Final Film

Final Opening Film

Dan, Harry, Tom

This is out final film opening sequence. 

Evaluation by Daniel Wright

Evaluation

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


A way in which my media product uses real conventions from real media products is the use of camera shots. In the example screenshot below the low angle, close up camera is trailing the legs of the fleeing characters from the film Sherlock Holmes a game of shadows.

Camera following the characters as they are being chased

We used this type of camera shot during the chase sequence of our opening film. The reason for this is that it generates a build up of drama and the audience gets more involved in the sequence as a whole as the camera shots are more diverse and varied rather than it all being on shot type such a medium shot throughout the chase scene.

The next thing to take note of is the chase scene is also in the woods just like mine, the only difference is that the one in Sherlock Holmes the setting is darkened. This is something that should have been used in my media project as this would have given it a more of a tense setting and again made it more dramatic rather than having bright sunshine.

My film setting with sunlight

Sherlock Holmes setting with darkened setting

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The opening sequence in the main task has two main characters. One being the antagonist and one the protagonist. Both of these characters are male and are both white in ethnicity. In the opening interview scene the protagonist is in a captive position while the antagonist is in power over him in this situation.

The antagonist is represented being in power by the use of camera shots. Most shots taken of the protagonist have the camera tilted down towards him. When in P.O.V of the protagonist the camera is tilted up towards the antagonist showing dominance and power.

Tilted camera facing towards the antagonist

In terms of clothing the protagonist is represented as a middle classed character. He wears normal clothing such as jumper/hoodie , jeans, normal footwear nothing that would give him any status other than a normal day to day person. With the antagonist he is represented as a middle classed person again, but a lot more formal than the protagonist as he is wearing ; a smart shirt, smart trousers and smart shoes. This gives the antagonist more power and looks more in control over the protagonist.

Formal shirt clothing of the antagonist

We chose to represent the antagonist with these items of clothing because we wanted to represent him as the on with power and authority. As said above this was also achieved by the use of camera shots such as low angle shots while in P.O.V of the protagonist. He is represented negatively towards the audience and is the one who is meant to be hated by the audience.

We never actually find out in the opening scene who the victim of the protagonists stabbing is, all we do know is the he killed the protagonists wife.

Victim Falling Over

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

My film is a low budget, Independent British film.

There are two possible ways that my film can be distributed. I can either get an independent film distributing company to take me up on my film, or I could market my product myself.

There are three main steps for the first option that would take place. First of all;

Film Production: This stage is the making of the film and is to be done by me.

Step two;

Film Distribution: This means that the film I have made gets a spot in the film industry                                           ready to be distributed.
Step three;

Film Exhibition: This stage means a place where it can and will be viewed. Examples of this                                 are on Blu-ray, DvD, Cinema or online with places such as Netflix and                                         Lovefilm.

Netflix Logo

LoveFilm Logo

There are many advantages of using this route of distribution. Undoubtedly the biggest advantage is that it will generate the most profit rather than trying to distribute the product yourself. 

The standard order in which the film will be distributed will come as follows: It will first come out in cinemas this is the most important section. 

The first week in which the film is in cinemas are crucial because most of the advertising from that point forward will be word of mouth the more hype there is about the film the more people there will be to come and see it. 

After around 4 or 6 months the film will then be released on DvD and Blu-Ray. Then, after around 6-8 months to a year the film will then be distributed on demand with sites such as LoveFilm and Netflix. Finally once the film has generated almost all the profit it can, it will be released on T.V for free.

Example of British Independent distributing companies:

- Studiocanal

Studiocanal Logo

- PictureHouse

PictureHouse Logo

- Icon

Icon Logo

- Momentum

Momentum Logo

- Pathe

Pathe Logo

The second way to market my film on my own.

Now that the digital age has taken over our everyday lives and everything we do it is now easier than ever to get my film marketed, I have many different options in which I can get my film seen by the general public.

Ways in which I could get people to "snowball effect" my film are now going to be listed below. What this means is that a person may watch my film, then tell his friends, then their friends will tell their friends, thus creating a snowball effect and eventually collecting loads of views.

I could: 

- Hold a press release

- Show screenings of my film to the public

- Use social media such as facebook to gain publicity.

- Via Email

With regards to distributing my film on my own, I also have a range to choose from with this as well.



YouTube, YouTube is probably my best bet to get my film seen by the public, there is no charge for uploading my film and I could earn revenue from ads which appear beside and on the film, More views, more money. The main thing with youtube is that it is global, anyone can see it. They can view it anytime, anywhere, any-when this is what could make my film a success.

YouTube Logo

Vimeo, this is another excellent way of getting my video seen and watched. Although it isn't completely free people say it is more reliable than what youtube is, thus possibly making it the better option of choice to upload to. But, it won't earn me any ad revenue as there are no ads I will have to take this into account.

Vimeo Logo

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience we have picked for our thriller opening are males who are aged between 18 and 35 year olds.

How did you attract/address your audience?

One reason why my target audience would enjoy the opening scene to my film is that it involves violence. This violence is represented as a murder during the chase scene in the woods. There are also verbal death threats from the antagonist during the interview scene towards the end of the opening sequence. Also during this chase scene there are a wide range of camera shots which should keep the audience interested and get intrigued.

The first is a worms eye view which shows only the shoes and lower half of the legs as the protagonist and victim run past the camera, this gives the scene more dramatic effect.

Worms Eye view for dramatic effect

The second is a P.O.V of the victim straight after he has fallen to the ground, the camera blurs then comes back into focus to represent the victim as being dazed by the fall. The protagonist then comes into the shot and strikes a blow to the victims face. This again shows more violence and is directed towards the target audience. 

P.O.V of victim that shows an example of violence

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

During the main task I personally used the camera during the whole chase scene in the woods. So I was able to use that piece of equipment loads and become very used to it and was able to use it effectively. I learnt many features on that camera using the touchscreen interface. The list of features I learnt were; White Balance, the use of Zoom, and many other features on the camera.

White balance menu on the touchscreen interface

I had never used the mac computers or editing software used to edit our filmed shots of our thriller opening so it took a while to get used to. The first hurdle was learning how to log all recorded footage from the camera on to the mac computer. This was easily learnt due to the fact that there was a tutorial on the PC that showed you how to do this.

Mac PC I edited on

Final Cut Pro Logo

Final cut was the editing software we used to edit out footage. As I said previously I had never used this software before and took a while to get to grips with it. I was surprised at how quickly I managed to grasp how to edit well enough to edit the thriller opening. I learnt very quickly how to use the features such as; the crop tool, writing the sound, trim tool, transitions (fade, wipe etc.) , changing the speed of a shot and much more.

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

Looking back on the preliminary task I feel that I have improved greatly on the main task in comparison. The first example is the framing of shots. In the preliminary task, the characters in some of the shots will be framed all the way to one side and this would leave a big, open, unused space which would have been a waste. In the main task I thought through more about where the characters were in the frame and how it could add dramatic effect to the sequence of shots.

Framing Before in Prelim Task

Framing After in Main Task

For example during the chase scene in the main film I strategically placed the pursuer behind the character and to the left of the frame while the character who is fleeing is to the right of the frame.

Shot Framing Example

Lighting was a big aspect which had improved from the preliminary task to the main task. During the preliminary task we had an interview scene, in this room we had chosen there was a row of windows which let in a lot of light, the natural light changed how the shots looked from shot to shot. In the main task we had another interview scene only this time it was in a dark room, we shot the full set of shots only to find out they were not light enough to be easily scene. We learnt from this and added low back lighting to make sure every action was easily visible to the audience.

White balance. This was a big issue in the preliminary task, we would constantly forget to set the white balance and the consequence of this was that the shots colours looked different most of the time. We picked up on this early on and made sure it wouldn't happen again in the main task. While filming the main task we made sure that we set the white balance before the start of every single shot.

This is extremely evident during the chase sequence in the woods as pictured below:

White balance example, also a brilliant framing example.

The use of varied shots is another major factor which was improved in the main task. Before, in the preliminary task the shots were fairly plain and very fixed. In the main task we varied the shots greatly to give a wider range of possibilities for what could be done in that shot and how. We used extreme closes up's in combination with close up's and medium shots to convey a more dramatic effect.

Extreme Close up on the Protagonist

With regards to sound editing, there was no sound editing done during the preliminary task, this meant sounds could be distorted or other sounds could of been picked up during the filming of these shots. In the main task we took out all of the sound and added sound effects from garage band to overlay on the main film, we also included a voice over in the chase scenes from added effect.

Evaluation by Harry Speer

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

The opening features a chase scene in which the protagonist is chasing someone. This creates a fast pace sequence. At the end of the chase there is a POV shot, when the protagonist kills the person, bringing the viewer into the action. There is tension use in the interview scene when the antagonist is interrogating the protagonist. In the interview scene the rivalry between the antagonist and protagonist is a binary opposition. Part of the opening is set in a wood and another part is set in a darkened room each of which is a setting often used in thrillers.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The opening features two main characters: both are male, white, aged in their thirties and middle class. The antagonist is in a powerful position because he has control of the situation. The protagonist is the captive of the antagonist. The protagonist, who is being interrogated throughout the opening, is represented as a ordinary middle-class person. This is achieved by the character wearing the sort of clothes a middle class man would wear, such as jeans, jumper and casual shoes, and using typical middle-class language. The camera angle on the protagonist during the majority of the interrogation is a high angle which makes him look smaller and less powerful. The antagonist, who is the interrogator in the opening, is represented as a middle-class criminal. This is communicated through his style of clothing, such as smart shirt and black trousers and the way he speaks to the protagonist. The antagonist uses middle-class language but speaks in a sinister way to convey has criminality. The antagonist is shot from a low angle for most of the interrogation to make him seem powerful and dominant. The characters are represented as they are to get empathy with the target audience of middle-class white males. It was also intended show clearly which was the antagonist and protagonist.

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

Our media product might be distributed by TV broadcasters, for example, BBC, Channel 4 or ITV, or film distributor, such as Entertainment One UK, Icon Film Distribution or Lionsgate in the UK or Sony, Paramount or Warner Bros. in the USA. Such companies are commercial organisations which specialise in distributing our type of media product.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of our media product will be mostly male aged 18-35.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

All the characters in the film are male and in the target audience age range. The story would appeal to the target audience because it contains action, including a chase scene which ends violently. At one point the camera was positioned from a worm's eye view showing feet running in the chase scene which heightened the action. There is also a point of view shot which makes the viewer feel like he is in the film. The characters dressed as someone in the target audience would. The different characters were used to show the struggle between someone with power and someone who does not have power. The film used a stereotype of a man wearing a suit to show power.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

In the filming I did, I learnt how to place the object of a shot in the correct position of the frame. I also learnt how to position a camera in order to get the best shot. I observed how to carry out various editing techniques such as speeding up and slowing down a take, cropping parts of the frame and how to cut a paste footage in the timeline. When we were filming the interview scene, I learnt how to position the light and adjust the brightness of the lighting to create the right amount of light for the shot.

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

I did not carry out any filing in the preliminary task and so I learnt a number of new techniques in the main task, such as how to frame a shot and camera positioning to get an ideal shot. Sound editing was not a task I took part in so did not learn a great deal in this area, although I did observe the re-positioning of sound in the editing timeline. I did not actively control the vision editing but I did give suggestions while the editing was being done and saw how to change the pace of a scene, crop footage and re-arrange sequences in a timeline. I was not involved in the development of the story of characters in the preliminary task but I did write out and decide with the rest of my group what the story was going to be and the roles and natures of the characters. I learnt how to write a synopsis of a story and how to create a plot for a thriller.

Film title sequences - Tom Peacock

Film title sequences

Casino Royale (2007)

Casino Royale uses a graphically created title sequence to introduce the film. In the screenshot above we can see alot of color used, mainly reds and blacks. These two colors could be used to symbolize the reds and blacks you find on playing cards, which has always been a big part to James Bond films. 

We also see that the text colors have been well thought out, by using complimentary white text on top of the red background. The text isn't particularity bold but the fact it stands out makes you read it. The title isn't very revealing too, which again could relate to the main character James Bond being a spy and leading a secretive life.              

                                                                                                                       127 Hours

127 hours is another great example of simple titles being used to good effect. Here we see the title being used against a smooth and simple image in the background. The text is white and therefore stands out. The title sequence here raises alot of questions in the viewers head. The fact we're only shown a small amount of what's happening here, says there is a lot of action in the rest of the film. 

The Curse of the Omen

The Omen is the final example I've used of titling. Here they've opted to use a title, which covers the entire screen rather than being overlayed on top of the film. This gives the director an advantage because the audience will be looking solely at the title, and so you are able to communicate alot more through it. You can see here the title is in red and in a creepy font. These two things firstly, suggest murder and fear, both can be expected in a horror film like omen. Not much is given away about the plot or characters, so you could also say using a full screen title with only text is a good way of creating mystery. 

Evaluation Questions 1-7 (Tom Peacock)

Evaluation

Questions 1-7

Question 1) - In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

In the second scene, the chase, we used a variety of different camera angles to create drama, which is a convention of a real thriller film. During the chase scene, we used low angle camera shots, high angle camera shots and also setting, which is important in a thriller film to create the atmosphere and also set the tone of the opening. You can see below the comparison between our film and the thriller film called 'The woods', which also uses woods to set the atmosphere.

In these two screenshots you can also see, we took into consideration and used shots, which helped display the mood and setting, in which the chase scene was happening. We positioned the camera in front of the characters as they ran towards the camera, in order for the viewer to get a picture of the whole scenario, which the characters are in. 

Question 2) - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How are the main characters represented in your thriller opening?

• Firstly, if we look at the interviewer who is seen in the opening and ending scenes, he is represented as a person in an authoritative role.

• This is communicated through things like low angle camera shots. Having a low camera angle shot, looking up at a character in the perspective we used, which was first person, suggests that they are in a higher position of authority than the other character, as they are being looked up at.

• We can also see from Mise en Scene, that the interviewer is dressed in smart wear, a smart shirt, work trousers and black shoes.

• This sort of wear would be worn by someone who’s in a position of power and if we look at the contrast between the interviewer and the interviewee particularly in the last few scenes, we can see that they are dressed to suit their class types.

• The interviewer being the upper class stereotype and the interviewee in casual wear, being the middle or lower class.

Are the stereotypes you used in your thriller opening positive or negative?

• The representations of these class types shown in our thriller opening can be seen as negative.

• This is because we’ve displayed the top of the scale in terms of representation when it comes to the upper class and middle class, not all people who come from the upper class in society dress in smart wear and in comparison, not everyone from the middle class dresses in casual wear.

• Therefore we can say that our representation of class representations is negative.

Why did you represent your characters in this way?

• We represented the interviewer in this way to create the effect of authority.

• This effect as mentioned above is created through the use of low angle camera shots, close ups of the face and also the mise en scene used.

• We wanted this effect to be apparent because of the nature of the scene it’s set in, the interview room.

• In an interview room you need to have a character in control, which is the interviewer, so therefore we made him to be this type of stereotype to convey this effect of authority.

Question 3) - What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

When choosing to distribute your film through either your own means or by using a media institution, there are certain ways you can go about it. 

For example if you were to choose to distribute your own film you might consider the following. 

Social Media

• Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have huge audiences, making your film view able worldwide and by alot of people. 

• Most social media sites allow interaction between the people who view your film and yourself, making it easy for you to receive feedback from your intended audience. 

Screenings & Press releases

• Screenings will help you spread your film to the general public, which is a great way to distribute your film because it will ensure the hype factor is brought to your film, without needing to spend money.

• Press releases allow you to interact with the press, through a variety of ways. By holding a press conference you can allow your film to be featured in newspapers, online blogs and film review sites, meaning it will be beneficial to your films hype factor too. 

• Most methods of distributing your own film by yourself, will most likely cost you money and not allow any profit to be made, therefore the better option to take would be to go down the route of using an institution. 

Media institutions 

Using media institutions will benefit you more because they know exactly how to promote your film and distribute it in the right way in order to make it more successful than you could be able to do on your own. They also have plans in place to ensure you film doesn't loose the hype factor and continues to make lots of profit. 

• The first week where the film is released in cinema is crucial, to ensure the hype factor is met. 
• After 4-6 months, the film will be released onto DVD format and also BlueRay.
• 6-8 months after initial release the film will then be released onto media platforms, like Netflix and Lovefilm. 
• Once the film has generated all the profit possible, it will be released onto TV for public viewing. 

The main advantage of going down a media institution route, is the fact you get the backing of big companies and also will have a steady flow of money coming in from the profit. 

ElevenDimensionsMedia

FremantleMedia

Question 4) - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Audience age: 18-35

Audience gender: Male

Other thriller films enjoyed by same audience. (Age & Gender)

• Seven (1995) - http://goo.gl/XCPMVH

• North by North West (1959) - http://goo.gl/GcOKOa

• Dead man down (2013) - http://goo.gl/kZKnrI

Question 5) - How did you attract/address your audience?

•  Throughout our film, we tried to address our target audience as much as we could, mainly through the use of the Mise en scene, editing, sound and also camerawork.

• The main theme to our film is that of a murder and violence, which is appealing to the age and gender groups, which we chose due to the fact that other films in the same genre, which include the same theme's are also generally very successful. 

• When filming our interview scenes, we thought particularly hard about how we could turn a normal mundane interview into something, which would appeal to our target audience.  

• We did this through the various camera angles we used, such as a low angle POV shot and also OTS shots. By including these, we were trying to add more action into our opening and try to put the viewer in the position that the interviewee was in, during the scenes. Having a high array of different shots that cut quickly to each other indicate action and violence, which again is what we intended to do. 

• Not only this, but we also paid close attention to sound too. Having a good variety of diegetic and non diegetic sounds would only help target our audience. We included diegetic sounds such as the interviewer saying "I will kill you where you sit" and "You'd better start talking". Both these two lines suggest the theme of violence and therefore they target our intended audience. 

• The final scene, the murder, is also aimed at our target audience. We used a variety of different camera shots, angles and techniques to ensure it felt like a real life chase scene. For example we used a free hand tracking shot to make the action feel more real and lifelike, which again promotes the theme's of murder and violence, linking back to our target audience. 

Question 6) - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Before doing this task and course, I had previously taken Video production, where we had to do a similar task, so most of the skills I already know and learnt last year. 

Camera

From this task, I've learned alot more about camera work for example. Framing was a big issue on our preliminary task and so after getting some advice from our teacher, we made sure that this issue was addressed and fixed. 

Sound

Sound was also something, which I didn't previously pay much attention to in last years course. There was a much bigger focus on sound this year and therefore I had to re-learn my skills using garageband to edit my sound. 

Question 7) - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

To start things off for this question I would say I have developed skills in many different area's of media progressing from the preliminary task to the main task. 

Firstly, I think my ability to frame a shot has improved the most. Before we started the main task, the framing we had shot on the preliminary, wasn't as good as it could've been and this was one of the main things, which needed to be improved as pointed out by our teachers. 

Before starting the main task, we had made sure to think about the framing before we started to film on location, which proved to be very useful as we found a majority of the framing on our first day of filming was really good and could be used. 

An example of how our framing improved post preliminary

The next thing, which I think progressed from the preliminary was the sound editing. Before having dedicated lessons in the classroom about sound editing mine and my groups skills using garageband, were limited, therefore limiting how we could create affect using sound, which is a big part of any film.

On the preliminary, we used extremely basic sound editing, maybe using two layers of sound at the maximum on a few clips throughout the preliminary. By the end of editing our main task, we were using sound editing throughout our finished film, not only placing sound but creating layers of sound to create the dramatic effect we wanted to make, throughout the entirety of our finished film. 

Not only this but we started to experiment, creating soundtracks to put over the opening title sequence, using fades to tone down the sound effects in certain places or increasing the volume of that specific sound to make it have more of an impact on the audience. We also used things, such as parallel sound editing and also creating sound bridges, which was way above what we were capable of doing on our preliminary task.

Example of a complex sound edit similar to the one we created

The final thing, which we improved from the preliminary to the main task, was the construction of character and story. Before the preliminary task, we didn't have any planning into what character's we would have, how they would dress, what sort of role they would take on and how that would impact the other characters we used. 

From the preliminary we realized we would have to take a lot more time thinking about the construction of the characters we used. We did this by writing out a plot for the whole story, rather than just the opening. This way we could look at events, which impacted on the character and see how they would react to this, which improved our character construction. 

We also looked into character costume as well and made sure we have at-least one member of our group in costume, which is something we didn't do in the preliminary.