Throughout the making of Hidden Within we have used a wide range of old and new technologies, some of which we have been familiar with and others not. Each of the sites we used such as, GarageBand and Final Cut Express took some time to grasp the concept of how we were to bring everything together and had to sit a few lessons to fully understand. From this I have learnt how to bring single sounds that from the aim we wanted to be intense and fit enigma code for the thriller, and then put them together in a sequence to have a soundtrack and effects behind the opening sequence. GarageBand helped enhance the atmosphere within Hidden Within and showed us the importance of music and sounds. Final cut express we used for editing, such as fading the credits between each shots to keep the opening sequence flowing. As well as not all cuts were use able so we were able to shorten each shot and add it to the sequence by cutting it and dragging it down.
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It is evident that through the lack of special effects and advanced equipment that we want to distribute a low-budget production and I feel that our opening sequence may attract a more niche audience (although we did try to target a wider audience) and so an independent distributor would be more likely to distribute our production as oppose to a conglomerate. However, with the help of independent distributors we may be able to access the benefits of marketing and ways of consumption that conglomerates offer and some independent distributors are owned by conglomerates. However, due to the low budget, we still have the possibilities of distributing through the internet to create a hype in the same way that Paranormal Activity did. Paranormal Activity first previewed online to gather feedback on the success of the film and after receiving phenomenal reviews, they then decided to distribute through cinemas which is where most of the profit is made.
“The film collaborative” are also a way of distribution as they offer independent film companies access to film distributors. TFC offers independent film companies a full range of education about distribution, marketing services and distribution services. These include services such as sales representation, service theatrical releases, hybrid distribution, grassroots marketing, traditional marketing, digital aggregation, distribution consultation and contract consultation. Through this process I feel we would be more appreciative and educated in the distribution and marketing of a film and possibly even reach a higher rate of success. I also think that our production should only be distributed nationally to achieve maximum success as other conglomerates may internationally distribute their productions which would lessen the popularity of ours. Here are some examples of films that TFC have helped to distribute and market:
Some small independent distributors that may be willing to distribute our production would be: Rumur, Breaking Glass Productions, Deep Focus Productions and Cinema Epoch as they are all small distributors and prod cures who specialise in independent films and a love for film making.
Our film opening for ‘Hidden Within’ abides by the stereotypical codes and conventions of a horror/psychological thriller. Before the production, we looked at various different film openings, one of them being the film opening for ‘Se7en’ which we used as inspiration throughout our production. ‘Se7en’ follows generic codes and conventions of psychological thriller openings which is why we focused our attention on this film opening. It consists of all the major connotations of a psychological/horror by creating an eerie atmosphere with the use of distressed non-diegetic music music, close-ups, fast duration edits and low-key lighting; we tried to reconstruct all of these factors in our production, and I personally felt that we were successful in this. We aimed to have a very prominent, strong microelement throughout our production to abide by typical representations and conventions of this genre and we felt we were very successful in this as we not only had very rich mise-en-scene, but we were also able to incorporate very pungent, intense and dynamic non-diegetic music as well. I feel that we were able to create music that not only fit the genre of the opening sequence, but it also builds a narrative with the different tempos and volumes of sounds. I feel that we incorporated many different small stereotypical factors such as low-key lighting, quick duration edits and close ups which all come together to create a bigger picture of a stereotypical psychological thriller. I also feel that our production follows all the stereotypical codes and conventions of a psychological thriller except for one aspect that we felt was necessary to challenge for market development and to attract a wider target audience. Horror and psychological thrillers typically use old, creepy, ugly men to act as the stalker/psychopath, however we wanted to challenge this and use a younger, attractive man to appeal to a wider target audience. Title sequences typically act as a prime opportunity to introduce main characters and display their traits however our opening sequence only introduces two of the main characters that are easily distinguishable between which challenges typical opening sequences.
Looking back at our preliminary task, it is clear that our understanding of camera and editing skills has improved vastly. To start with, we had very little knowledge of the programmes we needed to use for example final cut pro and garage band. We also needed a variety of different camera angles in order to get a high grade in our production. Our preliminary allowed us to experiment using the angles we learnt such as 180 degree angle, shot reverse shot, match on action and rule of thirds. Using these techniques, it really helped us with our final piece.
When planning the protagonist, location and equipment for Hidden Within, we took time and care by researching many opening sequences to inspire us. Se7en was a huge influence on our production as it gave us an understanding of what we wanted to produce. During our planning process, we carried out research by using surveys on our target audience to find out what elements they liked about our preliminary which helped us gain an understanding of what to include in our production. They also looked at our synopsis of Hidden Within which explained our plot which assisted us in making improvements with their feedback. In our final production we ensured that our characters were represented accurately to fit their role. Our protagonist was dressed in black clothing to create enigma and a dark atmosphere. This juxtaposed with our antagonist as she was dressed in youthful, colourful clothing to connote vulnerability and to represent her as the victim. In our preliminary, we did not take as much time to think about the costume choice as it didn’t create the same intense vibe. We followed a similar storyline in the preliminary and from this we could decide areas of improvement for our final production. The protagonist was mostly shown in low key lighting which connoted mystery and enhanced shadowing for the same effect. The antagonist was shown in high key lighting to represent her as angelic and innocent. Our experience using final cut pro shows development when comparing our preliminary to our final production. Our understanding of how to show relationships and interactions through editing was greatly helped with the use of final cut pro. When making our preliminary, our understanding of final cut pro was not at the same level as it is now and I think this is proven in our final production. It took us a while to navigate ourselves around the programme but with help from our teacher and friends, we soon got the hang of it. This was the same with garage band however, it was easier to use and took us less time to get used to.
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Hidden Within consists of one antagonist and a smaller protagonist role. In order for us to create an enigma code which will engage the audience with the narrative, during the opening sequence the audience never gets introduced fully to both of these characters. Throughout each mise en scene, quick short duration cuts presents the story behind the opening sequence without showing the main character head on with what’s mostly used in a wide shot, keeping the typical codes and conventions of a thriller. Our group used an outside student who was intrigued by thriller based films and also had some experience in acting as well as myself. The camera composition ensured that as a character he remained mysterious. The audience only see him in a montage of close shots. The close up of his eyes are a code and convention used in many thriller films and connotes mystery and darkness represented in the character. Juxtaposed to the dark stalker we needed the innocent, young girl victimise a binary opposite to enhance the danger and vulnerability. In contrast to the possessive, hidden male only shown with pan ups or a close up the girl is presented with the use of only wide shots in each mise en scene. This connotes the openness of her innocence, making her defenceless to the dominant male as well being less withdrawn to the audience so they are able to connect more with her than the stalker. Using a teenage female helps the targeted audience of similar age groups to identify with the character, and with this it creates a strong sense of empathy. Being able to experience emotions with each mise en scene are important to have for a successful opening sequence. We decided to use Harry in our film because we felt he would be challenging the stereotypical representation of a psychopath, researching existing media texts we could see psychopaths as old, ugly, creepy whilst Harry is youthful and attractive. As well as the voyeurism he connects with the targeted audience for being more realistic and familiar. We remained the stereotypical all black clothing which stalkers are mostly presented wearing in many films to continue with the codes and conventions. A great example that has similar characteristics and aspects to Hidden Within is The Lovely Bones. Both protagonists presented in The Lovely Bones resemble the same concepts to our pacific storyline of the stalker and young girl. She has the same connotations of our own character being innocent, youthful as well as giving a big insight into her life. However, the male stalker in The Lovely Bones is more cliché than Harry with his looks and behaviour, but both have the same hidden characteristics of making themselves blend into society. Above, I added our final production to YouTube and used to annotations option to show the different genre conventions, music, the different shots used and our inspiration and how its similar to other films.
Whilst filming our opening sequence ’Hidden Within', we wanted to make sure that we adhere to all codes and conventions of a thriller. In order to create our opening sequence we got inspiration from the film 'Se7en' and the TV series 'American Horror Story'. We had to consider research a lot before we started filming in order to attract our target audience. In the opening sequence of Se7en, they use similar props to what we used. We used shot quick clips to create the tension and the fast pace of the edits along with the non diegetic sound emphasised this. Our inspiration for the sounds was from American Horror Story. Their use of sharp loud noises throughout is why we used the scratching of a vinyl. The use of blood and the saw in out production is very stereotypical of a thriller or horror film as it connotes danger or uncertainty and suggests death is involved. We felt that it was necessary to make a poster in order to deconstruct the micro-elements of out film opening and help with our analysis into the effects of colour and atmosphere. We wanted to make the poster applicable to a wider target audience and so we used a bright colour palette juxtaposed with a monochrome scheme to reinforce the idea of a psychological atmosphere. I followed the typical codes and conventions of recognisable film posters and then developed it further to suit our chosen sub-genre of thriller. I feel that it creates something that would be effective and show we have the idea of what is often used within marketing. This would be further than a teaser poster where only a few details of the film is shown to give a quick insight, and both would be used to attract the audience to seeing the film. With the code and conventions of the dark, mysterious expression on the protagonist face and the creepy location it is clear they would be seeing a horror, psychological based thriller.
'Audience' is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience
in mind, ie a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience meets a media text. Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, and comparisons to existing media texts, and spend a great deal of time and money finding out if there is anyone out there who might be interested in their idea. Media producers want to know the age, gender, race or locations of their potential audiences. A way of categorising them is through the different demographics. For our production, we carried out surveys to see what type of thriller was a group of peoples favourite and what kind of things they expected to see. We felt that the main groups interested in our production would be groups: A-E with the age range of 16-35. Whilst we were thinking about the type of audience we wanted, we thought it would help us to get a better understanding of the people. We brainstormed what kind of music taste they had, what clothing they wore, what their hobbies were, what TV they watched etc. |
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