Welcome to Samuel Pilsworth's Media blog for film, where I focus on the genre of Thriller. If you are not in search of this blog then the following link may be what you are looking for:
http://samuelpilsworthotherblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Friday, 29 January 2016
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Finished movie opening and evaluation questions response
Here is my finished movie opening.
Here is my my response to the evaluation questions 1-7. This is in the form of a video where I have narrated the script and then placed relevant images/videos on screen. A script for this response can be seen at the following link: http://samuelpilsworth.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/script-for-my-evaluation-questions.html
Friday, 8 January 2016
Script for my evaluation questions
Below is the script I have written for my evaluation questions from questions 1 to 7.
1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A smaller company that might distribute my product is Studio Canal. This company was established in 1999. It distributes over 50 films ayear throughout Europe and had a unique reputation for an innovative approach to distributing films. Studio Canal has distributed films such as 2014's '71 which was a low budget film with a budget of about $11.5 dollars or £8.1 million. Studio Canal has also distributed slightly higher budget films like 2014's The Imitation Game where the budget was $14 million. These lower budget films match the low budget element of my product which makes Studio Canal a viable candidate for distributing my product.
4. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
5. How did you attract/ address your audience?
1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product has used many popular and common conventions seen in
real media products of film openings (more specifically Thriller movies).
The first convention is the use of titles
in film openings. Examples of this can be seen in film openings like Panic Room,
Leon the Professional and Shutter Island. These movies’ opening titles contain
the name of the film, the director and lead actors. Take for example in Leon
the Professional where the main title for the Director "Luc Besson" is first shown after the name of the film companies. This writing is in big white block letters and is centered in the middle of the screen. Then, the name of "Jean Reno" as well as other actors is shown on screen followed by the title of the film "Leon" which is also positioned central screen with big white letters. My product
follows this convention by starting with the Director "Samuel Pilsworth" and then the main title “Great Day Today”. Then
the titles for the main actors can be seen as well as other roles like cinematography. Leon also includes other names in the opening to credit other people that worked on the film and these titles are often off to the side to allow the events on screen to be seen. My titles are in white block letters that are positioned in the center but lower down to allow the events on screen to be seen. Leon has been an influence here as I have used a combination of its use titles where I use big white block letters that are not positioned in the center of the screen but lower down which is a use of both of Leon's use of titles at the same time. I used slightly smaller font compared to Leon's first texts as the larger text in this opening is shown over establishing shots. Then, when the shots change to the inner city, the text gets smaller which is what I have done to not block out the events of the narrative being shown on screen. Although the order of actors and main titles are swapped when comparing my product and Leon, the use of conventions are very similar and show the way in which I used a past film opening to influence my product.
The second convention is the use of a wide
variety of shot types as movie openings like The Dark Knight which uses establishing, medium,
wide and close shots (show examples of each). My products also uses establishing, wide and close shots (again, show examples) shown in these examples as a means of representing characters and to show the progression of the narrative in different ways.
Establishing shots act as a technique to set the setting and to allow the audience time to reflect on the shots that they see to get a better understanding and context of the scene that they are watching. Thrillers often use these as their narratives are often set in very similar locations like this approaching establishing shot of this building in The Dark Knight's opening which sets the city setting of Gotham for the audience. It should also be noted that establishing shots are often not character specific. Even though they may have characters present in them, they often do not focus on specific characters in the story.
Wide shots are often used for character's actions that allow a far away enough shot that the fully body of the character can be seen so that the audience can see what the character is doing. Thrillers often use these during more violent scenes to allow the audience to see what is happening in a clear way. This can be seen in the shotgun scene in The Dark Knight's opening.
Medium shots are often used for dialogue or moments where characters are sitting down or our focused. An example of this is in the car scene in The Dark Knight's opening shown on screen. This allows the audience see a more
Close shots are often used to allow the audience to see increased detail or small actions that allow the audience to be focused on that and that alone instead of having a wide shot where their focus can be lost. Thrillers often use these to give hints to character's actions that would not look as important with a wider shot like with this placement of a grenade in a hostage's hand in The Dark Knight's opening bank robbery.
Establishing shots act as a technique to set the setting and to allow the audience time to reflect on the shots that they see to get a better understanding and context of the scene that they are watching. Thrillers often use these as their narratives are often set in very similar locations like this approaching establishing shot of this building in The Dark Knight's opening which sets the city setting of Gotham for the audience. It should also be noted that establishing shots are often not character specific. Even though they may have characters present in them, they often do not focus on specific characters in the story.
Wide shots are often used for character's actions that allow a far away enough shot that the fully body of the character can be seen so that the audience can see what the character is doing. Thrillers often use these during more violent scenes to allow the audience to see what is happening in a clear way. This can be seen in the shotgun scene in The Dark Knight's opening.
Medium shots are often used for dialogue or moments where characters are sitting down or our focused. An example of this is in the car scene in The Dark Knight's opening shown on screen. This allows the audience see a more
Close shots are often used to allow the audience to see increased detail or small actions that allow the audience to be focused on that and that alone instead of having a wide shot where their focus can be lost. Thrillers often use these to give hints to character's actions that would not look as important with a wider shot like with this placement of a grenade in a hostage's hand in The Dark Knight's opening bank robbery.
The third convention is the use of lead
male roles as seen if film openings like Lord of War with Yuri Orlov (played by Nicolas Cage) in the opening shot that pans up to him and Leon the Professional with Leon's glasses being the first thing the audience see of Leon. In these examples, the main actors who are prominently shown in these opening are male and are
represented as powerful through multiple ways like central camera shots as well as the scene cutting when the male character stops speaking which shows that they have control of when a scene begins and ends. The use of direct address in Lord of War is also a technique used to show how Nicolas Cage's character doesn't shy away from speaking to the audience and embraces the attention that he receives. I have matched this convention in my
product where my lead role is male and is in a position of power with his
profession of police officer and his central positioning in shots that bring power to him. The use of power is also used with sound as the music begins when the officer turns the key of the car which shows how they control the scene.
My product also includes a prominent police
element with the 911 call and lead character being a police officer which is
generally common in Thrillers like Seven with Detective Somerset and Mills, The Silence of The Lambs with Clairce Starling. Other Thrillers also contain police presences like The Usual Suspects, Reservoir Dogs and The Departed. I have included a police officer mainly by using Mise-en-Scene. This can be seen through his costume which is a tactical vest. The officer also uses props like a firearm and a police badge which establishes that he is a police officer as these are common pieces of equipment that officers are supplied with. Other Thrillers also use police badges and firearms to establish characters as police officers.
Another convention that I have kept to is
female secondary characters or extras which can be seen in the opening of The
Dark Knight with the female hostage in the bank, The Usual Suspects with Suzy Amis who is Keaton's girlfriend as well as in Memento with Natalie where the female character comes
second to the main male character. In my product, I have included a woman character who acts as the police officer's wife. This female character comes second to the main male character as she has very little screen time as well as her not being shown on screen in full as only her neck, hand and legs are shown on screen and never her face or full body. This technique ensures that (like many other Thrillers) the male character remains the main character and the female character stays as a secondary character.
My product does however challenge conventions
of real media products in the lack of dialogue (apart from the 911 call) and
the use of the song “Great Day Today”. A lot of Thrillers are often quite
dialogue driven like in these examples (show The Dark Knight, Leon and Memento).
Thrillers also do not often play large songs in their openings but instead will
use background music to accompany the events of the narrative instead of the song
leading the narrative like in this example of the opening to The Dark Knight where the use of music seconds the actions of the characters in the bank robbery.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my product, the social groups that are represented include: male authority figures e.g. Police officers. Another group is women (specifically
housewives) and also children (female).
The authority figure is represented at the very
beginning of the opening as powerful as the cop enters the car and has the
music of '10 Million Slaves' begins as he turns the key in the car. This shows how the music is controlled by the cop which allows him to decide when the music begins when he chooses to act by turning the key. The officer's positioning in the center of the shot also shows how the camera is focused on him and not distracted by something more important as he is the most important and powerful so he needs to be focused on. This authority figure then
makes the mistake of shooting the child which then causes his downfall. Then
during this downfall, the cop loses this power and instead becomes weak by turning turning to substance abuse. The
cop then turns to physical power in the form of domestic abuse and murder as a
means of regaining this power. This is also a representation of males as power
hungry and in need of control of situations. The male is also shown to
disregard the poor choices that he is making as having long term consequences
and instead is more focused on the current moment and his power at that time.
The portrayal of the man is also negative (during his
downfall) but not vulnerable (like the woman) and instead very powerful. An
example of this can be seen when the man kicks towards the screen which forces
the shot to end by plunging it into darkness so that it has to cut to the
next shot of the hand around the neck of the woman pushing her against the wall. This shows how the man is controlling the situation with violence to
make it appeal to him and using his actions to manipulate the product itself and when it cuts to the next shot..
The female character in this product during these scenes is represented as a housewife. This is evident by her presence in this domesticated setting of a home where; unlike the police officer, she is not drinking or doing drugs and so appears as a housewife in this setting. The treatment of this female character by the officer reinforces the 1960s sexist stereotypes of women as inferior to men which makes it acceptable in the officer's mind to treat this character in such a violent way. The fact that the officer kills his wife also reinforces the
stereotype that women are weak and unable to defend themselves (see the legs
shaking). Overall, the lack of showing the face of the
wife and the way in which she is defenseless as the officer is attacking her represents women in an overall
negative way that reinforces many of the negative stereotypes that exist about women being inferior to men.
The representation of children is that they are highly
vulnerable as the little girl is killed by the officer by making the fatal
mistake of doing such a small action of standing on a stick. The fact that the
child is a girl is also a sexist stereotype that is being reinforced where
(like with the wife) the female characters are defenseless and unable to protect
themselves from danger.
The events of this narrative take place in the United
States of America. This product could be argued as representing some Americans
as leading destructive lives that force people to become victims of things like
domestic abuse and the loss of a child. This negative representation is quite
stereotypical (especially of police) of some American lives where their actions
result in the needless deaths of many people which could be a result of the
‘trigger happy’ mentality that some American officers are stereotyped as having.
This stereotype can be backed up by real life past events in the USA like the events of March 3rd 1991 concerning Rodney King. King was brutally beaten by four officers after a high speed chase in an attempt to arrest him in Los Angeles (where my product is set). This shows led to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots after the officers were acquitted for their actions as people felt that it was a clear example of police brutality. A more recent case of police brutality was of Michael Brown on August 9th 2014 and caused outrage in Ferguson Missouri as Brown was unarmed at the time of the shooting and had witnesses that claimed that he had his hands up (even though these were later shown to not be credible). These two cases are just a few in the countless number of cases of police brutality that have led to great mistrust of people in the US police department. This is an example where real life events have created this stereotype that I am reinforcing in my product.
This stereotype can be backed up by real life past events in the USA like the events of March 3rd 1991 concerning Rodney King. King was brutally beaten by four officers after a high speed chase in an attempt to arrest him in Los Angeles (where my product is set). This shows led to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots after the officers were acquitted for their actions as people felt that it was a clear example of police brutality. A more recent case of police brutality was of Michael Brown on August 9th 2014 and caused outrage in Ferguson Missouri as Brown was unarmed at the time of the shooting and had witnesses that claimed that he had his hands up (even though these were later shown to not be credible). These two cases are just a few in the countless number of cases of police brutality that have led to great mistrust of people in the US police department. This is an example where real life events have created this stereotype that I am reinforcing in my product.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A smaller company that might distribute my product is Studio Canal. This company was established in 1999. It distributes over 50 films ayear throughout Europe and had a unique reputation for an innovative approach to distributing films. Studio Canal has distributed films such as 2014's '71 which was a low budget film with a budget of about $11.5 dollars or £8.1 million. Studio Canal has also distributed slightly higher budget films like 2014's The Imitation Game where the budget was $14 million. These lower budget films match the low budget element of my product which makes Studio Canal a viable candidate for distributing my product.
A larger company that might distribute
my product is Warner Bros. films. They have distributed Thrillers such as: The
Negotiator, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Inception, Argo, The Town and
Gravity.
This company is highly successful with revenue
of US$ 12.526 billion in 2014 with an employee number estimated at 8,000 in the
same year. This company would be ideal as their budgets for the Thriller films
that they distribute are often somewhere around US$100 million which would be
plentiful for this product.
Warner Bros. have distributed films
directed by many acclaimed directors and have a reputation for distributing
Oscar worthy films. These acclaimed directors include: Christopher Nolan and
Ben Affleck who both have Oscar and Golden Globe nominations with Ben Affleck
winning many nominations.
The average box office from Christopher
Nolan’s Batman Trilogy alone is US$821.4 million which shows how audience
members were keen to go to the cinema to watch these films that were
distributed by Warner Bros. Because Warner Bros. are a trusted company be
audience members, them distributing my product would likely encourage many
people to view this product when released in cinema (as well as on DVD, Blu-ray
and digital download).
Warner Bros. also distribute British influenced films such as British- American film "Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows" which shows that they will work with and distribute films that have had British influence just like my product. Another film that Warner Bros. have distributed is "V for Vendetta" which is set in England and shows how Warner Bros. is willing to make films that involve international influence.
My product is set in the United States of America and so even though it is British made, it matches the country that Warner Bros. is set in and so doesn't try to neglect the American influence that would take over this film when it is in its distribution process even though Warner Bros. would likely still be open to distributing a British set film.
After looking at both of these distributers, I feel that Warner Bros. would be best to distribute my product as that company seems to be a more suitable distributer for my product.
Warner Bros. also distribute British influenced films such as British- American film "Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows" which shows that they will work with and distribute films that have had British influence just like my product. Another film that Warner Bros. have distributed is "V for Vendetta" which is set in England and shows how Warner Bros. is willing to make films that involve international influence.
My product is set in the United States of America and so even though it is British made, it matches the country that Warner Bros. is set in and so doesn't try to neglect the American influence that would take over this film when it is in its distribution process even though Warner Bros. would likely still be open to distributing a British set film.
After looking at both of these distributers, I feel that Warner Bros. would be best to distribute my product as that company seems to be a more suitable distributer for my product.
My product is mostly aimed at young males
who are aged between 15 and 35 years old. Films that are the genre of Thriller are often aimed at males. This is seen by the many lead male roles in films that are the genre of Thriller as the lead character lead the film and who's actions matter in the narrative. This is why I have a male as the lead character in my product. Another reason that my product is mostly aimed
at males is because male audiences
can identify with this character as they share their gender with the lead character.
This allows the male audience to also understand the power struggle that the
lead character feels as a male as they live in today's society where they may
have experienced this feeling but on a smaller scale with the increase of power
given to women (regardless of whether or not they are accepting of this change). This reason, accompanied by the genre being aimed at males act as suitable reasons to aim my product at males.
The weak portrayal of the woman in this product would mean that female audience members may not 'click' as much as a male would as their gender is being represented in a both negative and vulnerable way.
To support this decision, I have done some research online about the reasoning behind Thrillers being aimed at males. After finding this article on the website "Herold" (http://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/WHY-DO-MEN-LIKE-VIOLENT-MOVIES-/93320.html), I can see that the reasoning that Thrillers (containing violence) are more catered for men is because of our past. The article says that a few thousand years ago "Men were the hunters. Women were more of the gathering type.". Because we are lacking the ability to experience these same "testosterone-heavy, action packed" activities nowadays, we turn to action and violence in films as a way of meeting this desire brought on from actions of the past.
(http://time.com/2921491/hope-solo-women-violence/)
I also found an article potentially arguing my decision of aiming my product at males based on a higher demand for violence. The article speaks about the level of violence with women. "In his 2010 review, Straus concludes that in various studies, men account for 12% to 40% of those injured in heterosexual couple violence. Men also make up about 30% of intimate homicide victims—not counting cases in which women kill in self-defense." This shows how women are not always as victimless as stereotyped and instead do indeed (just like men) have certain people with the tendency to be violent. However, I do not believe that this evidence means that my women in general are likely to be attracted to shows with violence based on the fact that they may be violent in real life. This shows me that my choice of aiming my product at males was a good decision.
The class that my product is aimed at is mostly middle class based on a number of reasons. This is because middle class people often have respect for police.
The weak portrayal of the woman in this product would mean that female audience members may not 'click' as much as a male would as their gender is being represented in a both negative and vulnerable way.
To support this decision, I have done some research online about the reasoning behind Thrillers being aimed at males. After finding this article on the website "Herold" (http://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/WHY-DO-MEN-LIKE-VIOLENT-MOVIES-/93320.html), I can see that the reasoning that Thrillers (containing violence) are more catered for men is because of our past. The article says that a few thousand years ago "Men were the hunters. Women were more of the gathering type.". Because we are lacking the ability to experience these same "testosterone-heavy, action packed" activities nowadays, we turn to action and violence in films as a way of meeting this desire brought on from actions of the past.
(http://time.com/2921491/hope-solo-women-violence/)
I also found an article potentially arguing my decision of aiming my product at males based on a higher demand for violence. The article speaks about the level of violence with women. "In his 2010 review, Straus concludes that in various studies, men account for 12% to 40% of those injured in heterosexual couple violence. Men also make up about 30% of intimate homicide victims—not counting cases in which women kill in self-defense." This shows how women are not always as victimless as stereotyped and instead do indeed (just like men) have certain people with the tendency to be violent. However, I do not believe that this evidence means that my women in general are likely to be attracted to shows with violence based on the fact that they may be violent in real life. This shows me that my choice of aiming my product at males was a good decision.
The class that my product is aimed at is mostly middle class based on a number of reasons. This is because middle class people often have respect for police.
The age rating of my product would probably
be that of a 15 rating which would probably be the equivalent of an R rating in
the United States. The reason for this is because the film contains drug taking
and violence which fall under the classification of a 15 on the bbfc website (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15).
The reason that it is not an 18 rating is because of the lack of sexual nature
in the product which is one of the largest contributors to making a film rating
increase to an 18 as well as gore and heavy profanity or racist terms used
which my product lacks. The main reason that I do not think that my product
would be as low as a 12 rating is because past examples of films containing
heavy drug use have received a 15 rating. An example of this is the 2012 film
“Flight” where William Whitaker is seen snorting cocaine and struggling with an
alcohol addiction. The character Nicole Maggen is also struggling with a heroin
addiction and is seen on screen injecting herself in many scenes. There is also a considerable
amount of cigarettes smoked on screen which combined with the other uses of
drug, awards this film a 15 rating. My product contains a cigarette being
smoked, alcoholism as well as cocaine being snorted. I feel that because the
main actor is only seen on screen drinking and not doing the other drugs, there
may be the slight possibility that the rating will be lowered to a 12 rating
but this is not as likely as my product being rated a 15.
The attractive elements for the audience
begins with the inclusion of the 911 call. This is because it makes the
audience start to ask questions like “what will be done about this shooting?”
and “What happened to the caller" or "why did the phone hang up?”. This involves
the reader as they want to find out the answers to these questions.
Then, the reveal of the officer answers the
audience about what will be done as they see that he is receiving the call to
respond to the 911 call.
Another way the audience is attracted is
through the use of the song Great Day Today and the opening to the song 10
Million Slaves. These songs matched the actions of characters in the product
where cuts would occur when a lyric changed. This attracts the audience as it
is a unique and creative way to use a song and creates some involvement with
the audience as they start to sense when each cut will happen.
The audience will also be interested in finding out if the officer redeems himself as the film progresses. This desire to find out what happens to the officer will drive the audience to continue watching as they are left with a cliffhanger in the final shot of a gun which could be inferred in many ways by the audience. Will this man commit suicide, more murder or maybe make a change for the better in his life? Potentially the man will be arrested and the rest of the film shows him making a change and becoming a better person. Any inference can be made by the audience and this act of theorising is a great propellent for keeping the interest of the audience at a consent high as they guess what will happen.
The audience will also be interested in finding out if the officer redeems himself as the film progresses. This desire to find out what happens to the officer will drive the audience to continue watching as they are left with a cliffhanger in the final shot of a gun which could be inferred in many ways by the audience. Will this man commit suicide, more murder or maybe make a change for the better in his life? Potentially the man will be arrested and the rest of the film shows him making a change and becoming a better person. Any inference can be made by the audience and this act of theorising is a great propellent for keeping the interest of the audience at a consent high as they guess what will happen.
The use of firearms, drugs and domestic
abuse may be an attraction for some audience members as they find an interest
in viewing a character use and abuse these items and actions as is done in other pieces of media.
As shown earlier with the final shot, some shots require some inference as to
their meaning like the shot of the drop of red liquid into a glass. This could
be inferenced as blood dropping into a glass of water by the audience. However,
this shot does allow further inference in realising that the shot itself is
non-existent in the narrative itself. By this, I mean that it is merely
symbolic and acts as a metaphor for the downfall that this officer has
experienced. This need for inference further involves the audience and attracts
them to this product as they feel the need to re-watch the product to have a
greater understanding as to the meaning of each shot.
As said earlier, this product is mainly
aimed at men. This is based on and supported by research seen by this Herold article done to reach the conclusion that men are most attracted to violence in films based of their roles thousands of years ago that no longer exist to such an extent and so men look for another way to experience this action/violence). Men were addressed in this product through the use of shots where
the main character looks in the general direction of the screen. This physical
and literal address makes it almost seem as though the character is aiming his
attention at the male audience and almost acts as a mirroring technique where
the male audience are better able to relate to the character than women are.
A similar technique is used for woman but (as
said earlier), in a more negative way with the little girl staring in the
general direction and acting as more of a false mirror to address the women as
they see that they are not the vulnerable and weak victim that they see before
themselves on screen in this product. This technique may coincidently help to attract female audience members even though they are not the target audience.
6. What have you learnt about technologies
from the process of constructing this product?
From the process of the construction of
this product, I have come into contact with many different types of
technologies. These include software like: Pinnacle Studio 14 (for editing),
Blogger, Prezi, Slideshare as well as using hardware like camera, tripod and
using lighting to film.
In terms of software, the first program
that I used was Blogger. I had never previously used this program before but
had interest in doing so.The main thing about Blogger that I learnt about was
its labelling system. This allowed me to order my blog posts under subject
heading like “Research” or “Filming” and allowed me to rate each post with a
stage level between 1-3 to indicate how completed the post was.
I also learnt that the date and time can be manipulated on Blogger of when a post is or was uploaded. This allows the posts to be ordered appropriately if I forgot to upload a post after starting a new subject but wanted to keep the post with the other relevant posts of the same subject. I also made use of Blogger’s draft system where I was able to revert posts back if I felt that they needed improvement and should not be present yet on the blog itself until completed. Lastly, I learnt about the way a Prezi or Slideshare document could be embedded into a blog post by changing the post from the “Compose” button on the top left to the “HTML” button next to it. Then I could copy and paste the link to the Prezi or Slideshare document into the HTML of the blog post and the document appears on the blog.
I also learnt that the date and time can be manipulated on Blogger of when a post is or was uploaded. This allows the posts to be ordered appropriately if I forgot to upload a post after starting a new subject but wanted to keep the post with the other relevant posts of the same subject. I also made use of Blogger’s draft system where I was able to revert posts back if I felt that they needed improvement and should not be present yet on the blog itself until completed. Lastly, I learnt about the way a Prezi or Slideshare document could be embedded into a blog post by changing the post from the “Compose” button on the top left to the “HTML” button next to it. Then I could copy and paste the link to the Prezi or Slideshare document into the HTML of the blog post and the document appears on the blog.
As far as using Pinnacle 14 for editing, I
had used the program many times before. However, I did learn for the first time about a collection
of effects like the “fade in” effect that I ended up using in my product when the car arrives on the scene and when the way is looking at the newspaper and then a flashback occurs to when he shot the girl. I
also utilised the marking system in Pinnacle to indicate when a certain line of
audio in the song was spoken so that I knew where to place the corresponding
shot. I also found greater use in changing the time scale to found exact
moments that I wanted to cut out like this shot of the girl lying dead on the
ground where the actress blinked in the original take. I had to change the time
scale so that I could see the ¼ second of film where the blink occurred and cut
it out. I also become more efficient at cutting shots down and fitting shots
together to ensure that they flow properly.
As far as using the camera equipment, I
learnt that there were multiple buttons to start recording with the camcorder
(one on the camera and one near the display screen) which allowed me to easily
start recording without having to lean into awkward positions to reach the
button. I also learnt how to efficiently switch between camera and preview mode
with a switch on the camera and then how to select the shots using the selector
button to view them.
On the tripod, I learnt that there was a
levelling scale so that I could ensure that my shots were straight and not
canted as I had not planned them to be on my storyboard.
I used many multiple different lights and
lighting equipment in this product and learnt about the different effects that
each position of light creates as well as its intensity where the more intense
light look less realistic. I also learnt about the importance of not having the
camera aimed at any non-natural light using the camera as it created a glaring
effect. Lastly, I learnt about the effectiveness of natural light and used it
in my smoking shots to create the illusion of the progression of time.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Although my original preliminary showed a
wide use of media skills like a wide variety of shot types and a mixed use of
audio between digetic and non-digetic sound, it still had many faults however
and my movie opening shows a definite progression of skill based on increased
learning and understanding of the conventions of media.
Firstly, in my preliminary I had an issue
of location change where the opening was in a domesticated home and then
changed to a more ‘school’ setting that was dramatically brighter. This change
seemed unrealistic and there was an obvious continuity issue that the door in
the background did not match the shot used in the match on action shot.
In my film opening I did not have this issue
to such a severe degree as my shots were mostly shot in the same area and at
similar times. The three locations used were interior car, exterior house and
interior house and did have a sharp change in how they appeared so that there
was not such a strong contrast when the opening cut to each different location.
Secondly, my preliminary also had issues
with audio as the scenes with the interrogation were eerily quiet when there
was a lack of dialogue. There was also an odd jump in terms of audio where the
dark brooding music in the beginning quickly went from a rising cresenda to
silence which caused an odd feel to the product as I had to cut the music off
early to start the next scene.
In my film opening, I limited this problem
by using quiet (yet still present) pieces of audio in the background like cars
passing when the officer is standing outside his car in the very beginning.
Before this, I used fast paced breathing by the person making the 911 call to
give the impression of urgency and concern and cover up what would otherwise
have been empty silence that would have felt awkward. I also directly used the
song Great Day Today and was able to use it to its full effect without feeling
limited using this type of audio with time constraints or being unable to match
the actions of the characters to the lyrics of the song.
In my preliminary, I used multiple
different types of shots with varied versions of wide, medium and close ups. These showed competent understanding and use of media. However,
they did have the potential to have a wider variety of uses that I did not
utilise in my preliminary.
In my film opening, I used a wider variety of
shots also including wide, medium and close ups but different uses of each type of shot that changed in the extremeness of the shot. I also used a mixture of combining shots like with the cigarette shots where it goes from a close up on the cigarette lighter to a tighter close up on the mouth and then back to a looser frame of the smoke leaving the cigarette and then a wider angle.
Audience feedback to film opening
After finishing and uploading my finished film opening product to my blog, I conducted some audience feedback to gauge responses about my finished product in the form of a questionnaire.
I asked a total of 5 questions from 10 different respondents and have summarized the results/responses below each question. Each respondent was asked of their own opinion and asked to be as honest as possible. Those asked were a wide range of both females and males with a wide variety of ages. The reason that I did not only question those in the audience I targeted was because I wanted to see if my product appealed to those who were not a part of my target audience. Some of my results were slightly lower (like a score of 7/10 on question 1) than the more common result which was from a female audience member over the 35 age bracket for the targeted audience. This shows how my targeted audience was quite accurate as those who were not targeted scored my product with a slightly lower score which was most likely as this product did not appeal to them.
1. In your opinion, how would you rate this product as a film opening to a film that is the genre of Thriller with 10= highest quality/best fitting to this genre and 0=lowest quality/ worst fitting to this genre?
Scores follow: 8/10, 9/10, 8/10, 8/10, 9/10, 10/10, 10/10, 7/10, 8/10, 10/10 with an average score of 8.7/10.
This shows a very positive audience response where respondents feel that this film opening is of high quality and fits the genre of Thriller very well.
_______________________________________________________________________
2. In your opinion, how many media skills did you think this product showed of the people who created this product with 10= lots of skill/ highly skilled and 0= little skill/ poorly skilled?
Scores follow: 10/10, 10/10, 9/10, 10/10, 7/10, 8/10, 8/10, 9/10, 10/10, 8/10 with an average score of 8.9/10.
This shows a very positive audience response where respondents feel that this film opening shows high skill by the people who created it.
_______________________________________________________________________
3. In your opinion, how likely are you to recommend this film opening to another person for them to watch with 10= highly likely and 0= not very likely?
Scores follow: 9/10, 10/10, 10/10, 10/10, 9/10, 10/10, 8/10, 10/10, 7/10, 7/10 with an an average score of 9/10.
This shows a very positive audience response where respondents feel that they are very likely to recommend this film opening to another person for them to watch.
_______________________________________________________________________
4. In your opinion, what is the best film that is the genre of Thriller?
Responses follow: Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Psycho, Seven, Shutter Island, Psycho, Shawshank Redemption, Psycho, Fight Club The Silence of The Lambs.
This shows a common appreciation for the 1999 film 'Fight Club' and the 1960 film 'Psycho' which are both films that I researched in preparation for creating my film opening. I based my product around conventions used by these films which makes it more likely to appeal to my audience as they feel that films that I based my product off are the best films in the genre of Thriller.
_______________________________________________________________________
5. Overall, how much improvement do you think this film opening requires to be classed as 'professionally made' with options of: none, little and lots?
Responses follow: little, little, little, little, none, none, little, little, none, little.
This shows a very positive audience response where most respondents feel that little improvements need to be made to make the film opening be classed as 'professionally made' with some respondents even claiming that no improvements need to be made for this classification.
I asked a total of 5 questions from 10 different respondents and have summarized the results/responses below each question. Each respondent was asked of their own opinion and asked to be as honest as possible. Those asked were a wide range of both females and males with a wide variety of ages. The reason that I did not only question those in the audience I targeted was because I wanted to see if my product appealed to those who were not a part of my target audience. Some of my results were slightly lower (like a score of 7/10 on question 1) than the more common result which was from a female audience member over the 35 age bracket for the targeted audience. This shows how my targeted audience was quite accurate as those who were not targeted scored my product with a slightly lower score which was most likely as this product did not appeal to them.
1. In your opinion, how would you rate this product as a film opening to a film that is the genre of Thriller with 10= highest quality/best fitting to this genre and 0=lowest quality/ worst fitting to this genre?
Scores follow: 8/10, 9/10, 8/10, 8/10, 9/10, 10/10, 10/10, 7/10, 8/10, 10/10 with an average score of 8.7/10.
This shows a very positive audience response where respondents feel that this film opening is of high quality and fits the genre of Thriller very well.
_______________________________________________________________________
2. In your opinion, how many media skills did you think this product showed of the people who created this product with 10= lots of skill/ highly skilled and 0= little skill/ poorly skilled?
Scores follow: 10/10, 10/10, 9/10, 10/10, 7/10, 8/10, 8/10, 9/10, 10/10, 8/10 with an average score of 8.9/10.
This shows a very positive audience response where respondents feel that this film opening shows high skill by the people who created it.
_______________________________________________________________________
Scores follow: 9/10, 10/10, 10/10, 10/10, 9/10, 10/10, 8/10, 10/10, 7/10, 7/10 with an an average score of 9/10.
This shows a very positive audience response where respondents feel that they are very likely to recommend this film opening to another person for them to watch.
_______________________________________________________________________
4. In your opinion, what is the best film that is the genre of Thriller?
Responses follow: Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Psycho, Seven, Shutter Island, Psycho, Shawshank Redemption, Psycho, Fight Club The Silence of The Lambs.
This shows a common appreciation for the 1999 film 'Fight Club' and the 1960 film 'Psycho' which are both films that I researched in preparation for creating my film opening. I based my product around conventions used by these films which makes it more likely to appeal to my audience as they feel that films that I based my product off are the best films in the genre of Thriller.
_______________________________________________________________________
Responses follow: little, little, little, little, none, none, little, little, none, little.
This shows a very positive audience response where most respondents feel that little improvements need to be made to make the film opening be classed as 'professionally made' with some respondents even claiming that no improvements need to be made for this classification.
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Re-shoots and alterations to Great Day Today
This post details the changes made to my film opening that differ from the original storyboard and script. These changes have been made for multiple reasons such as: the capability to film shots, the message created by the shot and the way in which the original shot did not fit into the narrative that was originally intended.
A1- Changed to audio sourced off of Youtube.
A2 to A12- Changed to just one line of dialogue from the caller and then a hang up dial tone.
B1- Change from wide shot to a closer medium shot.
B4- Change to a black screen with the sound of getting into the car to create the need for inference by the audience.
C1- Change to a low angle shot looking up at the house as the car arrives and obscures the camera
C2- Change to a shot of a newspaper
C3- Change to man reading newspaper
C4- Change to exterior shot of doorway where the man has his gun drawn and is turning corner
C5- Change to interior shot of man lowering gun
C6- Change to POV of officer lowering his body and reaching his hand out.
C7- Change to little girl standing on stick
C8- Change to man turning around and shooting gun
C9- Change to cut to black
C10- Removed from this scene
C11- Removed from this scene
DI1- Change to man approaching camera with his gun drawn.
DI2- Dead girl laying on the ground.
DI3- Kept wide shot of door but not of it closing
DI4- Change to a close up of the door
DI6- Removed
DS3- Changed where man does not sit back in his seat but just has his hand on his face
DS6- Split between two shots of the cigarette
DS15- Changed to a tighter shot of the wife being punched and then added an extra shot of the wife falling down.
DS16- "he's sound" lyrics were changed to a hand around the woman's neck, Then, the rest of the lyrics show the man punching towards the screen.
DS17- Changed to hand dropping on ground and blood platter and blood dropping in water.
DS18- Draw opened and gun taken out.
DS19- Split between original shot of camera behind man and then a shot from infront of the gun in the man's hand.
A1- Changed to audio sourced off of Youtube.
A2 to A12- Changed to just one line of dialogue from the caller and then a hang up dial tone.
B1- Change from wide shot to a closer medium shot.
B4- Change to a black screen with the sound of getting into the car to create the need for inference by the audience.
C1- Change to a low angle shot looking up at the house as the car arrives and obscures the camera
C2- Change to a shot of a newspaper
C3- Change to man reading newspaper
C4- Change to exterior shot of doorway where the man has his gun drawn and is turning corner
C5- Change to interior shot of man lowering gun
C6- Change to POV of officer lowering his body and reaching his hand out.
C7- Change to little girl standing on stick
C8- Change to man turning around and shooting gun
C9- Change to cut to black
C10- Removed from this scene
C11- Removed from this scene
DI1- Change to man approaching camera with his gun drawn.
DI2- Dead girl laying on the ground.
DI3- Kept wide shot of door but not of it closing
DI4- Change to a close up of the door
DI6- Removed
DS3- Changed where man does not sit back in his seat but just has his hand on his face
DS6- Split between two shots of the cigarette
DS15- Changed to a tighter shot of the wife being punched and then added an extra shot of the wife falling down.
DS16- "he's sound" lyrics were changed to a hand around the woman's neck, Then, the rest of the lyrics show the man punching towards the screen.
DS17- Changed to hand dropping on ground and blood platter and blood dropping in water.
DS18- Draw opened and gun taken out.
DS19- Split between original shot of camera behind man and then a shot from infront of the gun in the man's hand.
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Filming report dated 17th December 2015
Below is the schedule that I used to film on the 17th December 2015
During this final filming period, there were two parts of filming that had to be done. The first was the blood splatter after the punch and the other was audio for the 911 call where the dialogue and structure of the 911 call was changed.
DS17
This shot was based mainly on experiments to get the perfect shot. I setup a white background and positioned the glass of water in front of it. Using red food colouring, I dropped one drop into the glass. The after affect created by this was extremely effective and looked perfect. I then experimented with a syringe and received similar effects on my second and third takes. On my fourth take, I decided to instead use a larger quantity of food coloring in the glass and received unexpected results. The immediate effect was far better than the previous takes but with worse after affects as the colouring rose instead of fall like the previous takes. I decided to use this take as I needed a short take that didn't matter after the rest of the shot as i would cut to another shot. This shot is the only shot that is a symbolic and 'non-existent' shot that uses a metaphor instead of a literal meaning.A1-A12 (Scene A)
A1
These lines of dialogue (and overall scene) proved to be very difficult to achieve. The main issue being that my actress was unable to make the 911 operator seem realistic enough. This was because of a lack of training on how to restrain themselves to raise the pitch of their voice in A1 as it is natural to do so when asking a question. Because the actress was doing this, it made the line seem unrealistic and unprofessional for a 911 operator to speak in this way. This problem resulted in me swapping roles with the actress to act as a 911 operator. However, I was also unable to make my voice seem realistic for a 911 operator. After many bloopers, I decided that the dialogue for the 911 operator was not possible to achieve based on my available resources. I started to instead attempt to source a recording using secondary sources off YouTube of real 911 operator recordings. Still, I struggled to find any usable audio until I found some raw generic radio chatter audio on Youtube that I had to sort through and find the audio that I wanted. I converted this audio into an mp3 file and then edited it into the film opening.
For the next line of dialogue, I needed audio from the caller who is in peril. As stated above, I had a large collection of bloopers made by trying to record the last line of dialogue. I decided to try to record the audio using the same actress again but as the caller. I again had difficulties getting the correct take that I wanted and tried varying accents with the actress to extreme stereotypes like strong Southern American and Scottish. This created some unique takes that were more comedic than usable in my opening. However, after recording a few Scottish takes; the actress almost accidentally produced the exact take that I wanted with the perfect audio that fitted the tone that I wanted for the opening. This take was produced out of the blue and using extreme accents seemed to have helped the actress to produce the take that I wanted. My response of shock can be heard at the end of the above video of the audio from the bloopers.
I decided to instead just use these two lines of dialogue and then a hang up dial tone for the film opening as I preferred the tone that it created for the opening and it matched what was achievable.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Filming report dated 9th December 2015
Below is the schedule that I used to film on 9th December 2015
DS6+ cigarette on newspaper
DS6+ cigarette on newspaper
For this shot, I used a fake cigarette and used matches to burn the end and create the illusion of this prop being a real cigarette being smoked. Instead of planning how each take would precisely look, I just filmed a large quantity of raw footage holding the cigarette in different positions and then choose which part I preferred. I had issues with the cigarette itself as the instructions on the packet specifically said to not burn the cigarettes. This warning proved to be reliable as I realised after setting the cigarette alight, that the cigarette was filled with some form of cotton wool. The outer part of the cigarette was made up of card which burnt much slower than the interior cotton wool. Smoke can be seen leaving the other end of the cigarette in some of the raw footage which meant that I had to hide the back end of the cigarette out of the shot.
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