When researching into how to make our film short we also looked up other film shorts and looked for repeated patterns so that we could possible put some of their filming techniques into our own film short.
We also looked at a bigger film which shared more of our film ideas that we wanted in our film, so we could see what shots they used to give the desired effect and then we could try and manipulate their ideas to making our own story idea come to life. We looked at 'Enough' we did this because it had some of the same scenes that we wanted in our film so we looked at these and how they had achieved the effect that they had and then manipulated this for our film. We also looked at how the staged the domestic argument so as to get some ideas of how to show anger and build up the tension between the two characters.
We looked at different examples of film shorts, heres one example that we looked at:
Real media thriller examples
Gender representation: Male characters
Males in films are normally seen as the 'man of the house' figures and the protector of the family if they are playing a protagonist character. But they normally are also the antagonist as well and if they are then they are generally seen as a 'dark form' that tries to take over and destroy the protagonists life.
In our film we went for a stressed business man that is late home and so is grumpy because he knows that he is going to be in trouble with his wife. He plays the protagonist role for the start of the film when the flash backs are, but then when he is about to go to her funeral he is dressed in black which we made him do so that he looked more menacing.
In our film we went for a stressed business man that is late home and so is grumpy because he knows that he is going to be in trouble with his wife. He plays the protagonist role for the start of the film when the flash backs are, but then when he is about to go to her funeral he is dressed in black which we made him do so that he looked more menacing.
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| Richard dressed normally and is still the protagonist |
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| Richard when he becomes the antagonist |
As you can see from the images above he changes from being dressed in a normal blue and bright shirt which suggests that he is a good and bright character, the hero. But then in the second image there is a shadow cast across his face making him look menacing and also he is dressed in full black which is a very dark and mysterious colour that suggests that he is the antagonist.
In the film taken the protagonist is a heroic male that, when his family is taken, has to try and save them heroically in a massive quest to get them back. This is a type of character that we didn't want in our film, we wanted a weedy office worker so that when he became the antagonist it was even more of a shock to the audience. However we researched into this so that we could see how to make a character look heroic and then just try and do some opposite will still doing the necessary things that needed to be done to keep the character as a protagonist.
Gender representation: Female characters
In thriller films women characters are usually the characters that get picked on the most and are either captured and saved by the main character or captured and killed to motivate the main male character into killing the villain.
In our film however it is not clear as to whether the female character Alice falls down the stairs or is pushed by Richard, this is left open to the audience to choose. But she is still the character that motivates the male character into becoming the villain.
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| Alice before she is about to be pushed down the stairs |
This is the character Stacey that has the unfortunate job of finding Richard when he is not all together and she ends up being killed by him. But she's a very promiscuous character and so when she flirts with Richard he almost blames her for his wife dying because if it wasn't for her flirting and trying to be with him then his wife may not have of fallen down the stairs.
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| Stacey just before Richard kills her |
Women are not only characters that are picked on in thriller films, they are also the onse that care the most, a loving parent either with a child or is just the character that shows the most emotion towards the other characters.
