Looking back at my preliminary task I felt like my understanding towards creating our thriller opening sequence had improved greatly. The reason being is our group planning when creating the preliminary task wasn’t as well done because of confusion of what our storyline should be and the correct characters starring. During the start we all had our own specific ideas and had agreement issues but as time went out and as we went on wanting to create our thriller opening ‘One for the Road’ we all came up with a theme and style we wanted to stick with. Our planning of characters, location, props and equipment was used to its full advantage since we went out of school premises to film. We were also more inventive which allowed us to re-create similar shots and scenes from films we were looking at in order to help us to influence us. The location, props, costumes and equipment was properly discussed and planned out which helped the group in case any group members were absent when it came to filming. We also filmed it fitting to our school timetable where as when filming the preliminary task we had very little time because we weren’t sure of the other team members timetable. Once creating the preliminary task, my knowledge of how to create a successful mise en scene had grown. Within 'One for the road’ opening sequence, you can see we have clearly thought about the location, the costumes, the shot types, the lighting and appearance of the characters. This was not portrayed within our preliminary project. In our final project we ensured that the costumes worn by our two characters represented their roles; the protagonist dressed in dull, black casual attire. The location was not a typical thriller location as it was filmed during the day; however this was done on purpose in order to make our opening seem ‘normal’. With our preliminary task although the equipment used was similar to what we used in our thriller opening sequence the camera shots and angles weren’t used to its best advantage. We stuck to only simple camera shots such as 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, close up and match on action. The shots used were limited because we wanted to first experiment and get ourselves familiarised with the various shots and angles we could do and how effective it was. As well as using the camera we had access to the tripod which was used effectively and helped us in keeping our shots steady. In the beginning it took we time to figure out how to adjust to the right size but when it came to our thriller opening we were certain how to adjust it to the suitable size. In our opening sequence we made use of the camera being held up by the tripod for steady shots as well as holding it in our hand to create camera shots such as POV and shaky camera. Shots such as close ups, extreme close ups, mid shot, wide shot, match on action, POV and 180 degree rule were used throughout, as we adapted some from our preliminary task. For both the preliminary task and thriller opening sequence we used similar programmes used by the Mac. Final Cut Pro and Garage Band were both used for editing and creating music. Having minimal knowledge of our editing program Final Cut Pro when compiling our footage of the preliminary task together, the standard of editing was poor. You can see this as we have not cut some clips short enough and some cuts are untidy. Since doing this, I have learnt how to successfully edit on Final Cut Pro and ensure the finished cut has as much as professional look as is possible. I also I also have learnt how to show a relation between two characters through placing cuts together. This was especially important in our thriller opening scene with the female character walking in the car park as she walks around the car. Our thriller opening was better off because there was more of the film to edit as it was longer and better effects to add because of our chosen theme (neo-noir films). Below I added our thriller opening to Youtube and annotated it throughout. The annotations point out the use of music, genre conventions and similarities to other films. Filming our opening sequence ‘One for the Road’ we wanted to make sure that we adhere to all codes and conventions of a thriller. In order to create our opening sequence we gained influence from neo-noir films such as Snatch and Touch of Evil. We re –created a similar style in our thriller production. In order to attract our target audience (17-25 years old) we decided with a narrative which not only suited our chosen style but was able to attract our target audience.
‘One for the road’ is based on a kidnapper who abducts a young girl. This is a popular narrative which appeals to all audiences, especially our target audience as it is aimed at the younger generation. Our inspiration for this particular narrative was from the film ‘The Call’. A similar scene which was filmed in a car park with the young girl being abducted by an elder man. We saw an opportunity to create something similar however with a twist and changing the protagonists from a male into a female which is not expected in your typical thriller films. The secret which is later revealed allows the audience to see who the young girl is to the abductor as it is all for revenge. Keeping the audience in the dark draws them in to the film and keeps them on edge. Our location was filmed in a car park which made the narrative more surreal and not a typical thriller location which means the audience will be more engaged. The reason being is because it enables them to establish the theme as it a dark and dull with not much colour, having connotations of danger, unknowing and fear. Although we were focusing on neo-noir films the car park scene idea initially came to us from the film ‘The Call (2013)’. Both ‘One for the road’ and ‘the call’ being from the same genre, crime/thriller. As well as the location the props included in the car park was kept simple with just the main car used as the kidnappers cars/keys and shopping bags. In order to make the situation look normal we used a basic black car, the reason for using a dark coloured car is because it had connotations of mystery and aggression. The main characters of our opening sequence were represented as a stereotypical young woman specifically to attract our target audience. As Blumler and Katz’s theory suggests on of the reasons audiences engage within the media text would be identification and we wanted our audience to immediately identify with her with her which is why she is represented as The British film ‘Snatch (2000)’ has all characters in casual attire which is an archetype of what it seen as typical clothing for thrillers. Throughout the tension from the music is built up till the end of our opening. At a point where the music gets high pitched it gives a hint to a significant scene which is about to occur, allowing the audience to feel the dramatic explode. A soundtrack produced by Hans Zimmer from the film ‘Inception (2010)’ built up imagination throughout the music with electrifying sounds building up tension. In order for the scenes to build up tension with the music in the background the correct edits and shots had to be filmed. Many jump cuts are involved to keep the audience unaware of what is going on creating mystery throughout. However many close ups, match on actions and extreme close ups of the protagonist character will show their emotion for the audience viewing. Quick, sharp shots of the antagonist character means the identity of them is not too clear for those to see. The term 'audience' is used in media to describe the customers and consumers of media products. During the research phase of our coursework, we conducted a survey to find out what kinds of thrillers people of different ages liked. The results of this survey showed that most people that watched thriller films were younger adults and adolescents. We also found that more males than females watched thriller films, and so we tried to make it fairly gender neutral but gearing slightly further towards a male audience. We therefore concluded that the audience interested in our production would be aged
We did not want to make our film appeal to a specific interest as we wanted to appeal to a mass audience rather than a niche audience. We also wanted to appeal to all social groups (A-E) and so did not want to make the film too basic or too advanced. We kept our production non-religious, politically neutral and non-controversial in order to appeal to a wider audience without excluding certain groups. We wanted to gain a better understanding of our target audience and what appealed to and interested them that could also be applied to a mass market. We found that a lot of our target audience took an interest in fashion, and so made sure Fern's costumes in the production were fashionable. This was easy and whilst it attracted certain audiences, it did not exclude others in the process. A lot of the people that we asked said they liked current events and controversy to be incorporated into films, however we thought that this was not appropriate for the genre and would have only appealed to a niche audience. We also discovered that the many of our target audience members were feminists, and for this reason we included a female as our lead character. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? - Evaluation1/4/2015 Editing software
For our preliminary task we used the software Final Cut Express to edit. We found that this software worked for the basic nature of our preliminary production, however it would not accept uncompressed HD video. Compressing a HD video significantly decreases its quality, and so we found that Final Cut Pro was capable of importing HD videos without them having to be compressed. Final Cut Pro also allowed batch capturing of footage from tapes, making the importation of footage much more convenient. Music composition software We used GarageBand to compose the music in our production. We did not compose any music for our preliminary task due to time constraints, however GarageBand is user friendly and worked well for our needs. We used the pre loaded instrument loops on GarageBand, changing the instruments and modifying the speeds and keys to get the desired effect. We found that GarageBand allowed us to compose our music (to a good standard) in a relatively short space of time, because of the simple, user friendly layout. Camcorder I did not record the camera that we used for our preliminary task, however it was a simple, standard issue digital camcorder. It worked well, however we found that the sound was not very good quality due to the fact that there was no external microphone (it was just a small microphone in the camera's body). Because of this, we decided to use a bigger camcorder with an external microphone for our actual production. The downside of this was that we had to use a camcorder that used tapes to record on. The tapes were difficult to use and actually meant that we had to have no audio on the videos in our production as the audio had recorded out of sync to the video. Our production “One for the Road” has taken some of the generic conventions we discovered in our research into the neo-noir genre. We took inspiration from neo-noir films such as Pulp Fiction, Touch of Evil, Snatch and Reservoir Dogs, and modern popular thriller films (as shown by our survey) such as Inception and Taken.
We studied many thriller films and the codes and conventions that they adhered to and challenged. These included quick edits (used frequently in 'Inception'). They helped add a fast pace to the film and were consistent with the amount of action going on. Although this is a convention of thriller films, we decided that in our opening sequence we wanted to challenge this idea and instead use freeze frames with a negative image effect. This sort of technique is used in many neo-noir film openings, such as ‘Snatch’. It allowed us to focus on certain characters and props within the freeze frames, emphasising elements of the plot (e.g. we have a freeze frame of the protagonist on the phone, emphasising that this is a key moment in the film). Although we did not use the quick edits convention, we wanted to take inspiration from 'Inception' in some way as our research showed that it is popular among our target audience. 'Inception' features an award winning musical score by Hans Zimmer. Renowned for his contemporary orchestral fusion style, he created a musical score which synced with the scene as the tension amplified. We tried to imitate this effect by combining acoustic guitar riffs with violins and other classical orchestral instruments. We made sure that the key changes within the piece were synced with the increasing tension in the film, as this added atmosphere to what was happening. We also wanted our film to take inspiration from the neo-noir genre. Our research showed cross cutting and low key lighting were popular in the neo noir genre, and we incorporated this into our production. We also found that many thriller films tried to make their films realistic, giving the audience the idea that it could happen to them. To imitate this, we set our opening in a generic car park, somewhere that most people will visit on a regular basis. We looked at specific areas of the car park and how the location related with their storyline, and from this we took location photographs to help us plan our plot line. Our production follows most crime thriller conventions, in order to appeal to a larger target audience. We challenged a few conventions and developed them into our own in order to create a unique selling point for our film and to make it stand out from competitor productions on the market. In the beginning, Fern is seen on the phone and struggling with her shopping bags, making her seem like your archetypal, physically weak woman. She is then struggling with getting them into her car, at which point Jason Cannon offers his assistance. We dressed Jason in dark clothing, with an anorak with a hood to make him look like a stereotypical predatory male. The audience at this point thinks that Jason is going to attack Fern, and that he is the 'bad guy' and she is the 'good guy'. However, Fern dismisses Jason and the stereotypes do a complete 180, when it is revealed that Fern is in fact the bad character and has a hostage in the boot of her car. Jason Canon - Predatory Male (Teen, working class) We wanted Jason's character to act as a red herring for the audience, in that they would think that he was the antagonist when he isn't. To do this, we wanted to use the stereotype of a predatory teenage boy. We wanted to embody the 'chav' element, so we dressed Jason in an anorak with a hood (pulled up). To make sure that he would be intimidating to Fern, we made sure the actor was taller than her. This represents a working class teenage boy stereotypically at first, but then turns out to be a countertypical representation when it is revealed that Jason is not the antagonist Fern Morrey - Young Woman (Middle class)
Fern's character is meant to appear initially innocent and as if she is going to become the victim, and then later on as a psychopathic killer. To do this, we dressed her in black jeans and converse (typical attire for a young middle class woman) and added a leather jacket to give her an edge. She also was represented stereotypically initially, before a countertypical representation is shown (of her having a hostage in her boot). We used the picture below as inspiration for Fern's outfit, as our focus group said that they thought this outfit was representational of a young middle class woman. Film distribution is the process of making a film available for viewing by an audience. Distribution to cinema is the highest part of the value chain which brings in the most profit for the institutions. Warner Bros being a well-known conglomerate will have vertically integrated companies which will distribute the institution’s films globally. Warner Bros is one conglomerate which could be considered a good institution to distribute our film ‘One for the Road’, because it has in the past distributed thriller films such as Run All Night (2015) and The Dark Knight (2008). Dark Knight was distributed in 4,366 different theatres in about 70 countries, breaking the previous record for the highest number of theatres held by The Pirates of the Caribbean in 2007. Because we want to target a mass audience, the global distribution network of Warner Bros would be good. The number of theatres includes 94 IMAX theatres, although we have only created an opening sequence, we would expect our film to have action and effects which lend it well to this sort of exhibition. We want our film to be available to a mass audience and the various ways they can consume it. Starting from releasing our film in the cinema to it going down in the value chain of the film industry, it will be available on DVD, Blu-ray, television/demand, online (Netflix, Love film and online streaming) and to rent. As a conglomerate with subsidiary companies, Warner Bros would streamline this distribution process.
Warner Bros use online ticketing services, which could help our film’s exposure by advertising it online and allowing ease of ticket purchase. To promote films they use various types of technology and different software such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and the Warner Brothers website. As these social networking sites are targeted to a mass audience of over 1,000,000 they are bound to gain a large viewing. Hash tagging, retweeting and likes on Twitter and Facebook allow people to share their personal opinions of what the film entitles; therefore this is an effective way of marketing the film. Regarding the film we produced ‘One for the Road’ we would market it the same way as the ‘Dark Knight’ since they are the same genres and Warner Bros use of social networking contributed majorly to the box office achievement. Distributing with a conglomerate can create lots of synergy opportunities. Creating a website for ‘One for the Road’ will require features such as Cast and Crew, Games, Online ticketing, Gallery, Social media links and merchandising. To gain a wider audience we will be joining popular social networks Twitter and Facebook, this way people can find out more information regarding the film’s release and further information. Warner Brothers have various games available to download on smartphones and tablets, for example an app based on the film ‘The Dark Knight’ created by Game loft is available for all ages and free download. For our film ‘One for the Road’ we would want an app released for smartphones and tablets, a crime/thriller game. The content in our game would be filled with some violence as our film is based on a kidnap. Warner Bros have operating offices in more than 30 countries and releasing films in over 120 international territories, either directly to theaters or in conjunction with partner companies. ‘The Dark Knight’ was released in many countries such as Japan, Argentina, Chile, Hong Kong, India and many more. The international release made the film become the biggest box office sensation it is today. Our film would appeal to an international audience because the genre the same as ‘The Dark Knight’ is a film made with a wide variety of elements taken from high grossing films which have made it international. During our planning and production me and my team members split the responsibilities evenly. For the production I was not here as i was away, therefore my responsibility was the editing. We decided as i have had practise of editing previously from doing the preliminary task Since i was not there for the filming my main resposibilty was the editing. We decided that I would be in charge of editing as i have had past experience with it from doing the preliminary task. Compared to the other members i am more familiarised with the software and. As i know my way around the software program I will use the effects to my full advantage and add in similar ones to my knowledge from our preliminary task. Researching into thriller opening sequences allowed me to recognise the various codes and conventions used in crime/thriller films. For our particular sub genre and style i will be mainly focusing on neo noir films such as Snatch, Touch of Evil and Drive. By continuously looking at opening sequences of these films i will able to re create the many effects and cuts in our opening, making it into a proper. Throughout i have been taking the lead role , making sure everyone has a even responsibility. By being in charge I am able to guide my other team members into doing the best they can and making sure they are doing the correct task. As one group member left I had to re arrange the tasks making sure me and the other member had an equal amount to do as well as providing the right equipment. Although my other group member was in charge of sound I had little input in what sounded right and how it suited our production. Garage Band was the program the sound was created on. Since we did not have audio from the characters due to technical issues the music was created by my team member and fitted perfectly with our final production. During the planning and production of our piece, we aimed to split the management roles as evenly as possible. As there is only 2 members in our group, we both had a lot of work to do.
One of the things that I was primarily doing was composing the music. We decided as a group that this would make sense as I am quite musical and have a better knowledge of the technical aspects of music than the other members of my group. I studied the work of one of my favourite composers, Hans Zimmer, as he has composed the music for many famous thriller films, such as inception, Interstellar, The Dark Night trilogy and many more. Zimmer is known for his fresh approach to orchestral music, creating a style of electronic-classical fusion that is very much his own. This kind of music works well for thriller films as it is very easy to build suspense using a combination of synthesisers and classical instruments. The sole piece of technology that I used for creating the music was GarageBand, using their samples of music and mixing these with riffs that I had composed myself. To build tension, I made the music intensify and added layers gradually, creating a crescendo effect. I also added in 2 key changes, to increase the tension of the music, fitting with the film. I had to make sure that the building of the tension in the music was synced with the building of the tension in the film. I was also in charge of filming, and this involved setting up the shots, positioning the camera, giving direction to the actors and also organising the logistics. We used a tripod to ensure that the footage would not be shaky. We had some technical issues when uploading the footage as a member of our team left, and some of the important shots were in her possession. However, we decided as a group that we would have to try to work without these. Our videos also had very out of sync audio, which meant that we had to erase the audio completely. However, this was not too problematic as our music was effective and it also fitted with our style to just have music. Manisha and I did the editing together as she had better knowledge of the editing programme (Final Cut Pro) than I, and we worked together as a team to edit our piece. |
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