Filming

For filming I did most of it as most of our group starred in the film, by filming on my own it gave me a chance to increase my knowledge of filming and increase my understanding of the camera. We used the tripod for near enough every shot as this kept the shot steady and made the footage look more professional, this also allows us to film from various angles while getting proficient footage. I used my iPhone to take pictures of Jared holding the camera while looking over footage to use as evidence and upload to my blog. We did however have an incident where the camera started to run out of battery very quickly and ran out during filming so we had to take a little break while we waited for it to charge up again.

Risk assessment

While filming our trailer we had to take in all the necessary precautions that occur while making a film to ensure that we are most importantly safe and that the camera equipment also stays in tact. These are the risks stated below and what we had to do to reduce accidents happening:

Risk	Severity scale	Precautions
Dropping the camera	4	- Carry it carefully - Leave on tripod when not using
Tripping up while moving to film	6	- Walk while carrying the tripod - Be careful where you go
Tripping up leads/equipment	6	- Be careful and aware of where the equipment is and be aware of your surroundings - Walk, don’t rush
Cars and Traffic	9	- Cross roads in safe areas - Use paths and try to stay in well  lit areas
Filming on the street at night	5	- Stay together and try to stay in well lit areas

Stuart Hall - Theory

Stuart Hall: The preferred reading of our thriller film would be that the audience with time during the film becomes afraid and frightened of our main antagonist, Owen which would relate to the same emotions that are female protagonist, Katie would feel. This would be stereotypical as it shows a connection with Laura Mulvey's theory of women tending to be weaker and less powerful than males while also linking it to the male gaze of women being objectified. A negotiated reading of our film may be that the audience know that Owen is after Katie and is willing to do anything to stop her ruining his relationship with Chloe.

Uses and Gratifications: The film shows different relationships between many people allowing the audience who watch our film discuss it with their friends while personal identity is also relevant in our film as the audience could probably relate to being scared or frightened of something in their life.

Audience: Our film is aimed towards a mass audience although it could be targeted towards niche as not everyone enjoys every genre and could probably benefit more from people being solely interested in psychological thrillers.   

Communication - Planning

This is a group chat where we as a group created it so we could discuss what days to film on and other possible important things that may occur or if someone couldn't make it. 

Recording schedule

Date              Filming 

29/12/15        Filming both of the talking scenes with all 3 characters at Jared's House.

02/01/16        Filming the grades at table scene and aggressive on laptop at Jared's House. 

04/01/16        Filming character C visiting house scene at Jared's House.

05/01/16        Filming stalking scene and final scene in town plus train station.

Ideas for film magazines - Planning

I saw these two images on the internet from Empire Magazine and decided to use them as a guideline when creating my magazine front cover, this is because the one on the left covers many of the codes and conventions of what should be on a front cover of a magazine and the one on the right is from a special The Dark Knight front cover which is an action but also has elements of a psychological thriller in it which is similar to my film. I like the contrast between a dark background and bright coloured font on the right side image as it gives a mysterious look to it and ultimately grabs the audiences attention while the one on the left uses mainly primary colours keeping it simple and classy, the white bold font gives a sharpness to it on the blue background. The characters in the two magazines are also clearly displayed as the main protagonists as the focus is on them and their focus is on you, the reader aswell as them always being in front of the title to make them appear more dominant. The covers also use a range of 'buzz' words such as "special", "exclusive" and "plus" to make the magazine sound more interesting and appealing while also giving it a unique like limited edition feel to make the buyer want to purchase the product even more. 

Ideas for posters - Planning

I like these 2 posters as ideas because both of them contain 3 characters on them, this is similar to our film as it includes 3 main characters. The shots of the people are close ups which allows the audience to create their own judgement on each character, for example on the left (Before i go to sleep) the 3 characters are all very neutral looking which means anyone looking at the poster can decide for themselves who potentially could be the villain and victim. Although saying this the woman in the middle has blue eyes which could suggest she is the "damsel in distress" and the two men have darker coloured eyes which could suggest they are the antagonists in the film. The poster on the right (After life) shows the characters with different feelings as the male figure on the far right looks to be in danger or worried while the female looks quite calm, the man in the middle looks somewhat neutral but also kind of nervous as his eyes are swaying away from him which could propose that he is guilty of something. This character is also seen in the poster standing over the female in a white lab coat which in normally associated with psychopaths in thrillers and the woman in seen dressed in red which might connote that shes in danger. The text on the poster on the left is very neutral similar to the overall theme of it, this means that it doesn't give too much away and keeps the audience guessing and wanting more. However this cant be said for the poster on the right as the text is red and quite an old font which may suggest that it is violent and dark. 

Target Audience

When planning our trailer we needed to consider the age rating of what the film was going to be and because our film would be a thriller we knew that we would be including scenes of possible violence, threat, some scenes of horror and overall conventions of what make a thriller like suspense, worry and terror which meant that we wouldn't be aloud to give it a too low rating although we wanted it to appeal to a large audience. This is why we have gave it a 15 rating, it allows us to attract a wider audience so that people don't have to be at the age of 18 to view our film. These are some of the points that we are focusing on for our target audience:

Demographics:

- 15-30 years old (male and female)

- Predominantly male genre/female based storyline

- E to C2 social grade (era of using social media)

- Income level: minimal (£17,000 to £20,000) to proficient (£40,000)

- Education level: minimal qualifications to advanced qualifications based on social grades

- Marital/family status: Married couples, small families, non married couples and single

- Occupation: student to semi-professional based on social grades 

- Ethnic background: All

Psychographics: 

- Personality/attitudes: We hope that our target audience will be sociable people and that   they will enjoy it with friends and family

- Lifestyle: The lifestyle of our audience will be varied because of our wide social grades, our E social grade will most likely be very sociable and spend lots of time with friends where as the C2 social grade will most likely be working long hours and spending time with their family 

Evaluation: 

- Are there enough people who fit my criteria? Yes, because of the range from our social grades we feel that there will be enough people who will want to see our film and that many of what we cover includes a vast majority of the UK

- Will my target benefit from my product/service? Will they see a need for it? As stated by Stuart Hall and his theory of Uses and Gratifications we believe that the audience may use this for their pleasure 

- Can I reach them with my message? Is it easily accessible? Yes, our message will be spread throughout social media as our audience will have easy access to this  

- Can they afford our product/service? Yes

 According to the BBFC, these are some of the characteristics that are able to featured in a 15 rated film: 

- Strong violence 

- Frequent strong language

- Portrayals of sexual activity 

- Strong verbal references to sex 

- Sexual nudity 

- Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence 

- Discriminatory language or behaviour

- Drug taking 

Because the plot of our film contains a few points listed above, it is the reason we are giving the film a 15 rating. Our film will not contain all of the points but some points may be focused on with detail so to stay within regulations of the BBFC is why our film will not be moved down to a 12 age rating as we believe that 15 is the right restriction while also attracting a wide and fitting audience.  

Shot list

Talking scene downstairs: Characters - B + C (Alice and Jared)
- Long shot of characters sitting on sofa
- Long shot of B getting up to walk away
- Close up/mid shot of B pushing C 
- Extreme close up as C grabs B hand

Talking scene upstairs: Characters - A + B (Jade and Alice)
- Close up of A + B talking 
- Close up of B upset on bed, A comforting her
- Extreme close up of deleted messages 
- Over the shoulder shot of B looking at messages 

Table scene: Character C (Jared)
- Close up of grades being passed over the table to C
- Mid shot of grades being scrunched up and storming off 
- Close up from inside fridge showing C grabbing alcohol 
- Mid shot of C walking away from fridge 
- Mid shot of C drinking from the bottle

C visiting the house scene: Character A + C (Jade and Jared)
- Close up of A answering door
- Close up of A closing door
- Close up C's foot in the door
- Mid shot of A and C talking
- Mid shot of C walking towards door
- Long shot of C walking down street towards door

Stalking scene: Character A + C (Jade and Jared)
- Close up of C's face in shadows
- Mid shot of A walking towards and then past the camera 
- Panning shot of A walking past and alleyway and C steps out towards C from darkness
- Tracking shot of A walking