Thill us – A maker project

In this project, we focused on the thriller genre. A genre that is similar to horror, but it doesn’t always need to have blood, clowns, and jigsaw. While horror is supposed to make the audience feel fear, thrillers just need to be engaging to create suspense. They often involve plot twists and keep the viewers guessing until the very end. 

Our maker project Thrill Us was an amazing experience. It showed me how interesting and complex filmmaking and storytelling can be. In this project, we focused on the thriller genre. A genre that is similar to horror, but it doesn’t always need to have blood, clowns, and jigsaw. While horror is supposed to make the audience feel fear, thrillers just need to be engaging to create suspense. They often involve plot twists and keep the viewers guessing until the very end. 

We kicked off our project by watching a short thriller called “Run!” which we had to recreate. Our first job as a group was to create a storyboard to plan the shots we needed to take. I was the actor for the “protagonist” in this film. It was surprising how many attempts we needed for some shots, but our group did a nice job of directing me on what to do. Overall our film was successful as managed to replicate most of the shots and the vibe of the film. After some critique from our classmates, we had to remake our film again. This time we focused heavily on shot timing and tried our best to replicate the shots exactly. We also fixed some of our sound and editing issues to make the film a lot more engaging. This allowed our group to create an accurate and successful remake.

We learnt how to process how to create a film with shots and editing, then we studied more on the thriller genre and storytelling. We learned about the “three C’s”- contract, clock and crucible. Elements that make up a good thriller. The contract was a promise to the viewer, the clock is time pressure, and the crucible refers to characters in intense/ dangerous situations. These elements create an engaging narrative that keeps the viewers hooked. To further explore these concepts we analyzed four short thrillers. We discussed how the film utilized the three C’s and how the filmmakers created suspense.

Here is my review of the film “Black Hole”

Black Hole has all three C’s making it an engaging thriller short film. Firstly, the contract in this film promises that the character is going was use this newfound power. The contract leaves me wondering how the story is going to unfold keeping me interested. The film does a good job of keeping the contract throughout the film as the character steals from a vending machine then a safe. However, I felt as though the film was set up for an intense climax. While getting trapped in the safe was a good ending, the climax just wasn’t intense enough. Secondly, the clock in this film was not as obvious as the contract. I think that this aspect of the film didn’t need to be as present given the theme of this film. The filmmakers did a good job of subtly adding time pressure to make the mood of this film more intense and dangerous. The clock in this film rushes the character creating a lot of tension. We can see that the character is afraid, worried that if he takes too long he will get caught in the act. We can see that when grabs money from the safe he is madly desperate because he is excited but nervous. This causes him to fall through the black hole and get trapped in the safe. Unfortunately, this film was too short for us to see what happens to the character now that he’s trapped a the safe. There are time constraints as he has to escape before he suffers from death. Lastly, the crucible in this film is used to build suspense for the climax. The story never presents any force that goes against the character and forces him to act. But the story does force the character to be under intense pressure as he finds a life-changing new power. This situation tests the character’s morals and shows how a person’s greed can lead to their downfall. I believe that the mystery around the black hole’s power makes it seem like a force of evil. So the real antagonist in this film is either the character himself or the black hole. In conclusion, I think The Black Hole is a solid short film.

The climax in the story was well built up, but I thought that it needed a clear antagonist to challenge the main character. The film highlighted that the character’s greed was the force of evil because it allowed the main character to abuse its power. I could have made the black hole itself a more influential force, maybe controlling or persuading the character to commit crimes. The antagonist could make the character struggle and face challenges, which is an important element in every thriller. Regarding the plot, the shots were good quality and the different camera angles used made it a cinematic experience. As the filmmaker, I would have made use of more sound effects to make it an even more engaging experience. Adding more background noise or different music will help build the mood of this film even more. I would even couple this with high-pitched sounds to enhance the build-up and the climax.

Finally, after diving deep into thrillers and filmmaking, we had to create an original short thriller film ourselves. Our group decided to create a psychological-“Narnia” kinda film. The plot is as follows – Two friends are playing basketball together. One of them air balls a shot which causes the basketball to go downhill. The other friend chases the basketball, only to find it rolling further and further down the path. She soon finds the surroundings distorted and gets confused. She stumbles around for a bit until she finally finds the ball. She picks it up and starts sprinting back quickly as she is confused and scared. There are then unknown footsteps and a mysterious person following her. As she gets to the basketball court everything suddenly seems fine. Until her friend asks her where the ball is. Confuzzled she looks down at her hands only to find out that the ball is missing. Then someone who looks like her friend stands behind her and says “You mean this ball?”.
  -The end

The plot doesn’t make sense and it leaves the viewer wondering what in the world just happened.  It doesn’t necessarily have all the elements of the 3 C’s but it’s super suspenseful and engaging. The creative sounds and shot angles we used elevated it as well. My role in this group is mostly being the main actor. I did help around with filming the first bit and gave insightful suggestions. As well as dabbling with the film sounds. Overall I felt as though this project was a lot of fun and my team experience was amazing.

Watch the short film here!⬇️

This maker project was an amazing experience. It showed me how interesting and complex filmmaking and storytelling can be. You wouldn’t believe that a 1-minute short film takes 2 days and 4 people to film. Nevertheless, this is been my favourite maker project this year.