Our finished film and comments are on our youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NJJDProductions

By Jasmine Pearson

Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?Generic conventions are the things that you think of when thinking of a certain genre, and can help to define that genre. In our film we use many of these. For example, in the scene where Lee Richardson discovers the bag, blood drops onto his cheek. The blood is a generic convention of a thriller/horror genre. Also our setting can be classed as a generic convention, because the woods is an isolated place, perfect for a killer to take their victims, and is also associated with thriller/horror films. In this sense or film is not challenging the typical generic conventions that are closely tied with the thriller/horror genre, but developing them. Our use of conventions does not really indicate what sub-genre our film is, so this is something that I would improve on if we were to do this again. Our use of conventions shows that similar thriller films have been an influence, mainly ones such as ‘The Shining’, ‘Blair Witch’ and ‘When A Stranger Calls’. The opening to ‘When A Stranger Calls’ is very similar to the opening of our film. Dead bodies are found at both starts of the films, so this is a similarity. Our film is also similar to this film because of its title sequence. The titles are on plain black screens with film in between them, and the titles in our film are set out like this. Also during the opening sequence of the film, a phone conversation is audible to the audience, and in our film a radio broadcast is played throughout our opening sequence, which are similar.










How does your media product represent particular social group?
Our film uses a syerotype to represent the teenage boys at the beggining of our film. They go into the woods and start drinking, which is something a lot of others view teenagers as doing, so in this aspect we are representing a male teenager in a sterotypical way. For the killer we go against the sterotype of a typical male killer, and in our film 'The Hanger' is a woman killer. Usually in films the killer is not a woman, so this is challenging the steroetype and I still think it works because it is unexpectd and thats what makes up a thriller film. One way we conform to a sterotype is by having the victims as teenagers. Usually the victims in thriller/horror films are teenagers, and you don't normally see an old lady being killed off in a film. We did this in our film because the teenagers add vunerabilty to the killings, making the audeince more shocked. Also our target audience is of a simular age to that of the teenage boys, so this would appeal more to our audience.

What kind of media Institute might distribute your media product and why?
Our film would be something that could be produced by a major Hollywood Studio. I had already researched into major film distributors, including Warner Bros, 20^th Century Fox and Universal. As a group we decided that Universal would be the idea distributor choice for our film because, it could promote our film to a widespread area globally, so that we have a better chance at success rate in more countries. Also it would be a good distributor choice because they also distribute a lot of thriller/horror films, including The Strangers, Wanted and The Unborn. It would be released on dvd and blue-ray, and available to purchase on iTunes. By widening our release range, we would create bigger profits, and enable our audience to enjoy the film in a variety of ways. With our film being a thriller film, there is not many opportunities for merchandising, as say there would be with an action or anime film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our film would be 15 – 30 year olds, of both genders. I think this age range is suitable because it is not a too big gap to target, but not too small that we would be cutting out possible audience. Also our film rating is a 15, so that is why our target audience must start at that age. Our full film contains a lot of thrilling/suspense senses and graphical horror images, such as the dead body that is hanging in the first scene. This is why we have picked the target audience we have. Any body younger or older would be disturbed by on un interested in this type of film. My group and I also decided on our target audience by looking at other similar films and seeing who their target audiences were. From the questionnaire we did on our film genre, the people who took our questionnaire had to state their age. We found that the majority of the people who said they liked all of the common features that were used in a thriller film were aged between 16-24, which also helped us decide on our target audience. Looking on the website http://www.bbfc.co.uk/general/ gave descriptions on what features are included in the age rating of films, and this helped us decide that our film was going to be rated 15.

How did you attract/address your audience?Our target audience was people of both genders, aged 15 – 30. This age group of people would be expecting something quite thrilling in a thriller film or else they would get bored of it. To try and make this true to attract them and keep their interest, we included a lot of point of view shots. This meant that the audience saw what Lee Richardson was seeing, and gave them a feel of being closer to the film, as if they were actually seeing this. If we were to film the rest of the film and not just the first 2 minutes, we would have included a lot of close up shots. This creates suspense and increases the thriller effect because the audience can not see what is around the victims, and cannot see until the very last moment is someone was to attack them. Also throughout our film you never see our killer’s face. This unknown element increases the thrill of the film, because people are scared by not knowing who are people is. We included these techniques to create a good thriller that would be interesting and thrilling enough for our audience.

What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
As we were filming our second scene in a woods, the ground was very uneven and it was very useful that the tripod included a spirit meter that enabled you to adjust the tripod legs so that the shot was straight and not at a canted angle. Final Cut was the editing software we used to edit our film. During this process I learnt how to import film onto the Mac and into Final Cut, then drag into the film bar and trim it and rearrange the order. I also learnt how to separate the sound of the film so that it could be dragged out and cross faded to smooth out the sound. One problem we had during the editing was that we had made a mistake when filming and shot our first scene in widescreen and our second scene we didn’t. We resolved this problem by enlarging the first scene shots so that it then played over all parts of the screen. This cropped off the sides off the film slightly but did not crop off anything important and looked a lot better compared to our second scene of filming afterwards. In the editing process is where we added our radio broadcast to the beginning of our film as well. We recorder the broadcast ourselves and then uploaded it onto Final Cut and dragged it over where we wanted it to be placed. We found that there was a useful effect where we could change the texture of our voice over broadcast to make it sound more like something off the radio.


Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the procession from it to the full product?
I learnt that the planning stage of making our film was very important. When presented with the task, the first thing we decided to do was to discuss and mind map our different ideas. This was useful in deciding upon an initial idea, because we could separate each idea into a genre, beginning middle and end, among other things, so it made it very clear and easy to decide. After we had decided we were doing a thriller film we researched into that genre. We watched clips from other thriller films and analysed them. This helped us identify what common features were used in thrillers. We then tried to include these features in our film to get the same feel. We created detailed storyboards and shot lists, which helped us know exactly what shots we needed to capture and then the order to edit them in. This process was very smooth and we had few difficulties because of this detailed planning. Nancy and I took turns in filming the scene in the woods while Joseph and Daniel were acting. While using the camera I found that because I had rarely used this type of camera, I took some time getting use to how to operate it. By the end of the almost 3 hours we filmed, I was a lot more confident operating the camera, and knew exactly how to change the tripod to enable us to pan, tilt, and adjust to the right height to get low and high angle shots. I think I also improved with my knowledge of specific shot types, particularly point of view shots which we included a lot in our woodland scene. A lot of the shots were from the point of view of Lee Richardson so we had to make sure these matched the shots previous so that everything looked right. I feel that one thing I could improve my understanding of is the 180 degrees rule. I understand the basic concept of it, but do not feel I would be confident enough applying it without advise from others. So this is what I will put more focus on learning in the next project like this I have. Overall I think our end project fulfils our preliminary task and is quite successful. There a few things that I think could be improved if we were to do this project again, but I am happy with our outcome. I think our group had good initial research and smooth editing, combined with good non-diajetic sound. To get another point of view on the success of our film, we did an audience feedback, where we asked a number of people from our target audience questions and they commented on our film.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NJJDProductions#p/u/0/wACEI2abRJ0

In the video linked above, most of our audiences comments were positive. They commented mostly on the setting of our film, and the music, saying that the music fit the genre of our film, horror\thriller well. They also commented saying that we included good camera shots, and we had good continuity editing. See the full comments in the link above.

Reactions to our film

By Daniel Richardson and Jasmine Pearson

This is the video reactions to our film, we asked three peers to give their reaction by asking them questions such as

What genre would you say our film is and why?
What was good about our film?
What was bad about our film?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wACEI2abRJ0&feature=related

Evaluation

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?

Our film incorporates many generic conventions that you would normally see in a horror/thriller film. For example, an eerie soundtrack used throughout the opening scene in our film, and that would appear throughout the rest of the film in order to be instantly recognisable to an audience, which is similar to the soundtrack to say the SAW franchise, which uses the same soundtrack at various points during all of its 6 films. When the soundtrack plays, with it being an eerie scary soundtrack, this then indicates the genre and sub genre of out film. Also, we use a deserted setting, for example we use woods in our film, influenced by the film ‘The Shining’ which opening scene is also set in woods. Our film starts with the title sequences jumping through the opening scene. This is similar to the film, which also does this, in order to split the action up and disorientate the audience, a typical convention used in a horror/thriller film. However you could say our film challenges some conventions, as in recent horror/thriller films such as ‘When a stranger calls’ , the protagonist is a woman in order to give off a damsel in distress feel, however in our film, a boy is the protagonist, hence challenging conventions of other horror/thriller films.

How does your media product represent particular social group?

The main protagonists in our film are male, around the later teenage years (17) and are of a white British race. Gender is not represented in a stereotypical way in some cases, for example it is the men who are the victims of the Hanger, rather than the women, however, it is a woman who has been murdered at the start of the film, and therefore you could say that the gender is stereotyped in this sense. This links to the target audience, as the film certificate is a 15, and the target audience age from 15-25 in my opinion, so therefore the characters are of a similar age. Therefore the audience can empathise more with this age group, thinking what they would do in a similar situation, hence creating a more thrilling atmosphere. The characters in our film can be compared to those in the horror film Jeepers Creepers, when (although not both male, instead one male and female) the characters are of a similar teenage age, therefore also comparing to the age of the target audience of that film which is again similar to ours.

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

Our film would be produced by our own production company, NJJD Productions, as we would like our film to be made by ourselves, making all our own decisions. However, we would like our film to be distributed by Universal, as they would be a good distributor choice looking at a big scale picture, because they would be able to promote our film globally. They also distribute a lot of thriller and horror genre films such as “The Unborn”, so they would be our ideal film distributor. They are a big company with a lot of funding, therefore making more profit for us and themselves, on the basis that our film would be a success at the box office. Our film would therefore be released in the cinema, then onto DVD/Blue Ray, followed by a television premiere on say a movie channel PPV channel such as Sky Box Office, in order to generate more profits. Our film does offer limited merchandising however, as it is a 15 certificate and a horror film, therefore figurines, and free merchandise in food outlets such as McDonalds is an unlikely prospect. However, a video game could be made of our film similarly to that made about the film franchise SAW, and our films antagonist; the Hanger’s costume could be made for Halloween and his weaponry for the same purpose also, making The Hanger a cult icon. Also our film could be open to sequels in order to span the series out and explain the storyline fully, again like SAW.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience would be a horror liking audience of both genders from the ages of 15-25. This is a young audience in terms of horror/thriller movies, seen as our characters are also young, therefore the audience can relate to the characters. Also, we found from our audience research that the ages of 16-24 year olds preferred the thriller and horror genres (6 people and 5 people out of the 20 people asked) compared to any other, therefore we aimed our film at this age range, and also created a horror/thriller hybrid genre film because of this research. Films similar to ours include “The Blair Witch Project” “Saw” “The Shining” and “When a Stranger Calls” all of which appeal to a similar target audience. The classification criteria most appropriate to our film would be a certificate 15, which would contain frequent strong and abusive language, strong violence and mild adult themes, which would all contribute to this classification, as our film would contain all these criteria, with it being a horror/thriller film. The film website bbfc helped us classify our film on this way. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/#

How did you attract/address your audience?

Particular points in our film would appeal to our target audience, for example the violence and the dead bodies, gore etc would appeal to the male gender more than the female, and therefore you could say our film is aimed at males rather than females. Also, the beginning scene where the boys drink larger would also appeal to the males, and particularly of this age range, as a common social activity is to have a drink of alcohol, and also as the boys appear to be camping out, this is also a common social activity, hence appealing even more to this age range and gender. At one particular point in our first scene, one of the boys in our film is shot from a bird’s eye view angle, which appears to be an angle from a dead body hanging in the trees. At this point, the audience get a full scale view of the boys reactions, been allowed to witness these. Therefore, this puts them in the same shoes as the boy, as, providing they can figure out it is a dead body they are looking down from so to speak, they also know there is a dead body, when no one else bar the boy does. This could make them feel in the know, and hopefully not confused, showing they will be in the know for the rest of the film, hence hopefully grabbing their attention.

What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

The camera equipment has a few different strengths and weaknesses. For example, the camera we used (a GVC-DV Camcorder) was compact, easy to use and provides us with good quality shots. However a big weakness is the audio recording quality, which did not match our shots and seems unclear at times. However, this can easily be rectified during editing. During the filming process, there were a few slight problems we faced. For example, whilst recording our footage we found it difficult in some cases to position the camera correctly, which cost us time, however once we got used to it, the recording process was fine. Other than that, the only other slight problems we faced were finding the right props in the woods, but that was easily resolved. When editing, we used Final Cut Express. I personally learnt how to edit, as although I done some editing on the preliminary task, I was still unsure of what to do. However I quickly learnt the skills needed. The programme was an excellent program to use, as it made the editing smooth, and it was easy to use. It also gave a professional look to our film.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The planning stages to our film really helped us organise and create our film efficiently. Without the planning, our film and everything about it would have been spontaneous, and although some of the factors would have been efficient, most of the film and our coursework portfolio would have been a mess. The research into the genre via questionnaires and research of other films helped us to decide what genre of film to produce and the storyline to our film. The storyboarding helped us plan our shots, and along with our shot list, helped is film smoothly. Compare this to our preliminary task, where we didn’t really plan anything, therefore the process took far longer, and the task was to be frank boring, compared to our actual film which was brilliant fun to make. My personal use of specific shots has improved, for example I helped shoot matches on action, which really helped me understand continuity, and improved my ability as a camera man, something which I would pursue in the future. I know about sound bridges, and how do edit successfully. I feel more confident with the equipment, feeling able to use the equipment quite easily now, whereas for the preliminary task I was unsure and not relishing the task at all, whereas now I look forward to filming.

In terms of the group, I believe we worked extremely well together in order to create a great project. However in some intstances, I believe we could have made more decisions as a group, and shared the workload evenly as we found our selves having disagreements at times. However, personally, I would happily work with the same group of people again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wACEI2abRJ0&feature=related

Above is the video of our audience response, we asked a cross section of our target audience to evaluate and to give us feedback on our film. Most of the comments were largely positive, although few gave us constructive criticism. Some of the positive comments that were made were

"good continuity editing"

"camera shots were good"

"the acting was quite good"

"the music"

Some of the constructive criticisms were

"could have been more use of certain shots''

"the acting was slightly unrealistic"

But overall, i was happy with the critical response of the film in general.

Overall, I believe our end product is extremely successful. Our film looks professional, it was a lot of fun to work on, and was a helpful experience, something I would quite happily and probably will do again. It has been brilliant.

Nancy Smith - Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of media products?

Generic conventions are the initial thought that you think of when thinking about a certain genre of film, and often define the particular genre. In our film ‘The Hanger’ we have used many typical conventions to tell the audience the genre of our film. For example, the opening title sequence in our film shows a masked figure in a dark room. The figure switches on a radio which then plays the report of a missing girl in the area. The masked figure is a generic convention of a thriller/horror film. The radio report or voice over is also often used in horror films to give the audience underlying information about what is about to or had happened. Another film that uses this technique in its opening is ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ which plays an old police report and video over and within its opening title shots to ideally inform and scare the viewer. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXagxQRVkeE&feature=related)

Also, the setting of our film is a generic convention as the woods is a place that other thriller films have used in their stories. The films ‘The Blair Witch Project’

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZu1cTg-xUM&feature=related) and ‘Cabin Fever’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEMgegxLVS4&feature=related) which can be easily set in the that this gives the film a isolated and thrilling feel, which is one of the reasons we chose to use it as the location for our film. I believe that our use of generic conventions shows how similar thriller films have been an influence on our film. Personally, I believe that ‘The Shining’ is one of the main influences on the shots we used when filming our film, which, helped to give our film the overall thriller factor.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In some aspects our film uses stereotypical thriller/horror film characters, such as, the two teenage boys who are the main characters we see in the opening. Most films of the thriller and horror genre use individuals or a group of teenagers as the victims in their films as it creates a bigger sense of vulnerability, as they are younger. The film ‘Jeepers Creepers 2’ uses this stereotypical feature and focuses on a group of teenage school

kids stuck and in fear on an American highway when their bus brakes down and a mysterious figure appears to be taking them one by one. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj1rwFz_ffY) On the other hand, our film has branched away from the stereotypical movie killer idea, as the murderer in our film is a woman. I believe that this challenges the forms and conventions of o

ur film genre, although, it still works in terms of creating that thriller atmosphere as in the opening scene and throughout our film we keep the identity of our killer unknown.

What kind of media institute might disturb your media product and why?

Our film could easily be produced by a major Hollywood studio such as, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Paramount Pictures. As a group, we decided that our production company NJJD Productions would produce our film and the best distributor for our film

would be Universal.

We believe that it would be able to promote our film globally, to a widespread audience, so that we could achieve success in more countries via box office and DVD/blue-ray sales. Universal is also well known for distributing horror/thriller films, such as ‘The Unborn’ and ‘The Strangers’, which is another reason we believe it would be the right distributor for our film. After box office release we would release our film on DVD/blue-ray and then on iTunes. By releasing our film in as many media ways as possible, we will be able to reach a wider audience, creating bigger profits.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for our film is people aged 15-30, of both genders. We put an age rating of 15 on our film as it contains mild horror/thriller aspects, that may scare some people.

I believe that our age range and certificate is ideal for our film as it caters for both sexes and a variety of ages, allowing more people to enjoy it. When deciding the target for our film, we looked at similar films and their target audiences. We also looked at the results of the questionnaire we created and found that the majority of people who said they liked all of the common features of a thriller film were aged between 16 and 24. This enabled us to choose a suitable certificate for our film, which would allow the widest range of people to view it.

When we had decided and researched our target audience we knew that we would have to create a film that would thrill them and keep them interested in order for success. The shots we used in our film play a big part in attracting and keeping the audience interested. A lot of the shots in the first two minuets of our film that we created were eye view shots. Part of the reason we chose this type of shot was to make the audience feel as though they are part and present within the film. To keep the audience interested we would carry this type of shot on throughout the rest of our film, keeping the thriller aspect present at all times. Another thing we used in the opening and would use throughout the film is the masking of the killer. This means that the audience never sees the killers face, creating the element of the unknown. Many other thriller and horror films use this technique to attract their audience which I believe would make this expected of our film. By doing this, we have addressed and created the needs of our audience.

What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

Personally, I believe that in terms of technology, I have learnt a huge amount about filming, editing and recording whilst creating our film. One of the things I have learnt much about in the process of creating our film is the use of the editing software Final Cut Pro, which we used to edit our film. Before creating our film I had a basic knowledge of the software from previous media tasks. Upon creating our own opening to a film, I have learnt a huge amount more about the software, such as how to record and add a voice clip to our film and how to add effects and titles. I found learning about the software very challenging but now feel confident with the use of editing software. Another thing I learnt during the process of filming was the correct use of a tripod. When filming our scene in the woods we had to deal with a lot of uneven ground. The spirit level built into the tripod helped us to get a level shot, even though the ground beneath was extremely uneven. I also learnt that for some of the shots in our wood scene, such as the final high angle shots that looks down onto the character Lee Richardson as he discovers the mysterious object in the trees, we would have to try and achieve a still shot without the use of the tripod as it was impossible to set up the tripod in particular areas. Having to improvise with shots like this was very difficult, although as a group we managed to achieve an effective shot. This has taught me that sometimes you cannot always rely on technology and have to be willing to improvise.

Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the procession from it to the full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task, I have learnt that initial planning is one of the most important processes in creating a film. As a group, we planned our film thoroughly before filming to ensure we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve in our final product. We started planning by bringing together all our ideas of film storylines as a group. After about 40 minutes of discussion we had come up with an initial storyline for our film which helped us to move forward onto storyboarding and researching. Because we planned and researched our task properly we were able to move forward with our filming with full confidence that we knew what we were going to do. Another thing that I feel I have learned during the procession of the task is my knowledge of shot types. We used a range of shot types in the opening to our film, which enabled me to try a range of different filming angles, lengths, etc. Before going out to film, we created a detailed shot list so that we knew exactly what we had to film. This process of planning helped us to easily and efficiently film our shots. I feel that one of the things I could improve on is creating a further understanding of the use of the camera we used to film. I feel confident with the use of filming a single shot, but struggle to rewind and review previous shots confidently, without the fear of recording over previous filming. This is one of the things I will focus on improving in the next project I am given that requires me to use a camera of this sort. Overall I feel that our end product fulfils our preliminary task, and has been successful. In terms of improvement, there are a few things I feel could be improved if we were to do the project again, although I am extremely happy with the final outcome of our project. I think that our group worked well together throughout the project which helped us to complete the task efficiently and to a good standard.

When we asked a cross section of our target audience to view our video and give us feedback their comments were mostly positive. The audience we asked commented mostly on the setting and editing on our film. They thought our film had good continuity and camera shots, which made it look professional. Another thing our audience thought was particularly good about our film was the music we used. They felt that the music used fit in well with the genre of our film, giving it the Thriller/Horror feel we intended. The full video feedback is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wACEI2abRJ0

Evaluation

Joseph Beardsall
Evaluation


Media Evaluation

1,) In what way does media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?


In the making of our film we decided to create a thriller film and to stick to the conventions of a thriller we used conventions such as blood, scary woods, and dark rooms and so on. We set our scenes in woods and in dark rooms to highlight the fact we are doing a thriller, horror hybrid film. We also used fake blood, rope, black gloves and other props that have a sense of fear about them. Are film is a hybrid genre of a thriller horror film I would compare it to the blare witch project, as both have similar conventions but mainly are both set in the woods for the majority of the film. As for the opening of our film I would compare to “I am Legend” as the opening scene starts very innocent and then builds up suspense before revealing the monster later in the film. Are film starts very innocent and also builds up suspense and reveals something is not quite right before revealing our monster, which in this case is a person. The difference between the two beginnings is “I am Legend” is a large budget film, which means they were able to use larger more effective sets wear as in our film we had to settle for a less productive environment but they both fulfil their purpose of been scary.

2,) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In terms of gender representation we have not used our characters stereo typically. The reason for this is because usually you would find that female characters are the victims of the killer wear as in our film we use males as the victims and a women as the killer. We did this to try not be stereo typical and to make our film different to most thriller horrors which usually use men as the killers as they are considered as been dominant were as women are redeemed as been passive. In another sense we stereotyped in the age of our characters, as they are teenagers, which is a popular aspect in thriller horrors to use teenagers as the main victims. This attracts our target audience of teenagers over the age of 15 as the staring characters are portrayed as been a similar age to the audience will are trying to attract.

3,) what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our film will be distributed by a large Hollywood studio such as universal were as the production company is NJJD productions. The reason for this we will be able to attract a wider worldwide audience and increase our profit margin. It would be released as a T, V movie after a period of time but only after the releasing of DVDs and blue ray so we can make as much profit as possible. As for merchandising we could sell various posters and extended additions of the film but the film does not leave many opportunities for certain merchandise such as action figures.

4,) Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our main target audience as I mentioned earlier is teenagers over the age of 15 the reason for this is because the certificate for our film is 15. We decided this based on the information on the BBFC website is linked here http://www.bbfc.co.uk/. The violence and language and horror content are the reasons we have decided our film should be a 15 certificate. We did a questionnaire to find out which age range would be most interested in our film.

5,) How did you attract/address your audience?

We tried to attract our target audience by making the characters a similar age of the audience we wanted to watch our film. We also featured connotations of a horror film that most teenagers would find scary and terrify the majority. To keep suspense we try not to give too much away, so we used match on action shots to help the audience understand the conversations that go on and we also used high angle shots to imply something is up above our characters and also our character is not as powerful or as significant as the other characters and helps portray him as been vulnerable and weak. We decided not to reveal what the person can see as we want to have our audience’s hearts beating strong but also keep the suspense. We attracted our audience by using a genre that would interest them and tried to stick to the conventions of a horror to keep them entertained.





6,) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

I have learnt how to set up the camera, how to get the correct white balance and feel confidence will all the equipment. The only weakness I found with the cameras was the audio was not very good. We did not really face too many problems, we planned two dates filmed and edited in the time scale that we had been set. We used final cut pro to edit our film, which we found easy to use, and has some very effective tools. We used it to crop some of our clips and added music in places and get rid of any other unwanted sounds. We put our clips into order and clipped a lot of them to fit into the film and to add good continuity to our film.

7,) Looking back to your preliminary task, what did you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wACEI2abRJ0&feature=channel

This is the link to a video of members of our target audience reviewing our film.The comments made were quite positive their said we used good continuity editing and great music.
When we planed our preliminary task we started by deciding on our genre of film. After brief discussions we agreed a thriller horror would be the best genre to do as it would entertain our target audience and we all like thriller, horror films. We created a storyboard and a shot list before filming so we would be organised when coming to film. This helped us to film quicker and more effectively. We improved on how to film certain shots such as match on action, panning shots and high angle shots. I feel much more confidant with all the equipment now and believe I would find it much easier to film again know I have the knowledge I require to use the equipment efficiently. Overall I believe our film is very successful as it sticks to generic conventions of horror/thriller films.

Film Analysis- I Am Legend

By Joseph Beardsall

Film Analysis- I Am Legend

I have decided to analyze the first 10 minutes of “I Am Legend” because of its similar genre to our film of a thriller, horror. The first aspect you will recognise about “I am legend” is it begins with a blank screen and an innocent conversation is taking place between two men, referring to sport which soon moves onto a conversation between to two women that ends with a shocking discovery followed by a minor, non diegetic sound. The women are dressed formally and are in a studio. One woman is questioning the other and is dressed more formally than the other, who is wearing a spotted jacket. At the end of the conversation she is asked if she has cured cancer and she hesitates in reacting which symbolises she was not completely sure.

Then the next shot is a long shot of Manhattan which pans upwards into an extreme long shot. This establishing shot sets the scene of the film and reveals that something has gone wrong as the city is empty. Then there are various shots which all back up the first establishing shot by showing smashed cars, birds flying around and worn posters which imply no one lives in the city anymore. There are also army vehicles on the street which shows some sort of major conflict had taken place. I recognised that Christmas decoration were still up but yet it looks like a hot summers day which symbolises the city has been like this for some time. The last thing I thought of in the establishing shot was that birds were flying which shows that whatever happened did not travel though the air so most likely only this city was necessarily affected by the problem.

The first three minutes of the films represents the change in circumstances. The men’s conversation represents normality then the second conversation between the women appears to be normal but shows a change in the last sentence followed by the non diagetic sound which implies something goes wrong. Then the film goes onto the establishing shot which shows the major change in circumstances and appears to show the result of this problem in the form of the abandoned city. It also says three years later which represents the time period in which this problem took place.

One of the shots is an over head shot of a car driving and the top of buildings that have been covered which symbolises that the city was quarantined. The sound of the motor is loud and you can still hear the wind blowing. The next shot is a close up of a man’s hand holding a gun dressed in a black jacket, jeans and a casual shirt. In the same shot it pans towards his face which reveals him to be driving the car, and he is also wearing a wedding ring so we know he’s married. Then the next shot shows a dog in the passenger seat. The shot after is of the man looking at the dog and then a shot of the dog looking at the man followed by a shot of the man pressing a button to put the window down and then a shot of the window going down and the dog sticking his head out of the window. This hand full of shots shows great continuity as it flows well and the window goes down as he presses the button. Then there is a shot from the back of the car which appears to show the car looking fresh and bright and new as if it represents a beacon of hope. In the same shot it shows birds flying away and the next shot shows the man looking up at the birds followed by a view from inside the car of the birds flying away which in the same shot leads up towards seeing tanks and other army vehicles. This represents the battle that took place in the city. The next shot is a medium shot panning left to right of the car turning and driving away leaving the focus on a poster on the back of a tank. The poster states “god still loves us” which represents faith and hope but also above the text is a distorted face which could represent the figure of the people infected with the virus.

The next few shots are of the car travelling at a fast speed though the city which links back to what the women said about been able to control a fast car in the conversation she had at the beginning of the film. The man talks to the dog for the first time which draws his attention away from the road as he nearly crashes into a dear. This shows the signs he really cares for the dog as he treats it like a human and possibly has no one else to talk to. He then peruses the flocking dear in a high speed pursuit with lots of medium shots of the dear and the car travelling at a fast pace. The shots vary from the dears running, the car and him in the car. The pace of the shots then slows as he is forced to stop because of a barricade. The shot to identify the barricade is paned from a low angle to high angle to reveal the barricade though the shot.

Then there is a non diagetic sound which fades and changes to the sound of wind. The screen then shows grasses blowing and pans from a low angle to a high angle which reveals all of the set and follows the man and his dog’s movement. It then shows a medium shot of the man looking rather nervous and hesitant followed by a close up on the dogs face. The next shot is a again a medium shot of the man putting the gun scope to his eye line then the shot after is the view from the scope followed by a close up of the man removing the scope and the gun from his eye line and dropping it to shoulder height. These three shows great continuity and that the scene was well thought out. The next clip is a panning shot of him and the dog running though the city. What you will notice about the next clip is the American flag which sets the scene as been America in case you did not realise this from the American ascents at the opening of the film. There also are large worldwide brand names such as MacDonald’s which shows that the area is most likely a large well known city which at a time was in full working order. The next shot is a medium shot of him running and we have the view of his back. It is worth pointing out that a lot of the ground has large weeds and some of the lampposts are covered in vines which show the city has been dormant for some time. The next two shots are of him peering around a wall but across from him there are images of children which are an implication of his everlasting thoughts about his own child which linger in the back of his mind. He then peers completely round the corner and sees one of the dear though a car window, this shot continues as he crouches’s down and begins to investigate further. At the end of this shot the depth of field changes from him to the dear to show the dears importance and to imply he is targeting the dear.


In the next shot he begins to stand and the dear is attacked by a lion. Then the almost silent approach turns into the dog barking and the man aiming his gun towards the lion and the dear. Still at this point the depth of field is on the lion and we see a over the shoulder shot of him looking at the lion kill it’s pray. As the man begins to take aim the lion’s family comes into the picture and the man takes interest in this before hearing his watch go off and leaving. The shots are of him looking at his watch from a medium close up of his face, gun and other arm baring the watch. Then followed by a close up of the watch and a shot of him turning to view the sun going down. He then tells the dog to go and begins to retreat himself again jogging which implies he’s in a rush. Then the titles follow with some non diagetic music which could be described as minor key and scary.

The next shot is of an arch which is lightened by the sun and also some barrels with bombs strapped to them, again I believe this is another sign of hope using the arch to represent good and the bombs to represent the bad. In the same shot we hear a noise from the distance which increases in sound and then is viewed to be a car and the noise is the diagetic sound of the engine. The next shot is a medium shot of the man removing several items from the car followed by shutting the door of the car. Then a paned shot of the man’s feet which pans up wards and reveals the man spreading a substance from a bottle over the stairs and also the front door of a house. The door is unlocked which implies that he is not scared of anyone entering the house and conforms that the man believes no one lives in the city anymore.

The next shot is of the man wearing an apron and appearing to be rummaging for food. The man then vacates to another room were the television is on and the news is playing. The news lady mentions the biggest snow storm in New York City which reveals that either he is not located in New York or this news report is a recording. In the shot the man is again is out of focus and not in the depth of field which shows in this shot the television is more important than him. The next shot is then of him again walking over to the sink will some sort of food, still he is listening to the news. In the next two shots the man is talking to the dog and poring this substance over what appears to be the dogs dinner will saying “here you go just the way you like it” to the dog. Though out the first 10 minutes you will realise that he treats the dog like his child and the dog treats him like a father this is made clearer as the film progresses. The reason behind this relationship is because the man may have a son or daughter and the dog reminds him of them or maybe he is just very lonely. He then takes the plate removes something from the fridge and begins to kneel. In the next shot he says “hear you go” in a soft calming voice as if again he was talking to a child, then he places the meal onto the floor and the dog begins to eat. He then sits himself to the table and begins to eat will talking interest in the weather forecast. On the screen you notice a recording box which shows this is a recorded video not a live weather forecast. He then tells the dog to eat his vegetables and threatens him by says “will stay hear all night” as a punishment which again is something a parent would say to his child.

The next scene is of the man bathing the dog and asking him “what you worried about?” this is an implication that the dog is not worried but he is worried so to take his mind of it he makes conversation with the dog. He then turns on his ipod and begins to sing to Bob Marley’s don’t worry about a thing. This again is another method to take his mind of whatever he is worried about. He then continues to wash the dog and sing to him as a father would to his child. We then hear the sound of his watch alarm going off again which then makes the man stare into space to speak with great fear in his eyes and a non diagetic sound comes on. It shows the dog barking but the sound is not heard at all which is to help put us into the man’s frame of mind and realise that at this moment the man is blanking out the sound of the dog and the music and can only hear this scary music as the terrible thoughts travel though his brain. The music is used to represent his fear though out and also to signify so something getting closer. After a brief ten seconds he comes round and the music and the dogs marking is returned.

The reason for my choice of analysing this film is because at the beginning everything is normal which is also how our film is represented in the first few minutes but as it progresses you begin to understand something isn’t right. The difference between this film and our film is this film spends the first 10minutes building up suspense were as our film builds up some suspense but not in such a large time period. The scenes are completely different but have a similar effect, one been an abandoned city another been an empty forest. Each of these I believe are good sets for thriller horrors but “I am legend” is a large production wear as are is a small budget production which limits our soft ware and sets. Overall I like how the film begins as it builds suspense up from the beginning, leaves clues to what might happen next and also has great continuity though out all the shots. I believe every great thriller keeps you guessing.

By Nancy And Joseph

NJJD Productions - Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/user/NJJDProductions

By Jasmine Pearson
Film Analysis - When A Stranger Calls
I chose to review the first ten minutes of the film ‘When A Stranger Calls’ because it is the same genre of film as our film, a thriller. The story follows a teenage girl who goes babysitting one night in a house with large glass windows. Someone keeps calling her while she’s babysitting, but not saying anything and just heavy breathing. The film is similar to ours in that dead bodies are found at the start of the film.

Our film is also similar to this film because of its title sequence. The titles are on plain black screens with film in between them, and the titles in our film are set out like this. Also during the opening sequence of the film, a phone conversation is audible to the audience, and in our film a radio broadcast is played throughout our opening sequence, which are similar.

The first shoot is a close shot of a house window. Figures and shadows are visible on the wall in the room but no actual bodies or faces. The unknown element adds to the thriller genre because people are scared of not knowing who people are because they can’t tell if they’re good or bad. From this the camera zooms out and pans into a long shot of a fairground at the side of this house. The contrast between the silence of the house room and the nosiness of the fairground implies that something bad is going to happen.
After this shot fast paced editing follows, which creates an effect of edge and mystery to the film. This is because the audience doesn’t really have time to grasp what is going on because the shots are on for such little time, and this confuses them. This is a good technique to use in a thriller genre film. During these quick jump shots between the fairground and the house window, a phone called is played where you quietly hear a girl’s voice asking on the phone ‘why are you calling me?’. This gets the audience wondering who she is on the phone to.

The next significant shot is an over the shoulder shot from an old couple sat on a bench of a man walking a dog. The man is shown walking away from the fairground towards the street of houses, and from the chest upwards is in darkness, so you can’t see his face or who he is. This again is a thriller effect created from the unknown. He waves to the old couple who wave back, and this suggests he is local. It also suggests that he is innocent and friendly to be friends with an old couple. This confuses the audience because it creates a different impression of him from the first impression you get of the man.
After this the camera pans from right to left in long shot down the street until it gets to a house. Outside the house the audience can see a figure stood on the doorstep. The person is looking up and down the street as if they are looking for someone or something. This gives this person a feel of innocence and vulnerability as they are stood out on there door step alone whilst looking worried. The camera continues in crane shot upwards to reveal a sign saying ‘Jesus’. This religious reference symbolises that one must have hope for the dark deeds that are to follow.


The next shot is a close up shot of the figure, who we now see is a girl, as she walks to the end of her path. The shot keeps jumping from a long shot to a close up shot, which creates the effect that she is being watched. The jumpy effect it also creates, adds to the thriller genre. One of the following shots is a close up shot of a wind chime as it blows in the nights wind. Behind is the house that was focused on earlier. The sounds are just the noises of the chime against the silence of the night, which creates an eerie, thrilling feel. A figure quickly passes across the screen and the shot suddenly changes to medium shots of the fairground and the people there, and as this happens a girl is heard screaming. The presence of the figure moving quickly and the scream, add to the thriller genre. The next shot, a medium shot of a fairground ride, features the title ‘When A Stranger Calls’ in front of it. The title, makes the audience refer back to the phone conversation the girl was having earlier on, and the audience now knows the person she was on the phone to was a stranger.
The camera then cranes upwards from the fairground and pans left to reveal a long shot of the house window again. The room is now in darkness, which suggests the girl doesn’t want someone to know she is there and is hiding. Quickly after establishing this, the light is turned on and this time two shadows are visible. The shadow of the girl and one of a man stood behind her. At the same time as this happening, the girl starts to scream. The camera jumps back to shots of the fairground rides and the people screaming excitably on the rides there. This is good technique that is used to show that the girl’s screams blend in with the fairground peoples screams, and no one can hear her to help her. So the audience must hear her suffer, which creates slight horror. The genre of our film is mainly thriller, but secondary horror, which is the same with this film.

After the opening sequence the setting changes to daytime, with the police pulling up to and entering the house from the night before. As the chief police officer enters the room where the murder took place, a low angle shot shows his face. You never see the room, but from the police officers facial expression you can tell the sights are horrific. At the same time the police officer cans the room the sounds of the screaming and murder that took place the night before are played for the audience to hear. This also adds to creating the impact of the dramatic and horrific murder that took place.


Back downstairs a medium shot of the chief police officer shows him almost falling backwards to lean on a table and support himself up from the shock of what he has just seen. The fact that he is so shocked and horrified by what he saw, shows that the scene really was horrible. Also being a chief police officer, he would most likely have lots of experience dealing in this area, but this murder truly shook him up, which also adds to saying how horrible the sight was.

The next shot is a long shot of a school, and the text ‘FERNHILL, COLORADO 126 miles away’ fades onto the screen over the picture. The next three minutes of the film are shot in a different scene with a totally different feel to it, that is mainly achieved by slow paced editing among other techniques. In these three minutes the film introduces the main character, another teenage girl. You learn that her boyfriend keeps trying to call her because they have fallen out. This comes into play later in the film, so this is useful information, and a clever way of linking things up. I think it is a good technique to change the setting for a while in the film and give the audience a different feel to the film, because then it is not solid thriller all the way through the film, and the audience is less likely to get bored.

The first 10 mins of the film ‘When A Stranger Calls’ introduces the idea of the story and gives background information on the caller/killer. Our film uses many similar techniques that this film uses to create that thriller genre.

Film trailer -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unzsokdVmMk

Analysing the first ten minutes of SAW

By Daniel Richardson

I have chosen the film ‘SAW’ to analyse, as the genre of the film in the same as our film we have produced, a Horror Thriller hybrid genre. Although the film is an 18 certificate and includes far more violence and gore than our film, it follows a similar storyline of a sadistic killer, who captures and kills his victims, Jigsaw in SAW, the hangman in our film ‘The Hanger’. Therefore I found the film suitable to analyse.

At the start of the film, the production company ‘Lionsgate Pictures’ as well as the credits for the film appear. This is obviously to inform the audience who the film is by, who stars in it, who directs it and to give an idea of the genre of the film. We get this idea from an eerie soundtrack that plays over the titles. The film titles appear in the colour blue, suggesting a cold feel of the film, and that the film is set in a cold setting. This is correct, as the blue fades to a key, shot underwater in a close up, which appears to be sucked down a plug hole. The camera then switches to a close up bird’s eye view shot of a man who is underwater, in a bath. He sits up sharply and dramatically, putting the audience into immediate suspense as we wonder who the man is, and why he is been kept in a bath, but has apparently no idea on how he has got there.

The man falls out of the bath shot in a medium close up tracking shot. He rolls out emphatically, screaming in apparent shock at his situation. Judging by the fact we are only 1min 19seconds into the film, we can see from the start that twists and turns are going to be around every corner. We are straight into the film, straight into the action, giving off an impression of ‘expect the unexpected’.

The camera stays fixed on the man, in a medium tracking shot, as he stands in the dark shouting for help. Out of the blue, we here another man’s voice. This startles the first man, as he asks what is happening, and if the man can turn on a light. The man does this, and as he does this jump cuts occur from the first man to a set of lights. This repeats 3 times, as the colour blue lights up the room. The lights are shot in a low angle shot looking up, showing the lights are pivotal in revealing the setting of the film, showing without them the protagonists and the audience have no clue to the whereabouts of the film.

The camera then switches to a medium shot of a man sat down on the floor, hand cuffed to a pipe on the floor. He is scruffy looking and appears weak; he appears to have been stuck in this position for at least a couple of days. This again prompts the audience to ask a number of questions, such as who this man is, and why both these men are stuck in the same position. This keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, not knowing any answers at this moment in time.

The camera then switches to a point of view shot from the second man. He looks through blurred vision at the first man, who looks surprised to see another man in the setting, which we now see is some sort of a large bathroom. The camera then zooms out, where before angling down to a dead body, where the camera spins round zooming out at the same time, obviously to shock and disillusion the audience. Dramatic bangs also appear at each shot of the dead body, creating a tense and dramatic atmosphere. A series of jump cuts then occur, from the dead body, to the first man, the second man and this cycle repeats quickly, showing a gun, and a tape recorder in the hands of the dead body from a bird’s eye view close up shot, showing the importance of these items, giving the audience some clue to how important these items will be in the film. However this also disillusions the audience, as they have no idea what is going on at all apart from the clues. This could also be to represent the disillusion of the two characters, who also have no idea of what is occurring.

The camera then reverts to a shot of the first man, again shot in medium close up, who looks around frantically to try and determine his situation. He looks down, and the camera follows, to a chain wrapped around his ankle, chained to a pipe like man 2. He then starts to panic, the camera jump cutting to a series of close ups of the man and the chain, showing the audience a feel of panic also, maybe also stressing the importance of the chain to the storyline. The music at this point changes in tempo and volume quite dramatically, and continues to do so until the shot is done. All this gives an impression of disarray.

A series of shot reverse shots, match on action and eye line matches then occur, as a conversation ensues between the two men. All the shots are medium close ups, as man 1 tries to break free from his chains, while man 2 calmly stands and quizzes man 1 about his memory of how he has ended up in the bathroom. The conversation is quick, man 1 obviously in no mood to talk, wanting to escape. It is apparent his attempts are pointless, as he cannot free himself. This gives is the impression that the men will be stuck for the rest of the film, because of the deserted setting and the fact they are chained up to a pipe, giving the audience the impression that they are not supposed to escape. And this is then confirmed by man 2 who says “by the look of these chains, someone didn’t want us to go very far.....” The audience now must be thinking why are they been kept prisoner? And this is the main basis for the rest of the story.

The conversation then continues, using the same types of shots, as both men begin asking the same questions as the audience, such as “why are we here”, “how long have we been here?” and “what does whoever is keeping us here want from us?” as well as personal questions such as each other’s names, professions etc. It is then revealed man 1 is called Adam, and man two Lawrence, and a little back story is told, giving the audience some idea of how the story will unfold, but not too much as obviously they need to be thrilled. This all takes place in the first 7 minutes of the film, which sets the scene straight away, and we now know we are in for a treat in regards to the horror thriller genre.

A series of close ups of the both Adam and Lawrence’s bodies then take place, focusing on the bottom half of the body, where firstly Adam dips into his pockets, revealing a plastic packet with his name written on it. He is then shot in medium shot again, as he empties his packet, a close up revealing a tape which says ‘Play Me’. The camera then switches to Lawrence who does the same, revealing a tape in his plastic packet, as well as a bullet and a key. The shots then alternate to medium shots between the two men who question the contents of each packet, as Lawrence tries to unlock his chains with the key, but to no avail. Both men then spot the tape recorder in the dead man’s hand, and Adam claims it using his shirt and a plug hole from the bath. The tape recorder is then shot in extreme close up, emphasising its importance.

The music then deepens to a more sinister tone, showing even more the tape recorders importance. The audience must now have the impression that the tape recorder carries answers, obviously along with the tapes both men have discovered in their plastic packets. And indeed this is true, as the camera focuses on Adam who plays his tape. A dark menacing voice then speaks, revealing that Adam could be in the place of his death. This is the end of the first ten minutes of the film, and we have our first major answer, that obviously someone is planning to kill Adam, maybe Lawrence also.

First ten minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrmyerTTIO4&feature=related

Nancy Smith - Film Analysis - 'The Shining' (1980)

I have chosen to analyze the first ten minutes of the film 'The Shining', based on the novel by Stephen King and directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The film i have chosen to review is the same genre as the film we produced as a group, a thriller with aspects of horror. The story follows the life of a family who head to an isolated hotel for the winter, where an evil spirit lures the father (played by Jack Nichalson) into a violent frame of mind, whilst the hotel reveals dark secrets from its past that only the psychic son can see.

I believe that our film is similar to 'The Shining' as both the film openings change from one scene and setting to another. In the first ten minutes of 'The Shining' we see 3 different locations. The first is a high angle shot view of a mountainous American country landscape.

I believe that this scene gives the feeling of isolation, as it is set away from inhabitance. The camera pans to follow a car, which at one points passes through the outskirts of a woodland which is also a setting in our film. The music played over this scene is key to giving it an atmospheric feel. It is very screechy and typical of a thriller film or film of a similar genre. The titles roll upwards onto the screen during these shots. These titles are very different to the ones we used in our own film, as we decided to separate ours from the actual film. At the end of the first scene the words 'THE INTERVIEW' appear on the screen. This is placed on a black background with a very harsh sound behind it. This only lasts for about 3 seconds and gives the effect of fast pace movement, which we tried to incorporate into our film as it is a typical element of a thriller film.

The next scene we see in film is of the character Jack walking into the hotel. Firstly he walks through a very grand reception area and then into the office of the hotel manager. As he walks from the reception to the office the camera follows Jack a pace behind. As he turns the corners in the hotel lobby the viewer is unable to see quite what Jack is seeing. I believe that this is a very good way of beginning to create fear inside the viewer as it creates a feeling of unknowing. When Jack reaches the office there is a quick conversation between himself and the hotel manager before the scene changes.

The next scene opens with the new setting of a residential apartment area, set in front of a cluster of mountains. The camera pans in towards the building for about 5 seconds before the shot changes to see the characters Wendy (Jacks wife) and Danny (the psychic son) sat in the dining area of a small apartment.

Whilst both characters talk about the move to the hotel for the winter, in the background you can hear what sounds like an old children’s racing cartoon. The screeching sounds of the cars and the music played over them sounds very disjointed next to the characters voices. I believe that this subconsciously makes the audience feel uncomfortable, which evokes the emotion of fear the film creates. In this scene we also see the character Tony, an imaginary friend created by Danny and supposedly living within his index finger. The audience instantly knows that this character is in fact only Danny’s thoughts, although, it does create the effect that Danny may have a split personality, which is often used as a theme in thriller films.

The next scene jumps back to the hotel and the conversation between Jack the hotel manager, and other man. A series of shot reverse shots take place between all 3 men as they talk about the hotel an its past. Into the shot, the hotel manager explains to Jack how a previous man who had spent a winter taking care of the hotel had suffered what they believed was 'cabin fever' when he had gone insane and killed his wife and two daughters.

This information is key in the film as in a later scene the ghosts of the murdered family begin to appear and taunt Jacks son Danny. Many thriller films use this technique of giving a certain piece of information in the beginning of the film, as it will link with a key part in the story later, breaking up and linking together the film. In our film, we played a radio broadcast of the missing girl in our opening title sequence. Later on in the two minuet opening one of the character finds what the audience believes is the body of the girl. Without the radio broadcast the audience may not understand what has been found in the woods, which would not thrill them at all.

After Jack has been told about the murders he still agrees to go ahead with taking care of the hotel. All the shots in this scene are straightforward medium shots which gives the scene a calm flowing feel, breaking up the feeling of fear within the audience, which keeps them interested.

The first ten minutes of the film 'The Shining' introduces the storyline and key information as to what the rest of the film will be about. Our film uses many aspects which are also present in 'The Shining' and many other films of the thriller genre.