Our film contains the conventions of a Thriller by using the title of the film "Stage Girls" at the end, by showing a link to attractive females on stage being watched and/or stalked by men. Our story line has a connection to this sort of situation, by having two girls who are performers, stage girls and being stalked by a man. This gives a tense and mysterious mood, to get the audience thinking several questions at once such as "What will happen to the girls?" "Who is the stalker?" and "Will they friend find them in the end?"
With this in mind, we decided that the title "Stage Girls" will appear in the last Frame, giving a sense of mystery and eagerness for the audience to know what will happen. It was created through the following steps (See Both ""Stage Girls" Logo - Finished - The Process - Original" http://babybatchloe.blogspot.com/2011/04/stage-girls-logo-finished-process-from.html & "Final "Stage Girls" - Logo - Finished - The Process from Original to Final" http://babybatchloe.blogspot.com/2011/04/final-stage-girls-logo-finished-process.html)
To show that the typical mirror to find in a dressing room as well has keeping with the narrative of the Stage Girls link. It wouldn't be appropriate to have "Stage Girls" on a computer screen with the technical equipment that you will normally find at a computer; it doesn't fit the narrative convention or the plot.
The Font "Broadway" for the font and the text is big, overlaying the mirror to grab the audience’s attention. The simple Lips picture found here - http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?qh=§ion=&q=ohsheisgaga#/d3aj3ml
To add to the female symbol of the female characters involved in the film.
The background picture is from here - http://www.unsigneddesign.com/zenpaper/IMG_2008.JPG
Which makes it look like the mirror is actually in a room and hung upon a wall.
Although many Thriller use a darker and more unpleasant logo, however by giving a brighter and more attractive logo it catches the audiences eye and shows that Stage Girls isn't all what it seems. Setting/Location
We used several different locations so we didn't make it look like a student made film. By using different locations we can show that the characters have been in several different locations that, if this film was to be made into a full length movie, these would be locations that characters would go back to or to be seen as key locations for other scenes earlier on. We used the Hospital scene to show that Alex's character as looked in possible locations to find her friends. By using shots of locations linked to the girls, such has the stage scene where Michaela is playing the piano, shows a key place where the girls usually visit often.
The different locations such as the Canal scene where Alex is unconscious, shows that Alex visits places too, to show her desperation to find them. By Alex waking up next to the Canal gets the audience wondering why she is there, how she got there and what has happened to her. This also shows another key scene where later in the movie characters can come back to.
These types of styles of different locations in a Thriller are key to show the audience a more mysterious feel, that this can keep the audience on their toes wondering what scenes are key and trying to put the puzzle together.
Locations also add to the key of the time of period it was set in. This sets the scene and gives also depends on what audiences like to watch certain genres in a certain time period.
Costumes and Props
Within films costumes and props are the most important element along side continuity; this shows a key to the time of period it was set in. The costumes used in ours are modern, showing the film was filmed in the current period/century. The costumes also add to the type of characters they is, all the girls are fashionable and stylish, that the stage girls are pretty and dress attractive to show that Female symbolism that Males will be attracted to.
The costume that Aaron wears, are dark, to show mystery and to give the audience something to identify this also gives him that Stalker status from sniffing the scarf and stalking them.
The use of props was a main key; as we had to use the scarf has a main item that the stalker picks up and sniffs to show his characteristics that he is a stalker. This links in with the scream of Michaela (Lucy) and Shasta (Jenny), where Shasta's dialogue at the beginning of the frame is "I've forgotten my scarf" and later on we see them walking in the park and sitting on a bench. The link is when Aaron picks up the scarf from the exact bench that the girls have left to show that the stalker has found the scarf and Shasta (Jenny) might not find it again and this also gets the audience thinking about what the stalker will do with the scarf.
Camerawork and Editing
The frames are mainly edited through Overlay, Cross fading and dip to black. The Overlay show the memories and other key elements of the characters, for example, Alex running over the bridge and the overlay of Michaela playing the piano, shows who Alex is looking for, that she is remembering them thinking about the memories what she knew them for and that this also shows that her friends are always on her mind that they are who she is looking for.
I choose to use the different types of camera shots and combine them with the editing effects to stick with the narrative conventions and to allow the audience to understand the story.
Title Font and Style
For both logos, fonts and styles are different. The Company Logo uses "Adobe Caslon Pro" and the Font Style is "Semibold" with a 4 colour gradient. This font setting is also used for the Producer, Director and Actors names, to keep with the style of the film. Our Film Logo is different from the company logo; we didn't use the same font. From my research I have found that some films don't use the same font from their film logo to their film or they don't use their company font for their film. I thought it was best to keep with the company's unique touch and to give the logo a different style, showing that if we ever did make any more films this would be a sort of trademark or pattern that we use in our films to make the film have a owner in a way, letting the audience know who produced it.
Story and how the opening sets it up
We see the first shot of Alex laying on the floor and waking up, then with an overlay of the girls screaming, showing that Alex is waking up from the screams and remembers she was looking for the girls. She starts to remember them from their performances, playing the piano. As she is running over the bridge she is remembering them from these memories, which shows the audience who she is looking for and makes them wonder where they have gone. Later on we see Aaron picking up the scarf at the location they have been, which indicates that he might have something to do with them going missing.
Genre and how the opening suggests it
Our genre of Thriller is used within the opening by using the narrative conventions of girls going missing, the mysterious awaking of Alex and remembering them, the stalker doing the creepy and disturbing things such as sniffing the scarf and stalking them behind the curtain. With this we have the Mystery and the puzzle that the audience as the figure out and identifying the good and the bad guys. The scarf is a key item and shows how the stalker tracks down his targets as well has Alex being a key character along side the stalker, her waking up suggests many possibilities of why she is unconscious and will she find them in time as well has what the stalker will do and what did the girls see when they screamed.
How Characters are Introduced
Each character is introduced in a chronological way. Alex is introduced first to show the main character, the audience will be following Alex on her journey to finding her friends; she is then running and shouting the names of her friends to show that she is looking for them. Michaela (Lucy) and Shasta (Jenny) are seen walking and then turning around after Shasta says "I have forgotten my Scarf" and then turning around and screaming. We then see them again as an overlay where Alex wakes up and they are walking through the park and sitting on a bench. We are introduced to Aaron as he is walking from behind a tree and is walking to the bench, picks up the scarf and sniffs it. We don't see Aaron's face in detail he is dressed all in black and as he sniffs the scarf this shows that he is a mysterious character and is portrayed as a disturbing person. We then see him again behind the curtain looking at the girls which shows that he is the stalker and he is identified as the bad guy.
Special FX
We didn't use Special FX as such; we didn't use Green screen or CGI not like the sort of Special FX you get in Terminator or Star Wars. We only used effects such as Overlay and adjusting the Opacity to make the audience see more than one clip clearly and to show which clip is more important or dominant than the other.
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