Evaluation Question 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our title sequence contained many thriller conventions. The film above ‘Touch of Evil’ sets the opening scene by establishing the environment, which is urban, by doing this; the audience familiarise themselves with the scenery. In comparison, our film is set in a suburban street. A panning shot from the sky to the house as well as the long shot of the house, suggest a sense of normality to hold a stronger impact on the audience when Sarah is held captive. It is clear that in ‘Touch of the Evil’ sequence, the streets and cars are of importance as the camera reveals it through several long/mid shots. Our opening highlights the significance of the house, as the major events take place here.

A common convention is good vs. evil. There is a protagonist and antagonist in our opening, which is clearly established. Sarah is the protagonist and this is shown using several close ups of her getting ready, suggesting a significance about her character. It also makes it clear that she is a main character, her getting dressed symbolises normality and that a day to day activity is taking place. David’s predatory character is shown through the shots too, most of which are of the back of his head, his suspicious facial expression etc. Several point of view shots are used in order to symbolise his predatory character, it seems he is watching her making her seem vulnerable as well as rising levels of tension. Cross cutting between Sarah and David show a link, of prey and predator.

As in Touch of Evil, the key prop is obviously the Time bomb, this is shown in close ups, and the connotations are danger and threat and clearly playing a key role in the film. Our film uses similar conventions, where the drink is spiked with Rohypnol. To make this clear, we show a close up of David pouring the drink, a close up of Sarah drinking it, the aerial shot of them toasting the glasses, the base of the glass as she drinks it, these all contribute to showing the importance of this drink.


My opening challenges many other thriller title sequences in a sense that more events take place than they should. When we see the close up of the door handle being closed a feeling of loss is sensed by the audience as Sarah has become familiar to us through the frequent appearance in the extract. Therefore it challenges the typical convention that too much should not be given away within the first two minutes of the film, whereas in ours it is clear David has spiked her and is holding her captive.

Here is the opening scene to touch of evil, please feel free to watch the comparisons i've made to my film.

Evaluation Question 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Q7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

The Match Cut exercise that Me and Sarah participated in, went very well however could have benefited from many improvements. I have chose to compare it with the clip below, the shots used are to either establish a meaning or show conversation. The shots (shot reverse shot) in the preliminary exercise, are not level, they are at a low angle, this makes it uncomfortable for the audience to watch. The shot that includes both me and Sarah in it, is also awkward, as Sarah is slightly cut out, the camera shows more of me than of Sarah because it is too close. Perhaps this was due to the fact that it was just us filming ourselves and the camera was sitting on a table.

This diagram I created illustrates what I mean by 'uncomfortable' mid shots;

Our film shows major improvements, the extract below reveals how we used our accurate shots to covey a feeling or thought. The shot of Sarah sitting in the living room is shown in a long-mid shot, this suggest she is a prey to something. The camera cuts to David getting the glasses, it is the back of his head, we used this to show his suspicious and mysterious character. It is clear that we progressed as we were more able to use shots which created meaning than uncomfortable and awkward ones. There are clever shots in this too, when Sarah unzips her jacket the camera pans down as she does to create a intimate atmosphere for the audience. Once again we see David exit the kitchen, and his head is cut off.

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The preliminary exercise includes Sarah walking up to and entering a room, therefore Match cuts were of necessity. Six various shots were used, these include (in chronological order); Long shot of Sarah walking up; close up of her feet walking toward the camera; Mid shot of her back walking towards the door; another long/mid shot revealing her from the side; close up of her turning the door handle; and finally a close up of feet as entering room. The long/mid shot of Sarah walking past is not level, in fact you can see that the camera is slightly tilted when looking at the floor. Most of these shots are considerably good, however the last two shots, when Sarah enters and her feet are on close up, you can see the cameras refelction in the glass of the door. Also, it seems she is walking too much toward the camera than toward and then past it.

The final film shows many improvements, a similiar extract is when Sarah and David go upstairs to the room, several match cuts are included here, five to be specific. Mid shot of Sarah and Davids back heading up; aerial shot of them from top of stairs; close up of feet; a low angle shot down the stairs; and finally a mid shot to conclude them going into the room. These shots are very well taken and show the improvement from the match cut. We assured the Camera was always on the tripod so that the shots were level and sophisticated. The aerial shot in paticular was good, as the narrow stair were exactly right in employing our progressed match cutting skills.

Our group showed significant improvement in terms of team work also, we were all punctual and attended all sessions. Together we worked to produce an extract which had no faulty shots as in the Match cut only me and Sarah were present.

Evaluation Question 5) Who would be the audience for the media product?

Q5) Who would be the audience for the media product?

The target audience for our thriller was mainly young adults. The film uses similar themes that the teenage audience can relate to so will therefore appeal to them, some themes are sex and drugs, this message is conveyed significantly in the opening of our thriller. Whilst considering this, the minority of adults who might watch, being adults may find it appeal in aspects such as strong messages given to the audience, to see what the generation of today get up to, and to relate to the more matured characters such as Sarah’s parents, and their situation.

Jay, 17, a student studying Fashion Textiles, Media and English A Levels. She loves... lip-gloss, the sun, her music, family and her girls! What she would to without her 21 pairs of shoes she does not know! Shopping is her best friend, and Top Shop and New look are her favourite stores. She enjoys going to the cinema, and Adulthood is one of her favourite movies.

Evaluation Question 3&4) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your audience?

Q 3&4)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your audience?

As did this short film, which received a number of hits, (8000) I will aim to promote my film similarly. I would classify my film as an independent movie that would have a niche audience, therefore Studio Canal would be a good distribution company, as it is familiar with small niche audience films, one e.g. being Shaun of the Dead which developed a larger audience.
I have an online marketing strategy; this is a step by step account of how I’m going to construct it so that my film can be further distributed. First of all it is vital to have existing support i.e. friends and family; this will come from the cinematic screening at the Screen on the Green, which many of my peers appreciated.

I will import my video onto Vimeo, a video-centric social networking site, you have your own video page, holding user picture and avatars etc. and people can watch your film, comment and like it, any feedback is great feedback. Word of mouth is vital in any film release.
As well as Vimeo, An independent film such as mine can have its own Facebook page, simply by creating a fan page, where people can get involved, and receive updates of the films activity, for e.g. releases, nominations and special previews. Anyone can add themselves as fans and can go as far as suggest the fan page to their own list of friends. Done properly, promoting using this tool could spread the word like wild fire to the online world, again, at no cost.

To create this buzz around the film, I would create a trailer and post it on Facebook. This trailer would be imported on to YouTube, and through social networking sites and word of mouth, I believe this will increase the hits on YouTube rapidly. YouTube is a form of Internet promotion that could prove quite lucrative for my film as it is at no cost also.

Here is a link to a british independant film fan page on facebook, it won best british independant film (Moon) - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/moon?ref=search&sid=1176985918.3823912936..1

I can then enter my film in a film festival after it has reached a significant amount of ratings. Some known film festivals are Sundance, London film festival and Rain dance film festival. Often VIPs are hidden among the audience, looking for new talent to sign a distribution deal, in town for someone else’s film, or just relaxing on vacation. Napoleon Dynamite is one of many films that became successful through this process.

Here is a link to Sundance Film Festival website; http://festival.sundance.org/2010/

Here is a link to Napoleon Dynamite, a very successful film; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96DKZrrSbuw

Google is the most used search engine. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the tool used to improve the amount of traffic of viewers for any particular website. It is an opportunity for my film to make Google’s top ten search results. I will create a website from the step by step tutorials available, using a low costing domain. Then people will be able to find any particular film such as mine through Google searches.

Here is a diagram that I created, using illustrations to guide you through my online marketing scheme;

Evaluation Question 2) How does your media product represent paticular social groups?

Q2) How does your media product represent paticular social groups?

Marathon Man shares similarities with our thriller opening in terms of representing a protagonist and antagonist, (good vs. evil). Sarah is the protagonist therefore she is made to look, vulnerable, and prey like. The long/mid shot of her in the living area, a lot of the frame is filled by the room and furniture; it makes her seem like a prey to the audience so it is clear that David is the antagonist. There is a similar shot like this when Dustin Hoffman is sitting in the chair strapped in, in this mid/long shot we see empty dull surroundings, also suggesting he is a prey.

Both characters are the protagonist and hold confused or innocent facial expressions, this contributes to the effect of dramatic irony, and helps us to sympathise with the victim. It also suggests that Sarah and Babe are part of a collective social group which holds them victim to the antagonist.

The antagonist represented in this film is by David, showing minimum of his character we familiarise ourselves with Sarah so more empathy is created towards her character. Point of view shots of David reveal his sinister persona and suggest that he holds intentions with Sarah.

As you can see, the obvious similarity in Marathon Man, Dr Szell and David is that both antagonist are looking at their victim, it insinuates that both men hold intent to cause harm to their victims. The facial expression is very serious and makes them seem all the more malicious. Dr Szell is part of a Nazi collective society, the negative connotations with this are obvious however, David’s is not as clear, the camera close ups help to that he has spiked the drink, rather than coming from a particular group or faction.

It is made clear that both David and Sarah come from a young, urban, wealthy and collective society. Their actions such as making a lot of effort getting ready or flirtatious behaviour imply their teenage and youthful persona. David is a ‘typical teenage boy’ whom holds sexual intent with Sarah; this contributes to portray the ‘young’ social group. However, obviously the complication arises when we realise she is captivated. Her pink bedroom and lots of makeup present her teenage character and almost make her seem very ‘naive’ when she follows David.

Evaluation Question 6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Final Film

Thriller preview feedback

Evaluation Question 8) Audience feedback and comment

Here are is a wordle of our feedback forms, it shows the words that were most repeated. As you can see many words relate to the theme of our film; drugs, sex i.e. words, party,heels, sexual. Other words such as 'small and production' show that it is clear we aim for niche audience, as it seems like a small production film.

Changes in light of feedback from Rough Cut

After creating our Rough Cut edit, it was vital we got feedback on how to improve it, because of course; any film in the making goes through a number of rough cut edits. After Mickey and Donna viewed it as well as some of our peers some points that were made is that the titles appeared and went too soon, so that was lengthened. A significant point was that our piece came to be just over 2:35 seconds, although this was okay, our title seemed to drag on, as well as considering the fact that we still had the ten second voicemail to import into our film. We had to make some major cuts on the edit. A majority of shots were of low use, such as the close up of Sarah strapping her shoe, as well as cutting the pan across the room (enough so the scene was well established). Such cuts did in fact make this scene look better as it looked more fast paced when it moved from Sarah putting on one shoe to putting on her jacket and exiting. A shot of Sarah and David was not level and looked uncomfortable do we took that out, and again everything seemed more fast paced so that every shot included some action which interested the audience rather than lenghty unnecessary shots. The slow pans across the room were taken out and some shots were slowed down in pace as well as sped up to add effect when she is drinking and quickly cut to the main part of the film. Another vital shot slowed down was when David closes the door in the final shot; it has a stronger impact on the audience to the events which have just taken place. Our final piece was 02:24sec.

Skills Audit: Creation Of Titles

I created my titles on Livetype. The series of titles that i created all included false names, these were so it seemed more realistic as well as showing that the same person didnt direct it as edited it. The first title said 'Candi in association with..' and we chose Studio Canal as our production company therefore used their logo below it. The next was a rather simple title of 'a city and islington production'. The titles i used for the actual thriller, were all a Livetype font called 'Charge'. This had an electrfying emotion to and complimented out thriller genre. The first name that showed was 'Gemma Murphy' a false name given to Sarah as she is starring init, this was in red, and placed in the shot where she is applying lipgloss. I assured that all the titles were on for atleast three seconds so it gave the audience enough time to read. The next title was the same just in blue, and was placed in the shot of the sky panning down. It is important to show titles in shots that are not of such importance, for.e.g i would not show any titles where Sarah was drinking as that was a vital part of the film and we cannot risk any distractions. The next 5 or so series of titles, were grey font to diffrentiate them from the actors titles, it said 'Written by... Directed by..' etc. It would appear as such;
Music by
Bernard Lowe
These were placed in a equal amount of timed spacing and i made sure that they appeared for a few seconds, so it wasnt too fast. When importing them into Final Cut, i had to render it as a movie and then import it to Final Cut. From there i can just drag as i would do a video. But I had to render it by pressing 'cmd' and 'r' on several occasions.
Finally the official title of the film was also in livetype font, Charge. It was big and bold, on a black bacground and appears for a total of 11seconds, whilst the voicemail plays over it.

Skills Audit: Creating Of Soundtrack

The creation of the sountrack took 1day. I seperated the music into segments on Soundtrack Pro;
1* Sarah gettin ready
2* Sarah coming to Davids
3* Sarah drinking
4* Both of them going upstairs
5* The Title
After experimenting with various sounds, to create a sinister and tension filled sountrack.

1* As Sarah gets dressed an electric melodic piano plays, this suits the atmosphere i attempt to create of it being casual and normal. A 'ticking sound plays in the background, complimenting the fast appearing shots.

2*As soon as the camera pans from the Sky the tense music begins, here it is a moderate volume, as she enters it gets louder and the ticking sound comes in once again, the tense music increases in volume up until David comes back to the living room.

3*When Sarah drinks it the tense violin quiets down, and it is only the ticking sound playing as she drinks it, again highlighting its importance.

4*The tense music gets louder the closer they get upstairs.

5*The title appears with a big drum noise, an answering machine beep that i found on Soundtrack pro was used.

The voicemail was edited on Final Cut pro using it audio features, i edited it as if it was a video clip. The sountrack was then imported on to Final Cut Pro, as a Submix.

Skills Audit: Editing

Whilst creating the Rough Cut, i organised shots into individual folders and gave them unique names so i would be familiar when transferring them into Final Cut Pro. Here I began by dragging them in sector by sector, using the various shots to create the effects i wanted for e.g Sarahs intro, fast short shots, showed her normality and gave the film speed immediatley. The scene in which Sarah is at Davids, i put in lots of Match cuts. A fade transition was used twice to show a change in time, this was when David pours the drink to when Sarah drinks it and when they are going upstairs. This is to show she has been there for a while before he takes her upstairs. The part where she is in the living room and he is in the kitchen cuts back and forth, it creates anticipation and builds tension. When Sarah drinks, i altered the speed of the cut so that it would slow down showing its significance. Also the last shot where David closes the door is slowed down, to have a stronger impact of tension on the audience. All in all editing took roughly 2days to do.

Skills Audit: Filming

On the 9th of March, we took the cameras out from 9am to 3pm, and completely filmed our entire thriller opening. To begin we brought out our storyboard, whilst attempting to follow it we found there were various extra shots we could include, this was partly because we weren't familiar with surroundings and what was there. Myself and Rosa were the directors and did all of the filming. We filmed chronologically in order of the storyboard. Firstly was the section where Sarah go dressed; I began with getting the close ups of her applying her make-up. This was also followed in order, so nothing seemed misplaced or not sho. This included, lip gloss, mascara, shoes, jacket, bracelet, earrings and bag. I took shots that showed normality as planned, so that later there would be a greater impact on the audience when suspense was built.
The next series of shots were of Sarah at the door, we filmed this at Rosa's house too, but in different bedrooms so it was not obvious. As she approached the door, we took a panning shot from the sky to the house to suggest a change of time. Many match cuts were included her, of her at the door, to her pressing the door bell. When David goes to open the door, I took a shot that was a point of view shot as well as normal mid shot, this went well together. As they entered the living room, Rosa took a shot of Sarah sitting on the sofa, a long mid shot, this suggest she is somewhat of a prey, and the shots of David in the kitchen, will suggest he is the predator. Whilst Davids in the kitchen we took several shots of him taking out the glasses, to show it significance. I took a panning shot of him entering the kitchen, assuring he was in the frame at all times. A close up of him putting the glasses down was vital to highlight its importance.
The next scene was the most significant part of our Thriller opening, it was of Sarah drinking the drugged Vodka. We included, point of view shots from David to show he is watching her as she drinks it. A close up of the bottom of the glass following her as she drinks as well as a mid shot to show clearly the whole picture, this all in all should create a sinister and suspenseful effect. We plan to use slow pacing here to contribute to this effect.
They both then go upstairs, here i took a close up of him holding her hand as he lifts her up. When they go upstairs, many match cuts were taken. A close up of their feet, an aerial shot, and a shot where they walk up to the frame. The final shot was of David closing the door, here I plan to use slow pace editing as well as using a close up of the door knob as he shuts it, as the last shot ending our opening. It will show entrapment and create suspense for the audience.

Match cut - Tania & Sarah

Pitch

We were unable to put up the powerpoint of our Pitch, however it is much clearer in the video. Our pitch went considerably well, Sarah and Rosa came up with the brief idea, and we all elaborated on it. Our working title for now was 'the drink' however this was a cliche and obvious title, our final title became 'taken'. We explained our plans for filming and our schedule. We told them the various shots we would use to express the events in the film, i.e. the glass being significant in the film.

Rough Cut

Animatic

Our storyboard was a total of 40+ shots, we made sure we included several match cuts and various shots, consisting of long shots and close ups. Fast paced editing is used at the beginning of the film in the extract where Sarah is getting ready. We show what our panning shots will lead to, for example the long shot of the house. Our storyboard will act as guidance and plan for our filming and shooting day. Obviously some shots may not happen, and our filming may lead to creating other innovative shots where we feel necessary.

Skills audit: filming and editing preliminary Match Cut exercise

Our Preliminary Match Cut exercise did not follow to plan as on the date only two members including myself were in. Therefore much of what was prepared in the storyboard did not follow accurately. Whilst i filmed Sarah acting her part, she then filmed my scene, the tripod was included when both of us were to be included in the shots. Whilst filming, we paid much attention to including many match cuts as well as not breaking the 180 degree rule, as required of the task. I took various shots of Sarah as she approach the door, her feet walking towards the camera, as well as a long shot from down the corridor. I also used the tripod dolly, to follow her from behind, as well as one that showed her walking past the camera from the inner classrooms areas of the corridor. A close up was integrated when Sarah pushed the door handle, and a match cut followed from inside of the room of her entering. It was here we both agreed to implement our 180 degree rule, where Sarah would be followed by the camera by panning, from one end of the room to the other, where i would be standing waiting to greet her. This shot was successful. Here we used out editing skills to cut the camera when it just pans to the area where i should be standing, by doing this Sarah can film me awaiting there, trimming and cutting in Final Cut Pro made this part seem simultaneous and accurate. For practice we placed the camera on the tripod, whilst we included some over the shoulder shots of myself and Sarah conversating. A shot reverse shot was used here through editing, whilst she filmed me making talk, and i then went on to video her speech. To achieve and eye level shot of us as we were sitting down, we place the camera on the table, and walked to the shot, clearly cutting this part out when it came to out final Match Cut edit.

Planning Preliminary Match Cut Exercise Including Storyboarding

In preparation for creating our match cut extract, we were asked to predict the shots of an opening scene of a film, the synopsis was this;

East London. 3pm. A man chain-smokes as he sits at his home PC. He copies confidential computer files and plans to a CD. He packages them and is seen posting them.

Using a grid of 20 rows, we had to create 20 shots we predicted would be in this extract considering external/internal place, shot type, action (tracking, pan, tilt etc.) and a brief description as to what is being exposed. Many of my shots were accurate such as, the close up of cigarette and mouth, mid shot of CD coming out of hardrive. All of these estimated shots help us to plan and think about what out preliminary match cut edit will appear like.

Before we began our storyboard, we were required to consider a match cut, shot reverse shot, and showing our 180 degree rule understanding. The synopsis of out extract was

a character opens a door, walks into a room, sits opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue

Our shot reverse shot would obviously be whilst the two characters conversate, using mid shots. As we predicted the shots for the first extract we did for our own, this was the planning. The storyboard consisted of close up shots of for e.g. handle and hand opening, feet walking towards the camera, this is a successful match cut.