Friday 23 April 2010
Thursday 22 April 2010
Thriller Task- Feedback
Alice Conners
'I think that this opening sequence is very interesting and keeps me in suspense the whole time, the music is suitable for the mood that they are trying to create. I think that they could improve by trying to film when there is similar weather as in some shots it is really bright.'
Jordan Thorpe
'This scene is absolutely thrilling, it's a real mystery of who the character is that is following the young girl. She looks very vulnerable which make me think why is she sad. I would definitely want to watch more to get my questions answered.'
Andrew Tinley
'I think for an opening sequence it is good as it creates an narrative enigma which is good for the audience. I think they have aimed this thriller at the right audience of teenagers and young adults. Although a negative that I can point out is there are some continuity errors.'
'I think that this opening sequence is very interesting and keeps me in suspense the whole time, the music is suitable for the mood that they are trying to create. I think that they could improve by trying to film when there is similar weather as in some shots it is really bright.'
Jordan Thorpe
'This scene is absolutely thrilling, it's a real mystery of who the character is that is following the young girl. She looks very vulnerable which make me think why is she sad. I would definitely want to watch more to get my questions answered.'
Andrew Tinley
'I think for an opening sequence it is good as it creates an narrative enigma which is good for the audience. I think they have aimed this thriller at the right audience of teenagers and young adults. Although a negative that I can point out is there are some continuity errors.'
Thriller Task- Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For my media product of the thriller opening sequence I tried to follow the typical conventions of a thriller that could be easily recognised for this genre of film. As a group and individually, we watched a wide variety of thriller openings during the research process of this task to help us gain the knowledge of what made a thriller film. This helped me especially create potential ideas that could be incorporated using the conventions in the opening sequence.
My opening sequence does conform to some of the conventions that are often seen in thriller films. For example:
In my media product we have tried to represent many social groups, but have especially aimed our opening thriller sequence at teenagers and young adults ranging from 14-17 or 18-24 which I have found is the second largest audience that thriller films are aimed at according to (http://www.valmorgan.co.nz/nz/audiences/profiles/thrillers/files/thrillers/) . This is done by the use of characters and the actors that we have casted which are used to represent them. Character A (protagonist) looks like a normal teenager who is quite social. Her character can be compared to Casey in Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) is a young and beautiful character that appears helpless as she answers a call from an unknown character. Character A can been seen in the photo with her friends. The audience see her looking depressed and alone on the cliff top symbolises today's society where the youth now exclude and bully those who dare to be different. This can cause depression which may explain why she is all alone. The naturalistic lighti
ng establishes
s the location that teenagers may go out into the fields and may break the stereotypes that teenagers are normally lazy and never exercise. The close up of Character's A face shows her youth and innocence which can be very misleading to the audience. Her costume may represent teenagers as well as fashionistas who maybe interested in thriller films. This is because the clothes she is wearing are quite modern and the audience may envy her. The props may represent the teenager group of the 'geeks', as in the thriller opening sequence up to date technology is used such as mobile phones which are very popular with teenagers. Character B (protagonist) represent the older generation of males shows this by the use of costume of the long black coat. This suggests he is more sophisticated and discreet when appearing in the opening sequence compared to the antagonists. Another similar character to the protagonists is Rachel in The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002).
The distribution company that could market and distribute the film would be Lionsgate. This is because Lionsgate is a leading independent company with a strong and diverse range of motions pictures, television, home entertainment and digital distribution. Over the past few yea
rs Lionsgate had an annual revenue of $1.2 million in 2008, this has increased their market capitalisation from approximately $80 million to nearly $1.5 billion. I think this would be an appropriate company as they have a good reputation of distributing successful films in the past. These films include Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992), Saw (James Wan, 2004) and Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004) can be classed as typical in the genre thriller films.
Saw has been one of Lionsgate most successful franchises with the first four films already grossing more than half a billion dollars in worldwide box office and has sold more than 15 million DVD's. Lionsgate aims to distribute
small production companies that have low budgets like Saw. This company could be interested in my thriller as it is unique in terms of challenging some conventions that the average audience may not see. Their distribution strategy would include word by mouth which is a popular method and marketing the film in the UK by posters and adverts.
Another strategy could be viral marketing which is a powerful marketing tool used on the Internet. They could use social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to promote the film targeting the audience. This could be done by above the line marketing where on the Internet trailers, wallpapers and games could be available. Or by below the line marketing which can also generate a lot of publicity by interviews and reviews done by the actors. The audience maybe interested in seeing a film that is associated with Lionsgate because it is well known because of films like Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004) which won a Oscar. Saw is quite similar to my thriller in terms of Absent becoming part of a franchise if the profit that the film made was successful. This could lead to European and US openings which would increase box office profits.
The audience that I have aimed my thriller opening sequence at would be teenagers and young adults. But would also like the thriller to appeal to a large audience as possible. A reason for this was because the sample for my questionnaire was students whom I asked at college. It will also depend on what age certificate the finished film would receive. It is aimed at this audience because the actors that are used are similar in age this way the audience could relate to the thriller in why Character A is alone and about to jump off the cliff. It also may appeal to thriller enthusiasts as it is a niche audience, it follows some of the typical thriller conventions. For example the protagonist is a young pretty girl/woman who is the victim and creates the narrative enigma. It could appeal to the female and male audience because they may want to know what happens to Character A and who this mysterious Character B is stopping her from jumping. Another reason is because the thriller genre of films are more popular with males, as it is often scary and disturbing. They may been seen as brave and strong which are connotations of being masculine. This would be the best audience as many teenagers like to go out to the cinema and is more economically viable as the prices for the cinema are not that expensive.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I tried to attract my audience of teenagers and young adults through the the casting of actors and
props which I have used. The actors do represent the age that I wanted to aim my opening thriller sequence target audience at. The close up of Character's A face when she is on the phone shows her vulnerability. The props used may appeal to the audience because of the latest technology which is used for example her phone, which is a new Blackberry phone that the female audience especially may envy. We have tried to keep the opening sequence ambiguous and the suspense throughout. The sharp transitions from each shot shows the contrast between the protagonist and antagonist which leads to an creative enigma for the audience.
Although this still image is not clear, it shows Character A holding a Blackberry.
When I was editing I found it hard to layer the audio with the extra footage, as this software was new to me. I overcame this by the help of Shaneece who showed me what to do. The problems that I encountered that I now realise, is continuity errors, as the lighting is noticably different in some shots which dont seem to make the opening sequence look as professional.
For my media product of the thriller opening sequence I tried to follow the typical conventions of a thriller that could be easily recognised for this genre of film. As a group and individually, we watched a wide variety of thriller openings during the research process of this task to help us gain the knowledge of what made a thriller film. This helped me especially create potential ideas that could be incorporated using the conventions in the opening sequence.
My opening sequence does conform to some of the conventions that are often seen in thriller films. For example:
The over the shoulder shot which shows Character A looking out into the distance this creates an narrative enigma to the audience of why she is there on top of a cliff and may want to watch more to find out why.
An establishing shot which shows the location of where the opening scene is based around. This sets the scene and gives the audience an idea of what is going to happen. This establishing shot is similar to the thriller film of Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme,1991) where the audience first see that opening sequence is also set in a forest.
The establishing shot is similar to the thriller of Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) as it creates ambiguity and suspense.
The protagonist is clearly identifiable as she is dressed in fashionable young clothes and looks vulnerable. The character who plays the protagonist in Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001) is also very easy to identify, she is young, pretty and also looks vulnerable.
The conventions that I have challenged is filming in a naturalistic light environment which is not commonly seen in a thriller film. It is usually dark and gloomy which gives an sinister atmosphere towards the audience like in the opening sequence of Die Another Day (Lee Tamahori, 2002).
Another convention that we have challenged is the using the handheld camera which is zooming in on Character A. This draws the audience in as it creates an narrative enigma in the way the audience want to know who is looking at her.
We have challenged the conventions to try and make our thriller opening sequence unique and distinctive to the audience so it can stand out from other thriller films. Another reason is because this may create a new style that could be integrated into new films for the future.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my media product we have tried to represent many social groups, but have especially aimed our opening thriller sequence at teenagers and young adults ranging from 14-17 or 18-24 which I have found is the second largest audience that thriller films are aimed at according to (http://www.valmorgan.co.nz/nz/audiences/profiles/thrillers/files/thrillers/) . This is done by the use of characters and the actors that we have casted which are used to represent them. Character A (protagonist) looks like a normal teenager who is quite social. Her character can be compared to Casey in Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) is a young and beautiful character that appears helpless as she answers a call from an unknown character. Character A can been seen in the photo with her friends. The audience see her looking depressed and alone on the cliff top symbolises today's society where the youth now exclude and bully those who dare to be different. This can cause depression which may explain why she is all alone. The naturalistic lighti
ng establishes
s the location that teenagers may go out into the fields and may break the stereotypes that teenagers are normally lazy and never exercise. The close up of Character's A face shows her youth and innocence which can be very misleading to the audience. Her costume may represent teenagers as well as fashionistas who maybe interested in thriller films. This is because the clothes she is wearing are quite modern and the audience may envy her. The props may represent the teenager group of the 'geeks', as in the thriller opening sequence up to date technology is used such as mobile phones which are very popular with teenagers. Character B (protagonist) represent the older generation of males shows this by the use of costume of the long black coat. This suggests he is more sophisticated and discreet when appearing in the opening sequence compared to the antagonists. Another similar character to the protagonists is Rachel in The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002).What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The distribution company that could market and distribute the film would be Lionsgate. This is because Lionsgate is a leading independent company with a strong and diverse range of motions pictures, television, home entertainment and digital distribution. Over the past few yea
rs Lionsgate had an annual revenue of $1.2 million in 2008, this has increased their market capitalisation from approximately $80 million to nearly $1.5 billion. I think this would be an appropriate company as they have a good reputation of distributing successful films in the past. These films include Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992), Saw (James Wan, 2004) and Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004) can be classed as typical in the genre thriller films. Saw has been one of Lionsgate most successful franchises with the first four films already grossing more than half a billion dollars in worldwide box office and has sold more than 15 million DVD's. Lionsgate aims to distribute
small production companies that have low budgets like Saw. This company could be interested in my thriller as it is unique in terms of challenging some conventions that the average audience may not see. Their distribution strategy would include word by mouth which is a popular method and marketing the film in the UK by posters and adverts.Another strategy could be viral marketing which is a powerful marketing tool used on the Internet. They could use social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to promote the film targeting the audience. This could be done by above the line marketing where on the Internet trailers, wallpapers and games could be available. Or by below the line marketing which can also generate a lot of publicity by interviews and reviews done by the actors. The audience maybe interested in seeing a film that is associated with Lionsgate because it is well known because of films like Crash (Paul Haggis, 2004) which won a Oscar. Saw is quite similar to my thriller in terms of Absent becoming part of a franchise if the profit that the film made was successful. This could lead to European and US openings which would increase box office profits.
Saw made $18,276,468 on its opening weekend and went on to gross $103 million in 9 weeks of being in cinemas.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience that I have aimed my thriller opening sequence at would be teenagers and young adults. But would also like the thriller to appeal to a large audience as possible. A reason for this was because the sample for my questionnaire was students whom I asked at college. It will also depend on what age certificate the finished film would receive. It is aimed at this audience because the actors that are used are similar in age this way the audience could relate to the thriller in why Character A is alone and about to jump off the cliff. It also may appeal to thriller enthusiasts as it is a niche audience, it follows some of the typical thriller conventions. For example the protagonist is a young pretty girl/woman who is the victim and creates the narrative enigma. It could appeal to the female and male audience because they may want to know what happens to Character A and who this mysterious Character B is stopping her from jumping. Another reason is because the thriller genre of films are more popular with males, as it is often scary and disturbing. They may been seen as brave and strong which are connotations of being masculine. This would be the best audience as many teenagers like to go out to the cinema and is more economically viable as the prices for the cinema are not that expensive.
How did you attract/address your audience?
I tried to attract my audience of teenagers and young adults through the the casting of actors and
props which I have used. The actors do represent the age that I wanted to aim my opening thriller sequence target audience at. The close up of Character's A face when she is on the phone shows her vulnerability. The props used may appeal to the audience because of the latest technology which is used for example her phone, which is a new Blackberry phone that the female audience especially may envy. We have tried to keep the opening sequence ambiguous and the suspense throughout. The sharp transitions from each shot shows the contrast between the protagonist and antagonist which leads to an creative enigma for the audience.Although this still image is not clear, it shows Character A holding a Blackberry.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When filming the preliminary task this was the first time that I had used a DV camera and tripod, I learnt very fast of how to work the camera and the tripod as we were working to a deadline. I increased my knowledge of the equipment during this process when filming tracking and over the shoulder shots. When filming for the main task I found that I had more time to learn how to use the tripod which enabled me to film steadier close ups. I learnt how to change the white balance and use the various settings on the camera which helped to gain the best quality of film we could. We also used the high key lighting equipment in some of our shots. But this casted unwanted shadows. For future I would prefer to use naturalistic lighting. Although, when it came to the editing process I used the software Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 for the first time. With the help of Shaneece who had previous knowledge this helped me gain the knowledge and confidence to use this software to the best of my ability. When editing I felt comfortable that I knew how to edit the shots that I did not want and merge them together. For the audio I searched many websites till i found the right music that would accompany Character's B long shot of him walking towards the camera.
When filming the preliminary task this was the first time that I had used a DV camera and tripod, I learnt very fast of how to work the camera and the tripod as we were working to a deadline. I increased my knowledge of the equipment during this process when filming tracking and over the shoulder shots. When filming for the main task I found that I had more time to learn how to use the tripod which enabled me to film steadier close ups. I learnt how to change the white balance and use the various settings on the camera which helped to gain the best quality of film we could. We also used the high key lighting equipment in some of our shots. But this casted unwanted shadows. For future I would prefer to use naturalistic lighting. Although, when it came to the editing process I used the software Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 for the first time. With the help of Shaneece who had previous knowledge this helped me gain the knowledge and confidence to use this software to the best of my ability. When editing I felt comfortable that I knew how to edit the shots that I did not want and merge them together. For the audio I searched many websites till i found the right music that would accompany Character's B long shot of him walking towards the camera.
When I was editing I found it hard to layer the audio with the extra footage, as this software was new to me. I overcame this by the help of Shaneece who showed me what to do. The problems that I encountered that I now realise, is continuity errors, as the lighting is noticably different in some shots which dont seem to make the opening sequence look as professional.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt a lot and have made good progress which hopefully can be seen in my work. The preliminary task allowed me to firstly learn the match on action shot, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. It also allowed me to use the camera, tripod and editing. This limited me to what I could explore with these as the preliminary task was shorter and had a smaller time period to complete. When carrying out the final piece I could use them to their full potential as I had less to learn but was able to explore more. This gave the group more time to plan and perfect our final piece the best we could. When planning I got to try different camera angles, shots and movements like many match-on-action shots; close ups; mid-shots; long shots; over the shoulder shots; extreme close ups; establishing shots and zooms.
Since my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt a lot and have made good progress which hopefully can be seen in my work. The preliminary task allowed me to firstly learn the match on action shot, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. It also allowed me to use the camera, tripod and editing. This limited me to what I could explore with these as the preliminary task was shorter and had a smaller time period to complete. When carrying out the final piece I could use them to their full potential as I had less to learn but was able to explore more. This gave the group more time to plan and perfect our final piece the best we could. When planning I got to try different camera angles, shots and movements like many match-on-action shots; close ups; mid-shots; long shots; over the shoulder shots; extreme close ups; establishing shots and zooms.
I think this is one of the transitions that was not neccessarily needed, but the use of them showed us what effect it gave.
During the editing process in the preliminary task, I came to see that certain shots flowed best when a transistion was inserted. This was a negative in this task for me as we used too many transitions this made the sequence look exaggerated (above). For the audio which was used to set the mood and create the atmosphere for the audience. We recorded a vareity of digetic, non diegetic and ambient sounds like traffic and birds to create the effect. This task showed me how much work goes into the planning a film and how many individual shots need to be filmed to get the continuity right. I learnt about what conventions were included in a thriller film. I then used these convention in my own thriller opening sequence to make it look authentic.
This is our final thriller opening sequence timline, as you can see that a lot of work that has been put in all the way through.
Thriller Task- Final Editing
Lesson 22- 22/4/10
Today, was our final editing lesson before the final deadline, we had to adjust the audio in the close up when Character A was texting her mother. As the ambient sound that was already recorded was not very clear. So we used a clip of audio that we had used on a previous shot in the opening sequence. We did this by layering the new audio over the shot this made it sound better and fitted perfectly with the rest of the footage.
Next, we rendered our opening sequence and then exported to an AVI file using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 which took us to the end of the lesson. As uploading the video on to Youtube would take an hour or two, Shaneece offered to do this at home.
Today, was our final editing lesson before the final deadline, we had to adjust the audio in the close up when Character A was texting her mother. As the ambient sound that was already recorded was not very clear. So we used a clip of audio that we had used on a previous shot in the opening sequence. We did this by layering the new audio over the shot this made it sound better and fitted perfectly with the rest of the footage.
Next, we rendered our opening sequence and then exported to an AVI file using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 which took us to the end of the lesson. As uploading the video on to Youtube would take an hour or two, Shaneece offered to do this at home.
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Thriller Task- Re Editing
Lesson 21- 20/4/10
In today's lesson we had to edit what we had filmed on Saturday of Character A. The first shot that we we had to edit was Character A standing at the cliff top while the camera was looking at her from the trees. This shot was what we had hope for, we inserted this clip in to our opening sequence near the start as this would make more sense to the audience. We thought it created a tense atmosphere and general concern for the young girl. The audio of the twigs snapping could be clearly heard which we were happy about. When editing the next shot of Character A texting her mother, we encountered a problem. As we used Trisha's phone as the main prop which Character A used, you could see the reflection of the camera and Trisha's previous texts. We thought this ruined the tension and suspense, but by adjusting the colour brightness and contrast, we were able to dim part of the phones screen so they no longer could been seen. The final shot that we recorded of the pan was filmed several times but we found that the camera had recorded the two boys in the shot. As we only needed half the pan from the start we cropped the shot and tried to merge it to the previous shot. After several attempts we managed it.
In the end we decided not to have music for Character B's entrance as the ambient sound of the birds and the traffic was more than suitable and fitted the atmosphere that we were trying to create for the audience.
Next lesson we will see if there any small adjustments that could be made to our opening sequence before the deadline (22/4/10).
Saturday 17 April 2010
Thriller Task- Re Filming
17/4/10
This was the chosen and final date that we could film before our final deadline as we were all free and the weather was suitable. Like usual we each took turns in filming and directing each others shots as best we could. We went back to the first location which was at the top of cliff top, the first shot was Cha
racter A standing at the cliff while the camera was looking through the trees, to give the impression that someone was watching her. This supposedly was to be Character B. I had to film this shot from behind these trees which was quite difficult, because of other branches that potentially could have damaged the equipment. At first I tried shaking the camera to give the impression that the shot was handheld but this did not look right. Trisha came up with the idea to have a twig snapping, showing Character A looking around and then turning back round again. Shaneece was the one who had to get a few twigs and snapped them near the camera so the audio recorded and could be heard clearly. This took a few attempts to get right, in the end we were satisfied.
racter A standing at the cliff while the camera was looking through the trees, to give the impression that someone was watching her. This supposedly was to be Character B. I had to film this shot from behind these trees which was quite difficult, because of other branches that potentially could have damaged the equipment. At first I tried shaking the camera to give the impression that the shot was handheld but this did not look right. Trisha came up with the idea to have a twig snapping, showing Character A looking around and then turning back round again. Shaneece was the one who had to get a few twigs and snapped them near the camera so the audio recorded and could be heard clearly. This took a few attempts to get right, in the end we were satisfied. The next shot that we were to film to improve our opening sequence was the close up of Character A's text, 'I love you.' to her mother. These were new shots that we decided to add as previously it was unclear to the audience of why Character A was at the cliff top. This was filmed by Shaneece as she was taller enough to get this shot. Trisha then filmed the pan from left to right of Character A looking for the phone as it rang, this needed to be re shot as when viewing the opening sequence the audience could notice that the camera did not move smoothly. When filming this shot we encountered two young boys on the cliff top who were in the shot. We asked them politely if they could move to the side for a short period of time, while we filmed. They agreed. We finally checked that we had filmed all the right shots and we were happy with what we had recorded.
When back at college we will edit the shots that we have filmed (20/4/10).
Thursday 15 April 2010
Thriller Task- Re Editing
Lesson 20- 15/4/10
Today we had previously planned to film the final shots of Character A but due to our actress being ill this was not possible. Another reason was because the weather was cloudy and grey this would have caused a continuity error which we did not want. We decided that we would film on the Saturday (17/4/10). This was a date that we were all free and it would leave us enough time to re edit and make further improvements to the deadline.
Instead we decided to edit in the shots of Character B that we had filmed on Tuesday. We edited in the long shot of Character B walking into the shot down the graveyard as previously it looked too rehearsed. The close up of Character B was edited in which we thought looked more clearer, although the extreme close up did not appear right. So we decided to overlay the audio of the close up that was already in our thriller opening sequence. This worked perfectly and the dialogue was more clearer.
I yet again searched for music that would accompany Character B's entrance into the opening sequence but was unsuccessful.
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Thriller Task- Re Filming
Lesson 19- 13/4/10
Although yet another problem occurred today as one of our actors (Character A) did not wear the same clothes as they were wearing the first time we were filming. If we were to film this would cause a big continuity problem and would ruin the whole opening sequence. As a group we did consider filming the whole thing again but I made the point that this would take too long to film and edit as we have only a short amount of time before the deadline.
Unfortunately as a group we did not film in the holidays, due to other prior commitments so decided to film the Tuesday (today) we got back to college. Therefore we booked out the camera and the tripod again. We asked our actors if they were able to film these extra shots as without them as well we could not film and finish the opening sequence.
Although yet another problem occurred today as one of our actors (Character A) did not wear the same clothes as they were wearing the first time we were filming. If we were to film this would cause a big continuity problem and would ruin the whole opening sequence. As a group we did consider filming the whole thing again but I made the point that this would take too long to film and edit as we have only a short amount of time before the deadline.As the other actor (Character B) is always in a separate shot we agreed to film his shots again as this was a part of our improvements. We went back to the location of the graveyard and filmed. The weather was again warm and sunny which was similar to the first time we filmed, this was quite lucky for us as the shots came out right. The shots that we took in turn to film were the long shot of Character B walking away from the camera as we thought this would make him appear more mysterious towards the audience. I filmed the close up of him dialling the number on the phone and Shaneece filmed the extreme close of Character B saying 'Don't jump.' We helped each other when filming by directing and making suggestions that could improve our shots.
On Thursday (15/4/10) we have decided to film the last shots of Character A so we can begin to re edit.
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