Evaluation Notes

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I chose to produce an opening sequence to a film that meets the hybrid genre of; psychological thriller (PT).
- Atmospheric music is a generic convention in a PT because it is a recognised signifier to the audience that something is going to happen. I chose to include periods of silence in the non diegetic music because our research and textual analysis clearly showed this to be a tension builder. In place of the atmospheric music we chose to use the stereotypically ‘creepy’ little children’s lullaby music because it relates to the proposed pyschological background of our antagonist (Obsession with a lost child)- I illustrated the scenes using a combination of natural lighting (evening) and constructed lighting. The night time, dark setting of the school plays to tension building conventions that are evident in many other media productions of the same genre. The use of character controlled lighting that the antagonist and protagonist use also builts towards our intended tense atmospheric conditions. This is because the audiences visual hold on the film is restricted to what the characters can see on screen. This combonation is conventional for films of the thriller genre. 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
　
　-It represents the characters in a manner that both holds and breaks convention. The choice of having a female protagonist breaks convention as the normal stereotypical view of a film normally means that a male character would be chosen for the position of protagonist. However in this scene it portrays the female character as a victim or ‘damsel in distress’ of a male antagonist which is a scenario that is evident in many films.-It also has a stereotypical view of a hierarchy of power in a school, with the more ‘powerful’ profile of a teacher being similarly more powerful than the protagonist who takes the place of a student. This mimics the conventional antagonist > protagonist representations.
　
　
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My research identified that our target audience of traditionalist males and females between the ages of 15-35 were likely to consume films in the following ways
 On DVD at home with friends after a night at the pub
 At a local mainstream cinema or smaller outlets such as cinema city
 On a video hosting site such as YouTube or official internet player for TV channels such as BBC iPlayer
-The film is likely, considering its status as a low budget amateur film would likely be not shown in a mainstream cinema because it has neither the money nor the actors to compete with a Cinema released film. It is more likely to be a directly DVD released film or viewable in an open cinema such as Cinema city. There is also the possibility it may appeal to a TV channel like Channel 4 as they often invest in presenting amateur movies or television shows that are produced locally. That said it would be shown past watershed if presented on TV due to its intended audience of 15’s.
In the local area, if this train of thought applied then it would be likely to be shown in the Cinema city, as there is one near the city centre or on a television channel. That said DVD release or Tv showings are not swayed by location with the UK whereas some towns have more access to broader ways to consume media products
　4. Who would be the audience for your media product?audience type – hedonist etc…
-　　　　　　　　 I think the audience type this would relate and attract to would be a traditionalist thriller audience because it lacks hedonist or modernist features like camera experimentation (cloverfeild, Diary of the dead) or ground breaking special effects or storyline (The Matrix), and it　provide very PT　conventions in setting, character roles and base storyline.
-　　　　　　　　 If a rough estimate at a specific age group it would address I would think it would likely to appeal to students between the age of 15 to 18 due to the setting and how it would be something, due to the scenario, that could happen to them, or aspects of, which would trigger their own actual ideas about what they would do, involving them in the storyline.
　5. How did you attract/address your audience?
　
-　　　　　　　　 The narrative is pretty understated through deliberate lack of dialogue so it will mean that the audience will look to understand the story though the flickers of narrative in this OTS
-　　　　　　　　 The enigma will shock the audience as he is revealed early on however no real explanation is given to why he is disturbing but still it will increase tension through later scenes,　as they know he is the eventual antagonist and will advise the naivety of　　protagonist in their minds. This　unique stiuation, created via deliberate unrestricted narritive at the beginning, but restriction later　is evident in several productions such as Law and Order: Criminal Intent in a similar manner, however minor occurances of manipulating narritive is common in action thrillers　 to create tension.
-　　　　　　　　 Traditionalists will know the setting as conventional in that it is a school at night, something which has been covered in plenty other films and media productions. This will appeal to them as they can　recognise the techniques and representations applyed to the film while being pleasantly surprised at the more diverse smaller, slightly hedonistical techniques (ie: Circular narritive,　antagonist being present through most of film, POV heavy shots.)　
-The characters are not depicted in a manner that strains the suspension of disbelief as the shots and way that the film is shot means there is little room for over acting by the characters if the acting was poor. However in comparision both characters are almost understated through lack of dialogue in the scene, meaning they cannot overexpress themselves and even express some of their characteristics besides the audiences own judgements.
　
　
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
Technologies that I’ve used that my understanding of has improved:
i-movie
Blogging
Intranet
i-photo
sound technologies
lighting technologies
firewire
　
　
-　　　　　　　　 I have learned much from constructing the film. Previous to the continuity task I had no experience with any video recording software, editing equipment and had never done a blog so it was an incredibly steep learning curve over the past months.
-　　　　　　　　 In terms of this in relation to the actual filming, early on in class we covered basic storyboarding using digital cameras, which then had to be translated into an actual storyboard using the software iPhoto
-　　　　　　　　 After a bit of a struggle I worked out some aspects of lighting and how difficult it is to construct well to perform simple tasks that require single point light (newspaper scene)
-　　　　　　　　 Editing was tough but I got to use both final cut, which is much more detailed and offers more broad range of options both visually and sound-wise, and iMovie, which is much simpler and user friendly but has the drawback of not having as much functions as final cut
-　　　　　　　　
And finally the blogging itself has been something new to me. But to be honest it has been relatively smooth and quite easy to work.
　
　7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
- I have learnt that POV (point of view) shots can be used really well to build tension
- When filming a movie to chose both actors and location on ease of use, to shape the idea around them rather than the opposite, which is something that I succumbed to throughout the filming unfortunately
- Time management is majorly important when it comes to getting filming and editing done. All the way through I had allocated time to get certain areas of filming done, but needed better planning because on occasion I only did half of what I expected.
-Sound and lighting have a similar importance to camera shots and visual acting as they can create mood and feeling in characters that can otherwise not be conveyed by visual alone.　This was probably one of the hardest　points for me to achieve but in the end it was sufficent. However it will be something I will place much more　work into research and execution of.　
　

Feedback from film and My response to the feedback

My OTS was shown to the media class and in total there was only really one or two criticisms, which was quite a good ratio. The main critique was that Grant playing the role of a teacher didnt successfully suspend the disbelief of the audience due to his age. Additionally the 'Title on the board'' scene was far too vague and didnt give an indication that 'The reason behind the rhyme'' was actually the title of the film. The final problem was the time, which over ran the 2 minutes that were allocated.

Now if the 3 key areas I need to change are:
-The Antagonists age
- The final Scene
and time the film runs for I will have to look at what impact they have and ways i could change it without any extra filming, as my 2 actors are now unavailable.

As an Antagonist, Grant really fills the position well and the only problem that was pointed out was as a teacher he doesnt work due to how he is too young for the job that he is playing. Throughout the film he is shown in dark lighting so you can't actually see many visual features, and only hear the dialogue meaning that none of this is shown. Untill 'Lucy' enters the classroom do we see Grant as a teacher, again presenting a problem with the final scene.
The Title on the board doesnt work as it isnt Bold enough or Emphacised as the title but due to the time already overrunning that which was set it would be difficult to slot in extra time for this and the problems with not being able to film again pretty much blows that out of the water.
As for the way of cutting sections out, there are a few areas that are too drawn out (lighting on the poster) but that still may overrun the time constraits. The problem area is the final scene and maybe in a way cutting it would be the best solution. That way Grant wouldnt be shown as a teacher, and the attempt at showing the credits wouldn't be seen. The film could cut to black with the Title just as 'Lucy' reaches the door. This would mean that the film would become under two minutes and this sense of high pace suspense would be held until after the OTS, fitting with the 'Hook' conventions of a thriller genre. I will have to have a look when i review what i've done and post the final cut hopefully

The Reasons Behind the Rhyme OTS

Notes on credits: I included Megan M in the credits as she was a team member that left someway into the course.

Point Of View Shots - Why use them?

A large section of the film has been Point of View, to quite a good effect, but this has gotten me thinking, why and how does a director use point of view?


One recent, but brilliant film that used point of view for a positive effect was the almost Mockumentary 'Diary Of The Dead'. In the film, the viewpoint is often from behind a physical camera, as the protagonist is a young filmmaker at university who then records his entire trip on camera - at regular points uploading the footage to youtube. Cleverly, George A Romero combines multiple physical camera footage in the diegetic world to create tension and suspense. One such point is where the Protagonist and his friends/ fellow travallers are being transported to a garage. The camera begins as usual with POVs showing the discussion with fellow survivors before switching to the in garage security cameras that show the vehicle being driven in.
Even besides switching the camera angle, the act of placing a diegetic camcorder in the scene means that at points it has to be placed on the side whilst the characters either have discussions and do certain actions. It adds to the characters personalities when you see how they handle the camera. For example the film making obsessed protagonist will keep the camera running - even if he and his girlfriend are argueing almost out of shot. On the opposite scale of things, when his girlfriend uses another camcorder or takes his, she often turns it off at points that her character is sensitive to. Additionally her mannerism behind the camera is often sarcastic and does not take the filming seriously. Using diegetic cameras to film with can give a better insight into characters feelings and has often been linked with the Horror Genre (Blair Witch Project, Cloverfeild).

Non diegetic POV's are often used only in short bursts, just to give the personal viewpoint of a character, normally regarding certain objects or people for a dramatic effect. This is what I have done for my OTS to create tension. It wouldnt be entirely filmed in POV.

Storyboard

A little late but this is the rough storyboard that I made, that was used for the filming and directing of the OTS

I know what you watched this winter ...

Given that we are looking at the British film industry and how various factors have effected it, I decided to ask members of my family and some friends what they have watched roughly for the past month to work out if there was any trend to it, percentage of US/ UK films watched, ect.

Age: 14 Female

Twilight US Romantic Adventure
Madagscar 2 US Action Adventure
Made of Honour US Romantic Comedy
Over Her Dead Body US Romantic Comedy
Flood UK Thriller
Eagle Eye US Action / Adventure
Step Brothers US Comedy
Ink Heart US Adventure (fantasy)
Dead or Alive US Action / Adventure
John Tucker Must Die US Romantic Comedy
The Golden Compass US/UK Adventure (fantasy)
The Ex US Romantic Comedy
Iron Man US Action Thriller


Age 16 Male

Predator US Action Thriller
Dark Knight US Action Thriller
Ink Heart US Adventure (fantasy)
Eagle Eye US Action Thriller
Made of Honour US Romantic Comedy
Step Brothers US Comedy
Death Race US Action Thriller
Fast and Furious (4) US Action Thriller
Twilight US Romantic Adventure
Mr Deeds US Comedy


Age 16 Female

Mamma Mia US Musical Comedy
Dark Knight US Action Thriller
Fast and Furious (1) US Action Thriller
2 Fast 2 Furious US Action Thriller
Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift US Action Thriller


Age 17 Female

Twilight US Romantic Adventure
Definitely Maybe US/UK Romance
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Remake) US Adventure (fantasy)
Fight Club US Action Thriller
Unleashed US Action Thriller



Age 17 Female

X –Men US Action Thriller
X –Men 2 US Action Thriller
The Strangers US Horror Thriller
Babysitter Wanted US Horror Thriller
Saw 4 US Horror Thriller
Saw 5 US Horror Thriller
Final Fantasy: Advent Children JP Action Thriller (fantasy)
Bolt US Action Adventure (fantasy)
Sword in the Stone US Action Adventure
The Grudge 3 US Horror Thriller



Age 17 Male
Fast and Furious (4) US Action Thriller
The Shawshank Redemption Drama
007: Quantum of Solace US Action Adventure (Thriller)
Borat US Comedy


Age 17 Male

A Fish Called Wanda UK Comedy
Indiana Jones: Lost Crusade US Action Adventure
Monty Python: Meaning of life UK Comedy


Age 17 Male

Twilight US Romantic Adventure
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging US Romantic Comedy
Finding Nemo US Action Adventure
The Interpreter US Thriller
Hancock US Action Thriller (Comedy)
Iron Man US Action Thriller


Age 21 Male

Predator US Action Thriller
Dark Knight US Action Thriller
How to lose friends and alienate people UK Comedy
Sex Drive US Comedy
Marley and Me US Drama Comedy
Spirit ? ?
Wall.E US Action Adventure
Mirrors US Thriller
Pineapple Express US Comedy
Burn after Reading US Comedy
Max Payne US Action Thriller
Final Fantasy Advent Children JP Action Thriller (fantasy)
The Day the Earth stood still US Action Thriller


Age 47 Male

Twilight US Romantic Adventure
Ink Heart US Adventure (fantasy)
Eagle Eye US Action Thriller
Step Brothers US Comedy
Death Race US Action Thriller
Day Watch W Action Horror
Madagascar 2 US Action Adventure
Iron Man US Action Thriller
The Incredible Hulk US Action Thriller


Age 48 Female

Twilight US Romantic Adventure
Flood UK Thriller
Ink Heart US Adventure
John Tucker Must Die US Romantic Comedy
Over Her Dead Body US Romantic Comedy
Step Brothers US Comedy
Eagle Eye US Action Thriller
Made of Honour US Romantic Comedy
The EX US Romantic Comedy
The Core US Thriller
Iron Man US Action Thriller
The Incredible Hulk US Action Thriller




Incredibly under 10 films watched were British and of them most were comedies. It is an interesting insight into how little films from britain are consumed, with big budget american Horror / Action Thrillers seemingly being the most popular with teenagers, while comedys rise in the early 20's.
Clearly this dramatic decrease in british productions consumed co-insides with globalisation through cinema and likely big budget CGI films. As most british films are funded either through American sources or limited budget british company backed (Film 4, ect), the capacity to make a mainstream film that can compete with big budget pictures isnt likely

evaluative comments of filming

Pros:
- The overall filming was of a good standard.
- The construction of lighting and effects without editing was really good, the POVs were brilliant aswell.
- I utilised the nightvision function in some places (its actually for low budget cams, quite effective)
-I also improvised alot when I was forced to look at how the film was going to run and ended up changing the entire atmosphere that I had orginally intended to create in the end at one point.
Cons:
- Time management could be better, at times I was behind the rest of the class in terms of filming. I think this was rooted to the location of the school ,which at first seemed an accessable location revealed itself to be a bit of a pig near the end
-One possible chance of filming never happened due to confusion in arranging time and place (dont ask)　=/
-Early Storyboards werent as clear as they could have been leading to some confusion when directing.

heroes credit sequence - ideas of how to present credits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY0W7zFqTbI 0:35

Casting, props and costumes

Since got much to post recently worth remembering this 5th of November i thought i’d explain some minor notes to do with Casting, Props and Costumes
Casting : In terms of casting for the filming I decided to prioritise actors over how easily they were to get hold of rather than on whether or not they had massive acting experience.　 That said originally when attempting to get someone to play the Antagonist there was alot of problems with availability, however the eventual person we found to play the part, Grant, was really good, and I think both actors filled the roles well.
Props and costumes: In terms of Props and Costumes there were actually very few. Our main props were the peices of paper the protagonist was rummaging through ( simply peices of odds and ends we could find around the classroom chosen)　and the handmade obsessive collage of the protagonist, which was actually really creepy. Thanks to Amy for the pics and Megan for allowing it to be made, it really added to the psycho-ness of our antagonist. Finally the costumes were simply black shirts, ties, plain black trousers and a simple white top for the protagonist.

Final filming session

Looking at the camera shots took Monday, I decided to re shoot them in the media classroom, using a different actor because our previous one was too difficult to get hold off when needed. In that session that spanned both Monday and Tuesday evenings we covered the entire classroom scene and had some really good shots. I also took some point of view shots of Megan climbing the stairs. With that filming session over I hopefully have the shots I need to begin the editing stage.

Law and Order style empowerment

(sourced from www.ew.com)
I was busy thinking about ways that I could convey the tension in 2 minutes to hook the audience. Circular narritive is one way to do this as it shows a later stage of the film, where the audio and visuals all would indicate tension. I discovered another interesting perspective created by the program Law and Order, in that the criminals perspective is shown in addition to the protagonists trying to catch them. This is a very unique point and something that I could use in my film.
Showing the apparent enigma (the psychotic teacher )early will cause the audience to constantly watch what he does and suspect him. It doesnt mean that he would necessarily be the killer as he would always seem suspicious but it could be other reasons for his presence in the scene.
On the opposite side of things, if he was the killer, it would create a large amount of dramatic irony as the audience would constantly be in a position of empowerment from the scene shown in the OTS. They would constantly urge a protagonist, ignorant to this information that was given to the audience and in a way be infuruated by them

Titles, credits and some notes on sounds

Finally finished editing and its been a mixed bag of emotions, at some points theres been joy, laughter, tears and　some crindge　worthy peices of editing early on　. To be honest despite all that its been really good. Maybe next time if done better the last 2 points could be avoided! Anyways enough of that stuff, just thought I'd give a little bit of notice into the title credits and sound.
　
To be honest the placement of titles and credits wasnt something I had thought about much untill they actually had to be put in.　They were placed just offset to the film so not to detract away from what was　happening.　There was nothing too fancy about the text type either with a basic　　Ariel-esq typeface being chosen. In addition to the teacher writing the title on the board which was an idea ive always liked, because it might not become clear that that was the title, we decided to include a title credit afterwards. I think it could have been smoother however there was little time by that point but i do not think it will detract too much from the actual film.
As for the sound we put into the non diegetic soundtrack, there was not much besides the twisted baby-ish lullaby music, which was taken from a copyright-free sound hosting website. To be honest i cant remember the site which it was taken but another group also used the same site. [CHANGE WHEN CREDITS STUFF IS DONE]

The Happening Deconstruction

Havent posted for awhile so just a quick update:
Just started editing　and its going okay, there are alot of clips that need to be scraped and i can see the light from under all the deadwood that was cleared. To be honest the editing has had me stumped but I am getting there slowly but surely.
Also before editing we were all shown the OTS　 (opening title sequence) of The Happening which we were told to deconstruct to describe what makes it an effective opening.

2nd and 3rd Filming Opportunities

During a previous media lesson I booked an English room to shoot the key scene of which the main character finds the collage and speaks with the teacher. Although due to timetabling in our original actor filming was done Monday at a point in which I couldn’t be evident. so I didnt manage to film any of those scenes which sucked.
That said, next week,running through what I have done so far, I decided to re shoot the newspaper shots which turned out reasonably well. The night vision feature of the camera really working well in that case. I also managed to get a panning shot through an open corridor but there was a problem in that the time I chose to film was parents evening which meant that I could not cover some other shots and angles which had been planned but nevermind, because the filming went okay!

After Filming Opportunity #1

The shots I chose to film were:
Newspaper shot and shots from the starting point
Corridor shot
And possibly shots on the stairs.
In filming I only managed to do the first set of shots, but in honesty, there was problems with providing sufficient lighting and lack of experience with the camera worked against me. That said, this mean I was a little more confidence with the camera and now i know how to master the positioning of the camera.
Next time I will try to be a better director because as the storyboard artist it was mainly my job to direct the actor and I did not succeed in that role too well. That said I redeemed myself with the film shooting and the construction of lighting was okay.

Light and sound

In one lesson we watched a scene from the thriller, Dead Man’s Shoes, and were told for a task to deconstruct the Special Brew scene, looking out for how the director illistrates several key points through mainly Sound and Lighting . It was quite intresting because in deconstructing the lighting and sound from a personal viewpoint it meant that when watching other media productions I took more notice how they affect them and it also got me thinking about sound in the production.

Early study into style and content

When determining what aspects to look at when developing ideas about thrillers in general we decided to deconstruct two thrillers and compare them separately, with how their Style and Content affect the audience. I chose the films ‘Signs’ and ‘Diary of the dead’ because they are contrasted in many aspects and in analysis, it can broaden understanding in a less narrow way than comparing two similar films.

Locations and timing

The film in location terms will need the following:
A school room
A blackboard (for the write title on board idea)
Corridors or stairs for the character to run along
And a starting room with table space for them to hunt for an item
　
All of these things would suggest that a school would be an optimum point to film from however the main question was as Kett 6th form covers 3 separate sites, which school to shoot from. I choose Sprowston over the other two sites because it is purely a lot simpler as I am there most of the time
Also after some thought I think it would be best to shoot the film in the evening. This means that the natural lighting works to built tension in a very conventional manner. However due to the inconvenience of where I live, most of it will be filmed after school

Shot layout (how it turned out and original ideas)

Originally the shot lyout was going to be a little different but heres a rough idea of how the shots are going to be layed out:
Light over Collage , Zoom in on picture , Collage again,　Running　 up stairs,　Newspaper shot, ‘Lucy’ looking at paper, running again( slowed), someone (not shown) looking at the collage, running up to room with cuts in on person, over shoulder as she walks in a classroom, her walking into classroom, teacher writing title on the board.
From the original idea to how it turned out the concept remained the same although a different atmosphere is created in the shots now. Its a combination of quick cuts with rushed, fast pace and longer quieter shots but still remain tense. I am quite happy that through filming the idea of the teacher writing the title on the board (and date) and the zoom in on the date of the paper to signify the circular narrative.

Conventions (ideas and general studies)

Another key aspect to consider when thinking about filming a thriller is conventions; be it what they are, or how they can affect the audience. To research this everyone was told to describe various key conventions that form the general make up of most thrillers in a set essay. In doing this we also looked at character stereotypes and other conventional forms. The relevant notes page and essay pages are below (Click to enlarge)

examples of circular narrative to hook the audience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbgcxD4-I7I
from 1.50 till the theme





This is a good example of how a circular narritive can be used for building of tension. At the begining one of the main protagonists of 4400 - Diana is holed up in a gym with her daughter whilst someone is continually banging against the double doors. Finally breaking through the door this unknown attacker comes face to face (gun to gun) with diana. The resultant mid shot reveals that the attacker is in fact the main protagonist and her collegue Tom.

The way the circular narrative works means that the audience are both shocked and hooked onto what will happen due to the break in the convention in that the protagonist is shown as the antagonist. This break in personality trait means that the audience will want to know why and how this has happened, thus meaning that they are successfully hooked. And as a technique, normally this is how a circular narritive is used. To give the audience information that they can build upon to create their own opinions of what they think will happen. In this case they break convention through a main character. As it is a television series, by this point the audience will likely have a strong relation with key characters and this is what is played upon for effect. Should this be tryed on a film it wouldn't work as the audience would have no prior knowledge of characters, meaning a protagonist or antagonist wouldnt be apparent.

It is interesting that a technique like circular narritive has different ways it can be executed and it is sure to be something i will look into further.

Idea so far for the practical production

After discussing possible ideas with people, I’ve found a rough idea for the thriller. It would be based around a school where for unknown reasons students begin to disappear. The general storyline would follow the female protagonist as she attempts to fathom who has done this because her friend goes missing. It’s found that the English teacher is the one guilty. I haven’t yet thought of a reasonable idea why this is but I think that there should be some form of link to children’s nursery rhymes.
I think that the reason for this should due to a child he lost but as this is mainly going to be only the opening few minutes it would not be suitable to delve too far into the mentality of the character. In the early discussions had in lessons, a circular narrative seemed like a good way to present it.
It hopefully will turn out okay as a particularly ‘creepy’ character could be produced in the teacher and it is also very conventional in the teacher being the antagonist so hopefully this mix of unconventional narrative and conventional characters should be interesting.

Intro feat. Continuity Task

This year I will be delving into the world of filming an opening for a thriller. It will only be 2 minutes long (hopefully short enough for me not to mess it up!). I am aiming for a psychological thriller style of filming but at the moment i dont have much ideas of where to start however before this, to get used to the practical side of filming, we all had to create a short film that was a practice of key filming rules such as 180 degree and continuity.

Obviously the topic is a little contraversial but that said it is actually a good example of a parody and for the continuity of the peice, it was perfect. I did a little bit of the filming which was great as I hadn't ever used a camera before.

Brief for Practical production

I am planning to film a psychological thriller. Our target Audience is those that will be able to watch a film of certificate 15. It will be filmed in a style that is not yet been determined using video recording equipment that is available to us through the school. [insert continuity stuff here when i find out how to post youtube vids]