Stephen- Evaluation Question 7

Developing on from the Preliminary task to the Main task

On reflection upon the Preliminary task, there are many things that stick out as being 'wrong' in a way; or simply not worth being included- and there's a lot of things that I would put into it given the chance. Subsequently, I know that I have, personally, learned a lot from the beginning of the Preliminary to the end of our Main task. I know I have developed my skills further from what they were at the beginning of the college year; and I also know that I will continue to improve with each piece of work I do.

Camera-work

The Camera work was the thing that, I believe, we improved on the most. Thankfully we never forgot to set the white-balance on the cameras, so all our shots were good in that aspect. However, in our preliminary task we had a few shots out of focus, like this one (The first shot of our Preliminary task):

Out of focus!

The shot shows Ben's character (Something I'll pick up on later) as being out of focus for no good reason. It distorts the shot unnecessarily resulting in something that looks rather ugly. In our main task we only had one shot that was out of focus; and it was done intentionally as to distort the shot and put is in Geoff's perspective; unclear and uneasy. Additionally, the shot in question was a graphic-match; something that we didn't use in our Preliminary (And something that we definitely would use again, being more confident in our camera-work.)

Out of focus to show Geoff's emotional instability

Sound

Our sound for the preliminary was good; we learnt where to add Foley effects and where to increase the sound to crescendo. From what we learnt in the Preliminary we moved to the Main task; resulting in a seamless music piece which flowed throughout the film (With one change in beat in the brief fight scene.) From reviews of the film, I have gathered that while some aspects of the sound were good, others were bad. The fast-paced drum beat was in stark contrast with the rest of the music and it didn't go too well with some people; though others liked it as well. From this, I know now to keep the music in our next piece relevant and not in too much contrast (Unless we find a way to make it seamlessly flow.)

Music gives the audience a shock surprise! (even though it's annoying)

Setting

The setting of the project changes drastically. The preliminary was set in college, we weren't fully confident in our abilities to film outside of it, where we would have had an extra scene in a McDonalds. All our shots ended up being taken inside of College, not creating a good ambience for the film.

 However, for our main task we went all out. We filmed in a Graveyard and in a nearby nature reserve; both with permission from the owners. These new settings proved much harder to film it; getting the light level the same in the changing day was the most difficult. However, the end result was perfect; with the cold breath showing clearly creating a much more ominous scene. Below is a video of all our locations for the main task:

Plot

Our preliminary task had no set plot. It was just us testing our camera work and knowledge of all aspects of filming. None of our characters even had proper names, Changing from that to an entire plot of a film was very difficult (Thankfully, two of us had experience writing story lines so it was easier than it was first made out to be.)

We chose ordinary names that you'll hear day-to-day, to make the film more realistic and in doing so making the film more thrilling, giving the audience the feeling that it could happen to anyone-even them. Our plot as fully built around the stages defined by Gustav Freytag. Our opening shows the exposition and the inciting incident; leaving the viewer to watch more in order to feel at-ease with the cliffhanger we left before we cut to the title. On the contrary, the preliminary assessment didn't follow Freytag's rules, instead going from exposition to the climax with no full understanding of how it happened.

Editing

Our preliminary film had little amounts of editing done. It featured sound editing and basic cuts. The sound had very little editing done to itself; just around other parts, and it feature a single edited crescendo. To look back on the editing of our preliminary click here

Our thriller opening was much more diverse and complicated. To begin with, we named all of our footage to make each shot easier to work with. We also labelled them with colours to show the locations of the shots. When this was done it was far simpler to edit together the film, without wasting time looking through each shot for which was good and not so good.

From techniques learnt from the preliminary film, we over-layed several sounds to create a good music effect. With different Foley sounds being added at different points it is easy to see how precise we needed to be. To ensure the sound was going in the right place, we also labelled the Foley and Recorded sounds with the same colour as the shot.

Additionally, we had ambient sound to make sure it wasn't only music and voices; something we did not feature in the Preliminary, and it's something that worked out rather well- making the scenes much more eerie. To see our thriller editing blog post click here

Prelim audio and video

Main task audio and video

Conclusion

 Looking at the work seen in our Preliminary task it is obvious how far we have come. We have developed several skills; sound editing was the most obvious. We have each grown more confident in the use of cameras. Our lighting was spot on in the preliminary and it continued over to the main task; proving that we learnt what to do with lighting from experience. I have also developed skills that will prove useful: I have developed my skills with a camera from being out of focus most of the time to using focus pulls efficiently.

Stephen- Evaluation Question 6

What I learned about technologies from the development of our Thriller opening

Camera work

For me, I found that throughout our film project using the camera effectively was the hardest job. However, we will start with what we did well:

• White balance- Never once did we forget the importance of the White balance, resulting in a perfectly colour film straight onto the camera.
• Focus and Depth of field- From playing around with Depth of Field I believe we have learn a lot; how when something is out of focus it distorts our vision upon them; and how focus can be perceived to be a mental state. With thrillers, if something is blurred out but another is clear you will obviously pay more attention to the clear item- and if you want a shock factor, a quick focus pull will achieve your shock factor.

  
  

  The depth of field shows the Assailant being clear, and Geoff being blurred

• Framing- From the work we've done we have used framing effectively; giving each shot the perfect balance of subject and empty space. We have learnt that each shot requires careful planning on how the framing is used- and if it's broken then the scene won't look as good. However; the use of framing can be effective and metaphorical; in the below shot, we decided that the more space shown will show how empty Geoff feels at that point in time; a hollow being.
  
• Tripods- Nearly all of our shots made use of the very essential tool that is the tripod. Behind the scenes, you can clearly see us making use of one bar one scene. In the one scene that we didn't use one, it was for a tracking shot. Due to the hard and rough ground it would have been difficult using a dolly or other form of stable movement to get a good effect. Behind the scenes video here: 

Overall, our camerwork will forever be improved by the lessons learnt through this project; we will always fill the frame with what we need, we will always set the white balance and we will most certainly attempt anything to keep the camera steady when on the move.

Editing

The editing of our film went spectacularly; we had very little problems if any at all. We learnt a lot from the use of Final Cut Pro, as well, including how to edit effects to fit perfectly into our plan for the title.

• Continuity editing- Throughout our filming process we made sure that not a single thing broke continuity. We knew that it was important to never break continuity, else the film wouldn't make sense and would be a failure, so thankfully we didn't break it! 

1. 180 degree rule: When filming we looked carefully for the best spot to film the sequence in; and then we drew an imaginary line so we knew where not to cross. Where in the preliminary assignment we nearly broke the rule, we made careful plans so not to break it.
2. Match on Action: We had two main match on actions in our sequence; the first being the placing of the rose and the second being the hand of Susan's attacking the Assailant; both proved to be effective at getting their point across. We learnt, here, how important it is to convey actions through this continuity editing. 
   
   
   
   

• Duration of shots- A few shots we took were rather long, however we knew they had to be short and punchy, to make the film fast paced and tense. We edited down several shots to shave time off, which was needed in the end.
• Pace- In one of our shots, our lead female protagonist (Susan) was running away from the assailant. However, this shot was far too long- so, in order to speed it up, we edited the pace. The edited version is unnoticeable changed, and is much more seamless throughout the sequence.

  

  Did you notice the altered pace?

  
  
• Titling- We learnt that the titles were of great importance to the film. So, to make the film look better we each devoted our time to making the title look as good as possible; the result proved that it was time well spent. We learnt how to alter the given effects to make the title go backwards, and how to make a good fog effect to add a more threatening vibe. 
• Sound- Throughout this task we were recording sound separately; whether that was diegetic voices, ambient sound or Foley sound- each sound was asynchronous to the film. We did this because we knew that any sound recorded on the camera may be fuzzy and unclear; and we will continue doing this in the future. This proved to be a very effective way to record sound; and with multiple takes you don't have to restart your filming. 

Blogging

From this assignment I have learnt that blogging is a vital part of getting audience feedback and a way to convey your own thoughts. I have learnt that walls of text aren't always good, however they are sometimes necessary to get your point across. 

Overall, we have learnt a lot from the project, however with the few mistakes we did make we will adjust accordingly for the future. We will use all the good techniques that have been used again in the future. We will adapt with new techniques and the technologies used will improve as we do so.  

Stephen- Evaluation Question 5

How do we attract our target demographic

From the previous blog post, we established that our demographic would be both males and females, of ages 15 to 24.

To make sure we reach the target audience we had to take a few ideas from other thriller films. To start with, we needed a family man, someone that people could emotionally feel for. Someone such as Bryan Mills (Taken). Geoff, our main character, is the Bryan of our film. He is emotionally distraught. With this, it appeals more to a female audience, as seen in the graphs showing Taken's popularity.

Secondly, we needed a romance sub-plot, to also appeal for the female audience. Susan and Geoff are clearly seen as being in a relationship, The rose also makes it clear that there was a relationship between these two characters. The rose is a flower typically used to declare love and desire; the colours also reflect these traits: white being unity and red being passion. In a way, the white of the rose unites the two in the pain that they are feeling; one emotionally and one physically.

The inclusion of a strong female character will also prove to be attractive to the female viewing audience, who will look up to this character for the strength she displays. Due to the fact that our character is not 'eye candy' girls will be more likely to watch the film.

For male audiences, we saw that they liked danger and thrills. The short fight sequence would appeal to them, as it also foreshadows the future violence in the film; as seen in most thriller films. For example; the fight sequence in Brighton rock featured violence and that applies to a male audience, and so we copied their idea.  

Additionally, the inclusion of a male detective gives the male audience something to look up to; they will look at this character and wish to grow as a character, like the character does. This will be more towards the younger, 15 year olds, who watch it. Moreover, towards the upper bound of the age limit, Geoff's emotions will reflect what some viewers in the audience will be feeling- making the entire film more relateable and in turn more thrilling.

The violence in the film will make this rated at 15; this is not a family film due to the violence and the dark scenes. It's also not an 18 rated film, as it's not too gory and doesn't feature a tonne of profanity.

Stephen- Evaluation Question 4

Designated audience for the Thriller

We have decided that our film will be centred upon both genders of ages 15 to 24, seeing as they are the most popular demographic for the thriller genre. Read on for further information:

Gender

The gender our film is designed for is a mixed feeling. Gender is a vital part on who to attract to view our film; if the focus is on one and it doesn't appear to be what they expected then that's half a market gone; and the other half weren't interested to begin with. 

For females the genre they typically go for would be a romance, adventure, or comedy. They will often steer clear of mature rated thrillers, though that doesn't mean they won't be curious about it. To make a thriller appeal to a wide gender audience you would require a mix of romance and domesticated scenes; also comedic style, to make a mature thriller appealing.

However, with a romance subplot or with characters with a comedic side, a girl would likely watch the film as it isn't too emotionally heavy.

For males, I have found that they will often prefer thriller storylines, whereas females stray away from that genre. Below shows recent film releases, their rated age and the gender which will likely watch it: 

What can be seen on the above image is how most, if not all, thriller genres are aimed at males. 

However, that doesn't mean females won't watch them:

Taken 2

The figures shown in Taken 2 show that there's an almost even amount of males and females who watched the film; though it was mostly marketed for males.

Age

The age we are mostly looking at would be 15-24 year olds; the older generation may not find the film appealing due to the nature of the story line, and younger viewers would likely be scared of the film. 

The 15-24 year old age range allows users to see gore; something that a large amount of this age range like; they can hear rude language- another thing most people in the age range enjoy. It gives the most freedom to show something, and also gives the viewers what they wanted to watch. In making it a 15-24 age range, you will avoid disappointing viewers with it's 'family friendliness'

Stephen- Evaluation Question 3

What kinds of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?

With the ever-changing process of viewing media, it would seem that choosing a source of distribution that goes straight to the internet viewing platforms would be the way to get the most viewers. With cinema tickets rising to the price higher than a months subscription on some internet services it turns out to be cheaper watching online;

And the average amount of people going to cinemas is drastically dropping once again:

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/6693/business/cinema-attendance-in-uk/

It would seem appropiate for a brand new production comapny to get ahead of the curve; avoiding the areas where people will likely avoid going to in this time and age. In that, we look to the current forms of media and the ones best suited for the viewing of films:

• In 2014, 38 million adults (76%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 21 million more than in 2006, when directly comparable records began.
• Access to the Internet using a mobile phone more than doubled between 2010 and 2014, from 24% to 58%.
• In 2014, 74% of all adults bought goods or services online, up from 53% in 2008.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/internet-access---households-and-individuals/2014/stb-ia-2014.html

So, it looks like an internet broadcast would be the best option for a film- where a lot of people, mostly our target demographic, have access to it and it's cheaper than a cinema ticket- and less old school as a Television program.

An example of this at work; where a production comapany completely opts out, or is deciding whether or not to, is that or Rooterteeth's 'Lazer Team'- an internet based film company. Burnie Burns, the CEO of said company, had this to say about cinemas, and his movie: 

“We honestly don’t know! And we don’t know that it’s all that important any more. It’d be great for marketing certainly, but we’re reaching a point where people just want premium content, and those audiences will consume that content however they best see fit.”

Burns cites his own children as examples.

 “I’m not entirely sure they would know how to tune in to a television channel. They just don’t do that. The way they consume media is all through either an Xbox and the video on there, or an iPad. That’s it.”

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/16/rooster-teeth-netflix-hbo-youtube-lazer-team-gamergate?CMP=share_btn_tw

Youtube, the 3rd most visited website, would be a great place to start uploading films to get a network of supporters. With Youtube, you can get money from ad-services that you put on your videos, a longer video means more opportunity for adverts to pop up- as you would be interrupted when watching a film on ITV. So, you can get an income from it- albeit a small, but with effort and more films being uploaded, you'd be making a small fortune. Additioanlly, you'd be cutting out the middle man- with no funds going to Cinema's or the Distribution of DVDs, you could use the saved money on the production of the film instead.

Being on the internet, social media would be the best course of action to get marketing; with people spreading news of the film via Facebook and Twitter, word will easily get around. A small screening could possibly happen at a local town hall, where anyone can view it and, in turn, they will spread the word.

Going to conventions is a must for any Youtube Up-loader; at conventions you'd meet your fans, and also gain new ones. Youtube Conventions will also give you a chance to speak about what you've been doing; an easy way to gain publicity is to do something so drastic as cutting out Cinemas and DVDs, and going straight to the 'Free' services such as youtube.

Stephen- Evaluation Question 2

How our thriller opening represents particular social groups

Here, I'll be discussing how each of our characters have been portrayed, using the four different technical codes to show how it has been done as well.

Geoff

Geoff has been seen as being an emotionally weak man; breaking the stereotypically strong male protagonist. He is clearly proven to be distraught and an emotional wreck; not being able to think clearly. This can all be seen in the editing of a shot, where we have made the shot out of focus, in order to reflect how his character is feeling.

The camera angles are always eye-level with Geoff, giving the viewer a surprising feeling of being on the same level as him, even though he is a detective.

Additionally, the age group represented here, a late 20's man, is portrayed as being too weak for their job; something that is implemented into the plot perfectly. However, this is a rather negative view upon this age group, how at that age they are too young to be doing any real work. As the story progresses, we realise how strong Geoff actually is; resulting in a much more positive view upon him, sadly this is only the opening. The reason for this weakness is to make the character more realistic; causing the story to be more gripping and thrilling for the audience.

From the costume of Geoff we see that he is clearly a high class male, with a nice suit he has clearly worked hard and it has payed off. This is a somewhat positive portrayal of the social classes; how when you work hard it will pay off.

Susan

Susan is portrayed as a stereotypical girl who is running instead of fighting; a rather negative portrayel but also realistic. You wouldn't stand your ground against a tall man, no matter your age or gender, if you haven't been taught how to fight. Because of this, the opening is far more, again, realistic. The audience understands Susan's attempts of running instead of fighting.

However, when the Assailant gets infront of her, we witness her attempts to fight back- showing that she is strong in an emotional form. We know that she will fight when she needs to; a very positive and modern look upon women.

From the ending of the opening we can hear Susan resist the Assailant,continuing to fight back after clearly being beaten (Both in the physical and emotional sense.) Throughout the film itself we witness Susan only get stronger; breaking the social convention of how a man has to rescue the woman.

The Assailant 

Not much can be seen about the Assailant except his ethnicity; he is white-british. From that, we have a negative portrayal upon the ethnicity; which will only get worse over time. This isn't a stereotypical thriller bad-guy's ethnicity, however, as they more often than not go for Russians or Italians; with Mafia backgrounds. We chose this ethnicity so it'll be more relateable; everyone knows a white-male, as opposed to an Italian mobster. It gives the feeling that, perhaps, the person that you went to see the movie with could be an assailant.

This also portrays males to be dominant and strong; a positive outlook for the males in the audience but rather degrading for women. 

Stephen- Evaluation Question 1

 How our thriller opening develops upon or challenges the typical conventions of produced thriller films

Mise-en-scene

In all films Mise-en-scene is important; the different elements of it give a vital and subtle way of showing what the film is like.

Colour and Lighting

For example, looking back at the Bourne Ultimatum every colour is rather dark; giving a simple dark outlook of the film. It's shrouded, it's full of mystery; it follow a typical thriller convention. Darkness is a simple aspect of Mise-en-scene which results in a very powerful message.

Darkness; the city is shrouded in it

Our film followed that convention for the very dark and twisted scene; the colour reflects it perfectly. The darkness hides the torture that is occurring, how Susan is left in the darkness so no one can find her, and yet, when it turns bright when the Assailant walks in to the room, it is as if the Assailant wants to be seen beating the young woman. The audience has been left with more questions than answers, perfect for an opening- and perfect for a thriller.

Evil lurks in the shrouded darkness, or does it lurk in the light?

Additionally, the colour of our flash-back scenes drastically changed to a grey-scale to give more emphasis of it being in the past; this was done to make a seamless transition from present to past. Moreover, the shots show that Geoff can't think clearly, how his memories are fading due to the tragedy that has occurred to him. The grey-scale breaks conventional thrillers; where the colours would typically be black as opposed to grey, however the black would remove most significant details from the sequence.

Costume, Hair and Make-up

Each of these aspects are vital in showing what characters are like; if their hair is tidy we know they are a tidy person. In thrillers, costumes will typically be dark and will be un-revealing, keeping the characters hidden.

Looking back at the Brighton Rock analyses, found here, you can see that their costumes are dark and cover-some; we get the feeling of shrouded mystery from this. Brighton Rock clearly follows thriller conventions.

For our film, we also showed thriller conventions in the costumes for the Assailant and Geoff. Both wore dark suits; each meaning they are hiding something- though one being more sinister than the other.  Additionally, their hairs are equal too- both somewhat messy. This is done for Geoff to show how upset he is and how disturbed he is about what has happened. For the Assailant, it is simply to make him seem more crazy. Both of these things are conventional in the thriller genre. 

The Assailant, dark coat with a scarf,
clearly ready to be in the cold

Geoff- dark suit, showing his profession

However, Susan's character breaks typical thriller convention. She is wearing a light jogging outfit with a pink top. This shows that she was clearly un-prepared to be attacked, and had no idea anyone was after her. It shows how innocent her character is. Additionally, with her hair being tied in a pony-tail, it further shows her innocence as a character- she isn't trying to be seductive, or a killer, she's simply a jogger.

There is very little make-up in the opening; this is to give the illusion of normality, where nobody has to get specifically dolled up and looking pretty. This has also somewhat broken thriller convention, as most thrillers desire to have some eye-candy to shock the viewer when they die- this can be just as effective with an innocent young woman. Where we did use make-up it was for the Assailants scar, which will later be used to prove a man's innocence in the storyline. 

Rachel, the enigmatic character we see, has very little known about her in the shot. All we see are her jeans, showing her as a non-avid jogger, the contrast to Susan, and her jogging shoes. The shoes are important; the red signify the danger of the character (And also desire) and the black shoes the darkness that surrounds her. 

Brief shot of Rachel

Props

In thrillers props are often composed of deadly materials; guns, knives- those sorts of things. They are used to create fear upon the audience, and to give a look at what kind of killer they are. Props like this are used conventionally in thriller films. Such as the Usual Suspects, they use a prop gun in a way to incite fear and shock upon the audience- the bullet sounds are rather loud.

Another case of a weapon being the main prop is in Brighton Rock, where they use switchblades- something anyone can conceal easily (Making you more afraid in real life than when you watch the film)

For our thriller, we wanted something less dangerous as a primary prop- something to show loving, something that people will relate to easily. Super 8 had a good prop; a mothers locket, it shows how much the son cared for his mother, and vice-versa, creating an emotional bond with them and the audience.

So, we ended up with a rose- not conventional to thrillers but definitely to romances. We wanted to show how close these two characters were (are), and in doing so we created an emotional bond. This will be something that the audience will not want to see broken; and if it does get broken they will be shocked- the purpose of thrillers.

Narration:

A films narration gives a vital look into the films plot and storyline. There are three types of narration, and they all work effectively for the thriller genre. Subjective narration gives an almost point-of-view look at the plot; we only know what the protagonist(s) know(s) and they talk us through it. Subjective narration will feature shock factors surprising the audience as they do not know what will come next. The same can be said for restricted narration; where some parts of the plot will not be seen giving the audience intrigue. The opposite is unrestricted narration. This is where we get am omniscient view upon the plot. We know what is going to happen before the characters do, causing a suspenseful ambience, causing us to wonder when a confrontation or disruption will occur. 

In most thriller films I have looked at I have noticed them  being told in restricted narration. A prime example would be 'The Usual Suspects' where we don't fully understand what is being done in the opening except that there's a killer and several dead people. This inadvertently creates suspense for the rest of the film; we are left wondering- questioning- what happened at the opening. More can be read about the opening here

A dead body surrounded by fire! Enigmatic and enthralling; we need to know more!

Our thriller opening was also done in a restricted narration; the most prominent example being the character Rachel. She is a major plot point later in the story; but the one shot that she's in doesn't fully show her. This is done simply to create an enigma- the audience are left wondering who this character is, and why they don't see her again.

The brief shot of Rachel

However, our film also broke a convention of sticking to one narrative; to give the story more of a sinister ambience we show a few unrestricted narrative scenes. In the below shot the audience are left surprised and shocked at the appearance of 'the assailant,' both emotions vital for a good thriller film, and something that all thrillers abide by. In this shot we hoped to shock the audience; making it feel as if they weren't the only omniscient beings at that time- that 'the assailant' will always be watching you.