Mini Music Video

Evaluation - Question Three

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

We think that 'Vertigo Films' would distribute our film because Vertigo films often deal with serious issues and deeper subject matters that tend to disturb the audience. We are also an independant film, made in a very british style and the atmosphere of our piece is very in keeping with the  types of films that Vertigo produces. My group felt that the gritty nature of our piece would work well with Vertigo because it is very similar to films that Vertigo distribute such as 'The Sweeney' as it is very realistic and causes their audience to feel as if the events taking place could really happen somewhere close to them. We also felt that after researching the target audiences for most of the films from Vertigo that are targeted at a more mature male audience of around 18 - 30. The audience is more interested in our type of opening because its more of a serious type of film.

Another institution that we thought might distribute our media product could be 'Artificial Eye' as they also produce very independant films aimed at a more mature audience. The films from Artificial Eye such as 'Lore', 'What richard Did' and 'McCullin' are also come across as more deeper issue based films as they deal with more serious issues so the audience are much more knowledgeable and able to deal with the storylines that are more difficult to understand. The people who watch these films would also be more avid movie fans as they are much less advertised to the mainstream audience. Their targeted audience is normally males and females who prefer more independant and less well known films around the ages of 25 - 35. We thought that this was a relevant distributor but that Vertigo films would be more relevant because they are generally aimed at a younger audience and more at males too which is more relevant to our opening. We feel that our film is also aimed at a more mainstream audience than that of artificial eye because it will be more widely advertised to a larger audience to gain more interest.

Evaluation - Question Two

Question Two - The conventions of a thriller movie are; fast pace editing, tension building soundtrack that causes the audiences' hearts to beat faster, locations specifically chosen to make characters seem vulnerable, cinematography usually would be very erratic and lots of quick cuts are used, lighting is also very imperative. For example, shadows can cause a scene to become more sinister and daunting than if the lighting was very high key, so low key lighting is used to create more of an eerie ambience. Additionally, we see characters stereotyped to be on a 'bad' and 'good' side.

Fast pace editing is crucial in thriller films to build tension at the right moment. In movies such as 'Se7en' the pace of the editing noticeably increases towards the end of the film as the ending becomes closer to build the tensions to a point.

We have used fast pace editing throughout our sequence and this includes cutaways which cause there to be two perspectives. Giving the audience the 'killer's' perspective is a common convention in thrillers as it helps the audience get enough evidence to come to a conclusion as to who the good person is; keeping the 'killer's' identity a secret using low angle shots that cut off their face is also apart of this foreshadowing to create mystery.

Soundtrack is used in thrillers to build pace and tension. Music adds to the atmosphere by speeding up and slowing down in accordance with the editing. Non-digetic sound gives the audience an extra indication about the story and tells us how we should be feeling. Sound effects such as gasps, shrieking and gun shots can have a high impact on the audience.

In our opening we have used music that builds up to create a sense of excitement in a nervous sense, leaving the audience in a state of confusion as they don't fully comprehend the small details that are being given away.

Locations used in thrillers are often linked to the status of the characters in the shot. If characters are supposed to appear vulnerable, for example in 'The Silence of the Lambs', the long shot shows the location is very empty and big, this causes the female character to appear more in danger. The locations of thrillers are often forests, abandoned buldings or places that people do not feel safe in or do not generally go to. These empty locations build an atmosphere, we chose an empty car park to film in and also an alley to give a sense of isolation and danger, causing the audience to become even more nervous about what will happen to the victim.

Cinematography is also important when adding mystery in thrillers. Establishing shots are key for setting the scene, they can also give a sense of vulnerability. Extreme close-ups and close-ups are important in showing the reactions and identities of the characters. Tracking shots and pan shots may be used also to show movement such as someone being chased or running. In 'cabin in the woods' tracking shots are used effectively to show someone running which makes us as an audience feel very scared and on edge. We used all of these shots in our sequence to add to the effect of the overall thriller atmosphere.

My group chose to cast a female as a villain because it challenges the normal stereotype that females are the victims in most thrillers. We felt that this would also make the thriller more relate-able to females and feminists as they would be able to appreciate the fact that we have brought in a stronger female character who unconventionally overpowers the male counterparts. The new representation of females in our opening brings a new idea that women can be equally as dangerous as men and I feel that this gave our opening a unique change compared to the usual idea of females appearing very weak and vulnerable in thrillers.

We are doing a different thriller compared to 'Cabin in the Woods' which shows a female character being very weak and overpowered by a male 'villain'.

In our opening we also used the idea that ordinary people can be apart of events such as murders, unexpected but this sort of thing can happen, this would also break the stereotype that people don't need to look dangerous to actually be apart of a crime. The victim here is dressed as a normal person without any distinguishing features that will cause them to be presented as a person who gets involved in dangerous situations.

Directors commentary.

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

Question One - The conventions of an opening sequence are the titles, main character introductions, equilibrium, establishing shots, distribution and company logos, prompts and clues and the mood of the film is normally set within the first few minutes. Titles; introducing the directors, producers, cast etc., are often going in a specifically chosen way showing the importance of their roles in the film. These are important because the actors in the film will give the audience an idea as to what the sort of film it will be because the actors will often be associated with a specific genre or may relate to the director; telling us about the style of the film. For example, Johnny Depp is often cast in Tim Burton films which are very similar in the atmosphere and style they put across.



 The directors will also give us an indication of the style or mood of the film. Equilibrium is usually introduced within the first few minutes which is the normality before the problem (de-equilibrium) is introduced. This is often important because the rest of the film generally will focus on fixing the problem that arises, to get back to the equilibrium or even a better resolution.


 In opening sequences we are often introduced to the more main characters that have a significance to the rest of the film. This can be done by using quick shots of the face, giving small amounts of detail about the character. Close-ups can give us a good look at the characters, foreshadowing may also be used to create a more mysterious image. We can see these sorts of introductions in most openings; in 'Se7en', 'Psycho' and 'Silence of the Lambs', the introduction of the main character is key. In our opening, we introduced both the Equilibrium and the main characters to establish the outline of the story without going into too much detail that gives away the entire plot. Establishing shots are important to show the locations of characters, In 'The Silence Of the Lambs' the establishing shots gives us a better idea of how lonely and vulnerable the main character is by showing the audience how alone she is in the forest; how small she is in comparison to the large daunting trees, causing us to assume she is very weak. We used establishing shots in our opening to also add an atmosphere and cause our audience to feel nervous. The distribution and company logos are normally shown at the very start of the sequence. Often, these will be somewhat relevant to the type of film or the genre of the film the audience is about to watch, the logos prepare us in a way for what we are about to see. For example, 'Dreamworks' is most stereotypically used on children's films, such as 'Shark tale', 'Shrek' and 'Madagascar'. Other distribution logos include 'Paramount Pictures' who produce similar types of films such as 'The Vault,', 'Flight' and 'The Dictator', aimed at a more mature audience and 'Vertigo Films' who have been well known for british films, dealing with serious issues, such as 'The Football Factory' 'Bronson' and 'The Sweeney'. The distribution companies are both more 'grown-up' than 'Dreamworks' or 'Pixar' but they deal with very different genres of films. Additionally, there are prompts and clues in the openings, giving us small indications of what the rest of the film may be about. This is very important because the small symbols can link to parts of the rest of the film and we learn the significance of their meaning as the story unfolds. The small hints should give a small clue about the film or characters but not enough to tell the entire story because this would cause the audience to become disinterested in seeing the rest of the movie. We have use clues and prompts in our opening to give only small details away in our opening. My group decided to keep the protagonist's identity a secret so that we only give a small indication as to who our 'villain' might be. I feel that clues and prompts are very important conventions in an opening because it sets up the rest of the film. The opening of our film will also set the general mood for the story that is about to be told. From the opening we should be able to see what the mood of the film will be; horror films such as 'Insidious','Sinister' and 'The Wolf man' often set the mood in a very obvious way to involve the audience earlier on in the film, adding more of an emotional attachment to the characters as they continue watching. In our sequence, we wanted the audience to feel confused and uncertain about what they are seeing; in turn causing them to become subconsciously nervous about the events in the film.

Evaluation - Question 7

In the most recent project, there is a considerable difference in the skill used in comparison with our preliminary task showing that we have learnt alot in terms of using the cameras, editing and composition.
In our final product, we have shown more of an improvement in terms of continuity editing and timing, here we can see that our editing was very amateur and didn't look as though the transition was very smooth, in the final product we have used much more noticeable camera techniques that show we can use the cameras well and also that we had a good idea of how we wanted to piece to flow, and how we could attain this smooth transtion. i believe our camerawork has improved considerably in comparison with our older piece because the camera was more shaky in our preliminary and in the thriller opening our camerawork is smooth with skilled and smooth pan shots that look professional. We also use match on action in our thriller opening which helps to carry on the situation and gives us more of a linking plot line.


We have also improved our storyline and creative ideas, in this piece the idea was quite tacky and looked very immature, in our final piece we decided to go for a different and more serious situation that would cause more people to think about our piece rather than laugh at it, this wasn't the sort of piece we would have chosen to do earlier in the year as we immediately chose immature subject matters.


Our framing in our preliminary task wasn't abiding to the 180 degree rule and this has improved considerably in our thriller opening we have clearly used this rule throughout without breaking it. There is also a problem with editing in the preliminary as we can hear the camera clicking as it's turned on and off, this should have been edited out, we haven't made this mistake in our most recent piece because overall we have learnt to be more careful about our editing and take more time to put it together without adding in these unnecessary sounds.
I feel that i have developed my eye for these mistakes and i don't think i will make this mistake in the future.

Here we have cut out alot of the scene in terms of framing, this is a mistake that people will make when they are new to using cameras and i feel that i have stopped making this mistake with prolonged use of cameras.

Vox Pops

Evaluation - Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From creating this product i have learnt to use a range of technologies on my blog for planning and during the actual making of my opening. On my blog I have used prezi, scribd., screencast, slideshare,  embedding youtube clips and self taken pictures to present a more super visual representation of my planning in the best possible ways for the task. I have improved in using a range of visual materials to show my planning through the course of this year and i think i have learnt how to best display my skills in the most visual way. For the making of my opening, i experienced using the cameras and tripod to film steady and professional looking shots. I then used livetype and imovie on macs which i previously had experience using at gcse but i feel that the continued use of them has made me feel much more confident and i know how to make my opening look polished and professional.
I thought that my experience on livetype taught me lots about the specific placement of the titles and how well thought out it is when directors make a title sequence. I ensured that the most important titles were last such as the director and the main cast members because i feel that this is the best placement for their titles often seen in other thriller openings. I also chose a serious font that went with the overall atmosphere of my piece because i didn't want it to use a childish font that would change the viewers' assumptions about what the opening would be about.
Using the cameras which were booked 24 hours in advance from the media department and filming with them, keeping to the 180 degree rule was a very hard task but i feel that i could now confidently film a piece while keeping to the rule and not have to put as much thought into it as i would have at the beginning of the course. I have learnt to use a tripod and that it is very difficult to gain a steady shot without one unless you specifically want a shaky shot or a tracking shot then tripods are key to making a shot look more professional.

Evaluation - Question 4

As Media Assessment

Evaluation - Question One

Question One - The conventions of an opening sequence are the titles, main character introductions, equilibrium, establishing shots, distribution and company logos, prompts and clues and the mood of the film is normally set within the first few minutes.
Titles; introducing the directors, producers, cast etc., are often going in a specifically chosen way showing the importance of their roles in the film. These are important because the actors in the film will give the audience an idea as to what the sort of film it will be because the actors will often be associated with a specific genre or may relate to the director; telling us about the style of the film. For example, Johnny Depp is often cast in Tim Burton films which are very similar in the atmosphere and style they put across. The directors will also give us an indication of the style or mood of the film.
Equilibrium is usually introduced within the first few minutes which is the normality before the problem (de-equilibrium) is introduced. This is often important because the rest of the film generally will focus on fixing the problem that arises, to get back to the equilibrium or even a better resolution.

In opening sequences we are often introduced to the more main characters that have a significance to the rest of the film.This can be done by using quick shots of the face, giving small amounts of detail about the character. 
Close-ups can give us a good look at the characters, foreshadowing may also be used to create a more mysterious image. We can see these sorts of introductions in most openings; in 'Se7en', 'Psycho' and 'Silence of the Lambs', the introduction of the main character is key.

In our opening, we introduced both the Equilibrium and the main characters to establish the outline of the story without going into too much detail that gives away the entire plot.

Establishing shots are important to show the locations of characters, In 'The Silence Of the Lambs' the establishing shots gives us a better idea of how lonely and vulnerable the main character is by showing the audience how alone she is in the forest; how small she is in comparison to the large daunting trees, causing us to assume she is very weak.
We used establishing shots in our opening to also add an atmosphere and cause our audience to feel nervous.

The distribution and company logos are normally shown at the very start of the sequence. Often, these will be somewhat relevant to the type of film or the genre of the film the audience is about to watch, the logos prepare us in a way for what we are about to see. For example, 'Dreamworks' is most stereotypically used on children's films, such as 'Shark tale', 'Shrek' and 'Madagascar'. Other distribution logos include 'Paramount Pictures' who produce similar types of films such as 'The Vault,', 'Flight' and 'The Dictator', aimed at a more mature audience and 'Vertigo Films' who have been well known for british films, dealing with serious issues, such as 'The Football Factory' 'Bronson' and 'The Sweeney'. The distribution companies are both more 'grown-up' than 'Dreamworks' or 'Pixar' but they deal with very different genres of films.

Additionally, there are prompts and clues in the openings, giving us small indications of what the rest of the film may be about. This is very important because the small symbols can link to parts of the rest of the film and we learn the significance of their meaning as the story unfolds. The small hints should give a small clue about the film or characters but not enough to tell the entire story because this would cause the audience to become disinterested in seeing the rest of the movie.

We have use clues and prompts in our opening to give only small details away in our opening. My group decided to keep the protagonist's identity a secret so that we only give a small indication as to who our 'villain' might be. I feel that clues and prompts are very important conventions in an opening because it sets up the rest of the film.
The opening of our film will also set the general mood for the story that is about to be told. From the opening we should be able to see what the mood of the film will be; horror films such as 'Insidious','Sinister' and 'The Wolf man' often set the mood in a very obvious way to involve the audience earlier on in the film, adding more of an emotional attachment to the characters as they continue watching.
In our sequence, we wanted the audience to feel confused and uncertain about what they are seeing; in turn causing them to become subconsciously nervous about the events in the film.

Film Opening

Location Permission

LOCATION PERMISSIONS

Script

Initial Ideas

This is our initial ideas that we thought that our opening sequence should include, we took these idea's and created a more detailed storyboard that really gave us some idea of the length of our piece. We felt that the sound should be kept minimal to make good use of quiet moments which create more tension. We thought that we should try and make people feel lonely, scared, isolated and confused when they watch our opening after asking people what they thought that the feeling of thrillers should be.

Casting Decisions

These are the casting decisions we made together because we felt these characters matched the personality and the looks of our characters to the person who is playing them. We felt that we should cast myself as a villain because it challenged the usual stereotype that females are victims in openings so it would be more of a unique opening.

Character Descriptions

Character Descriptions by

Planning Research

Here is some of the research for the font of our title, looking at what types would fit in with the atmosphere of our piece:

Titles by

Animatic

This is the video my group put together of our storyboard, giving us an idea of what timings our opening will have and how long it will be.

Costume

Costume for Thriller.

costume for jimmy

costume for vincent

costume for sarah 

We chose clothes for the two characters called Jimmy and Vincent that would show that they are just normal people who wouldn't generally come into any dangerous situations and that they were not prepared for this to happen. My group wants to show that these are just normal boys who have come across this danger by accident, also they are wearing considerably lighter clothing than the supposed villain so it tells the audience who may be on the 'good' and 'bad' side. The villain wears black clothes with tough material leather to give the idea that they are very tough themselves and have a dark personality.

Props

Here are the prop ideas that my group had which we thought would work well in our opening:

Costume

Here are the costume ideas that my group had which we thought would work well in our opening:

Sound

I think this sort of ambient music would work well in our opening because it builds up the tension and it has a certain eerie atmosphere that would add to the feeling we are trying to convey with our opening. I like that the song includes a piano which is very moving and I think that this causes there to be more emotion within the piece so it will leave the audience very on edge and nervous wondering what will happen next. This is the sort of music I think would work well because of the ups and downs it has.



I also thought that this music would work effectively because it's rhythm is very much like a heartbeat so it will draw the audience in and help them relate to the opening, it may also cause them to get nervous and make their heart beat faster. The tense part at around 1:29 is also very good if we wanted to come to the most tense moment in our opening as the violins make it a really harrowing to hear which is expressive and I believe would fit in well.