IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OR REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS,

Thrillers can use a range of conventions for example a fast pace and short clips to create a fast tempo creating enigma and raising the heart rate, we were instructed in our brief to create a two minute opening sequence for a thriller, we began this by researching into many different aspects of what make up a thriller this would include anything, the characters, setting lighting, themes, sound, titles we looked into it all. To start we began by evaluating other peoples thriller much more well known one such as ‘The Orphanage’, ‘one hour photo’ and ‘seven’ these films used conventions such as low key lighting,, and twisted storylines that make the audience feel uneasy. They would usually have two very distinked characters most like to be the protagonist; the hero or the GOOD character were as on the other hand we would have also the antagonist; who tries to distyrupt the peace known as the villain on BAD character and there usually would be come sort of conflict between the two. When it came to our own ideas we have a few brainstorms coming up with a range of different ideas that would follow though onto our final piece although going through the odd change now and again were we have adapted and developed what we had began to think about.




I would say that our media piece doesn’t correspond to most conventional thrillers; we use a lot of restricted narration we seem to be following a character around discovering as he does. Were as films were we would find out something that the character wouldn’t already know, so we would be presented with unrestricted narration. In the case of the mise en scene there were a lot of changes, going back a forth with ideas. As we started using natural lighting what we had while we filmed, then we decided to change that and darken the mood lighting to a dark blue to create a more sinister feel towards our footage although in the end we changed our mind and decided we would use natural lighting once again. We used iconography A set of specified or traditional symbolic forms associated with the subject or theme of a stylized genre being “thriller” using for example the shack which is a symbolic form of loneliness, cold and creepy, ideal for what we are trying to achieve with our video. Our story line didn’t involve a direct or clear antagonist; we left it more for the audience to judge for them self from the beginning of the film again using another example of the restricted narration.
Mise en scene all the elements placed in front of the camera to be filmed, including the;
Costume
Hair
Makeup
Props
Setting
Décor
Colour
Lighting
Composition
Body language
Facial expression
Were something’s here were applicable; some weren’t for example the facial expression as we decided as group that it would be more of a dramatic piece.





Our group was put under the review of the rest of the classes were we were presented with marks that showed us we had done a good job with the out come of our product. Despite the odd opinion were you got some anomalies in the results? The results are as followed.
Holding shot steady. 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 2 4

camera framing 2 3 4 3 3 1 2 1 1 2 3 3

variety of shots 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2

Appropriate shooting thriller? 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 4 2

Mise en scene 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 3 3

Editing 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 4 3

varied transitions and effects 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3

sound and Foley 1 2 2 3 2 3 2 1 2 1 1 2

titles and credits 2 2 1 4 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1

does it work as opening to a film 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1



HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

There isn’t much that can right about the characters as we only included one in our film, what we did is present the audience with a choice, they could have interoperated our character as an antagonist as we dressed him in black and because of the mystery surrounding this character we have basically left a huge question mark over his head. He is representing the young adult culture but not in the typical rebellious way that most would first anticipate he seems to act in a more weird and surreal way that would contradict the average lifestyle of the young adult population. I suppose we have represented him in this way is because in my opinion it more strange for someone of that age to be doing tasks out of the ordinary surprise’s people and grabs people out of there comfort zone and throws them into a state of thinking that this character isn’t normal isn’t quite right in his state of thinking.
MORE !

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

To start with I need to analyze the film opening and think to myself what type of film this is, which it is an independent film made with almost no budget so it is expected to be of a low quality, this also come across in our acting as we don’t have a paid actor. So from our cheaply independent film would need to be distributed by someone who isn’t expecting Hollywood perfection and would except our movie so after a wile of scrolling and searching through pages I found metrodome distribution, which do specialize in the independent film making area of the industry. This would be shown in local smallish cinemas with private business that would screen our film. The following text shows the information on the distribution of my choice.
Metrodome Distribution
3rd Floor
Royalty House
72 – 74 Dean Street
London
W1D 3SG
T 020 7534 2060
F 020 7534 2062
www.metrodomegroup.com


MORE




WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

Our target audience would be between the ages of 15 and late 20s early 30s which I would state is yes a small amount of people. The type of people that our film would attract would be people who enjoy a type of thriller that evolves a reasonable amount of thought to follow and understanding, as we prompt the audience to think for themselves rather than handing them the plot and story on a platter. I suppose that I would compare our piece to that of philological thrillers such as a beautiful mind, and fatal attraction which lead complicated story lines were the audience has to think for themselves and piece the story together independently. Despite the typical gender audience for thrillers would be males, but although because our film involves more physiological horror than a form of violent or gory imagery to create the horror.
MORE !


HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOU AUDIENCE?


We wanted to attract our audience by pulling them in by making them ask question using restricted narration were there audience only know as much as the character. Also we don’t start our film on the equilibrium we come directly in with the disruption to directly grab the audience’s attention right from the star of the viewing. For example bringing these two aspects together were we are presented by the disruption were he takes down the poster bringing up immediate question enticing the audience to know more giving them the restricted narration which is why once the audience is lulled into there false sense of security we can give them a more powerful jolt when they are introduced the wall of wanted posters. Our group choose to use a verity of long establishing shots were our character walked through the screen creating a scene these are also useful later on in editing were we wanted to use tracking text to follow our character. The setting is shown through a use of shots and pans were we had very open wide framing showing no one else was around so the character placed him self in a restricted and isolated area so he wouldn’t be seen which seems to be a common acurance in our movie, were our character keeps his identity a mystery again giving the audience something to think about and create another reason for them to watch and follow the plot closely. The mise en scene for example the clothing would attract the audience as he presents himself as a character who is well brought up and well groomed in himself he wears a suit to show class and statues so this would attract the audience rather than if we had put him in rags and unattractive clothes that would repel the audience against him. The sound track was very suttle in how we put it together we used wind and easy listing sounds that slowly build enigma as the opening gets further and further towards its climax which in this case was the unveiling of the missing wall and the presenting of the main title “MISSING” we used non digesting and in all our clips use sound bridges to link them all together making cutting less noticeable making the movie more believable and therefore a direct result incising in the audience to enjoy the film. And to make the whole experience that much more realistic we created a lot of Foley sounds our self instead of being a slave to the garage band corporation, we went out as a group and used a Dictaphone to manually record the required sounds to match to out move.


WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

With everything our group went through and believe me there were a lot of mistakes taking place which Is understandable but I like to take these and as long as you learn and understand them so that when these come around again you can prevent them. Which I think we did rather well, especially in my opinion we had more failyers than success’s, most came from group organization which did seem to improve during time, we found bringing the group together or sticking to dates that we had made difficult this came through a lot in the filming, although when it came down to the editing we had a lot done by many member we booked in dates on the chart and stuck to them. A managed to further my skills on the apples as I ventured into unknown territory as I decided to use a more controllable and manual program that way final cut pro were I spent a lot of time experimenting and learning the interface so that I could be of use to the group when It came to fixing or adapting an idea with a clip in the program, also once again I decided to look elsewhere other than the default text inputs that final cut has to offer which in my opinion are really limited were I found a program which sole purpose was text titles were once again I decided to further my knowledge and learn to use another unknown program were I created the interesting titles that occupy the ending of our thriller. So when It came down to the editing and filming side I seemed to be of use to the team with the knowledge I have learned from using the program and similar once beforehand. Obviously before using any of the equipment we were given a short briefing on the correct usage. And wile filming we had to take these procotions into action for example when using high beam lights we had to be wary of the angles and directions of which ways the light way pointing as it could easy damage eyesight. And further more with the camera, tripod, EST.……
LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

Most obviously I think IV learn that time management skills are something that most people lack on this is were our team was let down the most, we found it hard to find a time that was convenient to all and then sticking to it. As well as this motivation seemed to be a problem our team seemed to cheery pick what seemed nice and easy and then do them first and pushing away things that took time, for example when sometimes the blog wasn’t filed in quick enough or on the day so the details that went into weren’t as precise as me may have liked them. Although things that worked well with our combined skills from ideas were that we were being critical enough to make changes to being able to edit and use the editing software compantly. I think that at different times our group worked well together. As our skills range from different talents so that we all contribute something unique to the project. Also I realized that once we come up with an idea we should realistically check over what we have and whether we were setting our self’s realistic goal’s that we would be able to achieve for example we set our self’s back by trying to record on a train station as getting permission was near impossible. Until further on down the line were we did our footage a balcome station which is a usually quite station were we able to get the required footage at the cost of wasted time waiting for the footage to come. I think the scouting worked well were we discussed possible locations near the local area that we could make an interesting thriller.

.

Face off evaluation

Face/Off
The opening sequence of Face/Off is a perfect example of a thriller. This opening sequence prepares the audience for what to expect in the film, as well as letting them know that the film is a thriller. This is done through a great use of editing, sound, lighting and Mis En Scene. Using these methods the director creates tension and suspense in just the first two minutes of the film. It’s these two factors I will be discussing in this essay.
The visual that is created in this opening scene creates a very strange tension and the lighting makes it seem slightly nostalgic. It also creates unease when watching because of this. The music in the background helps emphasizes this because it sounds mentally disturbing and makes the viewer also feel like something’s wrong when watching. We here children laughing however it is slowed and the soundtrack is strange. It’s as if it is a mix of diagetic and non diagetic sound. Non-diegetic sound is normally the soundtrack or narrator, in this case being the soundtrack. In this case the carousel has been edited out, allowing only the soundtrack to be heard. However the soundtrack is contains the sorts of sounds you would expect from a carousel which is slightly strange and confusing. it is effective though because it means the music has all the sounds necessary to create the atmosphere and tension intended in this opening sequence. The characters activities are all silent apart from key ones such as the unveiling of the sniper rifle. We hear the sheet being removed and the music turns quite gothic and eerie. We then here the shot being fired, then hit. The music stops and we here the character fall down and crawl over to his dead son as the music slowly creeps back in sounding more neutral and sad this time. This is a very effective mix of sound and editing.
Overall I think the opening sequence of Face/Off is brilliant. It creates a tension between the characters which continues throughout the duration of the film. The editing and sound, are particularly important contributing factors to making the opening sequence so specific to its genre. The odd use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound and the way the sequence has been edited completely sets the mood for the film, and therefore makes this opening so memorable.

Media evaluation arran

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In My group’s media product we followed many conventions of real media products. We succeeded in creating a huge sense of enigma, which was one of our aims. The fact that there is only one character whose identity is never revealed really helped this along. So too did the fact that neither a protagonist nor antagonist were revealed further adding to the sense of mysteriousness.

Together we came up with several ideas for a story line for our piece,
After suffering a near fatal accident six years ago, Mark Wren is starting to get his life back on track. There is just one problem, every body he knows has started to go missing and he has gone into hiding to protect himself from this unseen force.
It started just after he was released from hospital after the accident. First acquaintances and distant friends started to disappear, slowly moving in on his close circle of family and friends. There have been no leads as to why these people have gone missing but after the disappearance of Mark’s old girlfriend, he decides that it is up to him to solve why every one he knows and loves has gone!

We decided to use this story line as we thought it showed good aspects of a thriller movie. For example, it builds tension through the use of sound and lighting, like when the main title appears on screen, the music builds up and then peaks while the lighting becomes darker. It definitely makes the viewer want to watch on and find out why every one is going missing and who is behind it. This creates enigma as is raises a lot of questions about the story and the characters involved.

We decided to use a restricted narrative. I feel this was the right choice and because our product is only a two-minute introduction and I would say the audience actually knows less than the character. Even though a huge amount isn’t revealed in the two minuets it doesn’t get boring, as there is a great sense of suspense. I find myself thinking who is this man? Where is he going? And what is he doing? This exactly what we intended to keep the audience asking questions to maintain interest. The entire product has quite a dark feel to it. The use of dark lighting and contrasting clothing really compliment this.

Through the different editing techniques we used, we managed to keep to the convention of a thriller, as well as challenging them. We managed to entice curiosity and plenty of questions, as well as keeping the audience the edge of there seat. These devices are typical of a thriller, as it makes the viewer want to watch on and find out what has and will happened. Because of this I think we have created a successful opening sequence to a thriller.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our product only one character is revealed. It is a white male in his late twenties. We tried to keep an element of mystery around this character at all times. We did this by using shots that wouldn’t reveal the face of the character. We also wanted to give the character n element of intimidation and power by using low angle shots. We succeeded with the mystery, as the face of our character was never properly revealed. For example I like the over the shoulder shot in the train. It then zooms in and we connect with the character by getting a first person view of what he can see. This is effective because the audience doesn’t know if he’s good or bad, so it is odd to connect in this way. We struggled however with the low angles. The days we spent filming we didn’t manage to film enough of them, this was partly due to the lack of them in the storyboard and also disagreements on site within the group. We ended up with too many long shots. This was good for hiding identity, but we really lost out on the power image and means the whole product lacks much diversity. Diversity of shots was what we scored least on with the peer feedback, scoring four overall so it was obviously noticed.

We used a suit for the character. We thought this provided a strong and interesting contrast with the hut in which we gather is his dwelling. It also implies to the audience that the man has a job or some kind of reasonable income. This is what makes it so odd that he resides in a tiny run down hut. The suit also contrasts with the long hair, which in turn was useful to hide identity. Unfortunately on our first day of filming we had no way of getting any black shoes for our actor. He ended up using trainers, which really didn’t look as effective.

Our character was not stereotypical in anyway as we haven’t used the character to attract a certain audience. We actually purposely made him quite odd looking. Our thriller was simply aimed at people who like a good thriller, full of suspense and mysteries, which are solved over time. I feel I should also briefly mention the character on the wanted poster we focused around. She is a younger than our male character but they are in a relationship. We see our male character rip down and take back the missing poster. On his table we also see a picture of them both, finally revealing his face. On the wanted poster the girl looks happy and the colors are homely. Both of these are supposed to be glimpses into the past of both the characters where times were better. They suddenly seem more human.

What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

An institution that would distribute our film would most likely be an independent film distributor. We could do this by entering film festivals with our product in the U.K, so it could be picked up by a distributor willing to distribute the film to cinema or television.

Looking for independent film distributors, there was one that I couldn’t get away from. Entertainment film distributors are UK’s leading independent distributor. The company was founded in 1978 and has grown in size and wealth since. The most recognizable films released by the company are probably the Lord of The Rings trilogy, which gathered an amazing seventeen Academy Awards. The company has won over thirty Oscars and twenty BAFTA’s. For me it was interesting to learn that an indie distributor could become so successful. A lot of films are only released as artistic pieces or never really take off, Entertainment obviously shows that done commercially and choosing the right films can generate huge income. I would prefer an indie distributor for our product as I feel that filmmakers retain more rights to their films, controlling costs and receiving more revenue and profits than with a larger and more commercial distributor.

Because these distributors start looking at film festivals and such, it means that there interest is just as much through passion for making films work as to satisfy there own revenue. Getting our film distributed by an indie distributor as it would benefit our film and help gain the audience were looking for


Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our audience would be quite mature, fifteen over really. Thrillers contain quite adult themes and can be difficult for younger viewers to understand and may not be suitable. Looking at the BBFC we came to the conclusion that our film would fall under the 15 category, as our story line contains some violent scenes and some strong language. We would have like to keep the audience as large as possible by making the certification lower however not if this would directly affect the quality of the film.

What’s great about those from 15 to early twenties is that they are the ones with the most disposable income so would be most likely to pay to view it, however I can see no reason why it would appeal more to them than anyone over that age. I also don’t think there is a gender preference for our audience. Our feedback showed that many of the females liked it as well as the males. One of the main characters is female and the story we had in mind didn’t contain to much violence. I strongly feel it should be enjoyed by both sexes. Asking two people who both enjoyed our product they both enjoyed “along came a spider” and “Face/Off”. They both said it was the slow unravelling of the stories and surprises that they enjoyed and the suspense in ours showed promise.



How did you attract/address your audience?

Our audience would enjoy our film because our story appeals to both genders and is full of suspense and unexpected twists. There is also a love interest at heart so, although quite a dark film, there is light at the end of the tunnel in a good ending. The main factor in our storyline is that this girl has been kidnapped. This something that is an issue these days and because people are familiar with it that they are more likely to go and watch it. The soundtrack I also feel was effective in the end. Although not that original it definitely suited the film and will give viewers the true feeling of a true thriller. The main aspect put forward to attract the audience was the title. The flickering and quite title of “missing” is really quite creepy yet looks very professional, appealing and very well suited to a thriller. This could be used to full potential in an advert in poster form.

Another idea we had was to a well known actor for the main role in our thriller. This would bring interest from fans. We would have to make sure we chose the right actor as some are appreciated for different things. When looking at thriller actors such as Morgan freeman would stand out. Going with somebody such as Robert Pattison who is known more for sex appeal than true acting talent, I feel, would be a huge mistake.

Some of the main strengths included: a simple story, good use of credits, and good match on action. There are a few things we could have improved to further please the audience to encourage good feedback via word or mouth.
Weaknesses reported in peer feedback included: reflection of torch on poster, and not making enough out of the Shack sequence and needed more shots of the ‘missing wall’. Its this type of feedback that we really need to pay attention to, so we can improve our next product.

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this
Product?

I know that as a group we have all learnt a lot in the last year. My jobs have mainly fallen under filming, lighting and sound. The areas I learnt the most in were editing in final cut pro and using garage band to create a soundtrack. In final cut I learned how to crop scenes, change the brightness and colour tint of scenes and how to enter transitions and text. The programme made it all pretty easy to be honest, even if it wasn’t as simple as iplayer, which we used for our preliminary.

I had never really used garage band before and although it seemed a bit complicated, using the loops provided I quickly got the hang of it. I tried to make a soundtrack however it failed to capture the right mood so we decided to use some simple dark ambient sounds instead throughout. I thought this was quite effective. I also thought some of our Foley sounds were pretty good and they were actually quite good fun to go out and find. I learned most of what I needed to know about filming in the preliminary exercise so it was quite easy this time round. I’m very happy with our framing and angles; looking back I just wish we hadn’t got as many long shots and a few more close-ups.

One of the roles I didn’t do such a great job with was lighting. Because ours was outdoors I chose a jack and I chose a powerful torch instead of proper lighting. The problem was the torch didn’t light the room but instead only the spot I was pointing it. This made it really difficult to get lighting right and we had to try all sorts of angles. It all looks quite good until the final retreating shots where it is easy to see the dot of light by the actor jolting about, as there was no stand to keep the torch steady. We couldn’t make our mind up if it looks poor or like flickering candle light. But personally, as the light was my job at that time, I don’t like it at all. Unfortunately we couldn’t all find the time to go and re shoot.


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

While creating our media product I feel I have learnt a lot. I have improved gradually using the technology and programmes provided while also improving my skills of organisation and working with a group. I mainly found I had to involve myself more in areas of the project such as the blog. To start of with I was very laid back. I did what I was told and would take part in discussing the story line but not really do anything off of my own accord. This changed when I realised how little time we had left and I didn’t want to let down the people in my group. I’m happy I learnt to take more of an active interest this time round and actually had much more of an input.

Compared to the preliminary exercise, I also found that location scouting was a lot more difficult. I learnt that not everything goes your way no matter how hard you persevere. A good example of this is trying to get a platform at the station in Hayward’s heath. In the end we compromised and found balcome station was perfect, as there is no staff and very few people for us to get in the way of. It was also quite close by to the rest of our filming which was useful and I think the results were actually better than had we used Hayward’s heath.

I found I was also more time-efficient than previously although filming and our editing time was not as well thought out as it could have been. These areas lacked good planning but most areas were well thought out such as the storyboard and the research of the blog.

Technology wise I think I learnt the most. I wasn’t confident at all with any of the software in the preliminary and I was just getting used to the cameras but now im really pleased with the shots I gathered. On average our peer feedback for the camera categories all scored a two on average. I also had to pretty much teach myself how to use garage band and final cut (with a little help from ross). I didn’t really master final cut pro, but I can do the basics and really took off with garage band. Both I could barely use during preliminary.

Overall it was a great learning experience and I really enjoyed working with other people. I will take these skills with me to use in the future which will really help me next year too make my A level product even better. I hope to learn even more about using final cut pro next year and also get a keener eye for lighting. We didn’t use a huge amount of lighting in either of our products, which is why I would like to experiment with it in the future.

Jack Storer Final Evaluation

Evaluation


1. In what ways did your media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The conventions that our thriller focused on include a restricted narrative. As in our two minute opening sequence the audience have been given no answers. Only know that a lot of people have gone missing and this man is collecting the posters together and that the newest missing person is connected to him in some way, friend, sister or girlfriend. I think this really helps for our plot to fit the standard conventions of a thriller as this restricted narrative and unknowing of the character helps to build a strong enigma code.
Also the use of Mise en Scene in our piece helped to further push this enigma code and help build a solid product. For example we took a lot of time picking the costume for the lead character; he wears a black pin stripe suit and matching trilby
yet he chooses to wear white trainers. We chose to use this contrast to make our antagonist a recognisable character the suit gives him a formal appearance yet the shoes bring him back to the norm a little bit. If the 2 minute opening was to continue into a full movie I would like to think that the use of iconography would be used to further push these white trainers.
Also the body language used helps to show this character is determined he walks solidly for quite a distance to this shack. In the shot where he rips down the missing poster he does so with meaning, he knows that this is his partner and he knows he needs to get her back and I think the facial expressions back this up, he keeps cool but knows what he needs to do. Another aspect we took along time sorting out was composition I really like some of the framing that we achieved such as in the sequence where the character climbs the gate I think this works well with the almost POV shot from the woods as if someone is watching from behind the branches.
We also took a lot of time sorting out the location and props I think this really paid off as the wall of missing posters looks really iconic, and really moving when the scale of this is revealed I also think we manipulated space well as this abandoned shack does look as if it is in the middle of nowhere, even though it is right next a house, also I think we used the editing well to manipulate
the use of space as it does look as if this shack is in
walking distance from the station. Our use of colour
also helps give our piece ‘real media production’ feel
as we did edit the colour in every shot to create a less
'college film' feel. Also we took one of the media
torches with us for filming and I think we used this
too light the shack well this low key lighting gives a
sinister feel and helps hide some features,
unfortunately like our peer evaluation pointed out on
more than one occasion, the shot of the missing poster
being pinned up is a little weak, I agree with them as the
reflection off the laminated poster catches the lens. All these
small things that add up to just a small percent of Mise en
Scene really helped develop the forms and conventions of
a real media product.
Our media piece challenges the form of a standard three stage narrative structure as we do not use a chronological order. This is quite common in thrillers and can work well to create more of an enigma code as the audience try and predict what goes in the gaps. Famously so with the film, Memento. Overall I believe our final product worked well which I believe has been reflected by our peers in this peer evaluation (see evaluation below)

• Holding shot steady. 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 2 4
• Camera framing 2 3 4 3 3 1 2 1 1 2 3 3
• Variety of shots 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2
• Appropriate shooting 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 4 2
• Mise en Scene 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 3 3
• Editing 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 4 3
• Varied transitions and effects 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3
• Sound and Foley 1 2 2 3 2 3 2 1 2 1 1 2
• Titles and credits 2 2 1 4 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1
• Does it work as opening to a film 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1


Some of the main strengths included: a simple story, good use of credits, and good match on action.

Weaknesses included: reflection of torch on poster, and not making enough out of the
Shack sequence, needed more shots of the ‘missing wall’


From this I can tell that the effect of typing the titles on screen and matching them with the character walking was a success, yet things like Mise en Scene could have had more of an on screen impact. I feel we prepared a lot of Mise en Scene but it did not make the most of this with our final piece such as the wall of missing posters it took us a long time to sort out the fine details of this wall but this is not reflected nearly enough in our final product. I also feel that some sequences such as the train shots would have run a lot smoother if all the team had been able to make the filming.

I agree with a lot of the criticism but I strongly disagree with the 4 that we where given for appropriate shooting as I personally think the main strength of our piece is that we have filmed a strong opening for a strong plot line.


I think we struggled in the editing of this as we didn’t have a large enough variety of shots to play around with. I also think our editing time was severely cut down by the amount of time we spent making separate versions with the edited colour. We screened 2 versions of our rough cut too a select group of individuals and trued to use there opinions appropriately. (Quote from blog below)




“we produced two versions of our film to create one rough cut that showed the natural colour we get when we filmed and another rough cut where we tampered with the colour to create a darker image, we then got a group of 8 people to watch each version of our rough cuts.

7 of the people said that the edited colour gave a better atmosphere. as well as a couple of students mentioning that the edited colour helped our work step away from the normal 'this is a college film' style piece.

1 of the candidates said that the colour was too dark in places.....

we as a group have decided that this landslide of result suggest we should use the edited colour although we will have to go through and edit each shot separately to give a more fluid feel and carry along the narrative as well as continuity.

We will perfect this edit and then carry the same test out with another group of people

-Jack, Arran and Hollie”

We took this into account and our final cut was a semi edited version as oppose to the completely edited colour which the only one person disliked, I personally thought this was a mistake but the overall decision from the group was tone down the editing as the one person that preferred the unedited version was the teacher who would be marking our work.
I believe that if I could go back and change something about the process I would have spent a lot less time with these colour issues we could have spent more time improving our product. I believe that as both our peer evaluation and comments from our teacher on the blog suggest that we should have concentrated more on the editing of our piece. But I do agree that this colour change and all the other point I have made about iconography, Mise en Scene and the narrative structure helps our product look and feel like a ‘real media product’ and I believe that these common forms and conventions fit well within our plot line.




2. How do your media Product represent social groups?

Our media piece did not look at social groups in fact we based our story on the exact opposite, we looked at how a character would survive if his entire social group and everyone he knows slowly goes missing one by one. I think this is represented best through our use of camera work, iconography and body language. The camera angles such as the train sequence where we used editing on final cut pro to zoom into a selected area (the window) and dissolve into the next shot. This creates an eye line match which shows the empty fields using iconography to reflect the fact that this protagonist is alone and abandoned. We then further push this point with the shack. This derelict building in the middle of nowhere is suppose to work as a metaphor for the loneliness of the character yet shows the strength as this shack is still standing and I really hope that the audience would pick up on this. I think we managed to create a dark side to this character by using the low key lighting in the shack sequence and I believe that this shows the negative stereotype of the ‘loner’ as they seem to have a side that’s possibly a little weird. I think this is because no one knows them so you don’t know weather or not they are like everyone else. I also think the shot where Mark the lead character is stood in the shack using the window as a natural frame he is stood looking at the photo of his loved one who we now know is now missing. This shot really brings this character to life the audience now know that he has a purpose and that this determination has a reason. I really like this shot and think this helps Mark break the social stereotype of a loner as we are now getting to know him as a person. Another good example of our representation is the long cuts used while he is walking, yes some of the points made in our peer evaluation state that these shots are too long and possibly boring. I strongly believe that these shots really help to show the emptiness of Mark and portray him as someone who has a lot of time; I think this will help in the long run because as the film develops time will begin to pass quicker as Mark realises its now a lot more serious than he was expecting and he needs to take the law into his own hands to save the day.
Another way we tried to challenge these social stereotypes are by in the fact that this business man’s look is contrasted in both the shack and the white trainer.


3. What kind of media institution might your media product and why?

For distribution I would like a worldwide distribution company but not a major US name as I would like to try and keep this from the block buster mainstream. I think a company such as the French company ‘Europacorp’ would be perfect as I think they have a good reputation and have done well with such films as ‘Banlieue 13’ a French action film. And ‘Taken’ a film I think works really well as a comparison film with our thriller. I would like our thriller to have a theatrical release, followed quickly by the DVD release I think this would work well so people haven’t forgotten about it by the time the DVD is released this would also carry some of the positive buzz over to the DVD sales. I also like the use of ‘front loading’ where the distribution company spend a lot of money getting this film out where ever and how ever they can and this all hits the public at once as well as getting the film aired in as many cinemas across the country as possible. The only thing that would cause a problem is the fact that this company is based in France other than that this is the perfect corporation for my movie. And I believe they would cover everything from promo through theatrical and to the point of finding shops that would stock the DVD perfectly.




4. Who would the audience for your media product be?

As most thrillers I have researched and most blockbuster films this film would be aimed at 16-24 year olds-mainly male. But with the use of the love story and the fact that our character shows a sensitive side, this would appeal both to the machismo driven males, as our character has to take the law into his own hands as well as to the more caring side of women, I think that this film would capture the same audience as similar films such as 'Taken' a 2008 film by director Pierre Morel this is the story of "a former spy relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter" (imdb) I am hoping to catch the block buster market of 16-24 year olds but hoping when they see this film it makes them stop and think. I would like to think of our product as more of an artistic film using strong iconography to create a more in depth storyline rather than the high concept blockbusters which are more of a special effect spectacular rather than a good film.




5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We used a few key points in which we used to draw in our audience firstly the idea of a Lone man, this would draw in teenage males as he is a good role model as he is determined to do what ever it takes
Other reasons I believe our film attracts this audience is a lot through the use of the restricted narrative, in this 2 minute opening sequence we get a lot of hints at what the story line will run on but nothing is directly given up, this is backed up by the concealment of Mark’s identity to start with this should make the audience feel as if they are getting to know him as the film goes on and finally connect with him on an emotional level and feel what he is feeling.
There is also an early hint at the love interest when, if you notice, the girl in the newest of the missing posters is also the girl in the picture frame photographed with the lead character as shown below

* see blog for image*

I also believe this key issue of a love interest is a common theme and issue that is covered in many films especially thrillers. The whole idea of saving the world and getting the girl. also our use of Mise en Scene when we where filming in the shack we had to paste the walls with news papers and missing posters, the fact that you only get glimpse' at the scale of what has happened/what is happening I hope will really intrigue the audience. The reason I previously compared the audience to a similar audience to that of 'Taken' is that taken is an action crime drama, and I think our audience will enjoy predicting and anticipating what will occur throughout the film like in most films that revolve around the idea of crime. A key scene that shows this is the shot where Mark is stood in the shack and he picks up the picture frame that shows him and his partner smiling away.





6. What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The main aspect that I have really enjoyed and learnt a lot more through this project than the prelim is the idea of Foley sound, this is a really fascinating subject and I think we got hold of the basics pretty well, we avoided making this a 'music video' as much as we can, I am really pleased with our Foley work such as the sound of the main character climbing the gate, this sound is a sound clip we took where we shook the fence outside the college but I think it sounds extremely believable that it is someone climbing a gate. Before this project I knew very little about Foley sound I think the only time I had seen anything to do with this was on the extras of DVD, I really enjoyed being taught how to work Foley sounds to the point where had complete control over what we did. I can also add that I know have a strong understanding of the uses of diegetic nondiegetic sounds, I also understand the way that sounds can be manipulated to carry continuity and I think that our peer evaluation backs up this point well. Another part that I have learnt to improve is the use of white balance, in our preliminary we should have used this a lot more often as the final product seems a lot more professional.







7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to this full product?

I think I have expanded my knowledge all round since the preliminary, both in theory and practical I have learnt a lot more of the technical side of film production as a whole as well as a lot of useful knowledge into thrillers in particular. In the practical side of the course I think that my understanding of low key and high key lighting has grown massively and I am now comfortable setting up an interview style 3 piece light set up and comfortable making executive decisions when setting up the lighting for a scene, in our piece we decided that natural lighting would look best for the out door scenes and used a ‘torch’ to create low key lighting in the shack. Unfortunately as the battery dies on the torch the lighting caused a harsh reflection as the light started to fail. But the harsh shadows give a sinister feel and continue to hide some of Mark’s features. As I mentioned in the previous question my understanding and abilities in Foley sounds have improved majorly

*Clip of climbing gate see blog*

As a group I think that we needed to put a
bit more work into story boarding as you can see
our story board is a lot different to our final product.
I believe that if we had created a more detailed
storyboard, our final product would have been a lot
stronger. I am going to point the finger at this point
and say that Ross was in charge of our full story
board after I doodled this one up in class. But this
was just one of the many set-backs we encountered.


Others included British rail not responding when we contacted them about filming times and timings with getting the whole group together
I also created a greater understanding of the editing process as we chose to edit this product in Final Cut Pro rather than in iMovie which we had used for our preliminary exercise I really liked this program and although we had some teaching on the program I found out that taking one session to just play around and investigate around the program gave me a much greater understanding rather than being shown how to do it task by task. I am really pleased with the final outcome as well as feeling that I have gained a much better understanding for the whole production process and the lesson as a whole.

word count = 3,389

-jack storer

opening credits of seven

Seven

The opening credits of seven works really well as this straight away cause a strong enigma code with the torture equipment and this hidden character. The use of close ups and extreme close ups give an almost abstract feel as we cannot see enough to identify this character. Also the manipulation of time causes this to jump and look like a dream sequence where we see a photo being drawn on then a jump cut shows this image completely scribbled out. Also we only see parts of the characters movements and then the conclusions. This gives us the information we need yet keeps the scene short. as well as causing this evil feel.
We can tell this character has an aggressive side and is pretty messed up almost psychotic as we see shots of him slicing skin. Also the use of mixing up the credits work well while some are text over the live action and others have their own title screen. With both a handwriting and typewriter style scratchy small font, the way these are animated gives a sinister feel. This is the style of text that I would like to use in our production as this scratchy writing is almost like that on a ransom note so the kidnapper can not be identified by his writing.


-jack storer

Foundation Portfolio Media, Hollie Dunster

Foundation portfolio, The Evaluation.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our brief was to create a two minute opening sequence to a thriller film that displayed all aspects of creating a moving image piece.
Firstly, we researched into what a thriller consists of. Thriller films are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension.
Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitous individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends and so on. We noticed aspects of our research in all thriller movies that we studied, such as ‘One hour photo’, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘The Orphanage’ all of which we did a textual analysis of on our blog. Most of these films used psychotic individuals or fugitives. These films demonstrate how character and mise en scene can be used effectively to make a suspenseful thriller film.

From this research we came up with several ideas for a story line for our piece, it is as follows:
After suffering a near fatal accident six years ago, Mark Wren is starting to get his life back on track. There is just one problem, every body he knows has started to go missing and he has gone into hiding to protect himself from this unseen force.
It started just after he was released from hospital after the accident. First acquaintances and distant friends started to disappear, slowly moving in on his close circle of family and friends. There have been no leads as to why these people have gone missing but after the disappearance of Mark’s old girlfriend, he decides that it is up to him to solve why every one he knows and loves has gone!
We decided to use this story line as we thought it showed good aspects of a thriller movie. For example, it builds tension through the use of sound and lighting, like when the main title appears on screen, the music builds up and then peaks while the lighting becomes more dark and shadowy. It makes the viewer want to watch on and find out why every one is going missing and who is behind it. This creates enigma as is raises a lot of questions about the story and the characters involved.
I pitched this idea to a few other students who also studied media, but were in different groups to me. We used a sort of informal focus group to discuss our ideas, they thought that it was a very good idea for a story synopsis and also said that it would make them want to watch the rest of the movie.
The reason as to why all the people have gone missing could be because of the accident he was involved in six years ago, perhaps he could have found out something about a dangerous person who is now targeting him because of what happened on the night of the accident and what he saw. However, he cannot remember what has happened and so cannot understand why everyone he knows has gone missing. The story will be him trying to find out whom and why these people are missing and what he stumbled into on the night of the accident. This would create a lot of enigma and tension as the audience will only find out why the events are unfolding as the character does, making good use of a restricted narration.
This story line would work as it contains the three main parts of a thriller narrative. However, it does not contain the usual equilibrium at the beginning as it starts off during the disruption. We chose to do this as we felt it would grab the audience’s attention if we began the film with the disruption as it would loom abnormal and the viewer would want to continue watching to see why this situation has occurred. The next stage would involve our protagonist confronting the antagonist and finding his girlfriend and discovering what has happened to him. It will involve some flash backs to before the accident and during to help the viewer understand. Then there would be the resolution stage where our protagonist will triumph over evil and try to get his life back on track. Finally, there would be the equilibrium were everything returns to how it should be.

From this plot we came up with these main ideas for our opening piece:
• Man doing general routine in the morning.
• Getting up and getting ready.
• Going to the train station.
• Getting on a train.
• Looking through window.
• Walking out of station.
• Stop to look at missing poster.
• He pulls out picture of him and girl together.
• Goes home and puts poster on his wall.
• He steps back/ zooms out to reveal a whole wall of posters of people he knows.



We thought this would create a feeling of suspense and enigma as this man is getting ready in a really run down shack which will make the viewer feel as though some thing must be wrong as he looks like a business man but he is in such a run down area. We played with these aspects of mise en scene as it will create enigma in the viewer as the man seems quite upper class, however, he is living in a shack. It created tension as the viewer is unsure why he is in this situation and want to continue watching as they want to know how he came to be in these circumstances. We also used low key lighting to create an eerie atmosphere for the beginning of the film.
Another thing which will create enigma is the fact that this man has a whole wall of missing posters, mystery is created by the fact that he appears to know all these people as he has pictures of him with the people. We thought this would work well as it would make the viewer want to watch on to see why these people are missing and what he has to do with it.
The story used restricted narration for the opening sequence as it helped to create tension and mystery. The viewers are only able to see what the character sees and so are unaware of why these things have happened to him. The restricted narration also helps the viewer to relate to the main character and empathize with him as it is clear that he is upset by these events. This is shown as once he puts the poster of the missing girl on the wall, he picks up a photo of him and her together. He holds it close to him. This lets the viewer know that he must share a great bond with the girl and is visibly saddened by her disappearance.
The film would later use unrestricted narration to let the viewers know what has happened to the girl and it would also use cross cutting in the editing process to create suspense as the character tries to find his loved ones and also finds out what happened to him on the night of the accident.
The editing also helps to build enigma as we edited in a way that concealed the identity of the main character in the beginning also, the camera work often used long shot, like when he is walking across the field and shots from behind as he is walking away, like when he is walking our from the train station. This helps to build tension as the audience are not sure who the character is and why he is trying to hide his identity. The mise en scene of the opening also conforms to the conventions of a thriller in the fact that the protagonist is a man trying to save a woman; this is a very stereotypical convention of a thriller film and is used throughout our film.
We held a peer evaluation after we had produced our thriller opening and our results where quite similar to our own criticisms. For example, we were unhappy with the shot of the train slowing and stopping as it was very jolty when the train actually stopped. Quite a few people commented on this and we noted that we would defiantly need to improve on our camera work in the future. One other criticism was that there was only one character in the opening sequence. Only one person out of a class commented on this and we feel it was an anomaly as no one else thought this was a problem. The reason for there only being one character was because he was in hiding and everyone he knew had gone missing.
Overall the main positives people found about our piece were the titles that followed the character as he was walking and also the main title which was flickery and scratchy. The peers thought this created tension really well as the titles created an eerie feel to the piece and also made them feel as though bad things where going to occur. Another positive that the peers found was that the audience really felt as thought it was a thriller and could lead to a full feature length film. They commented that overall the sound and mise en scene created the most enigma and made them want to continue watching. This is something that we thought to as the camera work was not as strong as the sound, editing and mise en scene.


How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We decided to use only one character for the opening. He is the protagonist of the story so we felt it was important to introduce him early on in the story. This will help introduce his situation and the fact that something is wrong with his circumstances and something very abnormal is happening in his life that he will have to resolve.
Our character is called Mark Wren his main characteristics are as follows:
• Lone man
• Concealed identity to start with
• Strong
• Business man wearing a suit
• Living in derelict shack



At first it is unclear as to who he is and whether he is the protagonist or antagonist, however, as it becomes clear that he knows the girl on the missing poster it becomes clear that he is the protagonist as he is visibly upset by her disappearance. This shows his compassion and sensitivity towards others and represents that he is a victim of circumstances and did not do anything wrong.
He is a young, white male who is in his twenties; he wears a suit which will make him appears slightly upper class and look like a business man which will make the viewer wonder why he is living in a shack. His dress and the way he moves, particularly when he jumps over the gate, make him appear quite strong and fit which will indicate to the viewer that he should not be in this situation and may later be able to triumph over his tormentors.
He is represented as a fairly normal average man, which will make the thriller more realistic and help an audience from any social group to relate to him. It creates suspense as it shows that bad things can happen to anyone from any walk of life if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The idea of masculinity is also addressed in the opening to our thriller as the main character is a male and it is very stereotypical as the male is the protagonist and the girl is the victim. To begin with he appears to be a very stereotypical male in the fact that he appears strong as he rips the poster off the wall and he also reveals little emotion. This reinforces the gender roles as men are synonymous with strength, power and are do not show emotions. The character appears to be in control as the way he is dressed makes him appear to be in a state of power and he walks talk and with purpose, however, when he returns to the shack it becomes apparent to the viewer that he is not very powerful as he lives in a slum and also as he picks up the picture of him and the girl, it is obvious that he is upset by her disappearance and appears helpless and sensitive, these traits are not often associated to men but all me do have emotions and this helps the viewer, whether male or female, to be able to relate to him and to empathize with his situation.
This would appeal to the audience as both males and females can understand what he is going through. It both reinforces gender roles which will appeal to some men but also contradicts some gender roles witch will make him more attractive to females. He feeling of upset at the disappearance of his girlfriend will make the viewer want to continue watching as it is obvious that he will do something about it and try to save her.


What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
For the distribution of our product we would create a licensing deal with a distributor such as Hammer Film Productions. Although, they usually deal with horror films, they may be interested in backing a thriller film. However, a more mainstream company such as Warner Bros. who release many mainstream films such as ‘Batman; The Dark Knight’ may also be interested in backing our film as it will appeal to a wide range of people and have the potential to make lots of profit.
We would make a deal to license the film by letting the distribution company have the rights to exhibit our film and give us a percentage of the cinema and DVD profits. We would like the distributors to release the film on a Friday and possibly on a bank holiday weekend as more people are likely to go to the cinema than on a working day. We would like the distributor to release the film at such a time when there are not other similar thriller films being released to cinema as it would be too much competition and during a school holiday would be a good time to release it as most of our target audience, 15-30 yr olds, will be either in school, college or university and the holidays, such as summer, will give them more free time for cinema going.
If we had a distributor such as Warner Bros. then we would have plenty of budget to release the film nationwide and have roughly about 200 prints of the film to be distributed over the country as it would be a very mainstream film. We would like to release our film in the cinemas that’s have digital facilities as a DVD will be cheaper to produce and to store than the traditional film reels which would mean that we do not have to have as many people paying a lot to see the film to pay off debts and would most likely produce more profit.
During the prints and advertising of our film we would probably host a poster campaign on buses and billboards as they would be on display for all the public to see and the buses move around and so lots of people will be able to see them. If we had a budget that would allow it we would also have lots of trailers to be played on the television at during the breaks of shows that would appeal to our target audience, they would also be on past 9 o’clock as the film would have too much violence for a young audience. We predict that the film would likely be a certificate 15 and so the trailers would not be played during prime time viewing as it is not a family movie or a film for younger people. We could also advertise at cinema viewings of similar films, such as thrillers or horrors, or films that are a 15+ certificate, this would make people talk about it after seeing the trailer and create a Buzz through word of mouth. We could also use the internet to host fan sites and use pop-ups on popular websites such as Facebook or Bebo to get as many people as possible interested in the film.
The trailer of the movie would be very fast paced with lots of cuts as we want it to look like an action thriller with lots of interesting twists. It would focus mainly on the missing people, particularly the missing girl as she is and important character and also Mark Wren who is the main character and will be fighting to get her back. To create enigma the antagonist will not be shown or if he is the shots will mask his identity through the use of lighting and shadows and also through fast paced editing.
The DVD cover of the film is extremely important and we would hop that the distributor would try to make it as eye catching as possible. We would want a picture of Mark Wren in the middle of the image as he is very important to the story and would also be a very well known actor, which will attract fans of the actor to the film. There would also be a picture of the female lead as she too would be quite well known. The lighting of the picture will create shadows through low key lighting, possibly from the side, so that parts of the main character’s face is hidden. This will create enigma and suspense to any potential viewers. Also we would put any awards that the film has won at film festivals on the front cover in quite large, bold lettering to attract people to watch the movie as it has obviously pleased others and so must be a good thriller to watch.

Who would your audience be for your media product?
Our film was designed for people who like mystery thrillers, as most of the film the audience will be trying to work out why such events are happening. It is not specifically designed for a certain gender; both males and females are targeted here. The film would contain some action and violence which will mostly appeal to a male audience but, it will not contain gruesome and mindless horror violence like films such as ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ which can put some people, females in particular, off as it is simply to gory.



Our main target audience will be young people; aged 15-30 as the older generation are often not keen on action thrillers where there is some level of violence. It will also be mainly for intellectuals who don’t just want to watch the film but want to try to figure out what twists and turns are going to happen next and why the character is in this position. The opening sequence will grab our target audience’s attention by beginning the story in unusual circumstances and getting straight into the storyline. This is shown well as our first shot depicts a missing poster of a woman that is ripped down by the main character. This makes the audience wonder what is going to happen and will want to continue watching to find out. The style of this narrative is very similar to other thriller movies such as ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ and ‘One Hour Photo’ as it gets straight into the thick of the action and don’t bore our target audience with long lead ins.
Although our film reinforces traditional stereotypes as it has a male protagonist and a female victim, we believe that it will appeal to both male and female viewers as males will be attracted to the idea of the male saving the girl and being in power but the female viewers shouldn’t be offended by having a female victim as the male protagonist is not a stereotypical male and often show his emotions and helplessness as he struggles to find out what is happening.

How did you attract/ address your audience?
As stated before we intend to grab the audience’s attention through a variation in the standard narrative structure, instead of starting with the equilibrium, our film starts during the beginning of the disruption so it gets right into the action with no long states of normality which we thought would appeal to our young target audience.
We have also decided to use a restricted narration which will create enigma as the viewer will only know as much as the character. We thought this would work well, especially when the huge wall is revealed covered in missing posters and photos of people. This will appeal to our target audience as they are not sure whether these people are that the character knows or whether he has had some part in their disappearance. This happens just before the main title sequence and so it makes the audience want to continue watching as many questions are being raised in the first two minutes of the film.
The camera work uses a variety of shots, but, in the first sequence it mainly uses long shots. We did this to establish the setting and that the character lives in a very isolated are and is very alone. Also it creates mystery as the audience cannot see who he is as his identity is concealed. This is done as he grabs the poster and the audience can see his back and his face is hidden by hair.
The sound in the piece will grab our target audience’s attention as it is very dark and creates an eerie mood over a setting which would otherwise not be frightening. The music builds up towards the end and peaks as the title of the film ‘Missing’ appears on screen. This will appeal to the audience as it will build tension from the start and as it becomes more intense it will put the audience on the edge of their seat as they want to find out more. The sound of our piece is parallel to the film as it reinforces the eerie and foreboding atmosphere of the film; it is also non diagetic as it uses both a soundtrack throughout and Foleys. The non diagetic music acts as a sound bridge between the locations suggesting that the locations are parallel and that the character is making a very long journey back to the shack.
Mise en scene plays a key role in addressing our audience as both the costume of the character and his body language make him appear as though he is just a normal guy and a very unlikely hero. He is dressed in a suit but lives in a sort of slum which is very unlikely and creates a good contrast that builds enigma. The use of low key lighting is used often to build tension and create eerie shadows in the background. We used low key lighting in our film but during the editing process we could not decided whether we liked the original shot or whether we should darken it slightly. To resolve this we got a sample of pupils from our group and a few of the media teachers to view the two versions of our film and evaluate which one was best. The majority of pupils and teachers preferred the original piece and so we decided not to darken it. Also the positioning of the character in the frame helps to conceal his identity in the beginning. For example, on the train and on the platform his face is hidden by a mass of hair and his trilby hat. It is only when he returns to his shack that his identity is revealed as the audience needs to know what he looks like in order to be able to recognize the photo of him and the girl that is missing. The concealed identity builds enigma and tension as the viewer tries to work out who he is, then the photo of him and the girl make the viewer empathize with the character as he has lost a loved one.
We used a total of three settings for our film, these were; inside the train, the shack and external settings. These settings depict the character’s journey back home to the shack, the external shots and the interior of the train all appear very normal and it is not until the character returns to the shack that the audience notices that something is wrong as he does not look as if he should be there. We used very little props in our film as we wanted to emphasize the ones we did have, the main props were the missing poster and the photo of the main character and his girlfriend. The lack of props elsewhere makes the viewer drawn to these ones and they can tell that they are important to the storyline and to the character’s life.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In our film piece we used a variety of equipment to achieve our desired effect. A list of these items follows:
• Camera
• Tripod
• Torch
• Diffuser
• Dolly
• Tape



There was lots of health and safety procedures that went with using this equipment, such as, checking the electrical wires with the lighting and also saying ‘lights on’ before turning on the lighting, in order not to damage people’s eyes, as well as having to put up signs to warn other people that filming was happening in the area.
The key issues with lighting are that they are very hot and can burn very easily. We got around this by using sandbags on the light stands so that they would not tip over and also using gloves to protect ourselves.
Most of the other equipment’s health and safety precautions where all common sense and these where adhered to by all the members of the crew and the actors as well. This made the running of our filming go very smoothly with no safety issues occurring at all.
During our editing process we booked out our computer in advance to ensure that we would have access to the editing suite and have enough time to edit our piece the way we wanted and remembered to save work every five minutes. We decided to put our entire sequence into Final Cut Pro instead of Imovie because we found our footage easier to manipulate. We also used final cut pro to darken our images to give a more eerie feel to the footage and to help build enigma. The sound we used for Foley were gathered ourselves by recording the sounds of train doors and the noise of gates, we also put some more ambient sounds such as wind and woodland using Garage Band.
For the music we were going to once again use a band called ‘OllypollyPuddingandPie’ who we used for our preliminary piece. They agreed that we could use their music and said they could change it to suit our piece. Jack was going to have a meeting with them but unfortunately failed to bring the music track into the editing suit on the date specified and so Ross, Arran and I spent the last editing day creating a new soundtrack in Garage Band. This was very aggravating and affected the final piece as our newer sound track was quite rushed and because we had to use garage band it lacked the uniqueness that it would have had with original music. It did sound good and fits with the footage well. We just had to hope that it didn't sound as though it had been rushed to the peers who were evaluating it. Their comments did not seem to notice the rushed soundtrack and overall they though that the sound was used to good effect.
In editing process there were a few things that could have been improved such as the train door scene which was a bit jolty as we had to make the train stop in position by ourselves as we could not control the speed of the train on the day of filming, however, we used our editing and filming time efficiently.
During editing we had to try to create continuity in the footage so that the viewer did not notice our cuts between shots, we also had to keep to the 180 degree rule which we did very efficiently by always keeping the camera to the left side of the set. We used fades effectively to show the passing of time. For example, during the train sequence at the very beginning a green train is shown approaching the station but there is also a shot of a purple train leaving the station. I wanted to use both these shots as they where very effective and by putting a fade in between them we could show the viewer that they were two different trains and suggest to them that a long time is passing for the character on the train.



Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have learned from this task that I need to be very organised and good at planning because the blog demanded that we state every piece of research and content analysis that we did during our course work. These are skills that I am already quite good at and I think that this task has helped me develop these skills further. For example: trying to organise film shooting at the train station was very difficult as the people who manned the station where extremely unwilling to help with our enquiry, eventually we managed to film at Balcombe station which was a very quite station and where we would not disturb any commuters who where using the platform. This took a lot of organisational skills and effort as the people at Haywards Heath station where so unhelpful. I think this really motivated me and taught me that if you do not try your hardest to get what you want then you will rarely achieve it.



Another key skill I learnt from the preliminary exercise is that I do not have to be in control all the time. I am quite good at working in a group but I tend to try to take over as I like to over-organise things. This task has taught me that I do not have to always be in control and I will take this with me, however, I did find that during the making of our thriller I had to take control and manage the situation sometimes as otherwise things would not have gotten done in time. I often had to motivate my other group members and make a schedule of when we where going to do things as I often found it difficult to arrange a time when we were all available and I found that my group could often not organise or motivate themselves very well so I had to step in.
I would also like to be more time-efficient in the future and plan more as the days of filming and our editing time was not as well thought out as it could have been. Other areas also lacked adequate planning but most areas were well thought out such as the story board and the research of the blog.
Another thing that could have been improved was our storyboarding as it was not detailed enough and although we all tried to help jack to make a more detailed storyboard we ran out of time and so in turn the animatic did not get done. This happened both in the preliminary and again in the thriller piece and in the future I will defiantly keep an eye on this area of planning as I feel it lets us down.
Lastly, from the preliminary I learnt many good skills for the use of the camera and editing software, I had never used Garage Band or Final Cut Pro before and so I had to teach myself or get help from one of the staff. I am not much more confident in using the cameras and the editing software and I think this showed in our peer evaluation in which our group got the two highest scores (1s and 2s) for editing, sound and Foley and whether it worked as an opening to a thriller. I will take these skills with me to use in the future and try to improve on my camera work so it is smoother next time I carry out a task like this.

Overall Peer scores

holding shot steady. 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 2 4

camera framing 2 3 4 3 3 1 2 1 1 2 3 3

variety of shots 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2

apropriate shooting thriller? 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 4 2

MeS 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 3 3

Editing 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 4 3

varied transitions and effects 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3

sound and folley 1 2 2 3 2 3 2 1 2 1 1 2

titles and creds 2 2 1 4 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1

does it work as opening to a film 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1

-Jack Storer and Hollie Dunster

Music

Unfortunately, the idea we had for the soundtrack feel through as Jack could not get it for us in time for the deadline.
we were not aware of this until the day of the deadline, so Ross, Arran and I spent all the rest of our free time compiling a new soundtrack, it does sound good and fits with the footage well.
we just hope that it doesn't sound as though it has been rushed to the peers who will be evaluating it.
Hollie
x

Second Analysis By Ross Ewing

I’m looking at the film “The usual suspects” were, lighting and camera work and sound are used as a combination to put the audience in a mystified state
We start of with the first shot, a fade in from black and then strait to action with the dramatic light of the close up matches, to reflect the opening sequence that it’s going to get, right into dramatic action, which it does. Were then introduced to the first figure of the film how is alone and surrounded by darkness and fire, his expressions show that his rather resentful and down.
Were then presented with un-restricted narration, we see a barrel leaking liquid after seeing a lighted match and cigarette were lead down a path were we expect some form of fire of explosion, then we begin a sequence of shots were again we are lead to the next dramatic shot, so all the time we are being lead form scene to scene but in this case by the fire, and then a tilt to follow the falling water were we find the next character. Then a cut to the first character were his movement depicts a tension between the characters, we then follow the second character down the stairs with another tilt down were we see his feet central with really sharp tinny sound of the foot steps to build up the tension of when the two characters will meet ?. The second character is still set out of shot, so that the misery still lingers over his identity. Once again at this point we are shown un-restricted narration were we are shown the weapon and the character and we expect what coming. Then the gun is raised with a point of view were the gun is aimed at the camera, and then we get long establishing shots of the location, to show the echo and the emptiness of the area. We then are again shown the barrel of flammable liquid, so we can tell what’s coming.
So as an audience we are constantly in control and understand and can predict what is going to happen.
Sound is very clean and crisp you can hear the match sparks the water dripping the footsteps, it’s all very menacing. The sound is also covered by the music that is violence the pace changes as the mood that is felt by the audience. As the second character walks down and we here the mystifying tone of the soundtrack as the identity of the character is masked by the dark the silhouettes him. We also hear the dialogue between the two characters the tone is the low and the conversation is short this would reflect on the personality and how we feel towards them from the camera work and sound that is presented with the mystifying second character we as the audience are supposed to feel badly towards him, he remains in the dark and the music suggests the dramatic feeling towards him. Where as the first character we are presented with we feel differently towards, the sound doesn’t start with him so we are left with the parallel sound which is actually there or what the audience is supposed to think that’s there. This makes us feel neutral towards him we are left with no sound to guide us towards our feelings of him. Although the reckless action he undergoes makes us feel rather sourly to him.
So to conclude throughout this film we are lead to each scene by the camera work to gain certain feelings towards each character, the lighting and sound just help towards our own conclusion of our feeling to the film and people in it.
by Ross Ewing

Music BRAINSTORM!!!

today jack and I are mind mapping ideas for the soundtrack!
the ideas are attached in our pictures!!!!!
Jack is taking our piece to a meeting with sound editor Rory Muldoon where they will try out a few ideas and pieces and manipulate these to fit them to our footage.
Hollie and Jack
xx

Soundtrack

for the soundtrack to our piece we are hoping to once again use a friends band who will let us use a sample of their music... as before we used jack's friends band Ollypollypuddingandpie we are hoping that they may be able to help us as they mentioned when doing the music for our preliminary exercise that they would be happy to help out in the final piece.
Hollie x

update 24th of march

in today's lesson we searched for the font we wish to use for our opening credits and then made a small .gif we can upload to give a stop motion feel to our credits,

-jack storer

foley sounds

this lesson we have started putting the foley sounds we recorded onto our film. we also are using some sounds from the college software 'garage band' although we are trying to use this as little as possible to make our thriller opening our own.

-jack storer and arran

Feedback from Andrew

I have made these points elsewhere, however, this will allow you to all see them.

You have a good product. The only improvements would be to have a greater variety of shots in the long walks. They are very long and could benefit from more varierty of perspective - 3 shots rather than one. YThis also applies to where he takwews down the poster and when he is walking to the property.

Train - see if you can get the train to stop centre frame - speak to Andy.

In some ways you are a bit guilty of having raced ahead and "finished" when there were/are still improvements that you could make.

Have you recorded your sound and edited this now?

I am just a little concerned that you are spending alot of time "on line" when you could still be improoving your product.

rough cut

today Arron and Ross put our raw footage together to create a very basic version of our final video and then compressed it to a small .mov file and published it to you tube and then embedded it to our blog, SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE BEGINNING OF OUR FILM THEN HEAD ON TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE AND CLICK PLAY !!
from Ross and Arron :D

touching up the colour?

we produced two versions of our film to create one rough cut that showed the natural colour we get when we filmed and another rough cut where we tampered with the colour to creat a darker image, we then got a group of 8 people to watch each version of our rough cuts.

7 of the people said that the edited colour gave a better atmosphere. aswell as a couple of students mentiuoning that the edited colour helped ourwork step away from the normal 'this is a college film' style peice.

1 of the candidates said that the colour was too dark in places.....

we as a group have decided that this landslide of result suggest we should use the edited colour although we will have to go through and edit each shot separately to give a more fluid feel and carry along the narrative as well as continuity.

we will perfect this edit and then carry the same test out with another group of people

-Jack Arran and Hollie

Foley sound recording

today during our lunch and media period our group went on a Foley hunt for the important sounds that were required for our thriller sequence, we managed to get many station sounds and of the trains were as the others were harder to obtain we got the gate sound, but we had to repeat and repeat so that we had a sufficient amount to choose from if one didn't sound quite right. we also got (footsteps, rustling and doors closing) at this point we are converting them and then will sift through the audio to get the required sounds that we wanted. our whole group attended this and we all tried our hand at recording and we all enjoyed our searching time :D
Ross

Foley/ sound effects

Today over the lunch hour and during our media lesson time... our group are going off site to get Foley sounds for our opening sequence
yay us!
Hollie x
Ross
Arran
Jack

Titles

we have decided to call our film MISSING as it is simple and gets to the point of the film.
we have decided that our main title, the name of the film, will be separate on a black screen as will the names of the two main actors... they will flicker up in a distorted font to create the feeling of enigma.
The rest of the titles, such as the name of the producers ect will be incorporated into the film and will in a more normal font so that it is easy to read on the textured backgrounds.
HollieX

PS Ross is planning to make us an animation for the title sequence, where it will look as though some one has scribbled out the screen to black.... we think this will work quite well if we can pull it off as it will give an eerie atmosphere and create enigma in the minds of the viewers!!!

Foley and editing

This week, 9th - 13th of March our class time has been given over to us to edit our footage, I have currently booked our computer for all of our lessons this week, however,we are planning on using one of our editing lessons to collect Foley sound effect for our editing process. for example, we need to collect the sounds of a train passing by, a train door opening, footsteps on tarmac ground and some one climbing over a metal gate. we can produce all of these sound effects relativity easily in the surrounding areas of the college and we think it will be a very effective way of making the sound of the sequence more realistic.
Hollie X
Arran
Ross
Jack