Who would be the audience for your media product?
As a nitty gritty thriller opening, with slight hints of comedy, I think our thriller would attract audiences that are slightly older than early teens. The opening is relatively difficult to understand and full attention needs to be paid to the screen in order to follow it. Therefor I think adults would be more suitable than children. However the comedy aspect that is mainly applied by Cha-Cha and Hazel would without doubt appeal to teenagers, as the characters are relatable to youth with their trainers and beanies. However I think adults would also appreciate the characters and their aims as well, because of the suits they wear. I think the aims of the two hitmen are not very straight forward and the fact that they are hunting down a female character could put off teenage girls, or perhaps it could intice them because she is the lead - none the less adults would find it more interesting as it challenges stereotypes that the female lead is under pressure to survive.
Our film was shot with areas of black and white in it, this would attract audiences that like traditional thriller noir. Mainly being older generations, as the time when noir was at its peak was around the 1930's. Film Noir came about due to great depression in America in 1933 because of the Wall Street Crash, the depression lead to a time of despair and pessimism - leading to black and white thriller films. The second world war followed and America began to emit more and more classic thriller films. Thriller Noir soon became an extremely appealing Genre to Americans, with prime examples like The Maltese Falcon (1941).
However modern adaptations of noir can be found, and amongst them is Casino Royale (which I think our film resembles on some level). Adding to this, it is possible that people of the age of 20 or 30 would enjoy our product because the latest James Bond films are relatively new and include large amounts of action just like our film does.
The setting of our film is in natural urban areas, and could attract local audiences who like to see Britain on set. Kings Lynn is a historical location and there are many opportunities for great settings in films there - this could attract an audience of people who are relieved that Kings Lynn is finally being taken advantage of for its classic Thriller Locations. Such as the Dyke we included, but as well as this we discovered many isolated valleys and rivers with lakes also.
The film has a chase scene in it, and this is the main point in our film where it hits the peak (in the opening at least). Therefor I think that audiences who mainly like films that give an adrenaline rush would view it, the chase is fast paced and comes across as a rush and audiences who like films such as Essex Boys, Kill Bill or The Matrix would probably also enjoy our film as well. Audiences that like films which generate tension and suspense may not enjoy my thriller opening as much because it doesn't relate too much to films such as Heavenly Creatures or Jackie Brown. Adolescent Males would mainly like our opening because it is fast paced and action packed which appeals to the nature of modern day youth. Females on the other hand would be hardy to attract. We have a female lead however she is conveyed in desperation which some female audiences may not enjoy or appreciate, on the other hand however - the fact a female lead was used could attrack female audiences simply because she is the lead in the first place. As an ethnocentric film, it is likely we would conduct ethnocentric audiences, mainly being British as our film is solely made by and made in England.
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Evaluation of Thriller Opening, Question Six
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Research and Planning:
Research into the thriller genre mainly took place in class. However I did some of my own case studies, including looking at how thriller aspects were applied in Marvel Avengers. It was difficult at first to look at conventions in this film because they were only applied to one scene in the entirety of the production. However using youtube and adobe premiere I was able to download a portion of the film and edit it down so it was easily replayable at the specific scene I was looking at.
Planning for our thriller was all done by hand, no technologies were used other than when I scanned in my storyboards. For the preliminary task I took photos of each storyboard and was able to upload them to blogger using my email. However for the thriller I used a scanner to import them directly to my pc at 300dpi. I decided to do this because I noticed in my first storyboards that they were slightly unfocussed and specific details and notes were lost. Therefor, as I had some important notes about location and actions during each shot I decided to take a different approach in uploading my shot lists.
Shoot and Edit:
The shoot for our preliminary task took longer than expected because we struggled to construct the panning and tracking shots substantially. However with practice we managed to get them how we wanted, I am glad we took the extra time to do this because for the Thriller film we didnt have any time wasting with the camera work.
I learnt a lot about Premiere Pro in the edit for our preliminary task, as I have done seperate video work before I was already familiar with the timeline layout and how video editing software generally works. Before AS media studies I had used Windows Movie Maker and Sony Vegas Pro, both programms work in a very similar way to Premiere which was useful. In premiere I learnt how to unlink audio from our clips of film, which was necessary because I wanted a completely mute film other than soundtrack. Another I learnt from the use of Premiere was how handy multiple video and audio layers can be. From my previous experiences in order to add in a clip between two pre existing ones the whole film would have to be rearranged. However Premiere allows you to snap in clips and the rest of your footage will automatically fit together for you.
Recordinging Processes:
We filmed just on one day and travelled 100 miles to our location. As I had an appropriate smartphone, I decided to create a video diary whilst our thriller was in the process of being made. I wish now that I had this idea during the crafting of my Preliminary Task. I filmed a personal video every couple of ours of the day, speaking to the camera about how far we had got and if we had any inconvinences. Once the day was over I then edited these clips together by emailing them to the school email and using Premier Pro on the school system to create a short video of the whole filming day. I then uploaded this video to my personal youtube account and embedded it to my blog.
Research and Planning:
Research into the thriller genre mainly took place in class. However I did some of my own case studies, including looking at how thriller aspects were applied in Marvel Avengers. It was difficult at first to look at conventions in this film because they were only applied to one scene in the entirety of the production. However using youtube and adobe premiere I was able to download a portion of the film and edit it down so it was easily replayable at the specific scene I was looking at.
Planning for our thriller was all done by hand, no technologies were used other than when I scanned in my storyboards. For the preliminary task I took photos of each storyboard and was able to upload them to blogger using my email. However for the thriller I used a scanner to import them directly to my pc at 300dpi. I decided to do this because I noticed in my first storyboards that they were slightly unfocussed and specific details and notes were lost. Therefor, as I had some important notes about location and actions during each shot I decided to take a different approach in uploading my shot lists.
Shoot and Edit:
The shoot for our preliminary task took longer than expected because we struggled to construct the panning and tracking shots substantially. However with practice we managed to get them how we wanted, I am glad we took the extra time to do this because for the Thriller film we didnt have any time wasting with the camera work.
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| Windows Move Maker |
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| Sony Vegas Pro |
Recordinging Processes:
We filmed just on one day and travelled 100 miles to our location. As I had an appropriate smartphone, I decided to create a video diary whilst our thriller was in the process of being made. I wish now that I had this idea during the crafting of my Preliminary Task. I filmed a personal video every couple of ours of the day, speaking to the camera about how far we had got and if we had any inconvinences. Once the day was over I then edited these clips together by emailing them to the school email and using Premier Pro on the school system to create a short video of the whole filming day. I then uploaded this video to my personal youtube account and embedded it to my blog.
Evaluation of Thriller Opening, Question Two
How does your media product represent / appeal to particular social groups?
Representation of gender:
Masculinity is represented in our film as yobbish and resentful. The only two male characters in our film show no emotion at all and also have no dialogue. They would appeal to men in a society that is run down and has very little aspiration. However, despite this the costume says the opposite about our characters. The suits represent finicial stability whereas the trainers show low money income and the beanies slight fashion sense. This is a mixed costume combination and could appeal to a variety of male audiences. As the characters are teenagers, it is likely the audiences of the same age would enjoy the viewing more due to social bias and relatability.
The characters role in the opening is to simply find and hunt down Eve. This is the sort of thing that teenage males in rundown areas of society would find appealing because it can be related to drugs or violence. And as low finace areas of Britain have little to aspire to these are the types of things that young males find themselves getting caught up in.
Femininity is shown as victimised and in danger. The female lead (Eve) has to escape for her life as she has stolen an object of desire. This could appeal to many women as the character is shown to be desperate, and alone. Also, the object she steals is a precious necklace, this would make Eve relatable to a large portion of the female population as jewellery is an important factor of value to many women. Eve's role as a hero would would also be appealing because there have been many significant events throughout history that have hinted the fact that women are not as important as men, making a stereotype of women in modern day times as being very vindictive and pro feminist. Meaning that seeing the role of a women deliberately disobeying the authority of two menacing men would be most likely very appealing to many women.
Eve represents females in a 'rising up' light as she challenges typical stereotypes of women being traditionally well behaved.
The Gender representation is not equal in our opening. The two males show a lot more power than Eve as they are dressed in flash suits and carry weapons. Meaning that they are a lot more threatening than she is, furthermore infering that males are the dominant gender in aggression and violence. On the other hand Eve is shown as sly and subtle as well as quick on her toes. Implying the females are dominant on the other side of the spectrum, our thriller establishes that the female gender is better at being subtle and copying with mania and stress.
Representation of Ethnicity:
The thriller opening I produced is ethnocentric, meaning all characters / actors involved with the production are of the same single ethnicity. In terms of how appealing this would make it to particular social groups, the obvious group it would appeal to most simply due to social bias would be English people, because every character is English. It is human nature to find people you can relate to, to appear appealing. However it is also appealing to view and investigate how other ethnicites are generalised in film, therefor it is possible that people from other countries could find our opening attractive simply because it only has British ethnicities involved in it. A possible social group that would enjoy our opening could be American, because the language is relatable but the actors are from another country. The English countryside is also clearly advertised in my film, which audiences from America could find appealing even more because their landscapes are so very diverse and different in comparison to ours.
Representation of Ethnicity:
The thriller opening I produced is ethnocentric, meaning all characters / actors involved with the production are of the same single ethnicity. In terms of how appealing this would make it to particular social groups, the obvious group it would appeal to most simply due to social bias would be English people, because every character is English. It is human nature to find people you can relate to, to appear appealing. However it is also appealing to view and investigate how other ethnicites are generalised in film, therefor it is possible that people from other countries could find our opening attractive simply because it only has British ethnicities involved in it. A possible social group that would enjoy our opening could be American, because the language is relatable but the actors are from another country. The English countryside is also clearly advertised in my film, which audiences from America could find appealing even more because their landscapes are so very diverse and different in comparison to ours.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Evaluation of Thriller Opening, Question Seven
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Overview:
My preliminary task used a wide range of camera angles and camera effects. Using the 180 degree rule to establish a constructed conversation. We experimented with birds eye shots and different views. Overall the final cut looked very random, too many different angles for such a small and basic production and I think this trial paid off for the thriller opening. For the thriller production I learnt not to over do it on random camera angles. We used different variations, but didn't go too extreme. It is safe to say that we planned out every shot, but then thinking about the first film, then re planned certain shots so that they didn't exhibit repetition or any aspects of unnecessaryness.
I also learnt a lot about planning. For the prelim task very little planning was done and I soon realised that it is not possible to produce a film without planning it. Many shots were randomly selected and by the end of the deadline we still didn't have finished footage - despite making a reasonable edit. So for the thriller production I learnt that I needed to plan everything carefully and steadily, and that deadlines are extremely important when making a big project like a short film.
Storyboarding:
For the preliminary task we only used one set of storyboards to plan out what shots we wanted and what we wanted to happen. This was a bad idea because it meant the shots that we couldn't film due to time or other reasons had to be done in some way as we had nothing else planned out. An example would be of a birds eye view shot we planned to include roughly halfway into the film. I was shot entering the building from above, unfortunately however we did not plan that there would be people sitting around the area. This didn't cause much inconvenience other than the fact that we had to mute the shot due to heavy amounts of background noise but it was a big enough problem for myself and the group to think 'ah we should have done that differently'. Hence forth we learnt from this mistake and for the thriller opening, not only did we go through the plans up to four times, but multiple storyboards with different chronological orders were made just in case. I learnt that to be a film maker you need to be prepared for anything.
Time Management:
Time is a tricky thing to work along side. We already knew this when filming the prelim task, however we still cut it close. Most of our filming was done in time, apart from the conversation which we had to film in our classroom as people began to arrive from their own shoots (mostly already finished). This was annoying because it added as an extra natural distraction whilst myself and my partner (Luke Keeler) were trying to act out an aggressive conversation. None the less we finished the conversation and managed to film a final worms eye view shot (despite the whole class now waiting for us). Knowing how foolish we were with time, before we had even finished the editing for the preliminary task we were already discussing how to manage our time better for the thriller film.
To ensure we didn't make the same mistake again for proper thriller production we set out specific times that we were to stick to for each part in film. For example three hours for the chase, two for the first shots and two for the final shots. As we filmed everything in one day it was essential we stuck to this plan. As it turned out, we actually finished ahead of schedule.
Progression:
Since the preliminary task I researched case studies in the thriller genre so that I had a better understanding of how to create a sense of thriller conventions in my own film opening.
The first film I looked into was Pulp Fiction, Directed by Quentin Tarantino and released on the 10th of September 1944. Pulp fiction has multiple storylines that cross over each other to give a complete picture in the final section of the film. Researching conventions in Pulp Fiction was useful because it gave me a better understanding of how to construct a conversation in film. There are many sequences of dialogue in this production that all incorporate the 180 degree rule (making sure the camera sticks to an outlined area of the set to avoid confusion in the audience when cutting from one character to the other). Another traditional dialogue technique used in Pulp Fiction is shot reverse shot. This technique can be used to show dominance between two parties in film. The first shot establishing the antagonist, the second for the protagonist and the third going back to whoever started the series - therefor showing who has more power. This particular technique was put in by Tarantino when Jules (the gangster) is conversing with a group of public flat owners in their own home). The camera begins with Jules, switches to the citizens reaction, then cuts back to Jules again at a low angle. The low angle emphasises even more how dominant Jules is in this sequence. Another example of shot reverse shot is in the Tv Drama Skins: in series 1 episode 1, the introductory clip shows Tony arguing with his father. The sequence begins with Tony, cuts to his Dad who is begging in an exhausted tone, then back to Tony he is relatively relaxed and calm. After learning about the productiveness of shot reverse shot, my group and I used it in our own production. In our film, during the chase scene- we begin with Eve running, then cut to Cha-Cha and Hazel using the same camera angle to show how close they are behind her, then back to Eve again but at a different angle so audiences can infer that she is getting away but also so they might realise that she isn't an easy target that the two hitmen previously thought. We decided to give Eve the dominance because we wanted audiences to think she gets away or at least stands a chance.
The second production I looked at, Essex Boys, taught me a lot about classic location and costume. Director Terry Winsor opens the film with a shot of a garage completely submerged in shadow and cobwebs - this setting is key for a thriller because it is dark, cramped and claustrophobic. This is where we first had the idea of using some kind of cramped area in our own thriller; eventually we settled with an abandoned barn. Winsor then introduces the character Jason Locke, who is dressed very unusually. Lockes costume represents mania and has an essence of psychotics. I inferred from this that costume can actually say a lot about a character even if the character says nothing themselves. This is why we chose to dress Eve completely in black, and the hitmen in suits. Eve was supposed to be seen as a relatively mysterious, and secretive character, whilst the hitmen are threatening and stern. Settings like tunnels and isolated causeways were later revealed in Essex Boys and myself and my group really liked the way Terry Winsors film looked, therefor we tried to recreate as many of his locations as possible. This is why we filmed our chase scene on the hillside of small dike.
Another film that taught me a lot about conventions, was Heavenly Creatures. This study helped me progress in terms of lighting, sound and camera action. Peter Jackson creates a disturbing sequence in this production where two girls murder their mother. This killing takes place in a public wood, during broad daylight, this made me realise that many unexpected variables can add to how shocking an action can be. Because the murder was in broad daylight, it makes it seem very desperate and very severe, and because it was in a public wood, it comes across as manic and spooky because it clearly wasn't planned that far ahead in advance. This use of setting gave me an idea about the setting and lighting in our own thriller. I really liked how desperate the murder scene appears, and I discussed it with my group, who then agreed that we should also shoot something similar with the daylight sun overhead. I also learnt a lot about sound from this film, during the preliminary task I was naive and thought that sounds should not be distorted or 'funny' because it can confuse your audience to the point of discomfort, but after viewing Heavenly Creatures I realised that this exact technique can be used as an advantage over audiences to create dramatic scenes and make them seem even more discomforting and disturbing.
Films that enhanced my understanding of the Thriller genre were KillBill and Jackie Brown. Jackie Brown is similar in some ways to Heavenly Creatures in the way it portrays unstable minds in criminals and mania in thought processes (as Loue shoots Melanie in broad daylight in a public car park whilst there are citizens around). But also because the main character is also a Female. I learnt from KillBill and Jackie Brown that female leads are a strong tangent to work on in the thriller genre because it is stereotypically unusual, therefor making it ideal to work on a good story. This is where our group had the idea for Eve as our main character.
Overview:
My preliminary task used a wide range of camera angles and camera effects. Using the 180 degree rule to establish a constructed conversation. We experimented with birds eye shots and different views. Overall the final cut looked very random, too many different angles for such a small and basic production and I think this trial paid off for the thriller opening. For the thriller production I learnt not to over do it on random camera angles. We used different variations, but didn't go too extreme. It is safe to say that we planned out every shot, but then thinking about the first film, then re planned certain shots so that they didn't exhibit repetition or any aspects of unnecessaryness.
I also learnt a lot about planning. For the prelim task very little planning was done and I soon realised that it is not possible to produce a film without planning it. Many shots were randomly selected and by the end of the deadline we still didn't have finished footage - despite making a reasonable edit. So for the thriller production I learnt that I needed to plan everything carefully and steadily, and that deadlines are extremely important when making a big project like a short film.
Storyboarding:
For the preliminary task we only used one set of storyboards to plan out what shots we wanted and what we wanted to happen. This was a bad idea because it meant the shots that we couldn't film due to time or other reasons had to be done in some way as we had nothing else planned out. An example would be of a birds eye view shot we planned to include roughly halfway into the film. I was shot entering the building from above, unfortunately however we did not plan that there would be people sitting around the area. This didn't cause much inconvenience other than the fact that we had to mute the shot due to heavy amounts of background noise but it was a big enough problem for myself and the group to think 'ah we should have done that differently'. Hence forth we learnt from this mistake and for the thriller opening, not only did we go through the plans up to four times, but multiple storyboards with different chronological orders were made just in case. I learnt that to be a film maker you need to be prepared for anything.
Time Management:
Time is a tricky thing to work along side. We already knew this when filming the prelim task, however we still cut it close. Most of our filming was done in time, apart from the conversation which we had to film in our classroom as people began to arrive from their own shoots (mostly already finished). This was annoying because it added as an extra natural distraction whilst myself and my partner (Luke Keeler) were trying to act out an aggressive conversation. None the less we finished the conversation and managed to film a final worms eye view shot (despite the whole class now waiting for us). Knowing how foolish we were with time, before we had even finished the editing for the preliminary task we were already discussing how to manage our time better for the thriller film.
To ensure we didn't make the same mistake again for proper thriller production we set out specific times that we were to stick to for each part in film. For example three hours for the chase, two for the first shots and two for the final shots. As we filmed everything in one day it was essential we stuck to this plan. As it turned out, we actually finished ahead of schedule.
Progression:
Since the preliminary task I researched case studies in the thriller genre so that I had a better understanding of how to create a sense of thriller conventions in my own film opening.
The first film I looked into was Pulp Fiction, Directed by Quentin Tarantino and released on the 10th of September 1944. Pulp fiction has multiple storylines that cross over each other to give a complete picture in the final section of the film. Researching conventions in Pulp Fiction was useful because it gave me a better understanding of how to construct a conversation in film. There are many sequences of dialogue in this production that all incorporate the 180 degree rule (making sure the camera sticks to an outlined area of the set to avoid confusion in the audience when cutting from one character to the other). Another traditional dialogue technique used in Pulp Fiction is shot reverse shot. This technique can be used to show dominance between two parties in film. The first shot establishing the antagonist, the second for the protagonist and the third going back to whoever started the series - therefor showing who has more power. This particular technique was put in by Tarantino when Jules (the gangster) is conversing with a group of public flat owners in their own home). The camera begins with Jules, switches to the citizens reaction, then cuts back to Jules again at a low angle. The low angle emphasises even more how dominant Jules is in this sequence. Another example of shot reverse shot is in the Tv Drama Skins: in series 1 episode 1, the introductory clip shows Tony arguing with his father. The sequence begins with Tony, cuts to his Dad who is begging in an exhausted tone, then back to Tony he is relatively relaxed and calm. After learning about the productiveness of shot reverse shot, my group and I used it in our own production. In our film, during the chase scene- we begin with Eve running, then cut to Cha-Cha and Hazel using the same camera angle to show how close they are behind her, then back to Eve again but at a different angle so audiences can infer that she is getting away but also so they might realise that she isn't an easy target that the two hitmen previously thought. We decided to give Eve the dominance because we wanted audiences to think she gets away or at least stands a chance.
The second production I looked at, Essex Boys, taught me a lot about classic location and costume. Director Terry Winsor opens the film with a shot of a garage completely submerged in shadow and cobwebs - this setting is key for a thriller because it is dark, cramped and claustrophobic. This is where we first had the idea of using some kind of cramped area in our own thriller; eventually we settled with an abandoned barn. Winsor then introduces the character Jason Locke, who is dressed very unusually. Lockes costume represents mania and has an essence of psychotics. I inferred from this that costume can actually say a lot about a character even if the character says nothing themselves. This is why we chose to dress Eve completely in black, and the hitmen in suits. Eve was supposed to be seen as a relatively mysterious, and secretive character, whilst the hitmen are threatening and stern. Settings like tunnels and isolated causeways were later revealed in Essex Boys and myself and my group really liked the way Terry Winsors film looked, therefor we tried to recreate as many of his locations as possible. This is why we filmed our chase scene on the hillside of small dike.
Another film that taught me a lot about conventions, was Heavenly Creatures. This study helped me progress in terms of lighting, sound and camera action. Peter Jackson creates a disturbing sequence in this production where two girls murder their mother. This killing takes place in a public wood, during broad daylight, this made me realise that many unexpected variables can add to how shocking an action can be. Because the murder was in broad daylight, it makes it seem very desperate and very severe, and because it was in a public wood, it comes across as manic and spooky because it clearly wasn't planned that far ahead in advance. This use of setting gave me an idea about the setting and lighting in our own thriller. I really liked how desperate the murder scene appears, and I discussed it with my group, who then agreed that we should also shoot something similar with the daylight sun overhead. I also learnt a lot about sound from this film, during the preliminary task I was naive and thought that sounds should not be distorted or 'funny' because it can confuse your audience to the point of discomfort, but after viewing Heavenly Creatures I realised that this exact technique can be used as an advantage over audiences to create dramatic scenes and make them seem even more discomforting and disturbing.
Films that enhanced my understanding of the Thriller genre were KillBill and Jackie Brown. Jackie Brown is similar in some ways to Heavenly Creatures in the way it portrays unstable minds in criminals and mania in thought processes (as Loue shoots Melanie in broad daylight in a public car park whilst there are citizens around). But also because the main character is also a Female. I learnt from KillBill and Jackie Brown that female leads are a strong tangent to work on in the thriller genre because it is stereotypically unusual, therefor making it ideal to work on a good story. This is where our group had the idea for Eve as our main character.
Evaluation of Thriller Opening, Question Five
How did you attract / address your audience?
My thriller opening begins with a slow shot of a record player emitting the soundtrack. In this shot we also began the opening credits. With both the sudden soundtrack entrance and establishing text it makes a good first shot because it entices audiences right from the start. The first shot attracts our audience because the soundtrack jumps in unexpectedly as the needle hits the vinyl, the soundtrack can be described as epic and when listening you begin to wonder what could possibly follow.
Following the record player is a low angle of our main protagonists shoe. This character establishing shot creates enigma toward the character Eve because at first you see noting more than her boot. Audiences would also find this shot attractive because they would be wondering why she is running and what she is running from.
The use of mise en scene during the flashback sequence would attract audiences because the setting is creepy and enigmatic. Not much about the location is revealed and this would make audiences on the edge of their seat as they'd be worried for Eve.
The main thing that would make audiences want to view the rest of our film however would be the chase sequence, it was shot with ambient lighting and non diagetic sound making it very manic. Audiences would want to see the complete production because Eve (who is seen throughout the whole production) becomes relatable to viewers, and at the end of the production she becomes in danger. The final setting has a strong sense of isolation like the causeway from Essex Boys. The mise en scene in the barn creates a real aura of panic and solitude. As well as this, the final shot is filmed from Eve own perspective, we see her confronting the camera, filming her last words. This use of first person narrative addresses audiences specifically, therefor making viewers feel for her even more.
My thriller opening begins with a slow shot of a record player emitting the soundtrack. In this shot we also began the opening credits. With both the sudden soundtrack entrance and establishing text it makes a good first shot because it entices audiences right from the start. The first shot attracts our audience because the soundtrack jumps in unexpectedly as the needle hits the vinyl, the soundtrack can be described as epic and when listening you begin to wonder what could possibly follow.
Following the record player is a low angle of our main protagonists shoe. This character establishing shot creates enigma toward the character Eve because at first you see noting more than her boot. Audiences would also find this shot attractive because they would be wondering why she is running and what she is running from.
The use of mise en scene during the flashback sequence would attract audiences because the setting is creepy and enigmatic. Not much about the location is revealed and this would make audiences on the edge of their seat as they'd be worried for Eve.
The main thing that would make audiences want to view the rest of our film however would be the chase sequence, it was shot with ambient lighting and non diagetic sound making it very manic. Audiences would want to see the complete production because Eve (who is seen throughout the whole production) becomes relatable to viewers, and at the end of the production she becomes in danger. The final setting has a strong sense of isolation like the causeway from Essex Boys. The mise en scene in the barn creates a real aura of panic and solitude. As well as this, the final shot is filmed from Eve own perspective, we see her confronting the camera, filming her last words. This use of first person narrative addresses audiences specifically, therefor making viewers feel for her even more.
Evaluation of Thriller Opening, Question Three
What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?
We have produced an useual thriller production using unknown actors, this would therefor most likely attract a niche audience. Other films that are similar are films such as, Submarine, This Is England and Four Lions. Although these three films are niche, they still have relatively wide audiences - this is because of the recent popularity that has sprouted with Warp Films.
As for cinema distribution, it is likely that huge corperate cinemas such as Odeon, and Vue would not display our production because it is not mainstream. Big cinema companies like the ones mentioned mainly distribute films that are blockbusters and will roll in a lot of money because of the huge audiences they attract. It is therefor probable that an art-house cinema would distribute our film, one like cinema city which specialises in attracting niche audiences.
Digital distribution would mainly be done online for our production as advertising online is the best way to attract as many people as possible, and as our film has a low range of possible audiences anyway it is best to go for the area that has the best probability of rolling in viewers. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter would be best to advertise on as these social networks are widely used by the majority of teenagers, and as our film stars three teenagers, social bias would attract teenage audiences.
Warp Films is an independant film company, that receives very low budget as it gets all its funding from the national lottery. However I think that this film company suits our production best as Warp Films specialises in niche films.
We have produced an useual thriller production using unknown actors, this would therefor most likely attract a niche audience. Other films that are similar are films such as, Submarine, This Is England and Four Lions. Although these three films are niche, they still have relatively wide audiences - this is because of the recent popularity that has sprouted with Warp Films.
As for cinema distribution, it is likely that huge corperate cinemas such as Odeon, and Vue would not display our production because it is not mainstream. Big cinema companies like the ones mentioned mainly distribute films that are blockbusters and will roll in a lot of money because of the huge audiences they attract. It is therefor probable that an art-house cinema would distribute our film, one like cinema city which specialises in attracting niche audiences.
Digital distribution would mainly be done online for our production as advertising online is the best way to attract as many people as possible, and as our film has a low range of possible audiences anyway it is best to go for the area that has the best probability of rolling in viewers. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter would be best to advertise on as these social networks are widely used by the majority of teenagers, and as our film stars three teenagers, social bias would attract teenage audiences.
Warp Films is an independant film company, that receives very low budget as it gets all its funding from the national lottery. However I think that this film company suits our production best as Warp Films specialises in niche films.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Evaluation of Thriller Opening, Question One
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Characters /Costume
Our thriller film consisted of one lead character, which was Eve, our film was also named after this character. Eve is the heroine in the film and we got ideas from Kiddo from the Kill Bill series to base her off. Having a female main character is a convention used in a few of Tarantino's works, for example in his production Jackie Brown, where the film is based around Jackie. We called the film Eve because the name is biblical and represents a deeper meaning.
Cha-Cha and Hazel were the two villains in the film, chasing Eve. We used suits for them as done by Tarantino again in Pulp Fiction. However this costume design was also used in the Matrix as well. We have aspects of Noir in our opening also, and a classic convention for Noir thrillers is to have smart dress costumes among every character. The names Cha-Cha and Hazel had no specific meaning behind them other than the fact that they are similar in terms of 'unusualness' to the names Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction.
Lighting
All lighting in our thriller film was completely ambient. Portions of our film were filmed inside a house, however we used the sunlight for these clips and made them black and white so lighting effects were barely noticable anyway. Chiaroscuro lighting was used for the flashbacks because we wanted to resemble the scene with Kiddo (KillBill) being tormented in her wedding dress. However outside the natural sunlight was necessary because it relates to the thriller film Jackie Brown, where a psychotic character shoots his wife in broad daylight - our film uses this aspect because we have two hitmen chasing a female character in broad daylight, resembling mania as well. The ambient lighting was also used in Heavenly Creatures, when the two girls murder their mother in a similar setting to the location in our own film.
The final scene however (inside the barn) was extremely dark and unfortunately didn't work well according to our plan. The final shots were close ups, delibaretly showing the female characters expressions of fear and panic. On the other hand to enhance these expressions we had to edit lighting effects into the clip using Premiere Pro. We added a lot of colour saturation as well rack up the contrast to show detailed expression, we got this idea from KillBill Volume One: where the first scene after the opening credits reveals a colourful and lively neighbourhood which has obviously had after effects added to it.
Sound
We didn't use any sounds taken from online sources. In fact very little extra sound effects were used in our thriller opening. The soundtrack was dominated by classical music emitted from a record player - this challenges most thriller conventions, however it is difficult to say as music always applies to the nature of the theme and not the theme itself. For example, Kill Bill uses an upbeat; catchy soundtrack (Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra) because the film is action packed and fast paced. Another example is the music in Heavenly Creatures, it is mystifying and creepy because the film is unusual and weird.
Enigma
Our opening contained a lot of concealed information. The whole basis of the film is unexplained and is relatively unclear. However we were confident that it would be acceptable for a thriller as other thriller films have aspects of enigma and variables of the unknowing in openings as well. Pulp Fiction begins in a cafe with two vigilantes that the audience know noting about - just like audiences know nothing about our characters Cha-Cha and Hazel. In the opening to KillBill audiences know very little about what is happening and what has happened as they witness Kiddo beaten up and bleeding on the floor for some unexplained reason - just as our female character is chased through some woods into a barn for a secretive reason as well. A prime example of Enigma used in thriller films would be in the introduction to Casino Royale - despite being an action movie the opening has strong aspects and conventions of noir thriller. The opening consists of a conversation between Bond and a nemesis, they talk about someone who is never mentioned again in the film.
Transitions /Editing
No transition effects were used in our opening. We included only jump cuts to enhace the aura of panic and mania. This kind of effect is used by Tarantino in many of his works - almost every KillBill fight scene encourperates jump cuts to add pace to the fights. He also uses this effect in Pulp Fiction: Resovoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. As we had a relatively fast paced opening with a chase scene we decided to try and resemble this convention.
We added chiaroscuro lighting to our flashbacks to give a sense of difference, as well as resembling noir thriller. Many thriller films that have scenes out of chronological order use black and white, this is done to show the time difference. Such as the openings of KillBill Volume 1 and Casino Royale. Our first shots are also shot with chiaroscuro lighting, to show that our character is seeing into the past.
Structure
The structure of our film is not chronological, this is a common thriller convention. Many directors the produce thriller themed movies use flashbacks for opening scenes as it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film as interesting and mysterious.
This is why we chose to shoot our first clip as a flashback of our female lead stealing an unrevealed item, it adds to the sense of fear as well as making the viewing of the rest of the film more appealing and intriguing.
Specific Conventions
Specific conventions that were used in our product are as follows: a great deal of thrilllers use a female as the lead just as we did. Female characters are used as main characters because they resemble more challenge to stereotypes (making you hooked more).
We also copied Tarantino's hitmen from Pulp Fiction and tried to make ours more comical by underdressing them with trainers and hats. We did this because Jules and Vincent speak a lot of entertaining dialogue throughout their performances however Cha-Cha and Hazel have no lines at all, so we had to make them comically appealing in another way.
The barn we used represents similarities to the warehouse from Resevoir dogs, the idea of isolation and solitude is strongly represented as our setting was very claustrophobic.
Characters /Costume
Our thriller film consisted of one lead character, which was Eve, our film was also named after this character. Eve is the heroine in the film and we got ideas from Kiddo from the Kill Bill series to base her off. Having a female main character is a convention used in a few of Tarantino's works, for example in his production Jackie Brown, where the film is based around Jackie. We called the film Eve because the name is biblical and represents a deeper meaning.
Cha-Cha and Hazel were the two villains in the film, chasing Eve. We used suits for them as done by Tarantino again in Pulp Fiction. However this costume design was also used in the Matrix as well. We have aspects of Noir in our opening also, and a classic convention for Noir thrillers is to have smart dress costumes among every character. The names Cha-Cha and Hazel had no specific meaning behind them other than the fact that they are similar in terms of 'unusualness' to the names Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction.
Lighting
All lighting in our thriller film was completely ambient. Portions of our film were filmed inside a house, however we used the sunlight for these clips and made them black and white so lighting effects were barely noticable anyway. Chiaroscuro lighting was used for the flashbacks because we wanted to resemble the scene with Kiddo (KillBill) being tormented in her wedding dress. However outside the natural sunlight was necessary because it relates to the thriller film Jackie Brown, where a psychotic character shoots his wife in broad daylight - our film uses this aspect because we have two hitmen chasing a female character in broad daylight, resembling mania as well. The ambient lighting was also used in Heavenly Creatures, when the two girls murder their mother in a similar setting to the location in our own film.
The final scene however (inside the barn) was extremely dark and unfortunately didn't work well according to our plan. The final shots were close ups, delibaretly showing the female characters expressions of fear and panic. On the other hand to enhance these expressions we had to edit lighting effects into the clip using Premiere Pro. We added a lot of colour saturation as well rack up the contrast to show detailed expression, we got this idea from KillBill Volume One: where the first scene after the opening credits reveals a colourful and lively neighbourhood which has obviously had after effects added to it.
Sound
We didn't use any sounds taken from online sources. In fact very little extra sound effects were used in our thriller opening. The soundtrack was dominated by classical music emitted from a record player - this challenges most thriller conventions, however it is difficult to say as music always applies to the nature of the theme and not the theme itself. For example, Kill Bill uses an upbeat; catchy soundtrack (Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra) because the film is action packed and fast paced. Another example is the music in Heavenly Creatures, it is mystifying and creepy because the film is unusual and weird.
Enigma
Our opening contained a lot of concealed information. The whole basis of the film is unexplained and is relatively unclear. However we were confident that it would be acceptable for a thriller as other thriller films have aspects of enigma and variables of the unknowing in openings as well. Pulp Fiction begins in a cafe with two vigilantes that the audience know noting about - just like audiences know nothing about our characters Cha-Cha and Hazel. In the opening to KillBill audiences know very little about what is happening and what has happened as they witness Kiddo beaten up and bleeding on the floor for some unexplained reason - just as our female character is chased through some woods into a barn for a secretive reason as well. A prime example of Enigma used in thriller films would be in the introduction to Casino Royale - despite being an action movie the opening has strong aspects and conventions of noir thriller. The opening consists of a conversation between Bond and a nemesis, they talk about someone who is never mentioned again in the film.
Transitions /Editing
No transition effects were used in our opening. We included only jump cuts to enhace the aura of panic and mania. This kind of effect is used by Tarantino in many of his works - almost every KillBill fight scene encourperates jump cuts to add pace to the fights. He also uses this effect in Pulp Fiction: Resovoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. As we had a relatively fast paced opening with a chase scene we decided to try and resemble this convention.
We added chiaroscuro lighting to our flashbacks to give a sense of difference, as well as resembling noir thriller. Many thriller films that have scenes out of chronological order use black and white, this is done to show the time difference. Such as the openings of KillBill Volume 1 and Casino Royale. Our first shots are also shot with chiaroscuro lighting, to show that our character is seeing into the past.
Structure
The structure of our film is not chronological, this is a common thriller convention. Many directors the produce thriller themed movies use flashbacks for opening scenes as it immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film as interesting and mysterious.
This is why we chose to shoot our first clip as a flashback of our female lead stealing an unrevealed item, it adds to the sense of fear as well as making the viewing of the rest of the film more appealing and intriguing.
Specific Conventions
Specific conventions that were used in our product are as follows: a great deal of thrilllers use a female as the lead just as we did. Female characters are used as main characters because they resemble more challenge to stereotypes (making you hooked more).
We also copied Tarantino's hitmen from Pulp Fiction and tried to make ours more comical by underdressing them with trainers and hats. We did this because Jules and Vincent speak a lot of entertaining dialogue throughout their performances however Cha-Cha and Hazel have no lines at all, so we had to make them comically appealing in another way.
The barn we used represents similarities to the warehouse from Resevoir dogs, the idea of isolation and solitude is strongly represented as our setting was very claustrophobic.
Friday, 14 March 2014
Final Planning (With Rough Cut)
Filming
A synopsis for our thriller opening would go as follows: two mediocre henchmen are introduced without revealing their purpose at this point. Followed by the introduction of Eve, who we see mysteriously stealing a necklance of unidentified importance. The action quickly steps forth and the opening turns into a chase scene where Cha-Cha & Hazel follow the lead female to a deserted barn, drawing a close to the opening. With a final shot of Eve filming herself to display her last words, before cutting on a cliffhanger with the two henchmen reaching the door of the barn.
We decided to have the flashbacks filmed in black and white as it relates to the intro from Kill Volume One, of when Kiddo is attacked by Bill - and we get a close up shot her face in agony as she lies bleeding on the floor. We did this as our lead characrer is also a female character, just like the heroine in Tarantino's KillBill series.
Props / Costume
The original plan for our two henchmen (Cha-Cha and Hazel) was to have them both wearing gasmasks like the villain from Dead Mans Shoes.
However unfortunately the gas masks we ordered from Amazon didn't arrive on the due date- and because we set one specific day to film (as we had to travel two hours to King Lynn) it meant we could not go through with our original idea. However, I had an idea relating to the Gangsters from Pulp Fiction. Despite Jules and Vincent being a pair of matching comical hitmen, we agreed to attempt to convert the basis of our two hitmen to Tarantino's conventions.
To do this it required a slight costume change, mine and Liams suits were already different so we decided to each wear a red beanie hat - showing a little more continuity between the two characters as well as adding hints that they are a team. However it became aparent that the headgear made us both look less threatening but then we considered again our first thoughts about the characters; we wanted them to look relatively unproffessional and therefor we overlooked the downgrading aspects of the hats and concentrated on seeming like a team more than anything. On another tangent, the hats were very similar and the colour of them was ideal,red is considered a threatening and dangerous colour above the rest. One thing however that when I look back I think should be changed, was our group decision about my shoes. In the heat of the panic about the costume change, the collective idea about looking unproffesional lead to the conclusion that one of the hitmen should wear trainers, whilst the other ran in leather prom shoes. Our basis for this decision was that if one of us was wearing less important shoes it would hint that collectively the hitmen are not as dangerous as they seem. However in my opinion the shoes worked too well.
Soundtrack
Whilst shooting we started to think of a soundtrack to use. We had already discussed ideas about classical music as we thought it would sound nice in sync with the shot of the record player. In the end we settled with including the record player at the start of our opening credits to signal when the music begins. This idea sprouted after looking at the Third Man. This film gave us all kinds of different ideas about tradition and old school styles as the film is set just after world war 2.
Lighting
Lighting was difficult to establish exactly how we wanted. Filming took place during the day when it was lightest so that the scenery was clearly visible. We agreed that this was the best time to film a chase sequence as it shows how real it is, and also we knew that having a dangerous violent scene in a thriller had been done before making it safe for us to also use this idea. In the Tarantino film Jackie Brown, a female secondary character is shot dead in a public carpark during broad daylight by her partner. This kind of action in a film shows a lot about the character commiting the crime, for example it says exactly how little the villain cares about values of his own fate, as well as showing he may suffer slight insanity by shooting someone clearly without thinking. By applying this to our chase sequence, I think we portrayed to the audience the insane panic the hitmen were in when chasing the theif, it comes across how desperate they are on catching her.
The Rought Cut
A synopsis for our thriller opening would go as follows: two mediocre henchmen are introduced without revealing their purpose at this point. Followed by the introduction of Eve, who we see mysteriously stealing a necklance of unidentified importance. The action quickly steps forth and the opening turns into a chase scene where Cha-Cha & Hazel follow the lead female to a deserted barn, drawing a close to the opening. With a final shot of Eve filming herself to display her last words, before cutting on a cliffhanger with the two henchmen reaching the door of the barn.
We decided to have the flashbacks filmed in black and white as it relates to the intro from Kill Volume One, of when Kiddo is attacked by Bill - and we get a close up shot her face in agony as she lies bleeding on the floor. We did this as our lead characrer is also a female character, just like the heroine in Tarantino's KillBill series.
Props / Costume
The original plan for our two henchmen (Cha-Cha and Hazel) was to have them both wearing gasmasks like the villain from Dead Mans Shoes.
However unfortunately the gas masks we ordered from Amazon didn't arrive on the due date- and because we set one specific day to film (as we had to travel two hours to King Lynn) it meant we could not go through with our original idea. However, I had an idea relating to the Gangsters from Pulp Fiction. Despite Jules and Vincent being a pair of matching comical hitmen, we agreed to attempt to convert the basis of our two hitmen to Tarantino's conventions.
To do this it required a slight costume change, mine and Liams suits were already different so we decided to each wear a red beanie hat - showing a little more continuity between the two characters as well as adding hints that they are a team. However it became aparent that the headgear made us both look less threatening but then we considered again our first thoughts about the characters; we wanted them to look relatively unproffessional and therefor we overlooked the downgrading aspects of the hats and concentrated on seeming like a team more than anything. On another tangent, the hats were very similar and the colour of them was ideal,red is considered a threatening and dangerous colour above the rest. One thing however that when I look back I think should be changed, was our group decision about my shoes. In the heat of the panic about the costume change, the collective idea about looking unproffesional lead to the conclusion that one of the hitmen should wear trainers, whilst the other ran in leather prom shoes. Our basis for this decision was that if one of us was wearing less important shoes it would hint that collectively the hitmen are not as dangerous as they seem. However in my opinion the shoes worked too well.
Soundtrack
Whilst shooting we started to think of a soundtrack to use. We had already discussed ideas about classical music as we thought it would sound nice in sync with the shot of the record player. In the end we settled with including the record player at the start of our opening credits to signal when the music begins. This idea sprouted after looking at the Third Man. This film gave us all kinds of different ideas about tradition and old school styles as the film is set just after world war 2.
Lighting
Lighting was difficult to establish exactly how we wanted. Filming took place during the day when it was lightest so that the scenery was clearly visible. We agreed that this was the best time to film a chase sequence as it shows how real it is, and also we knew that having a dangerous violent scene in a thriller had been done before making it safe for us to also use this idea. In the Tarantino film Jackie Brown, a female secondary character is shot dead in a public carpark during broad daylight by her partner. This kind of action in a film shows a lot about the character commiting the crime, for example it says exactly how little the villain cares about values of his own fate, as well as showing he may suffer slight insanity by shooting someone clearly without thinking. By applying this to our chase sequence, I think we portrayed to the audience the insane panic the hitmen were in when chasing the theif, it comes across how desperate they are on catching her.
The Rought Cut
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