Final Film-Possession.

Question 7 Evaluation

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

The preliminary task allowed me to experiment with all of the media rules such as the 180 degree rule , match on action and eye-line match. Without creation of our preliminary task which , we would have made all of the mistakes we made in our preliminary task in our opening sequence.

If I was to redo the preliminary task I would ensure that we stuck to the 180 degree rule as the shots below show the camera skipping from one end of the room to the opposite side. Making this mistake allowed me to make sure i did not do it again in my opening sequence.

Question 6 Evaluation

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

In the creation of our opening sequence I have used many different technologies. These technologies include : Livetype , IMovie, Final cut express and many websites such as freesound.org and dafont.com. Livetype was used to to add titles to our opening sequence and also to create our distributors logo. This software is was brand new to me being new to media , and to begin with I found it very difficult to use , after a while of practicing and g

etting used to the different icons which I could use to create different effects , I soon became familiar with the software. I believe that this software allowed us to create a really creative distributors logo , as it contained the right genre font and effects which work perfectly with the genre of our film.

I found using www.freesound.org and dafont.com very useful as these allowed us to search for different fonts and music which suited our chosen genre. Without these websites we would have been limited to using

specific fonts and music. These websites took a lot of time to find the perfect font but was well worth the time taken . For example , in our opening sequent a car boot slams , due to lots of background noise when the film was taken we couldn't use our original boot slam. This is w

here freesound.org came

in really handy.

When actually filming and uploading our opening sequence we used many different technologies including: A camera , tripod and figrig to film , but also the Mac computer to upload our footage.

The tripod allowed us to sustain a steady shot, which overall improved the professionalism

of our opening sequence. The quality of our camera also improved our opening sequence as the picture quality allowd us to create clear shots. Another piece of equipement which we used includes the figrig. This allows us to also create a steady shot , but is not the same as a tripod , as it doesnt restrict how we recorded out shots as we could freely walk around holding the figrig , allowing us to create more interesting shots.

Wordle is also another website which I used , it allowed me to create this collage of different technologies which I used throughout the build up of creating my opening sequence and during creating my blog. This is a more creative way of showing the different technologies used , instead of just listing them.

Here , I used 'Jing' to show how we created our production company logo using Livetype.

Question 5 Evaluation

How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 4 Evaluation

Who would be the audience for your product?

I believe that the audience for our opening sequence would include both females and males , but due to the action in the film , I think it would appeal more to males. A wide range of ages would enjoy the film, but due to the genre there would be a age restriction of aged 15. This opening sequence appeals to me , and from peer feedback it also appeals to my classmates, so the age which I believe would enjoy this film the most would be people between the age group of 17-21.

Name: Tom Larner

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Lives: London

Watches what genre t.v programmes: Action, thriller, sci-fi, horror.

Visits what websites: Facebook,Youtube,

Does what when they go out: Plays football, socialises ,

Listens to what music: Music in the charts - R&B , Indie

Wears what clothes: Fashionable brands , smart/casual.

Reads what magazines: sports magazines

Shops where: Riverisland, Office, Superdry, Topman

Ideal Job: Something physical , not working in an office sitting down all day . E.g. Fireman, Police Officer, Electrician.

Likes this particular genre: This genre of the film includes many suprises and invloves a lot of action and physical violence.

Question 3 Evaluation

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

This film is a prime example of films which would have a similar film distributor as ours.'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' was distributed by a Canadian film distribution company called 'Maple Pictures' . I would expect a small independant company to distribute our film as it is would of been made on a low budget , with a low key cast , not with big 'well known' stars.

Film four productions is a British film production company owned by channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large amount of films made in the United Kingdom.It has been involved in many low budget films and T.V dramas such as : 'This is England' with a budget of 1.5 million and 'Dead Man's Shoes' with an extremely low budget of 723,000.

The reason in which I believe our film would be distributed by Film Four and Maple production companies , as they both produce low budget films. Our film would be produced on a low budget , but would still be a very successful film. The shot below shows the characters walking out of B&Q , this shows that the film is shot on location rather than on set , it has been filmed this way because of the low budget. The film is also a very British film as B&Q is a recognised British retailer. Film Four is a British Film company which distributes many British films , this is why it would be ideal to distribute ours.

Question 2 Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our opening sequence challenges the stereotype of one particular ethnicity committing crime. Here we show a white male and a black male acting as kidnappers showing that not only people of a black ethnicity commit crime. We also see a black and white person working together to commit the crime , where usually we witness gangs of the same ethnicity doing this.

Our opening sequence also puts a female in the vulnerable situation, showing her to be innocent and helpless as she is targeted for a brutal kidnapping by two males. This does not challenge the typical stereotype of men being the dominant sex , having so much more power that they are able to kidnapp the girl. In many films the women is the damsel in distress , as it is very unusual to see a male playing this part. Even the girls age , follows the typical age , which also allows the story to be more believable as the girl is younger than the kidnappers . By contrasting the darkness outside to the light room in which the girl is in , again enforces that she is in a safe place and that by being in the dark will make her vulnerable.

The costume which we chose the two male kidnappers to wear shows a typical working class man with the heavy work boots and scruffy/workman clothings. This costume allows the chacters to blend in well with the setting of B&Q. The costume is appropriate as these are typically dressed men that you see in B&Q , allowing them not to stand out and making our opening sequence even more believable.

Even the time of day in which we chose for the kidnapping to happen conforms with many films and stereotypes. As during the night , when a women is most vulnerable in the dark , and the crime is less likely to be witnessed is a very poplar time for a crime to happen.By following this stereotype of crime happening at a particular time of day , allows the film to be more believable for the audience.

Our opening sequence also looks at the sterotypes associated with gender. Frequently men are portrayed at the stronger more powerful sex. Here we enforce this as the kidnappers are played by male roles. The fact that they do not speak throughout the opening sequences shows the audience that they are calm and confident and are in a straight mind-set.

Question 1 Evaluation

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

- Comparison between 'Ransom' (1996), and 'The Last Thing She Saw'

1) The first screen grab shows an ordinary setting , where the audience least likely expect the crime to happen. The establishing shot shows the audience where abouts the film is going to take place. Just like our opening sequence to a thriller , set in B&Q , the audience do not expect a kidnap to take place in such a normal setting. The mise en scene in this shot is very cold and dreary, which reflect our ideas , where we give the audience the same cold feeling but showing them clips of fierce tools which will later be used during the kidnapping.

2) Shot two shows a close of up of one of the tools which is being used to prepare a room for a kidnapping. The staple gun which is being use to soundproof the room , is accompanied by the hyperbolic sound of the staples being shot. This creates a eery atmosphere at you know by the sinister noise that this is not an innocent act.
Similar to this , in our opening sequence a saw gets dropped in to he trolley and we hear the loud,exaggerated noise of metal meeting metal. This created a atmosphere similar to the one in 'Ransom' as these men are not just labourers shopping for tools , we know that they are planning something more serious.

3) Shot three shows the style of the titles , the film 'Ransom' uses plain, bold eye-catching titles , which are characteristic to the thriller genre , and which we have seen many times. Our film titles follow this tradition as they bold , and not in a fussy font , but a font which suits the film. We thought carefully about our titles and making them perfect took a lot of trial and error . To ensure that they were placed in the right place , we watching many openings to thriller , taking note of what areas of the screen the titles worked best when placed. We found that placing them in corners , and in dark shadows/areas of the shot , worked best.

4) The handcuffs chained to the bed , increase the audiences sense that this film is going to be threatening and menacing. To create this feel to our opening sequence , we chose not to use any dialogue , this created the sense of mystery, and the added noise of a clock ticking whilst staring into the girls bedroom. Also, the tools which the men are shown putting into the trolley are very threatening and give the audience a hint into what is going to happen later on in the film.

5) Shot five shows the determination that this man has to ensure that this kidnapping goes smoothly. This is an important element to a thriller film as it lets the audience know that the characters are not going to give up. To show the audience this in our film , the two kidnappers stare directly out in front of them , not talking to each other or looking at each other.

6) The last shot leaves the audience asking questions such as: why is he tampering with the phone? Ensuring that the audience ask questions throughout the opening sequence is vital because if they are not asking questions and wanting to know what is going to happen next , the film is not successful. The audience ask questions throughout our opening sequence as they are constantly wondering why these men need these tools. We know that they are not just average men buying tools , as there is something strange about them as they are not talking to each other and are being very mysterious and secretive. For example shot number 6, the audience automatically ask what is the drill going to be used for?

Character Description

For the role of the two kidnappers , the characters will be in their early 20's , specifically made to look like the average man. As the opening is set outside with the men coming out of B&Q, we decided that it was key to the story line for them to blend in with the setting , acting as if they worked as labourers. They will be dressed in dark dull colours which connotes anger and power , wearing dark jeans , working boots and a painted jumper to give the illusion to passers by that they are the average work men. As they do not speak once throughout the opening , their personality needs to be shown through their actions. We want the audience to feel the determination that these two men have for what they are about to do . The shot where the camera faces the car dead on to show the two men waiting patiently will portray this to the audience, showing sheer concentration.

As for the victim who is being kidnapped , she will be around the age of 18 , portrayed to be a typical student looking forward to going out and meeting friends. We see the girl getting ready through the window putting on her makeup , we want to portray innocence out to the audience so that they feel even more sorry for her when something bad happens to her. The girl will be dressed casual , but nicely as if she were on her way out.

Script and Casting

As a group we decided that we wouldn't include dialogue in our opening sequence as the awkward silence would add to the suspense and tension that we want to create. The only sound we are going to use is a soundtrack during the car journey from B&Q to the girls house . This will enhance the awkward silence which is created in the car by the two men not speaking. Another sound which we will use will be the exaggerated sound of a ticking clock , this will be used as the two men wait for the girl to leave her house , causing the audience to feel anticipation.

The casting for our opening sequence will one girl and two men. . We decided to cast Alan and Tre as the kidnappers as they fit the intended look we wanted. Both of the kidnappers are very tall so that they don't look like an odd match.

As for the girl being kidnapped , we decided cast myself as we wanted a teenager around the age of 18 , which fitted perfectly within our group. We wanted the girl to look innocent so that the audience would feel more sympathetic towards her.

Shooting schedule

23rd January- shooting the first 8 shots for scene 1 and 2 at B&Q.

25th January- shooting 10 shots at the house where the girl is kidnapped.

27th January- shooting 9 shots of the girl being taken to the hostage location

30th January- shooting 10 shots of the girls tied up in the hostage location

Storyboard

Titles

- Very Damaged

- Assassins Dub

- Fluoxetine

- Rough Linen

- Project Y

These different font types are some ideas in which we will use to show our titles in our opening sequence of our thriller. After researching many thrillers and getting a rough idea in which fonts work best and suit the genre best , we decided that large, bold capital letters that are scratchy and distorted convey the thriller genre to that audience best. We have also seen this example many times during the opening credits , so is proven to work well as it has been used in Hollywood movies.

List of Props, Costume and Location

Research soundtracks

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=32424b - Hypnotic heartbeat
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=108841 - Heartbeat

I would use this soundtrack at the very end of my opening when we see the shot of the girl tied up to the chair. I think this soundtrack would work well as it could represent her heartbeat increasing. As the camera slowly works its way up her body using close ups , the heartbeat would increase giving the audience the illusion that she's becoming more and more frantic.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=107356

This soundtrack I would use to show the tension in the car as the two criminals wait for their victim .The ticking of the clock reinforces the fact that they are waiting and causes the audience to feel anticipated.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=102722

This sound effect of a car boot shutting I would use as the car boot closes as the shot cuts to a black background with the title of the film appearing. The effect of the exaggerated sound is that its very loud and definate , it causes the audience to be threatened.

Shot Lists

The reason in which we chose for a title to appear on a black screen is that from the perspective of inside the boot , when the boot closes it will cut to a black shot to show the darkness inside the boot. The effect of this is very threatening and definate.
The second shot is the establishing shot which shows the audience the setting and gives them an idea of the location in which the film is taking place. Many thrillers take place in everyday locations , the effect of this is that the audience do not expect anything to happen in such a normal, everyday place.
The third shot shows the audience the costume through a close up , also the shot is just a well framed shot , being interesting rather than just showing the audience a mid shot of his whole costume. Another interesting shot is the shot where the camera pans across all of the tools in which the criminals are planning to use during their kidnap. As the camera pans across the tools in which they are going to use become more menacing , making the audience guessing which is going to come next.

Initial Ideas

These screen grabs from the film 'The disappearance of Alice Creed' show the tools which the criminals are using , as the camera pans from left to right showing the different tools that they are going to use during their kidnap. This clip show the criminals putting each tool into a bag and has inspired us to create a similar shot using this as a starting point.

This shot shows the determination on the criminals face which makes the audience believe that they will not stop at anything to sucseed in this crime. We are going to use a similar shot to portray the same message to our audience.

This shot from Hurtwood House Media entitled 'Blood is the Drug' is a shot which I though was very cleverly done. The camera is acting as the girls eyes , and showing us what she sees as the car boot is opened. Taking on this idea of using the camera as the victims eyes , we though of the idea of when she is in the boot , she move the camera frantically to show her looking side to side wondering where she is.

Film Synopsis

Audience Research 2

1 ) When watching a thriller do you want it to ?






























3) When watching a thriller , which do you prefer ?

















4) Which colour do you think best suggests power ?

5) Which of these fonts best suit the thriller genre

Audience Research 1

Conventions of an opening sequence

The conventions of an opening sequence include : close ups which limits the audience to keep them guessings. This was we are not being given too much of the storyline away leaving us with questions we want to be answered , so we want to watch the rest of the film. An opening sequence should grab the audiences attention and keep them as involved as possible. If the opening is dull they won't watch the rest.

Another element which an openin sequence should have is the film titles. The film titles are obviously there to tell the audience who took part in the creation of the film and the title , but can also be used to drop subtle hints into what is going to happen in the film.

The background colours to the titles can connote certain things , such as the yellow background used during 'Wallander' which suggests danger. The white lettering 'Psycho' which changes to red also connotes death and danger.

Conventions of a Thriller

A thriller should provide the audience with thrills and keeps them of the 'edge of their seats'. Tension should arise when a character or characters are put in a life threatening situation, a mystery,or trap from which escaping seems impossible. All of these characteristics would leave the audience guessing how they are going to escape un-harmed.
Close ups should be used to give hints or to foreshadow what is going to happen later on in the film. The soundtrack or music used to accompany any shot should add to the tension leaving the audience to feel apprehensive

Location Research

Betchworth Castle - Derelict castle
This would be a good set as its very succluded with not much around , a perfect place to commit a crime and not be found or disturbed.






Cane Hill Asylum