Filming!

I started by filming at 'Harry Ramsdens at The Wingerworth' taking lots of different shots so I had a vary of shots to choose from. I tried to find the best place to film the victim, I finally shot it in the basement store room. Then I filmed at my house in my kitchen, to make sure the mise-en-scene was correct for the film I cleaned the whole kitchen so it would show Owen as being a very neat person. When filming I wanted to get across the idea that Owen Matthews had mental issues so I tried to get across that he has OCD. I did this by making the actor (Mick Wyldbore-Wood) to wash his hands several times so I had a lot of shots to choose from. I then made sure he was ok with using bleach on his hands, which he was, I then proceeded to film this. When filming in my house, I tried to get that the film was British, I did this by mise-en-scene, E.g British cleaning brands and making tea. I chose making tea as its a universal stereotype for British people.
When deciding for the film, I chose to stick with the stereotype of a male kidnapper/villain and a female victim. I felt that this got across to the audience the whole story in a short space of time.

Location shots: New Plan

Below are some new location shots for my new idea!

New Plan

Due to complications with filming, the old thriller idea of filming in a kitchen and then a fire smoke house, is no longer possible. With a limited time and a limited area to film I have chosen to film at a local restaurant/bar called 'Harry Ramsdens at The Wingerworth'. I took two of my ideas and put them together to create my new plan called 'Local Secrets'. Local Secrets is about a young girl who was taken as a child, being filmed ten years after her disappearance in a pub less then 10 minutes away from her parents home, the story is about this young girl being stolen by the pubs owner Owen Matthews. I chose to do this as I have read many books and watched many films about kidnappings and disappearances, e.g. Cellar by Natasha Preston and the Taken trilogy directed by Pierre Morel.
When we were given the task of a thriller opening I automatically chose to do a psychological thriller as its my favourite genre.

moodboard/locations

These photos are the locations that I am trying to recreate in my thriller task. The clean kitchens are trying to get the impression that the man (kidnapper) is OCD with his cleanliness, I got this idea from the book The Cellar by Natasha Preston. The dirty and dark rooms are going to be shot in either an abandoned building or a fire stations smoke house. I have access to both but will go and visit the locations in advance to decide which one will work best. The dark room is going to have a dirty mattress in it and I will make sure that the mise en scene helps to create the impression that its an unpleasant place to be and that it has been abandoned for years. A young girl, the victim will be in there.

Story board

I created this storyboard with a website called Storyboardthat.com, its free to use but you can only use 6 boxes, you will need to pay to use more. I created this storyboard to help me when filming my thriller opening. I added notes to follow when filming to help me keep to the camera shots and locations.

Uses and gratification theory in my preliminary task

The uses and gratification theory, Blumler and Katz 1974, suggests that people watch the media to gain various things. There are 5 things Blumler and Katz came up with, these are:

Diversion (Escapism)
The need to escape from everyday life.
E.g. Listening to music to block out everything around you.

Personal relationships (Social interaction)
Use the media text for emotional and other interaction, e.g. substituting soap operas for family life.

Personal identity
Create their own identity from characters/celebrities in media texts. and learning behaviour and values. E.g. reading a fashion magazine to try and look like celebrities.

Entertainment
As a mean of relaxation enjoyment and emotional release. Purely for the 'fun' experience. E.g. playing video games to relax and enjoy yourself.

Surveillance (information)
To gain information and knowledge. E.g. Watching a documentary.

I think that Diversion, Entertainment and Surveillance apply to my preliminary task of a thriller.
Diversion (Escapism) to escape from the boring everyday life most of the population have to seek a thrill.
I think that Entertainment applies as its a form of relaxing and it gives the audience a thrill which they can enjoy.
Surveillance applies as the audience can gain information about what happens around the world and that things like this happen all the time.

Representation of sexuality

In the theory side of media, we are currently looking at the representation of sexuality. We are doing this to get an idea of how different peoples sexuality is presented on screen, this will help when filming and directing our own film/thriller openings. The definition of sexuality is: A persons sexual preference or orientation. There is a long list of sexuality's but the most common ones are: homosexual, heterosexual, bi-sexual and asexual. When looking at a 'Representation of sexuality' clip, I found that heterosexual people are shown more widely in media. In this clip from 'Glee', heterosexual people are presented through a drama queen, a shy and recluse girl, a disabled boy, a black diva and a calm and collect teacher. Whereas the homosexual (the only homosexual) guy is presented as a high pitched, camp gay guy who loves musical theatre and attention. This is conforming to society's stereotypical views on homosexual males.
Kurt (Homosexual male character) goes to speak to a heterosexual male named Finn, who's them assumes that Kurt is asking him to prom. Kurt shows a pained expression on his faced and adamantly says "I'm not gay". This suggests that Kurt feels embarrassed and scared to admit his sexual orientation. This could be because of the heteronormative society we live in today which intimidates Kurt.

Kurt, the only homosexual guy in this Glee season.