The preliminary and the final piece had a similar brief in showing a continuous sequence that works well without any continuity errors and having a narrative. I feel that I have learnt a huge amount since the preliminary task and have developed my skills with both planning, filming and editing. I have been a lot more careful and have been looking out for continuity errors constantly. I didn’t make huge mistakes and suggested ideas and was open to ideas from my group. I learnt how to edit effectively and the different variety of shots that were possible and the effects that each of these shots achieve. I am very proud of our final sequence and have worked very hard to make this opening.
Preliminary Brief
A continuity task involving filming and editing:
• a character opening a door
• crossing a room
• Sitting in front of another character and exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue with them.This task should demonstrate:
• match on action
• shot/reverse shot
• the 180-degree rule
Main Brief
To produce a 2 minute sequence for a fictional film. Your sequence must include:
Titles Throughout Some form of copyright-free soundtrack, including sound fx Evidence of understanding of continuity editing. Clear generic signifiers through character, action, mise-en-scene, dialogue etc...
Your Sequence should be based on:
A single narrative idea or event Only a few characters One location ideally
I also feel that I have learnt more about continuity errors in knowing the main rules to remember, and keeping my eye out for any errors that may occur in our final piece. The two that I felt I stuck by most and learnt about, was the 180 degree rule, match on action and the 30 degree rule and through learning the importance of these, I was able to help make a free-flowing opening that I was proud of.
Overall, I think the change between the two projects are drastic and my skills range a lot more now in compared to a few months ago. There is a wider variety of shots and we have worked on narrative, acting and technology to produce a piece, which I am very pleased with. I learnt that I am good at working in a team and have enjoyed the whole process immensely.
We used a wide range of different technologies to achieve our opening sequence and a lot of work went into putting it all together. Thankfully due to the hardware and software used, it was much easier to produce the piece. A lot of the technology was very complex however, I learnt how to use them effectively in a short space of time and at the end of the project, I feel very happy with my skills in terms of using the technology.
This is an example of the convergence of new technologies as we were going on these websites for a similar purpose of communicating with each other, informing and getting feedback. Also, we were constantly linking youtube clips and print screens of our facebook event to the blog to present our project
We also used freeplaymusic.com to find our music. This was extremely helpful as you could select different categories such as 'tense', to get a song which fits in with your project. All the music was copyright-free enabling us to pick any we wanted. This website was new to me, however, I learnt how to import it easily and change the volume in certain areas, and cut parts of the song out. The song we chose, was 'Off Center' and the song for the production logo was 'The Under World'.
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What I have learnt:
• I have learnt more about using the camera and with the use of zooms, could play around with the pace of the shot.
• The adjusting of the tripod to shoot from different angles, e.g. with the pan across the bedroom, we needed to get the height right in order to have perfect framing.
• I have developed my editing skills learning more to do with titles and effects and tools such as the razor on adobe premier. I always have found editing the most complicated step, however, I feel that I really learnt a lot and got to grips with it quickly.
• We also produced our titles on the mac, which gave us the experience of new technologies.
What worked well thanks to technology:
• We had a wide variety of shots and those that I felt were particularly effective, were the fridge shot, pan across the bedroom as the framing worked perfectly, and the slow zoom at the beginning, which moved into a CU making it more personal as the audience gets to know the character
• The shot from the masked man’s POV, is also very effective as we get to see through the eyes of the man, which is unique and goes against the typical conventions of a thriller. Also, as we see his point of view before we actually see him, enigma is created.
• The music and titles also worked well in my opinion as the titles were professional and spooky looking as we got to use the livetype on the mac, which was quick and efficient and the music due to technology of freeplaymusic.com, we could pick a category of music that fitted our genre.
• The production logos were strong in my opinion and build up a professional brand image, this also worked well due to both photoshop and once again to achieve the sunset.
What could you have done, but didn’t?
• I think we could have played around with effects more, as although we used the ghosting effect, we could have used more ‘arty’ visuals to create a more imaginative and unique piece.
• We could have also used a pad light to give a brighter and more professional look. This would have worked well after the fridge shot as because the fridge is very bright, the shot after is not so light and it would have illuminated the man in the window more. However, we did not want it to be too bright as our aim was for it to look natural and homely.
What advise would you pass on?
My main advice would be to use the technology as much as possible and to your advantage as it is the most important thing when shooting. Also, ensure that you look after the equipment and use technology particularly with the internet, to stay in contact with each other and to get feedback.
Health and Safety
It is important to follow health and safety with the technology. We ensured that it was not raining when doing the shots outside and picked a house to shoot in to protect the equipment.
We used different methods of attracting our audience through our use of shots and character types, thinking carefully about what our audience will want. In terms of addressing them, we mainly used the internet as our audience are very interested in technology and often use social networking sites. Our decisions were made easier by the fact that we are within the age of our target audience so knew the right approach of attracting and addressing them.
We addressed our audience with the use of a young main actress so they know that this film is being aimed at them.
We included the pleasure of not knowing what is going to happen next and have tried to shock the audience with the masked man at the window. This is to attract them in providing fear of the unexpected and also as they know this character will have a key part in the later narrative.
There are also gratifications for the audience as they have more knowledge than the babysitter as they see this man at the window although Zoe does not.
We have taken into account Levi-Strauss’ theory with binary opposites. We have shown good vs. evil, Quiet vs. loud, action vs. tension, slow vs. past and inside vs. the outside.
The themes that we have used follow the conventions of the genre and are all dramatic with themes of kidnap, mystery and trauma.
We have created enigma throughout with a build up of tension throughout until the final climax.
We have attracted the audience with the use of twists as there is a loud noise creating suspicion and there is the mystery of what has happened to the child.
There is strong iconography in the sense that it is an everyday environment of the house, an environment which the audience would be familiar with.
It is emotional as the child is young adding vulnerability and delivering a personal connection for the audience.
The film opening is shot at night time attracting an audience by creating fear as anything can happen at night.
When looking at our feedback from the questionnaire, many of our audience liked the variety of shots and felt that this worked very well, as many of the shots create atmosphere.
The issue being raised of kidnapping is very sensitive and has been mentioned a lot in the media with cases such as the Madeleine McCann case so it is a very talked about issue.
We used different methods to address our audience and to inform them of certain things, for example with our screening of our opening sequence, we used facebook to advertise it and sent invitations to our friends to get them to attend.
We also gave out notices to form groups in years 11, 12 and 13 as these were our target audience. The notice that we gave out is shown below:
The other way of addressing our audience was by youtube as we posted each of our edits for our audience to watch and to see the development of our project. This was via the school's youtube channel where our audience could rate our videos and write comments.
Our approach of addressing our audience seemed to be very effective as we have had many positive comments, which in my opinion shows that we have attracted them and have drawn them to our piece through our use of narrative and shots.
Here is some Audience Feedback from our screening:
Questionnaire 1:
Questionnaire 2:
Overall, the feedback was very positive and we received a lot of constructive criticism in regards to shots such as the reaction one, and also with sound. We were very happy with this feedback and it showed that we managed to attract our audience and got an average score of about 8.5 out of 10.
At the beginning of our project during the early research stages, we decided to discuss in detail who exactly we would target our film towards. Due to our ages, we immediately wanted to have an audience of a similar age to us so that we could know exactly how to approach and appeal to them. This then led us to our final idea. The next step was to analyse the likes of this group and what exactly they are into. We overall game up with the main target audience of:
Our Main Target Audience
Age: 16-24
Gender: Both Male and female
Nationality: Broad nationality as Britain is a very multicultural country.
Lifestyle/ attitude to life: Socialising, enjoying themselves, very active
Our niche is young adults ranging from the ages of 16 to 24, we have broadened this niche by aiming both at males and females giving us a wider audience to target. This is a good audience to target for us as we are within this age group and we both genders in our group, this gives us the expertise to know what our target audience wants, and how we can approach them. The film consumption habits of our audience ranges, however the genre of thriller appeals to both of male and females.
Our production company is BFE Productions and the kind of films in which they would make is wide ranging from thrillers to family films. They would mainly produce UK films and also would specialise in Indie films, which are cheaper to produce and can make a big profit, shown with Blair Witch Project. This would help in finding new talent and up and coming directors. BFE Productions would also be interested in branching out globally and producing popular films over the world.
BFE Productions are the big budget production company so have funded the film, whereas our other production company ‘Impact Films’ is an Independent company so not as high budget. This means that they would have contributed in terms of money however, would not have paid as much capital as BFE Productions. The type of films which Impact Films specialise in, is mainly Independent films as they are easier to fund.
If we were to release this film, we would look for a distributor, one that mainly distributes Independent films with the genre of thriller being in their domain. Examples such as Artisan Entertainment, who have distributed films such as ‘Blair Witch Project’. Another distributor who would fit perfectly with our film, would be ‘Optimum Releasing’, as it is a company working in the UK who have films such as ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ and ‘Captivity' under their belt, and these are both examples of popular thrillers.
However, as we currently do not have a distributor, we would enter several film festivals to try and get our name out there and attract the attention of major distributors. We could enter clips of our film to festivals such as ‘The Barbican’, ‘Tate Modern’ and ‘The Times London Film Festival’ which give opportunities to performing arts such as film, music and art. This gives us the potential to branch out and become more successful. However, these are mainly UK film festivals, we could also consider the possibility of trying to enter The Cannes Film Festival, which is one of the most famous in the world.
Our films could be shown in Independent cinemas once we find a distributor, in cinemas such as The Pheonix and Rio Cinema, allowing us to potentially receive a positive reaction provoking the chance to experience greater platforms such as becoming mainstream. This could then build up the word of mouth of our film and 'Dark Summer' could be exhibited in a big Multiplex cinema such as 'Vue', 'Cineworld' and 'Odeon'. This shows how the choice of distributor, can affect the success of a film and the attention that it gains.
The success of films due to film festivals is shown with the example of ‘Paranormal Activity’, which entered several well known film festivals, most significantly, 'Screamfest Film Festival' and 'Slamdance' attracting the attention of many until eventually entering the hands of Stephen Spielberg. The film went on to be a success worldwide and was watched by millions becoming one of the most talked about films making over $100 million at the US box office alone.
Our media product represents particular social groups, particularly with AGE and GENDER. We made certain decisions to represent these groups and managed to combine the two.
Firstly, we picked a female for our leading role. The character of Zoe is also a teenager showing youth, so immediately, the social group of young women is presented.
This will appeal towards our main audience of women of this age, as they can relate to the main character due to her independence, and also as we are presenting a female on her own without showing her relying on a male figure.
This character is the female protagonist due to this and also shows the female social group as brave.
Also, through her appearance and age, this character may also appeal to a social group of young men as she is attractive and young. Furthermore, as Zoe is seen to be very chatty and outgoing, her appeal on teenage boys would be even greater. This personality, presents the social groups of teenagers as positive in being social, active and confident.
Also, the character of Zoe making money from the odd job such as babysitting represents a range of social groups who are in a similar position, so students in this case. This shows how they are financially independent and are willing to make money to support themselves.
Furthermore, using a young child (Summer), we have added vulnerability and this age also shows innocence and the fact that such a young child has been taken, we have raised awareness. Also, as we have not shown what the child looks like, we are distanced from the character and this shows the age group as easily influenced and capable of being taken.
Through the reactions of Zoe once the child has gone missing, there is a sense of maturity added, showing the social group age-wise and grown up rather than present them in a negative way such as showing a childish and immature lead character.
Also, there is the use of mystery in hiding the identity as we do not know the gender or age of this person. This is so that we do not immediately present a particular social group as the bad person and takes away any trace of identification. This also provides more tension as we do not know who this female teenager is up against.
Overall, we have shown the social groups of teenagers and females in different ways throughout our media, but have mainly showed them in a positive way to create an appeal to these social groups.
We thought a lot about the typical conventions of different film openings. Once we decided on the genre of psychological thriller, this became much easier and we brainstormed these conventions so we had a clear outline and could follow in the footsteps of other popular opening. After watching clips of other openings, we were confident that we could follow, develop and challenge these conventions and we have done this in certain ways.
Brainstorm of Conventions in Psychological Thrillers:
Classical Narrative Patterns:
Our film contains this narrative pattern, however due to the fact that the main story is a kidnap, the new equilibrium may not be formed as the secrets may remain a mystery and we may never find out what happens to Summer. We have left our opening unresolved leaving the audience wanting to find out the later events in the film. This challenges the typical conventions and creates suspense and enigma.
We have used this theory, which uses conventions of a film with these five codes to achieve certain effects. These are needed to create a successful film and we used this theory as a guideline to our idea to see if it worked and followed conventions to produce a psychological thriller, which could compete with current existing ones.
Checklist
Purpose of an Opening Sequence:
Our sequence follows each of these steps taking on the conventions in regard to form and setting up the narrative for the rest of the film. We have also shown strong mise-en-scene with our use of an everyday environment and lighting to follow the conventions in terms of atmosphere.
The style of our film is very mysterious as there are twists and turns to throw the audience of the scent. Due to the music, there is a very dramatic feel and there are secrets due to the events, which take place showing that there are going to trials and struggles along the way. There is also eeriness with some of the shots to create panic and disillusion. This is similar to many thrillers, and we aimed to follow the conventions of these films in terms of style, however, we have used effects with the ghosting and key signifiers of the red drink to connote violence and blood creating a strong impact and unique style.
I researched different opening titles and clips to see the typical conventions with the genre. The psychological thrillers that I watched for inspiration included:
Both of these clips are from popular thrillers and show the typical conventions. Both have a slow build up and there is a very tense atmosphere present. The characterisation is also very strong and we get an immediate sense of place. There are a variety of shots and we get a brief idea of the narrative. This style of being very dark and filled with atmosphere is very inspiring.
As a result of our research, we managed to follow conventions in using similar techniques with narrative, themes and style however, we have challenged this conventions through our use of style providing a fresh and unique opening. In total, I feel that we too notice of conventions and this helped us a lot in terms of giving the audience what they want.
We had our screening, which went really well. Quite a lot of people came to the screening and they seemed impressed with our work. We managed to get over thirty questionnaires filled in, all very positive. Here are some pictures from the screening:
We have been signed off!!! Mrs Blackborow really liked our final cut and overall I am pleased with our piece. Our screening has been arranged for Tuesday 23rd March and I look forward to getting feedback from our audience.
It is now the editing week and we are getting nearer to the production deadline, I have been editing during my free periods and have also been doing editing sessions at lunch with my group. We have arranged to edit after school one day this week. So far, I have been finding the editing enjoyable and have been getting much better at it.
Our Friday shoot went okay, however, we did not get as much done as we hoped as we had to get used to the changes made to our idea. Also, unfortunately our actress Mel was ill and couldn't make the Sunday shoot so we could not film. However, we can work around this and have arranged an additional shoot to make up for this.
Hi, I'm Michael Greene and this is my AS Media Studies blog. I am currently studying Media, English Literature, History and R.E at The Latymer School. I am very interested in media and enjoy all sorts of films so am looking forward to this project. Feel free to have a look around my blog.
