface to use as our path which we film the running on. Using a flat, solid pathway is the safer option to use due to us being able to clearly see any obstacles that could be of potential danger to the actor running and minimalising the risk of a fall or an injury.

Also, in the film we wanted to have 'Alice' in a tree. We found that most trees were even un- safe and would not be able to hold any weight, or were to high from the ground and could have caused a serious injury. We eventually found a tree that was close to the ground, had an enclosed front to prevent 'Alice' from falling and was stable and strong enough to withhold any additional weight.

On the day of filming we stuck to all locations that we believed to be safe and that were not going to cause any danger or injury to ourselves and the actors involved.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule
Date: 23rd Feb 2014 (Day 1)
Camera/iPhone
Runner (Dante)
Kayleigh's Sister (Alice)
Earphones
Costumes/Make-up

 

Potential runner's outfit-



We will be using something similar to this grey hoodie to represent the character as a male runner and this will give the audience an insight into the type of role this character will be playing in our title sequence.












Running shorts

We will be using either tracksuit bottoms or running shorts (whatever the actor feels more comfortable in) for our runner as it will represent who the character is and give the audience an idea of the part he is playing and what this will mean throughout the title sequence.







Running trainers



We will be using running trainers as it will contribute to the male character of the runner and put across the impression for the character.











Earphones


We will be using these white earphones for our runner as it shows a sense of mystery and tension, as using the earphones, the intention is to create suspense and keep the audience on their toes.

 

In the lead up to our film being produced, we decided that we needed to add a few extra scenes to make it much longer and create a better feel for the thriller opening to create the intended effect. During this process, we used extra props which helped along the thriller and created a much more child-like approach to the film, these included the ribbon from Alice's hair and a bouqet of flowers to add more empathy to the film from the audiences perspective.

The flowers were used for the added character to represent the mourning of her dead sister and this therefore represents death as a concept due to flowers being a symbolic image of this.

The ribbon was included to show it was child-like and therefore this added emotion and impact to the film. The fact that it was used as a little girls ribbon, was effective as it draws the audience in and creates a much more emotional image for the thriller. This therefore creates a bigger contrast as you would not link both a little girl and death/possession together.

Shooting schedule-
Date- 19th March 2014 (Day 2)
Camera/iPhone
Alice (Megan)
2 young looking girls
Costumes/Make-up
Picnic blanket, cups, plastic plates, food, tuppa wear boxes
Skipping ropes, bouncy ball
 

Teaser Poster

This is the teaser poster for our thriller 'Alice'. It is slightly distorted from the way I had to stretch the photo to save it as an image, although this will not be an issue in the final draft. I came up with 'A Life Is Considered Evil' from our original idea of making all the of words in our slogan to start with the letters of her name. It took time to come up with the last two words, however, 'A Life Is' was always a definite.

 

I had some trouble finding a good place to put the slogan as I didn't want the poster to look crowded or too spacious. As the title was so far up the page I decided to fill the empty gap with it. For effectivness I made the first letter of every word the same red as the title, this is to make it clear we have purposely picked these words to link back to the name of the film. We used the title idea that the focus group said was the best. I think this was a good choice as the colour looks good on the green background.

 

In the final poster we will have a darker and creepier image in the background as this forest I believe looks happy and a child-friendly forest. We will use our own photography. The girl in the middle we used was Grace, I took this on a clean white background and removed it to make it look as though she is sitting on the forest floor. In the real thing I will use my sister (Megan) for the poster as she is the person starring in our film.

 

Lastly, I will not use the word "Quality" in the review as this is something the Daily Mail wouldn't say. After hearing audience feedback the best word to use is most probably "superb". I put a 15 certificate in the corner as this is the certificate our film will be.

Title Idea Findings

Title Ideas

Pitch

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Here is a brief outline of the opening of our thriller 'Alice' and a brief overview of characters, influences, and the storyline.

Hair and Make-up Findings

First hair trial

After I had done her make-up I then went on to play with her hair.

This is an action shot of me pulling the hair out of the hair band to create more of a messy do.

This is the pink hair bow I found to try and play around with.

This is a close up of the first idea we had.

Our first final outcome.

This is the second idea we had, we are still yet undecided with which we prefer and will be asking some of our peers what they would prefer to see in our film.

These are the products we used.

First make-up trial

This is the young girl (Kayleigh's sister) we will be using in our final media piece.

This is without make-up

Here I had used a pale foundation and the palest face powder I could find, unfortantly it didn't make her look as pale as we had hoped so we will be investing in better products for the real thing.

I used a smokey eye kit with grey and black eyeshadows to make her look ghostly and tired, as if she had been awake for years.

This is a close up of how I rubbed the eyeshadow in.

Lastly, I put a small amount of mascara on her eyelashes and smeared them under her eyes. We are yet unsure if we will be doing this in the final piece as we don't know if this is having the correct effect we was going for.

These are the products used.

Influences

 

Target Audience

Cape Fear
The target audience of Cape Fear for Demographics and Psychographics would be 15+ mainstream male group. This is becuase it is the certificate of the film and due to the action and plot of the film, it is a mans film rather than the stereotypical female film genre.

Insidious

The target audience of Insidious for Demographics and Psychographics would mainly be to appeal to explorers of a 15+ age group. This is due to the plot of the story being one that causes adventure and mainly appeals to young people as they are most influential and most willing to discover un-natural things.

 

The Woman In Black
The target audience of The Woman In Black is a 12a, and therefore would appeal to people in the psychographic definition of strugglers and explorers due to the story line being one of exploration and unknown circumstances which would appeal to both of these types of target audience, however, because the certificate is a lower age compared to other thrillers, it could be less appealing to older teenagers but more likely 12-16 year olds.

 

The Conjuring

The target audeince of The Conjuring would most likely be of a 15+ age group, most likely to be explorers and strugglers as well. The certificate of the film is a 15, the gender which is most likely to be associated with this film is both genders. 

 

Orphan Orphan has an age certificate rating of 15 and again appeals to strugglers and explorers due to the film, much like Insidious, is about exploring the unknown and un-natural elements and therefore would appeal to a more influential age group of people who are open to finding and discovering new things.