Evaluation for Preliminary Task

For my Preliminary Task it was simple of a character walking in a room, sitting down in front of a second character, exchanging a few words and then walking back out of the room.

For this Task I used a Match On Action which gave a good effect of the first character opening the door, this excellent because the viewer were able to see what exactly was happening in the scene. Later on in the clip, we used Shot Reveres Shot to show the two characters having a conversation. During the Shot Reveres Shot with we used Over The Shoulder Shot and the 180 Degree Rule, we did this because we wanted to show to our viewers who was on what side of the table and to stop any confusions.      

Definition of Genre  

Genre is simply a different technical way of describing particular type of media. All different genres have their own unique codes and conventions which groups it in its category.     

Definition of A Thriller

Thriller is something that makes the viewers tension, suspense, excitement, thrill, nervousness etc, which gets the audience in zone and atmosphere of a thriller. Most of the time thrillers are motivated with numbers of theatrical proceedings which concurrently gives the same spell of brutality, violence and cruelty. Furthermore in a thriller there are usually sub genres with hybrid genres, such as crime, mystery, psychological, physical etc, this helps to make the film more interesting as it creates different form of twist to the storyline. Thriller typically ends with the killing of the antagonist or protagonist. All these elements helps thriller to always keep their target audience interested and attracted to the film.      

Drama thriller

Action thriller

Horror thriller

Political thriller

Psychological thriller

Conspiracy thriller

Crime thriller

Science fiction thriller

What makes a good Thriller?

To make a good thriller, there are many aspects and ways to achieve the effects you would deliver to your target audience. One of the key element for a thriller suspense and tension, this to helps to get the audience holding on to their sits as they don’t know what is going to happen or what accepted to happen as the film continues. A lot of murder and killing established in most thriller films, this gives the audience a feel frightening and rush. Sound plays a crucial role; music can be fast paste or slow depending on the film itself and what kind of thriller it is. Having enigma in a thriller important in some ways yet again depending on the film narrative, having enigma helps to make the film more interesting as creates a twist and mystery to the plot of the film. Furthermore props play a very big part, having right the set of tools such as knife, guns, any sort of weapon or killing tool can put a different effect in the film and on the audience. For example, in the film Halloween the villain ‘Michael’ always has knife to kill his victims with, this gives him his trade mark and whenever some ones about to get killed, the audience is always accepting Michael to use his knife. The audience always wants to

Snatch

Right throughout the opening sequence of ‘Snatch’ we are introduced with the codes and conventions which give a helping hand to film genre which has been done purposely. From the start of the opening sequence, the characters are set out in a particular manor which presents a view of puzzlement that gives the sense of the film being and having a comedy and action genre. The editor made the sequence successful he shows all the characters having bond as they are passing on different objects of money, diamonds, gold etc, to each other. As the characters are in action the editor cuts in shot to make it seems like the characters are in the same room or linked to each other. The sequence concentrates on object passed around which forms riddle and introduces the characters roles in the film. The techniques and methods are done through the elements of Cinematography, Sound, Editing and Mise-en-scene.   

Mise-en-scene in the sequence develops the knowledge of the film to the viewers. The fact of the characters passing different object around gives an understanding that the characters will be linked to each other as the film progresses with a valuable object. The props used in the sequence give the suggestion of characters being involved in crime and live a life which routes around violence.

Another strong technique used in the sequence is Sound; the music is non diegetic right from the start to the end of the opening sequence. The sound is a fast beating music with which the characters and the camera work moves along the style of the music and creates the sense of action comedy.

Settings laid out in the extract are very well set out in terms of to achieve the genre of the film. The opening sequence uses many different locations such in a van or dark room, this helps the audience to study and understand each character’s life, and how they are involved in the world of crime and a little bit about their personalities. This covey’s each of the characters being greedy with money and valuable objects which also confesses the audience as it has a touch of mystery. As well as that, the customs of the characters shows and give each of the characters profession, for example, one of the characters in the sequence was wearing an all black outfit while he took out gold chains from a bag; this conveys the character being a thief, burglar etc. All of these different techniques helps to create a feel of the genre comedy action, comedy crime or comedy gangster,     

Another strong technique used in the sequence is Sound, the music is non-diegetic right from the start to the end of the opening sequence. The sound is a fast beating music with which the characters and the camera work moves along the style of the music and creates the sense of action comedy.

Panic Room

Panic Room has quite straight forward and simple opening sequence. The sequence is very well edited and directed with good chosen music as well. The sequence shows the city of New York with its skyscrapers throughout the extract. On the sides of the building and road it shows us the names of the director, editor, actor, producer etc, in a metallic effect which makes it a unique effect and this give the feel of well executed modern film.

Sound plays a crucial role, the music is quite slow and soft but however as it drags on, the music slowly gets faster and louder, this help to build tension to the audience.

The camera shots works brilliantly as the director purposely tries to show the different landscapes of New York. This gives the audience a good understand of where the film is set out to be and makes them familiar with location later on in the film.         

Equipment and Props for the Final Production

For the final production we needed certain props and equipment to make the opening sequence successful.

We needed:

Iron and a ironing board

A Knife

 

Alarm set ready on the phone

A black outfit

A toaster

Spoon, knife and forck

A robe

Ideas for our opening sequence

Production Schedule

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5
Monday	Equipment and Props list	Audience Research	Filming the Final Piece	Editing	Evaluation
Tuesday	Script and Shot list	Actor and Actress Hunting	Filming the Final Piece	Editing
Wednesday	Risk Assessment		Filming the Final Piece	Evaluation	Evaluation
Thursday	Location Hunting	Filming the Final Piece	Editing	Evaluation	Evaluation
Thursday	Audience Research	Filming the Final Piece	Editing	Evaluation	Evaluation

Idea One

A young woman, who seems to be very vulnerable, angry and depressed, never exactly knowing why and showing how she slowly starts to lose her mind slowly throughout the sequence, towards the end the of the sequence she kills herself by drowning herself in her bathtub.

Idea Two

A woman being followed while she was on her way to work late night by unknown character, he follows her around her work building and as soon as she is about to go in her office she gets dragged into a toilets by the stalker and murders her.

Idea Three

A Man gets woken up in the middle of the night by a loud noise coming from his closet, but when he gets up to open, no one or nothing seems to be in there. He goes to the bathroom to wash his face and as soon as he turns around an unknown character is standing in front of him with a knife and locks the bathroom door.

Idea Four

Starts off with a chase scene, a woman being chased in middle of a road in early morning, she gets in her car and sees that her patrol has finished. She gets out of her car and sees a man on the other side of the street, she runs towards him for help, when she gets to him he looks at her and says ’You’re on your own from here’. She turns around and sees the person chasing her is waiting for her with metal pole in his right hand.

Idea Five

A man wakes up in the morning and gets himself ready for the day; he goes to a woman’s house and attacks her. He chases her upstairs to her bathroom and kills her in her bathtub with his knife.      

The Treatment for our Opening Sequence

Our group, me and Natacha have chosen our opening sequence about horrific murder. The opening sequence is going to be about a man who seems to be normal just like every other person. In the opening sequence at start we will present as someone who suffers from OCD, we will show this do this showing how he keeps his clothes tidy by ironing them, how he keeps everything on the breakfast table straight and neat, and how he does everything in order.  From opening sequence right till the end we will not show the murders face because this way the extract will build up enigma, tension and suspense towards the target audience, which what we are aiming for. We will show who he gets ready and goes on the killing strike for the second character. The second character is going to be a female, we chose for a female victim simply because it fits in well with the codes and conventions of a thriller, as in most thriller and horror films woman are presented as being weak and defenseless. When he approaches his victim’s door and she opens it, he straight attacks her by pushing her out the way and closing the door. She tries to run for her life upstairs, while running up the stairs the murder tries to pull her down from her feet but she just seems to get away from him. She runs towards the closest room to her which is the bathroom, she locks the bathroom door but the murder was just too strong and powerful and breaks the door open. The murder takes out his knife, goes inside the bathroom and shuts the bathroom. He then kills, puts her in the bathtub and leave the water running.         

Shot Lists

- High angle
-Low angle
-Point of View
-Close Up
-Extrem Close Up
-Long Shot
-Panning
-Cross Cutting

Script of my Opening Sequence

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE – MORNING

MAN wakes up from bed.  

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE – MORNING

The MAN starts to iron his clothes in his bed room

The name of the editor comes up at the bottom of the screen.

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE – MORNING

The MAN sitting down on the table, preparing his breakfast and keeping everything tidy

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE – MORNING   

A close up shot of the MAN eating his breakfast (Toast)

EXT. OUTSIDE THE SECOND CHARACTERS HOUSE – AFTERNOON

The MAN knocks on the woman’s house door and waits

INT. INSIDE THE SECOND CHARACTERS HOUSE – AFTERNOON

The Man pushes the woman inside her house and tries to attack her.

INT INSIDE THE SECOND CHARACTERS HOUSE – AFTERNOON

The WOMAN runs upstairs while MAN chases the woman up the stairs and tries to pull her down by grabbing her feet while running upstairs.

INT. INSIDE THE SECOND CHARCTERS HOUSE – AFTERNOON

The WOMAN runes in the bathroom and lock the door. The MAN follows her and tries to break the bathroom door down.

INT. INSIDE THE SECOND CHARACTERS HOUSE – AFTERNOON

The MAN breaks the bathroom door, walks towards the WOMAN with his knife and shuts the door.

INT. INSIDE THE BATHROOM – AFTERNOON

The WOMAN lying down in the bathtub dead with the water still running.

EVALUATION

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

In my opening sequence I have decided to title it ‘The Sinner’. I have chosen this simply because the word ‘Sinner’ gives the impression of someone who commits sins, which is not acceptable religion and also in some societies. In the location I have decided to set my opening sequence in is based in two different locations, the first one is in the murders house and the second one is in the victims house. I choose to film it all indoor because the film gives the feel of a tight, dark and no escape route to the outside world. The costumes and props I used was very simply but very effective, I used a normal all black outfit and a knife for the murder purely because it gave the audience a sense of no information of identity of the character and also dangerous as he holds the knife while chasing his victims. For the second character the victim, for her used a bathing robe which indicted her as being vulnerable and having nothing to defend herself from the murder. This was successful as it gets the audience in the mood and builds up suspense throughout the extract. I used different forms of camera work from low a angle, point of view, long shot, high angle etc. At one point of the extract when the victim was being chased up the stairs I used  high angel, I used this because it presented her as being weak and defenseless which for the audience was clear to see and understand who was antagonist . Later on in the sequence I used a completely opposite shot which was a medium shot of the murders body while he was holding a knife, this showed that the he has the power and control over her and the situation, this also gave the clear message of who is the protagonist. The title font and style were two different kinds, for the title of the film I used a big thick red font which presented the idea of blood and murder and for the rest of the font I used the colour of red again but smaller, with curved up style and each letter came up at a time. The letter coming one at a time gives the feel of continuity which gets the audience thinking and giving them the sense of what might happen later on in the film. The storyline is quite straightforward, a man who has OCD, who wakes up early morning has his breakfast and then goes on to kill a woman at her own home for no given reason. The opening sequence sets this up quite clearly as we see very move of the killer from the moment he wakes up to the moment he kills his victim. The genre is a thriller, the opening sequence suggests this through different aspects, and one of them is the sound. The music starts off with a low pitch sound and as the sequence progresses the music slowly keeps on getting faster and louder. The chasing scene, with the props, lighting and the customs also helps to show that it fits in a thriller film. The character (murder) is introduced in a unique way, he is introduced as a normal person in beginning and as the sequence carries on we see that there is more to him rather than just an ordinary man, but also throughout the extract I don’t show his face purely because this get s the audience interested of who he is and build up suspense in the atmosphere.  The second character (the victim) is introduced as fragile as she seems to be hopeless and desperate to struggle for her life.  

I have chosen to screen grab of the murder when he standing and is about to knock on the victims house door and compare the similarities to a Halloween film of Michael Myers standing with a knife in his right hand. Their body languages are basically the same as they both look like they are confident and are about to go on a killer strike. They are both dressed in black, standing up big and strong and they both the main focus of the screen as they both look superior to the viewer. Their roles in the films are the same as both of them use a knife a weapon and with no information shared about their past history or about them as individuals.      

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

The production company and distribution company works in two ways, first the production company has to produce the script, shoots, edit, sound, music, effects, etc. Than a distribution company such 20^th Century Fox has to buy it from them, then distribution company uses all it power to launch the product through advertisement, reaches out to the target audience and then gets it out in the cinemas. The distributors make the most money in the process, they are the one who really take the products take it out promote it to their target audience.  

As the productions company the script, shoots, editing, adding music and sound, I would sell my product to the 20^th Century Fox. The reason I that chose this particular distribution is because 20^th Century Fox has a good reputation in the entertainment world, they have launched lots thriller, action and horror film and have been very successful in history such as ‘Predator, Die Hard etc’.    

Who would be the audience for your media product?

For my Media Product my target audience is in the age range of 15 – 24 of many genders whether a male or female, simply because these are age group where most of the people go cinema or have any interest in the entertainment industry. My film is mainly aimed at a C2, D, E groups with a hint of C1 group audience but however group A and B could or would also watch my film depending on their interest and hobbies. Realistically my target audience would the interest of thriller and Horror film, including sub genre film as well such as thriller action, thriller horror, thriller drama, thriller comedy etc. my target audience would have the interest of all sorts of different type of music, such hip hop, rap, rock, pop, heavy metal and R & B. the target audience I am aiming for be interested in books and magazines such as ‘What’s on TV, Empire, TV, Film’ etc, this is because different people would have different views and opinions of the genre thriller. Their favorites TV programs would be shows which would involve different elements such as suspense, mystery, twist, etc. they would be interested in TV shows such as ‘Lost, The X Files, 24, Prison Break’ etc. the sorts of website I would expect my target audience to visit would be websites such as ‘IMDb, Movie City News, Empire, FirstShowing.net, Film, Filmspotting’ etc. if my audience play any video games (PS3, X BOX, PC GAMES) I would expect them to play different console games but in the same category such ‘Modern War Fare, Halo, Bioshock, Fight Night Round 4, Red Faction’ etc. My audience would have the latest technology from Computer, Laptops, Phones, MP3 Player, ITouch, IPod etc, merely because these gadgets would give them easy access to the internet where they would find out about the latest films coming out. I could see them spend their time with their friends and family on the weekends or any other holiday they have, where they would socialise about the latest forms of entertainment. They would spend their money on product or events from which would have a good times such as Cinema, Games, Phones, DVD, and Music etc.          

       

This John Williams, john here is a good representation of my target audience for my Media Production. John is 19 years old currently a student studying his A Levels. His background is middle class family in the UK whistle living in London. He spends a lot of time with his friends and family, when he’s not socialising, he likes to listen to rock music, watch thriller action films, his favourite film is Saw 2  and play PS3 games (Morden War Fare).  Every week he buys a ‘What’s on TV’ magazine and also visits Empire website. He also like to keep in touch with his friends and far away family through FaceBook, he always tries to keep up with the latest technology.     

Name?

Charalotte White

How old are you?

16

Gender?

Female

Do you like thriller films?

Yes

Did you like my opening sequence?

Yes

What did you like about my opening sequence?

The way the camera angles portray the characters

What didn’t you like about opening sequence?

I didn’t like the slow motion effect

Does my opening sequence follow a typical codes and convention of a thriller?

Yes

Name?

John Williams

How old are you?

19

Gender?

Male

Do you like thriller films?

Yes

Did you like my opening sequence?

Yes

What did you like about my opening sequence?

The storyline

What didn’t you like about opening sequence?

The beginning of the character waking up

Does my opening sequence follow a typical codes and convention of a thriller?

Yes.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The opening sequence attracts and addresses my target audience through many different ways, I am aiming at any gender whether male or female and mainly between the ages of 15 – 24. My production can apply to anyone in those categories even for people over the age of 24. One of the ways my opening sequence applies towards my target audience is through the true everyday life events that takes place when it comes to crime, with this my target audience can relate to this as they would hear about such things and tragic events on everyday news. 

        

The setting I used was in two different location, in the killers house and in the victims house, I used these location because the gave feel of no one expected what was going to happen and what any real life person could be like in reality. These locations also gave the feel enigma and tension.    

The genre is thriller; this helped to attract the target audience by giving them a rush and an experience that they wouldn’t normally see in the real world.   

For the sound I used a particular type of music, the music was unique which would glue the audience to the screen and really get them into the film. The music has different sense of atmosphere which would build up to unexpected and tragic.    

One other thing that would attract and address the target audience is the whole production itself, everything put together makes it exciting and thrilling experience for the viewers.  

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

I have learnt many things during my AS Media Production for my thriller opening sequence. I used many different form of technology such Blogger, Production Kit, Camera and Final Cut Pro. In our group we divided the reasonability’s equally and I took on board the task of the editor and sound person. As the editor I tried not to make things too complicated, I made a simple straightforward edit so it wouldn’t confuse my audience. This turned out to be very successful in some ways, such as it easy to understand the storyline with the way I edited it and it was clear with how the characters were introduced. However I would have liked to add in a little bit more in the murder scene at end but because of the lack of time left on the footage I didn’t have a chance to add some more.  I learnt how to Log and capture the footages with the time line, with these two I was able to get a good understanding of how much time I have to use with which footage and this made it easier for me plan out my opening sequence.  For the sound I made sure I used music that build up tension and suspense, the music started off slow with a low pitch sound level but as the sequence went on towards the murder scene the music slowly kept on getting faster, louder and slowly started to become high pitch.            

       

Throughout my Production I improved a lot of things from my preliminary task to my main final opening sequence.

For my main opening sequence I used a point of view point shot of the main character while he was waiting for the toast to pop out from the toaster. I didn’t use a point of view shot for my preliminary task which I could have done but it would have been pointless merely because there would be no need for it. Also for my opening sequence I chose to slow down the camera effect towards the end in the murder scene to give it enigma, I did not do that for my preliminary task simply because it would have been a pointless thing to do as it wouldn’t have changed any of the effect or opinion it would have on the viewers. However I regret not using the 180 degree rule for my opening sequence which I did use for my preliminary task, I should have used the 180 rule because it gives a good and clear understand on the characters positioning to the audience.

For the editing in the preliminary task what gave a good effect was I used match on action of the character opening the door, match on action is a way for the audience to recognise to see what is going on with the character, about their moves and roles in the scene. One other thing I didn’t use for my preliminary task was slowing down and speeding up footage, but later on when I was doing my opening sequence I learnt how to use the slowing down effect which gives a good effect depending on the scene and what effect you want. For example for my opening sequence I used the slow down effect in scene when the murder was holding his knife in hand when he was standing next to the bathroom door. I regret not using Match On Action for my opening sequence when the murder took out his knife, I think I would have been a great move have done that because it would have build up some suspense and enigma in the scene. I chose to slow that footage down purely because it gave the effect of ‘what might happen next’ to the audience, also with the music drags itself for a few second which helped to bring suspense and enigma to the sequence.  

In the Preliminary Task I chose not to use any Sound effects because the storyline was exactly building up to anything from which the viewers would find interesting.

From my preliminary task to my main opening sequence, I saw that my opening sequence was much harder to produce. It was harder is many ways, for example the filming itself took five days where on the other hand the preliminary task only took a day. The editing me several days to edit because there was more footage on the tape and I want particular effects and elements to make my opening sequence work well. It was reasonable difficult to find the right set of music to work with my sequence, so at the end I chose the one that fitted the best with the thriller film. Also it was more to find different fonts for my title so that it would fit in well within a thriller film, where on the other hand for my preliminary I couldn’t or didn’t have a many option.         

 

Production Journal

In the first week it more or less just all about getting ready and making a start. On the Monday we made a list about what equipments and props would be need for Final Production. On Tuesday we made a made a list of the different shot list we would need to achieve our aim. On Wednesday we talk about what the Risk Assessment, what can go wrong and what we need to do stop and prevent those things from happening, such the danger of the knife, Weather etc. On Thursday went around looking for good location to film our opening sequence. On Thursday we looked up our potential target audience and tried to plan our opening sequence so that it could relate to our target audience.

For the second week on the Monday we carried on with the audience research as we were not finished. On Tuesday we went out and tried to look for potential actor and actress who would be good to play in the two different roles. On Thursday and Friday we started o film our final piece.

On the third week back we carried on filming from Monday to Wednesday. When we finished off our filming, on the follow next two day, Thursday and Friday we started to edit our film.

In the fourth week on Monday and Tuesday we were still doing our editing, the filming and editing took quite a while because we were trying to get certain effects to get our target audience interest.

From Wednesday of the fourth week throughout the fifth week we just did our Evaluation with a day off on the Tuesday of the fifth week.

It was extremely important for us to take the Wednesday in the second week and Tuesday in the fifth week off purely because it would help us to relax and not let work over stress us.