This blog has been marked. SJA 08/05/11

Final Opening Sequence

Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Since my preliminary task I have learnt an endless amount of skills. To begin with, I have learnt how to use a wide range of equipment and programmes that come in hand all the time when creating/editing a film. I've thought about the target audience a lot as well which is key for making a success full film because you want it to appeal to a certain group to make it popular. In my preliminary task it was very basic and had no effects or transitions used, whereas in the final product now has a number of them such as fade in and black and white. Live type is one skill that I have found very successful and would defiantly use next time I film something, because it makes the film look much more professional and appropriate. Moods and atmospheres are a really good thing to think about when creating a movie, due to the audience may get bored watching a film, so by creating a mood or atmosphere gets them involved in the film and they will then indulge themselves into their chair as there mind focuses on the film and nothing else. To add to what I have learnt I would like to mention planning and questionnaires the public because me and my group had a multiple of plans, so we discussed together and came up with what we wanted to do. Once we had done this, we would then ask the public what they would like, for example 'where would you like a thriller to be based at' and then using these results we would go with what the public decided to attract them.


If I could go back to my preliminary task now, I would defiantly make my continuity editing a lot more effective by editing, I would use a more wide range of camera angles such as panning, extreme close-up and a distribution shot which is great for setting a mood. Titles would be really good at the start or end of the film, and I would use live type for this as it has worked really well on my thriller. Also I would possibly use transitions between some shots to improve the flow of the clip. Finally I would use a much better destination than the school, because I learnt that there are many really good filming spots local and the school is very boring and dull, making the film look tacky and unprofessional.

What Have You Learnt About Techniques From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

During the process of making this film, I have discovered new tools, expanded my knowledge on certain things and have learnt more about technology. First of all we had to use a video camera to film and record all of our stuff, and I wasn't to familiar with the video cameras especially when we had a brand new one. I learnt how to record and stop the footage and how to rewind to look back at what was already on the video cameras which was very useful for checking shots. Secondly we used a basic camera to take pictures of the group filming and the characters. I knew how to use a camera but I picked up the skill to upload them onto the apple mac computers and upload them to blog without a problem. My skills with the tripod's are retentively good as I can set one up and pack one away really quickly. Imovie was a main part of this film as it's how we created it and edited it on. I had used iMovie before but only using basics controls such as 'cut' and 'paste'. In the time I spent editing I learnt how to duplicate clips, add soundtracks to it while muting the noise from the camera. I also got showed a whole load of effects and transitions in the programme which came incredible useful for continuity editing.

Live type was completely new to me, so this was a skill I developed when producing the titles of the film. This programme was able to create the text with a wide range of font, colours and positions and place them anywhere on the film with however long you wanted it. Blogger is where we post all our activities on and is used for the coursework side of the course. Now I have never used blogger, but after a few months got really familiar with it and was able to edit so many different things like the background colour, YouTube clips, view counts etc. I learnt to make the blogger more visual to make it appeal more than just plain writing.

How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

We has younger actors and actresses in the film to attract the younger side of the community i.e teenagers to watch our thriller. For example the character may be going through a hard time, but someone from the audience could also be experiencing these issues. Our characters are also genuine and normal which you could mistaken for a normal person, this could therefore mean that the audience may feel more comfortable and relaxed as they are not different. Also as being teenagers ourselves, we speak about the film to friends and then it travels by the word of mouth. It's easier to narrow the audience down to possibly one group so you can focus on them and attract them much easier.

This is the final piece of our movie 'paranoia' and has commentary from the whole group, explaining certain shots, characters and why we have chose them. It starts of with me explaining the intro and then Cameron with the middle part an finally Kayleigh summing up the film. Another part of our film that makes it relevant to modern society is the setting, as it set in london this makes it very relevant to our target audience who clearly.

Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

To start things off, my thriller is going to be certificate 15 because it is a thriller and

will contain flashing scenes, murders involving gore and bad language, so this is inappropriate for the people under the age of 15. The main actor is playing the role of an 18 year old, so this will attract a lot of people from that age group because they can relate themselves to him. I'm hoping for a positive reaction for the target audience I have chose because it was aimed at them, and have adapted the film for them to like.

These people above are a mixture of teenagers, which are ideal for this film. Teenagers don't have much to do in their free time and statistics show that cinema's are one their most popular destination to go. So by choosing the teenage age group, will attract a lot of them and will make this film popular and sell a large amount of tickets. I myself am a 17 year old, so I can have an opinion on what 'we' like as I am a teenager myself. So by having this advantage will make it easier to know what they look for in a film.

This would be a typical young adult that would be interested in my film paranoia and who we have aimed it for. He is a happy young chap that enjoys watching thrillers as well as other films. He studies media so he will have a great view on films and opening sequence and will even give us feedback on how he feels about it. As well as being a college student, he liked to go out, box and socialize and tends to go cinema a lot to watch the latest films out. He recently watched inception which was a thriller and really enjoyed it, so hopefully this will encourage him to watch my thriller.

What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distrubute Your Media Product And Why?

Other films made by British producers such as 'vertigo' have been successful and have produced films such as, street dance 3D, The Firm and Football Factory. These films all appeal to a certain audience, for example street dance would appeal to dancers and people aged from 14 - 30. Whereas The Firm and Football Factory would appeal to male adults aged from 18 - 50 because they are rough gang films.

Vertigo may be interested in my film because it's also been produced by British people and is based in London, which is the capital of England. Also vertigo do a wide range of genre's so a Thriller would fit in perfectly to their collection of films. The movie posters above show some of the thrillers vertigo have produced and a few of them like 'the children' is a really successful and popular film. Due to vertigo being successful in their thriller area, it would be really good for them to produce my film paranoia.

My film is independent and will appeal to a narrow audience and not a large audience. This is because we have made it to appeal specifically for 15 - 40 year olds who enjoy a psychological thriller. I had done previous research from people of the public and got their results together to produce a film the majority of people would enjoy.

Focus features is a British film industry that have done films such as, 'Billy Elliott' and 'Silent Hill' which are well known and were very successful. They specialize in Indie films and when they are released to the cinema, they are very popular. Also they have many DVD's out which are sold very often, making them a popular company to buy films from. I studied one of their films and that was 'Brick' and that inspired me the most to help develop my own opening sequence by using a variety of shots and angles. I would like to use this film company due to their popularity and success in the world of film. Finally they have had such great reviews like the one below.

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Though there is only really 1 main character in my opening sequence, he is seen as a stereotype. I know this because he is a wealthy man who works as a business man, and when people think of a business man they think 'rich'. Also before he leaves his house, he is checking himself out to show he is vain, and most wealthy people are.

This picture of Matt Damon is a stereotype of my character. In this picture, he is a business man with a well looked after personality as you can see. The reason we wanted to base my character on Matt Damon is that he is very popular to the public in films such as 'The Bourne Identity'. I think it was very successful in the end due to great responses and how the character Nathan fits in really well in the opening sequence.

This annotated picture below will show the picture of the character Nathan;

By this annotation and analysis of the character, we can see that he is representing all the business people out there, mainly the high-class. The good thing is, is that most high class wealthy people think there life is going really well so they wont care for anyone else and it's commonly known as 'being snobby'. But Nathan, being a high-class business man effectively lives as a middle-class man which comes across as a good thing. Unfortunately he has had a bad past which he has killed someone, and is reminded of this from a flashback. We then don't know anything about the women he killed or why he done it, that's why the opening sequence is most effective.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

When creating my film by using a lot of different media products, other opening sequences for thrillers such as Fargo has influenced me a lot. Fargo influenced me to use a lot of camera angles at the start to produce and mood in the film and make it flow easier. A media product I learnt from a few films was the 180 degree rule and I have used this consistently in my film, which makes it look more professional. The film Iron Man gave me the idea to use the rule of thirds in my film, because this media product is an advanced skill, and if used at the right point, could make my film really effective.

Another opening sequence I took a big liking into was 'the sixth sense' because it created such a creepy mood from the very beginning and I wanted this to happen in my film. So by starting of slow with a lot of shots helped do this. Also by not revealing a lot at the start can be very mysterious.

I am pleased with the use of media products in my film because it flows really well and has gained a great responce from pupils in my class such as Jack Devonport who said: 'This film is really great, and the black and white flashback really makes this film'. My work went well and I am happy with the final product because from grabbing idea's from other opening sequences makes my one really good.

I feel that my media products have improved vastly since the start of media, and I hope that my final product can show this. I believe that the characters in my film have the right costumes and acting skills to make this film decent. What I want people to think after they have seen my opening sequence is 'that was fantastic' and want them wanting to watch the whole film. If I do get a response like that, then my objective is complete, because the whole idea of the opening sequence is to 'hook' the viewers and to keep them interested in the film.

This is a contact sheet from my final product of 'paranoia' my film. Just like the sixth sense storyboard, they are both very visual and include titles, to show how it would appear in the film. The first shot in the contact sheet appears right at the very start of the film because it advertises the company that produced this film and that is 'vertigo' a British film company known from movies such as the playground and shrooms which are thrillers. The second shot is the scene of Kayleigh who has been murdered and its in black and white to show it's a flashback. Thirdly, the main actor is revealed from a title and the font being used gives a creepy atmosphere. The next shot is off Nathan suspiciously looking behind him as he leaves his room, thinking perhaps someone is watching him. Since Nathan is high classed business man, he likes to look the part, therefore this shot is really effective as it shows he takes pride in himself. Next Nathan is running late for the train and hurries downstairs while keeps looking back to see if he is being followed. Sixth shot shows him getting off the train on the way to work, and he gets of with a powerful stance to show his power and authority. The last 2 shots in this contact sheet show Nathan's shock and why he is shocked!

Titles

This is the font that we are going to use to portray the jobs and roles of the members of our group. We use this font to create an equilibrium because it is a calm font and therefore the shock/ dis-equilibrium will be more effective later on in the film.

This is the title of our film and the font that it will be in. This connotes the psychological element of our film as it is in handwriting, this makes the main character more personal to the viewers as it is almost like he has written it.

We have used these fonts from the website; www.dafonts.com

Character Descriptions And Casting

This is a picture of my character will be the main character. He is a well dressed smart business man to show stereotypes of rich men in suits that is wealthy and living in central London. He has a middle class attitude but he is a high class, showing he is not as snobby as most wealthy people are. Unfortunately he is very lonely and he try to not let it get to him. He has a few psychological problems and later on in the title sequence, you will see that he starts to see his past, and his past was not pleasant.

The second character is Kayleigh, which in this film is only shown sitting on a bench when it triggers that flashback, and the actual flashback its self where she is killed. Kayleigh is an important character, and seems to be a middle classed women who maybe was this man's girlfriend at one point. She dresses in black which is mysterious and may have a twist in the film.

Shooting Schedule

As a group, we kept to this shooting schedule very precisely and am proud to say it worked really well and we finished all are filming on time. By doing this, it gave us maximum time for editing.

Script

In our movie, we have decided not to use any dialogue speech because we find that if no one speaks and their is just a soundtrack playing, it creates a sinister mood. Anyway the main priority of the film is to attract viewers and make them want to carry on watching the rest of the film. So by using dialogue, it will break the mood and atmosphere and make the film look cheap and tacky. Moreover, the viewers will be so interested in the title sequence they won't even want anyone to speak in the title sequence.

List Of Props, Costumes And Locations

Pratically all the filming was done in London, because it has a large number of good places to film and we used this to our advantage. The rest of it was filmed in Camerons house acting as Nathan's house. The props we used were costumes, like a grey suit and white shirt, briefcase, camera, tripod and destinations.

Storyboards

Sound

Soundtracks and sound are key in thrillers. This is due to the mood, tension and atmosphere it creates while people sit in their edge of their seats terrified by what's going to happen. I find that when the sound starts of really slow and quiet it tends to build a bit of tension, and then when a suspicious scene comes along, or a runaway scene, the music tends to have a fast pace and very loud. I have done some research on youtube for some tracks that will be most suitable for my thriller.

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_M-HYUqYYM

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWX-Cz4aQzM

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSA4duW_M7c&feature=related

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eO0unQGuiU&feature=fvst

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLPL2gwlynk&playnext=1&list=PL12D62470349F0A87

After this research of soundtracks and good idea's, our group have decided to produce our own music for this thriller, because we can make exactly what we want and make it unique to our film. This would be more productive and beneficial to our film.

Shot List

Film Synopsis

Flashback at the beginning causes the main character to attempt to run away.

In the middle, the main characters friend (Cameron) finds out that he his friend (Nathan) has killed people.

The audiences are made to believe that people from Nathan’s past are after him.

In the final moments the audience discover that he is mental and he ends up killing himself to escape from his troubled past.

Initial Ideas

Zombieland - Slow Motion

The pictures above are from the trailer of the film 'zombieland' and when viewing it, it made me realise how effective the editing slow-motion was. These photos are all during a slow motion scene. The reason I think slow-motion is effective is because it makes a change from a normal speed paced scene and you get to watch things in more detail, or example a zombies tooth slowly sinking into the neck of a human. When making my thriller, I would like to use a slow motion scene because it can be very spooky when used properly and will help get the audience scared and unsettled for the film.

Iron Man - Rule Of Thirds

In the holidays I took time out to watch some films to help with my film making skills. And after watching iron man 1, I noticed they used a lot of rule of thirds and I find this very effective and good to look at. It appears really nice and the mise-en scene is well thought out. By looking at these 3 images I took above, I would really like to use this in my film, perhaps a ghost could appear in the centre of the screen while two humans, one on the left and one on the right. Rule of thirds look really well when adding a eyeline match shot aswell, because it's bang on in the centre of the screen. This could look really effective to the viewers. The colour contrasts between these shots really show the thought the artists have put in, because it makes the whole composistion unique.

Fargo Storyboard

Fargo didn't really please my standards of a film. The opening sequence totally bored me and I switched off when watching it. The reason I thought this is because the scenes and shots were very dull and the colours seemed to be all the same, a white and light blue colour. Also some of the shots on the road took around 8 - 10 seconds to finish, and staring at the same thing isn't very pleasant.

Although I did not like the opening sequence, it did have a good use of mise-en scene throughout the start. For example, in the snow it was just a blank white screen, but then the fog disappeared and you began to see the fog lights of a car from a distance and it was on the right side of the shot and not central, so it shows the director has thought about this when filming it. By having the car on the right hand side, it allows the viewers to look around the area.

The other thing about this I liked was the credits that came up on screen, because they faded in from the snow and appeared in a multiple of places like bottom right, or bottom left etc. The font colour was black which contrasted nicely with the white/blue background and the lettering was very spacial, so it filled the majority of the screen. I may steal this idea for my own film because it's a very modern trick and looks nice across the screen.