Our Storyboard for our main task.

Evaluation...Question 7.

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

As a film maker I feel that I have developed in many areas. I find it easier to pick up faults and problems in a piece of media whilst still giving feedback on ways to develop this fault and fix it. With the preliminary task I often found it easy to ignore the problems just so that we could get the filming smooth, from this I found out that I could spot these faults all the time whenever I watch my Preliminary task. With the main task I spoke to another member of the group (Zander Parkin) about areas of which I had concerns and with any faults I could see at the time. I also feel that making sure of the footage taken is an important task. It is important for the footage to be clear, focused and non-blurry. It was not as often taken seriously in out preliminary task where we had a few shots in which we found were incorrect. We did not have any other versions of this clip so had to re-shoot it, this proved a problem as the people in the scene were wearing different clothing so ruined the continuity of this clip, with our main AS task the number of times we shot the same scene ensured that if something was wrong with one shot, then the chance of it being wrong with the others is reduced to a safety.

From my preliminary task I feel that we managed to include a wide variety of shots and did not just remain in one area during the filming. In our preliminary task I think we did not correctly use the 180 degree rule without breaking it and lacked in the continuity of the filming. One section of the preliminary task where we included a shot reverse shot one of the actors (Morris James) changed with his hair style and his shirt This Continuity failure would have been avoided if we recorded these scenes more than once.

I was important for me to develop my camera skills before filming my main task. After the failure of the continuity from the preliminary task we would need to ensure that if the filming span over more than one day then the same clothing is used. We decided that we would film the same scene in one area more than once to as if the filming did not work correctly we would not need to come back the next day when the weather and/or lighting would be different. With the 180 degree rule we struggled to make sure that the rule was not broken, this was successful after revising the camera shots and angles which were used in our final piece. We did not use a shot reverse shot in our media as we felt there was no place in the main task for it. Shot reverse shots are useful when there are two or more people talking or confronting each other, there were no scenes in our main task where we felt this would work. In our preliminary task we managed to get a shot reverse shot in the very first scene.

We attempted to have a match on action shot during the filming of our main task. When the filming was complete and we returned back to editing we found that the match on action scene did not work to the best of effects. Due to this we did not put a match on action into our main task. Match on action was also not used in our preliminary task as we did not correctly think of the camera shots in a wide variety. As it can also be seen we did not always get the characters of the moment in the shots correctly. The top shot with Morris in managed to include his face in the centre square, whereas the shot with James in did not fully reach the centre of the shot. In the shot where Morris is walking you can see that throughout that whole shot his body is focused mainly towards the left hand side of the screen. It changes the shot soon after but this means that Morris is almost always on one side of the screen when walking at all times.

I feel that the main task in which Zander Parkin, Morris James and I created was a successful Thriller opening although it is a borderline Thriller as it does sometimes feel confusing and as if there is no storyline to the opening, Other times it feels like a trailer. It is and opening though and with it there are conventions of the Thriller Genre. There is a protagonist aswell as an antagonistic character. The main antagonist is a dark and mysterious character which has been seen in the film as the dominant character. He is often viewed as being stronger and more cunning than the protagonists. This is given across because the camera angles nearly always show the antagonist being above the protagonists on the levels. We used the lighting to convey the message that the story line between these two characters is a long and dark one. I feel that one of the strengths of my Thriller is the conventions that we conveyed through lighting, set, location and clothing. For the villain we included a suit which was all black, with a black waist coat, shirt and tie. This conveys the ideas that this character is the villain and by wearing a suit he is in some sort of business. By wearing all black we get the feeling that this person brings darkness along with him in the way that he acts and the things that he does. This is a strength of our thriller as the costumes were well thought out. One of the weaknesses of our thriller was the story line. Whilst there was still a story line for people to see it was a difficult if not transparent story line. The story line was following a certain individual through the introduction. The story line that we ended up with seemed to be a slightly clichéd one considering there was one person in which the main character has crossed paths with before and wants revenge.

With the titles I feel that we did prefer to make the titles off of the Macs and in a way which resembled the thriller. For our preliminary task we did not end up having a single title on it, we felt this was a flaw in our preliminary and needed to work on this in the main task. In the main task we cut out pieces of a newspaper and stuck them to a piece of paper in order to install the feeling of insecurity and the feeling of being a detective onto the audience.

Evaluation...Question 6.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

With our media production we have used basic Sony camcorders to record the footage with a tripod included, We used the tripod to get steady shots like the kind used to film the waterfalls. We used this in a way which we could set it up to record then leave it for five or six minutes to ensure the footage we recorded was still and correct. I have learnt that with shooting skills it is important for camera angles and lighting to be taken into account. The angles would be able to affect how the audience portrays the current events and characters.  With the apple macs and Imovie I found out that effects can be added to clips and footage in order to change the atmosphere of our media. By using the macs in our preliminary we managed to ensure that the skills could be developed through trial and error and to build up these skills would show that I have developed in my editing as a whole.

With the camera tripod I was able to make sure that the camera was always stable and remained in the correct position. With a tripod we were also able to pan the camera a lot smoother than the camera if it was just handheld although we did not use pan. With the shot (left) we used a camera on a tripod and left it for about 5 minutes to ensure that we could speed this up without any frame wobbling. With framing we were aiming to that the characters were always in the centre or the middle third of the screen. In the preliminary task we made a mistake where in some of the shots Morris is on the left of the screen shifting focus from him to the stairwell. In our main task we were aware of this and so made sure that in every shot the characters were in the view of the audience.

Evaluation...Question 5.

How did you attract/address your audience.

In my media product I used certain conventions of the thriller genre to attract my audience to the opening. By including a dark and eerie screen effect and lighting we should be able to make the viewers decide if this is the film for them, the dark and eerie lighting should make the audience feel the ideas of deceit and suspense, As shown in the screen shot below the character in the shot is shadowed because of the light in the background. With this we should make the audience feel the emotions of that character. I would want the audience to feel confused and also suspense by the storyline and shooting angles. We have included as wide variety of camera angles to make the audience feel confused and suspended.

In my opening I used tension mixed with plot to ensure that the audience would want to watch more of it.

No narrative was used in our piece of media as we decided that using music to tell the story. To do this we ensured that the correct style of music was playing. The style involved using sad, orchestral music to tell the story of the individual’s life. The cameras managed to portray the importance of the character in retrospect to the current events of the film. As an example when the villain knocks the main role to the floor he is above him and so is seen as being more powerful and superior than anyone else.

Evaluation...Question 4.

who would be the audience for your media product?

With the BBFC in mind I feel that the audience for our Thriller should be of an age either at 15 or over it.  The requirements for a 15 rated film are;

• The piece of work must not involve and discriminative behaviour or language.
• Drugs are allowed to be viewed but it must not be endorsing or promoting the usage of drugs.
• Strong threats and menace are allowed as long as it isn’t sadistic and sexualised.

• Dangerous behaviour should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weaponry should not be glamorised.
• Frequent use of strong language is allowed. The stronger terms are acceptable if used in the correct and justified context.
• Violence is allowed as long as it does not dwell on the infliction of pain and injury. The stronger gory images are not likely to be acceptable.

3.  If you had to choose a Thriller sub-genre what would it be?

• Crime-Thriller-13 people
• Psychological Thriller-3 people

7. What in the opening to a Thriller would keep you asking questions? Two lines max

• I’m not sure-6 people
• Not much of the plot should be given away-4 people
• You should be confused by it-4 people

From this research we can see that the main age of people which filled out this questionnaire ranged from the ages of 15 to 17.  It would have been to better my results if They also felt that Settings in a thriller work at areas in which are desolate and in a large spread out area minus the odd person. It would be unwise to make this film and include a foreign language into it considering most of the people that were given the questionnaire did not prefer foreign films to non foreign films. I think that qwe could have asked a wider range of ages if we had the idea for the audience being from age 15 to 30. Also we felt that the average audience that we would have for this media is an average person who lives with a family of more than 1.

Evaluation...Question 3.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

  A media institution named ‘Coffee films’ has distributed many thriller films and is also an Independent British Website focusing on short films and openings, I think that this group may distribute our media because not only does it fit in with the genre of films which are focused on that website but it is also a British made independent short clip. I feel that this media institution would be useful to distribute my media because they have a website in which they post all of the short films onto and have been up and running for a fair while. The benefits of being distributed with a small British independent corporation instead of a UK/USA Mainstream company would be that because not many short films are placed onto that website then there is more than likely the chance that our media would be spotted by an agent of an individual with links to the media industry. Coffee films began in 1996 from the remains of the ‘Naked Pony Theatre Company and Mr Spambastic’s Films’ This company has been useful for others who’s media films were distributed on their website as one of their most famous short films ‘How to disappear completely’ has won an award at MIFED in Italy. If this media institution was to distribute my media then with a large audience viewing the website it would become seen regularly hopefully and from there the amount of views could increase. It is important that we place a title which people will be intrigued once they have seen it then from there they could watch the rest of it to find the meaning behind the title of the thriller.

Evaluation...Question 2.

            How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I feel that the media that Zander, Morris and I produced a piece of Media work which would be suited to the social groups of between the young teenagers age up to the elder adult stage. We portrayed the Villain as a Foreign Professional killer. To do this we ensured that he wore all black in a suit style. By wearing the black suit we were able to convey the idea that with the black he is dangerous, and hard to locate. The suit of the person shows that he does what he does as a living and he has done this before so is not a novice. Comparing this person to the other individual seen in this screen shot we see that this other person is wearing a black top and jeans. This shows this person does not always take his ‘work’ seriously and can be seen as a novice. To be with this we can see this as a reason as to why he had been captured and is being ‘killed’.

Evaluation...Question 1.

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

For the main task as a group we decided that the thriller opening we would create should involve most of the conventions of a Thriller film as a whole. We also decided that the age of the thriller should be set as a 15 because of the requirements.

• The piece of work must not involve and discriminative behaviour or language.
• Drugs are allowed to be viewed but it must not be endorsing or promoting the usage of drugs.
• Strong threats and menace are allowed as long as it isn’t sadistic and sexualised.
• Dangerous behaviour should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weaponry should not be glamorised.
• Frequent use of strong language is allowed. The stronger terms are acceptable if used in the correct and justified context.
• Violence is allowed as long as it does not dwell on the infliction of pain and injury. The stronger gory images are not likely to be acceptable.

These are the requirements for a film to be rated under the 15 age range. We found that our thriller film does not breach any of these requirements to the best of our observational abilities.

A thriller film must involve the conventions required in order to be cast under the category of a thriller. A thriller is a film, book or a play in which it depicts the images of crime, mystery and/or espionage along with suspense, action and excitement. There are certain conventions that the thriller should include in order to be seen as a thriller. Examples include the characters and what they are wearing. The music that is used must be of an eerie or a lingering style to increase tension, The sound must also sound Eerie and confusing to install doubt and make the audience think twice about the films current events. The linear order of films can also affect the thrillers effectiveness.  The narrative should be able to set up questions, also being known as an ‘enigma code’. With Non-linear films this can be created by the use of flashbacks such as seen in ‘Memento’.

Linear film- these are films which work in order, from a beginning to an end. As an example ‘The Happening’. Linear films can enable the producer to create a complex storyline through acting and can also allow tension to be created through items such as Mise-en-scene instead.

Non linear film- these are films which do not work in any particular order so they do not have any beginning and an end but still remain intact with the storyline.

Non linear films are often used when the main character is retelling the story or fragments of his memory. This has been used in films such as ‘Memento’ where the main character actually retells his own life because of an ‘incident’ which ruined his life. Non-linear films can use simple stories but can make it complex through the editing and non-linear style of the film.

In most thriller films there are conventions, these can range from characters to lighting. A convention of a thriller is the Villain. Often the villain is seen as a male who is a lot more powerful than most of the other people around him. The victim is also conveyed as being a weak female role, the Damsel in Distress.

The camera shots can also be a convention of a thriller film. Shots can say more than words and can also imply what I happening. A shot which is showing the view of a person down onto another can imply that the person whose view we are looking through is in a more powerful position than the person below and vice versa. In this shot from the James Bond movies we see that the person in the scene is lower than another person showing he is in less of a powerful position that the other person. The weapon is being risen up between the two showing this is the turning point of this all.

In my media we used heights of our characters to talk about the characters but we did not focus on having it the opposite way around. The person who is at the lower level is actually the person in power and control. This would make the audience confused in ways in which they do not understand why. In this scene we used levels to show that the person walking away is definitely the more powerful person out of the two as one of them is laying down on the floor and using levels he is shown as being weaker than the other.