We prepared to set up the studio with dark walls and floor to give a cold and isolated feeling. However, once we went to do this, we realised that this wouldn't look good on camera and wouldn't work. We then first decided that as we were using a fish tank in our scene, we would make an effect, which seemed that all the light was reflecting off that, which gave moving white patterns on the walls and made it quite mysterious. Furthermore, we had a wooden floor and not as dark walls as organised because the camera made the room look darker itself. We made this reflection effect by putting a big tank full of water outside of the set, with the light shining through it and as we moved the water, the light reflected on the walls.
On set, we also agreed to have a bright blue light behind the door in the background, so when the door was opened, a light shone across the left wall, which I believe worked really well on camera. These changes to the set worked better for our finished piece than previous ideas because once on set, we were able to look at it through the camera and see what lights worked best with our idea. Our main target audience was around the age of 15-25years. We ended our sequence with a cliffhanger and the effect we were going for was anticipation and eagerness to see what was going to happen next. I believe this thriller appeals to our target audience as there is some violence, but nothing too brutal and the actors in it are rather young. The daughter is also quite attractive and innocent, which would appeal to our target audience as they would feel more sorry for her.
We set up in the studio because we only needed a desolate, dark room, which was easily able to be done there. Our storyboard was fairly similar to our original in the sense that all shots we were planning to use with our script, we did. However, we also tried out more than one shot for lines in our script so when we edited, we had a choice to get the best shot for each line. This was much more effective as if one shot didn't go as well, we had another one we could use so we didn't have to worry about having any bad shots in our final sequence. I think before the shooting day we should of looked more carefully at our script as we didn't realise until the morning of the shoot that it didn't go that well with what we wanted to film. The effect we were going for was an action thriller, which relates well to our target audience as this genre is the most popular for these ages (researched by a survey). Action thrillers give suspense, excitement and a tense atmosphere in the audience, which would relate more to teenagers.
We chose two of the Russian men to be wearing all black as it gives a sinister mood and the main man to be in an army costume as he is most likely from the Chechnyan army, evidently because he is questioning the spy about his involvement with the Russians. Simon was put in casual clothes to represent how he most probably was taken very unexpectably and also as he is undercover he wouldn't be wearing suits to stand out, he would want to blend in with the crowd. Futhermore, his daughter wore a white dress to represent innocence and purity. The fish tank was a very effective prop used as the buffer shots of simon being dunked in the water, I believe worked well and the lighting reflected through it. We had previously decided to have guns throughout the whole sequence but realised that they weren't needed until the daughter came in: before that they were in the way. Therefore, on the shoot we changed the idea to have the two russian men in black enter with the guns once they brought Clemmie in. This made the last sequence very tense as you don't know if Clemmie will die or not. Furthermore, once guns are brought into a film, the tension is built up a notch because it is a lot more agressive and serious. The film 'Taken' inspired our choice of our thriller as it gave us the idea of a man being captured and tortured by a terroist. The scene in 'Taken' where a man is tortured in a chair in a dark/isolated room inspired our setting.
We chose Clemmie to be our girl because her age was right in the middle of our target audience and she was pretty and innocent, which would appeal to our audience. The Russians we used were also chosen because they had the right look for our film: they were intimidating and agressive looking. Furthermore, we chose Simon because he looked a lot more mature than using a student, which made it realistic and believable that he was a spy
We decided to shine a light through a fish tank out of the set, in order for a glittering reflection to be put on the dark walls in our setting. This gave a unnatural and odd feel, which made the scene more disstressing and interesting to watch. I believe this lighting worked because it gave a different look to the typical bare bulb in the studio. I think it was an imaginitive idea made by the group and will work well for the scene. We also had a blue light through the door in the back of the set, which was shown when the Russians opened the door. This light was very different to the reflection on the walls, so when it appeared it was very shocking an noticeable, giving an unsure feel which creates suspense in the audience. However, with just this lighting, the set looked unrealistic so we put a light on the right wall, which made the setting more believable and natural. Therefore, I wouldn't change the lighting we used in our Thriller as I believe it was our most successful piece of mise-en-scene.
Once we began our filming, we realised that we needed to edit our script because our previous one didn't fit well with the effect we wanted to make on our audience. Once the actors rehearsed the lines, it didn't seem realistic enough so it needed to be changed. For example, in our orginal script we had more or less no swearing but realistically, when someone is being tortured, they will swear, which is why it was put in on the shooting day once we'd started filming. The effect we wanted to give from the Russian dialogue was for it to be quite intimidating and worrying as the main man was stern and very serious. In addition, during our editing process after the shoot day, we added punch effects using Sound Pro. During the production, I tried out a number of roles in turn with the rest of my group: lighting, directing, camerawork and sound. At the beginning of the shooting day I also took charge of organising all the costumes for each character by trying out various outfits on set and making sure my final decision was the costumes that looked best on camera and represented what our thriller was about the best. The day before our shoot, I also put ideas across on what I wanted our set to look like and contributed main ideas to our final decision, such as using dark walls and having bits of rubbish on the floor.
I believe our group worked very well together during the production as we had organised what roles we were taking and when. Futhermore, we took turns on the most important jobs so we all had a fair chance to contribute and divided up tasks beforehand to research various things. However, before our production day, I believe that the majority of the writing up work for our blogs organising mise-en-scene, shot types, lighting, costumes, etc was split between Jess and I and wasn't as equally shared out as it was on the shooting day itself. Although, in putting across ideas before we wrote it all out, everyone contributed to create the correct choices and discussed what would work best to constitute the correct suspense and tension required to relate to our target audience of thriller fans.
Overall, I was happy with the overall result for our thriller and believe our change of decisions we made on the day were the correct choice to make our sequence more realistic and something that would relate to our target audience more. Futhermore, I think our mise-en-scene was successfully encapsulated to create the right effect of a mysterious set, which created tension and worry.
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