Well, this has been an amazing experience. I loved learning more about the technologies and thrillers. I felt that the teamwork was great and I couldn't have asked for a better group. We all got along great and didn't face any major problems. Group 19 has been awesome.
Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions for real media products?
In our thriller film opening we followed the conventional order. The main conventions that we used in our film opening is music, titles and editing.
Music is used to set the mood or atmosphere of film and also helps create a certain atmosphere.
Titles are also very important as it gives the audience more awareness as to who made and was in the film. This includes : production company ident, name of director, name of actors and actress and the name of the film.
Editing was heavily used throughout the entire clip. We wanted to create a series of specialised cuts to create drama and tension.
Our main reference for the film opening is from 'Se7en,' we got the idea of filming different movements and generally action to build up some tension. In 'Se7en' there was also cuts of different movements and objects. The quick cuts create a very tense atmosphere.
Our opening is very close to the opening in 'Seven' in terms of the titles and shots we used.
However, for the soundtrack we used a low-toned mysterious sound to play throughout the opening. We used the opening of 'Enemy of the State' to compare the soundtrack. In the opening the soundtrack is fast which shows that the film is action-packed. However, we used a slower soundtrack to suggest mystery.
Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? In the photobucket slide, the images represent a stereotypical image or representation of women. The images shows that woman are undermined by the dominated male species and are always at constant battle for rights. Our thriller opening shows that the agent is self-driven and she too has to cope with a lot which is the same to many other women. The social groups in our film is gender and regional identity. Gender is portrayed in both positive and negative way. Its negative as men look down at women and are more dominating, however its also positive as women are portrayed as strong and confident. Regional identity is also positive as women are working, wearing smart clothing and the fact that they are in the city shows that they are smart and capable of working. In our film we contradict the stereotypical image of women, as we represent women as dominating and able. We show them as being a women of action during the bag swapping scene and also in the office scene when the main character is circling an image of the suspect. Our film shows that it is a women controlling the action meaning the entire film which shows that they are controlling the plot of the film. This undermines the power of the dominant male as it shows that a women is in charge and is the main character of the film.
Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Here is a wordle which decribes our target audience who are mainly young male adults mainly 18+
We chose this target audience as the sub-genre which is a spy thriller is one of the most popular sub-genres that audiences prefer the most. Our target audience enjoys films that are more engaging and thrilling.
The main gender would be male. We felt that this would be an appropriate group to target as we felt that the action would make them want to watch it.
The general interests for our target audience would ideally be social networking, sports such as football and basketball, video games such as xBox games such as FIFA, computers and films, mainly action and adventure such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Bad Boys.
Here is short clips with the reviews from our audience. The video is divided in to three sub-sections such as what they liked about the film, did the sountrack suit the film and what do we need to improve next time.
The mise-en-scene would attract our target audience because they don't really get to see the character but they can see the surroundings which makes it very mysterious. The storyline would also attract our audience because our sub-genre is spy thriller and this could attract them because it contains action and adventure. I felt that a well known landmarks like Tower Bridge would be a way to attract UK audience. We came up with the name 'CODE RED' because the colour red is significant to our theme of the film.
The rough cut feedback was very important as we could see what we had to improve on and also gave us new ideas to try out.
The videos above explains the audiences' reaction and views towards the film during the Cinema screening.
Overall, the audience enjoyed the concept of the film and the different cuts and special effects used. They also liked the soundtrack as it flowed with the opening.
However, we also had views that the opening dragged on for too long and this may have lost the plot or concept of the film.
Q7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? In my opinion I feel that there is a great difference between the preliminary task and the final film. One example of difference was with the research between the preliminary task and the final film opening as for the preliminary task we did not do any research at all. However, for the final film we had to research a lot of areas to be full prepared. With the preliminary task we understood the use of match cuts and how effective it can be when applied correctly. We also understood the concept of the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule states that the camera should stay on one side. The aim is to allow the filming to stay interesting, but whilst not breaking the continuity of the shots. To avoid confusing the audience, this rule isn't usually broken especially in cases such as a convention and action sequences. However, sometimes the rule may be broken for effect, for example, if the aim is to purposely disorientate the audience. It may also be used to set the scene. In our preliminary task, we decided not to break the 180 degree rule.
During the preliminary task , another thing was that we did not put too much effort in the different shots that we wanted to use even though we created a storyboard, however after careful planning for the film opening we decided to use various number of different shots such as match cuts and rapid quick shots to create a very effective opening and too do this we created a very detailed storyboard for the final film opening.
Another thing that we did not organise for the preliminary task was the props, we used what ever was in the room at the time. One thing, however, we did organise was the location which was in Tony's office.
Here is the final preliminary video:
For the final film, we researched more about the genre and which sub-genre most people enjoy, we also understood the codes and conventions of a typical thriller opening. We also researched different thriller films that can help inspire us but the one that we got our inspiration was from the film'Se7en,' we really liked this opening in particular as it covered what we really wanted for our own opening. We used the stylized shots, the rapid cuts and the effects of the titles from the film 'Se7en' as it made us feel our adrenaline was increasing, creating more tension making the audience want to watch more. This what we were aiming to with our opening.
We also planned our locations and decided to go to a well-known location for example Tower Bridge. We chose this location as it is one of London's iconic location and the fact that the audience can relate to the opening.
Another great difference between the preliminary task and final film is that we thought a lot more abou the storyline for the final film and how we can add the conventions that we learnt onto our film This shows that we used our developed to create a better quality and effctive film. By planning everything and putting more effort in our ideas we knew what w ecan do and what we had to do, for example by creating a full developed storyboard, we had a visual idea of the outlook of the overall product/ film.
Here is the rough cut of the opening of the film.
In the preliminary we used a lot of match cuts and a few close ups instead of long continous shot where the camera is following the character to their location. We used the cuts to change the the shots and keep it more interesting otherwise it seems to drag if there was no chance. During the filming, we were confident with the camera as we got everything done quickly with no problems as the shots we took was simple.
PLEASE IGNORE THE PRIVATE VIDEO, BLOGGER IS ACTING WEIRD.
The lighting was very simple as well. For the preliminary excerise it was a natural lighting, nothing was added, however for the final film, we used a spot light to make the office look dim and dark. We did this to creat a mysterious atmosphere. What we did was turned off the lights, closed the blinds and focused the spot light in one area in it lowest setting.
The light made a signinfficant amount of change as for both films we used Tony's office however, in the film film, it looks like a office not Tony's office. We were able to tranform Tony's office and made it look like two different locations and this reflected well for our film as it looked really professional.
The sounds in the preliminary task was very simple, all we added was a soundtrack to play during the beginning part of the film, however, we it came to the final film, we realised that sound was the key point in our film as there is no speech. We added a soundtrack for Soundtrack Pro however we also added our own foley sounds such as the pen tapping, and typying on the computer. This was very effective as we that they were in this type of situation and the tense was increasing.
In the preliminary task, we mainly used a lot of match cutsand cuts, as this was a very simple scene. however, in the final final there was a wide range of rapid cuts and match cuts . The transitions was also used toshow sthe journey from the office to Tower Bridge. This skills has started to expand as we started using more complex skills. This made it look more realistic and not dragging on for too long.
In the preliminary task, the mise-en-scene was not considered to be very important for the task, but also the fact that you can easily tell that the location is in the office. For the final film weplanned what type of props wewould need. Forexample, the polaroid snaps of the criminal, the brief case, the labelled map, teh case files, the outfit (red nails, red lips) and the office scenery and so on. This enabled to develop our skills as it showed that we though a lot about the outlay of the location and what we could do to make it look like a spy's office.
The titles in the preliminary task was a mixture of pink and white, this was because it the titles were black it into the background. It was very plain and dissolved in out. In the final film we planned to have whote coloured titles as it would stand out from the dark background, and would aslo ake it easier and clearer to read. The titles in the final film were played throughout the office scene as the London Bridge scenewas the narrative to the film.
Q1- In what ways does your media product use, develop,or challenge forms and conventions of real media products
The main conventions of a film opening are music, title, establishing genre and editing. We followed these conventions.
Music is important in the opening of a film because it sets the mood and creates a certain atmosphere. For example the opening of a thriller film would not be the same as the music in the opening of a comedy film. The film 'se7en' opening music is tense and therefore establishes that its going to be a horror film.
Titles at the beginning of a film is important because it shows who has worked to create the film and the main characters names. The conventional order starts with the production company ident, distribution company,movie titles then cast name.
There was a lot of editing in our film, we were inspired by the the movie 'se7en' because they used lots of cuts of different movement/ action and it made it more exciting to watch rather than having a long narration.
To avoid confusion the opening should establish the genre. They can do this by showing the location and/or character. By doing this you get an idea of what genre it is. For example if the opening is dark and gloomy it would most probably be a horror film.
Representaion is the description or portrayal of something or someone in a particualar way or as being of a certain nature.
Theres lots of different kind of representation that can be potrayed in the media for example; gender, sexuality and regional identity. In our film we potrayed women in a positive aspect. We showed the main charecter as a strong and independent women who's trying to prove to her co-workers who are all men that she is just as good as them if not better.
In the film it shows the presure in women at work, as they try to do their job but have to face men putting them down and making them feel like they're weak. When people think of a spy agent they think of men, In our film we try to switch that view as the main spy agent is a women who is represented in a similar way as male spy agents.
Men were represented in a negative aspect, we captured their behaviour in the work place as over powering as they look down on the women because they think they're not good enough.
In the images it shows that women are powerfull. It also shows the battle at work with men to prove they are strong.
Q4-Who would be the audience for you media product?
The target audience for our thriller film are boys aged 18+ The reason why we picked boys is because the main charecter is a girl and therefore would attract male audience. For example the movie skyfall attracted a lot of female attention because the main charecter is a man. The reason we chose the age group of 18+ is because the film would contain some mature content and violence.
Our target audience would be attracted to our film because of the sub-genre. The sub genre to our thriller film is spy, young male adults would be attracted to this because it has lots of excitement, action and thrill.
The wider audience for thriller films in general are mainly males.
Here is and example of a Facebook profile of our target audience.
I think the mise en scene appeals to our target audience as it has an element of mystery towards the beginning. Also the storyline and genre of our thriller would attract to a maturer audience as they would understand it more. The location would maybe attract people in the UK, most likely London, as we used famous landmarks e.g. Tower Bridge. Also I think our thriller title 'Code Red' has a sense of urgency to it so it makes it seem important and actiony as well as secretive.
Our rough cut feedback played a major role on the final outcome of our thriller opening. Originally our footage was quite long with a few shots out of focus. We fixed this by filming new shots, focused on mise en scene with more stylized shots of the characters surroundings and also maker more rapid cuts to make it more interesting and make it seem mysterious yet important also.
So far we have reached our audience through vimeo and cinema screening. Overall, the audience reaction while viewing our thriller was good.
Here are a few individual responses from the audience:
The end of the video got cut off towards the end but when asked about who she thought the target audience for the thriller was, Vanessa replied saying that she thought it was teens, older teens maybe to adults. This is because she felt that the spy and mystery element appeals to an older audience whereas the actors used and the action element from the soundtrack may appeal to a younger audience.
Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Between the preliminary and the final film there was a huge difference in the amount of research we did. With the preliminary, we understood the use of match cuts and how to use it effectively so we didn't feel the need to research into that any further. Same applied to the 180 degree rule - where the camera stays to one side (180 degrees) to keep the film interesting while at the same time not breaking the continuity of the shit. Another thing with the preliminary is that we didn't really put much thought into the still shots we took for the storyboard, it was just something we put together last minute so we knew along the lines of what we had to shoot. The other thing that wasn't organised was the props; we just used whatever was in the room that would be to our convenience. The only thing we did have sorted was the location - Tony's office.
With the final film, we researched more into the genre so we understood the codes and conventions of a typical thriller. We researched into thriller movies to see what could inspire us with our film. We decided to use aspects of 'Se7en' with the stylized shots and the effects of the titles. We also planned our locations as well. For example, we chose Tower Bridge as it is an iconic London landmark. Also, another change between the two is that we thought a lot about our storyline and how we could tie in the conventions we learnt into our own film. This shows that we had developed our research and planning skills to create a better and effective opening. By putting more thought into what we could do and how we could do it, we had a better visual in how we wanted our end product to be instead of just winging it and hoping for the best.
In the preliminary we used a lot of mid shots using match cuts to connect them and a few close ups instead of having an ongoing shot where the camera follows the character around. We did this to change the shots up and to keep it from getting boring because after a while it does seem to drag if there isn't much change. We were quite confident with the camera as we got what needed to be done quite quickly with no problems as the shots we were taking were quite simple.
In the final film we had a variety of other shots. E.g. close ups of the surroundings within the office, establishing shots of both locations, over the shoulder shots etc. This was done to make it effective and not become boring. This shows a great deal of development because it shows that we have become more confident with the camera and have become experimental with our camera skills.
The lighting in the preliminary was basic. It was all natural lighting where nothing was added to make it different. We just filmed in the office as it was. However, for the final film we filmed in the same office, but we kept it dark. We did this to create a mysterious atmosphere. All we did was have an extra light to have a tiny bit of light to focus on the part we were filming so it wasn't completely dark. By doing this, it looks like we filmed in two completely different rooms as there is a clear contrast in the way we shot it. This reflects greatly on our development as we managed to transform the office into looking like two different locations. The second part of our opening had all natural lighting as we were outside, so there wasn't much we could do in that department.
The sounds in the preliminary was pretty basic. We just had a basic soundtrack over the beginning, a few foley sounds and then some dialogue. However in the final film, we relied heavily on the soundtrack and the foley sounds. This was because we wanted to make the audience feel as if they were there and that they could feel the atmosphere around them as well. Also, we felt that by enhancing the sounds of the objects around her without actually hearing the character herself adds to the mystery element as it would make you want to know more about her.
In the preliminary we used mainly a lot of match cuts and cuts. This is because we thought that it was one simple scene where you go from one place to another and then sit down and talk so it wouldn't make sense to add transitions as it is not happening slowly or over a period of time. However, in the final film there was a range of rapid cuts and match cuts and transitions. The transitions were used to show the journey from the office to Tower Bridge. This reflects on our development of skills because we started to use more than just simple editing skills. Even though it took much longer to edit by doing this, it all made it look more realistic which would make it more effective for the audience.
In the preliminary, the mise en scene wasn't really taken into consideration as we were supposed to be in a college setting anyways so we just used whatever was available to us within the office. This made it believable that we were in the college setting and by the status differences, it was clear to see. In the final film, we had to plan beforehand on what we would need. For example, the polaroid snaps of the criminal, the map, the briefcase, the case files, the office scenery, the outfit (red nails, red lips) etc. This developed our skills because it shows that we thought a great deal about what we could use to make it look like a real spy's office.
The titles in the preliminary was a mixture of pink and white. It was plain and just dissolved in and out. Doing this made the titles blend into the background sometimes. We resolved this issue within our final film by having just white titles dissolving in and out. Doing this made it clear and easier to read as all the tiles were displayed throughout the whole of the office scene where it was dark. This shows that we developed our skills on the use of titles as we identified our mistake in the preliminary and worked on how we could improve it for the final film.
The target audience for our thriller film are young male adults aged 18+.
Our film would appeal to the target audience because of the storyline. The reason why boys would be attracted to the storyline is because it has a lot of action and is mystery which would keep them on the edge of their seats.
The name of the film 'Code Red' would appeal to our target audience because it sounds like there would be a sense of danger and excitement.
The main location Tower bridge is a well known landmark, We felt this was extremely significant as it would attract our UK audience.
The rough cut feedback really helped improve our film in order to better appeal to our audience. this is because we made the opening really long because we had lots of unneccesary shots of the main charecter walking. We were then told to cut the shots so there wasn't a long walking scene. If we kept the opening long, our target audience would get bored and fall intrest quick.
We have reached our target audience through cinema screening and vimeo.
Here are some feedbacks from the audience after the cinema screening.
The main opening that inspired our opening was Se7en. This is because they had lots of different cuts that were close ups, like turning the page and writing this made the opening very effective because lots of different thing was happening and it wasn't narrative. However we didn't want all our credits to be on a black screen and instead we wanted it to be on film.
The title in the opening of 'The Roomate' inspired our film opening. I liked the colour of the text which was white, I thought it would be best to use that colour and size on our opening because its simple and doesn't drag attention from the film. I also liked how the title is not always on one side and it moves from left to right each time.
The opening of skyfall was very dramatic as it started of by showing the main character drowning and then someone grabbing his hands. This keeps the audience straight away on the edge of their seats and curious on whats happening.
The camera was mainly under water, they zoomed in to the main characters eyes twice one at the begining and again at the end. The camera work was very effective because it showed many close ups and wide shots showing the surrounding.
Editing in the opening was very important because the there was many jump cuts showing different scene. The also used fade in and fade out effects from one scene to another.
The sound they used was music from Adelle, there was no other sound effects like sound of water or gunshots it was just the music playing.
Mise en scene in the opening was very effective because it establishes the kind of genre this is and tells you more about the main character. The main character that was drowning was wearing a suit which shows he was probably in an important position of work. The man was holding a gun shooting, The gun shows that this movie would probably have a lot of action.
