Last Changes

Today I have had a final look ever my blog, and made small changes suggested by my teachers in order to improve my mark, and achieve the best mark that I can. I now feel as though both my film and blog are completed to a good enough standard, content including;
- Coursework brief
- Conventions of a thriller
- Thriller examples
- Preliminary Task
- Audience research
- Planning

- Filming

- Editing
- The process of editing written on blog
- Audience Feedback 
- Evaluation

Addition to Evaluation

I realised that saying in question 3 that our film could be distributed by the major institutions i had mentioned was very unrealistic. For this reason I added information about 'The Microwave Scheme' and a film we are watching at the moment in lesson; 'Shifty'. This is a more realistic way that our film could be distributed.

I Am Number Four (2011)

Last night, me and Tom went to see a thriller called 'I Am Number Four' at the cinema, starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant and Dianna Agron. The film is about a teen who is being hunted down, like 3 previously to him, as a group of enemies attempt to take over his world. He is number four, and is attempting to live a normal life, and fit in amongst humans, to avoid being killed. It was a great example of a thriller, with the enemy providing a obstacle to overcome. It includes tension and suspense, and is at times quite jumpy. The audience is kept on the edge of their seats. I personally really likes the soundtrack and sound effects. Furthermore it had a good cast; Agron is big in the USA and UK at the moment starring as Quinn Fabray in 'Glee', and Pettyfer having huge hits with 'Alex Rider; Stormbreaker' and British film 'Tormented'.

More on the Evaluation

Today I have continued to make improvements to my evaluations, and added in various slide shows via slide share, such as one about our characters and one about different film institutions. 

Today

This evening I continued to work on my evaluation questions, in an attempt to make them better. My main focus was on question 6, which I had originally written out and planned to accompany with printscreens and images, but I instead used my knowledge of multimedia formats, and created a slide show instead, using powerpoint and then slideshare.com to upload it as this is more interesting, and varied my technique of displaying information. I Will continue to make any changes to my evaluation questions as the week progresses.

Audience Feedback- Wordle

To gain more of an idea of our audience feedback, as well as the interview i made yesterday, i also asked each member of the class, as well as the teachers to come up with 2-3 words each to describe our film. To display my findings, I then created a wordle What i discovered is as follows;

People described our film as such things as captivating, eerie and intense, but the main answers given were suspense, tense and exciting. These are all things that are conventions of a thriller, and therefore it is good that we gained such positive feedback, considering it is these sorts of things that we set out to include in our thriller . 

Audience Feedback- Interview

Today during lesson, we carried out several interviews to gain the opinions and thoughts of the audience. We asked a variety of people four questions;

- What were your initial thoughts upon watching the thriller opening?

- What was your favourite part of the thriller opening?

- What criticisms of the opening do you have?

- Does the opening encourage you to want to watch the rest of the film?

Our Finished Thriller!

This is the finished product! The thriller myself, Tom and Dan created, called 'Hide and Seek'. We are really pleased with it. So enjoy!! 

Evaluation 7) - Looking back at the preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in he progression from it to the product?

After completing all of our filming and a large majority of our editing, we have looked back at our preliminary task, we are able to see more clearly a number of things that we should have done differently, and could have done better. We believe that the quality of filming in our thriller opening is so much better, and everything seems more professional-looking. 


Firstly, in the preliminary test, we filmed on two different days, and i wasn't wearing the same clothes, which makes it seem very unrealistic. In comparison to this, when we filmed on several different days for he thriller opening, we made sure outfits/costumes stayed consistent, to make it seem to all take place on the same day.

Also, when watching the Preliminary task back, we realized that the quality of shots, transitions and actual filming were all very low. The camera jolted a lot and was far from smooth. In the actual film the quality is much better, and we have learned how to use dissolves, fade ins and fade outs, and Tom has improved in his filming and camera technique immensely. The variety of the shots in our actual thriller opening are  original and interesting in comparison to our preliminary task.


Sound
The comparison of sound in the preliminary task, to that in the actual thriller opening is extremely obvious. The sound in the preliminary task is only the conversation between myself and Dan. There is no music, only dialogue. Since this, we have discovered the importance of music and sound effects, and have used them, as well as dialogue in our final coursework. We used two varying pieces of music, as well as various sound effects to enhance our opening.


Shots
In comparison to our preliminary task, in our actual opening we have been able to use more interesting shot transitions, which we found was helpful in creating tension. We used crosses and dissolves, where the shot fades out and the next fades in. The video below shows a small clip at which point we have used fade in fade out shots.

Another difference between the two films is that in "Hide and Seek", we used credits, whereas in our preliminary, we didn't. Tom made all the credits and we feel the were really original, suited the mood we wanted to create, and were good especially when the fact that we only had a couple of months to figure out how to use the program. 

We also feel that in the preliminary task we made a lot more mistakes, and had to repeat things over and over. Dan seemed to find it particularly hard;

We feel that we have learnt a lot about character and object positioning and within the frame, as well as settings and angles. We found that our original ideas changed so much from our finished product but we have tried to be as inventive as we can, hopefully improving on what we wanted to do to begin with. A lot of work went into what we have done and we are very proud of our thriller opening.

Evaluation 6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the thriller?

Wordle showing appropriately to what extent we used each piece of equipment or program;

Evaluation 5) - How did we attract/address our audience?

There are a number of ways in which we held the attention of our audience, primarily by constantly building tension throughout, which kept them watching to see what exactly the climax was. 

As previously mentioned, by using surveys and interviews we were able to discover our target audience and make our characters similar to them, in order to engage them and enable them to identify with the character. We used both genders and actors aged similarly to those who we expect to watch our film, who made up the majority of our survey results.

We were really pleased with the location of our thriller opening. We used my dad's carpet warehouse to shoot the film. The setting created the desired atmostphere, being deserted and isolated, creating tension, and the realisation from the audience that if something was to happen, there would be no one around. The setting would attract the audience as it is a setting often used by the genre; the abandoned warehouse, where there's no one around to help a victim. An audience can familiarize with the setting and scenario. 

Not much is revealed from our thriller opening in the hope that the audience will continue to watch, with the desire to find out what happens next.

Evaluation 4) - Who would be the audience for our media product?

By setting up a survey previously on Survey Monkey, we were able to see what people expected from a thriller and the age group we should direct the thriller at. We managed to gain 50 responses to the survey, which is good, as it made our results more reliable. 

People would want to watch our thriller because we have characters which are of a similar type to our target audience, which we discovered from our survey; 14-20 year old's, teenagers or young adults of either gender, of a middle-working class, meaning they are able to identify with the characters. Because there was a pretty even number of each gender who took the survey, we used both males and females in our film, to gain the interest of both genders.

There are a number of techniques that are used in thrillers, that people consider to be important, and make a good and effective thriller. We asked people what they believed to be important on our Survey Monkey survey we created. Below is a Wordle demonstrating the answers that they gave, that we believed we incorporated into our film.

In our filmed interviews that we did to discover our target audience, a number of people expressed the need for good acting. For this reason, we asked my step-sister Christy to be the main character, as she fitted the criteria; she is female, aged 18, she can drive and she is studying drama at college. We feel she did a great job expressing emotions we asked her to, such as confusion, fear etc.

Evaluation 3) - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

There are a variety of different film companies and institutions that may wish to distribute our film. I have researched into companies that have previously produced psychological thrillers, such as Universal Studios, Summit Entertainment and Dimension Films.

To demonstrate just how many different film institutions there are around the world, this link proved to be very useful as it lists all different companies, big and small, by their country, including the UK and USA; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_distributors_by_country#United_Kingdom


Our film could be shown in cinema's (digitally), on television, on the internet, for example on youtube, or a specific site, dedicated to the film.


There are a number of ways our film, like any other could be advertised, for example, on the television, on billboards and posters (on buses), in cinemas, in magazines and newspapers, or on the internet. By using such a wide range of marketing methods, we would be more likely to reach a wider variety of audiences.  These methods are used by a number of different films presently, for example 'Just go with it', 'Paul' and 'The Black Swan'.

Demonstrated below are a number of films and the ways in which they are advertised, similarly to how ours could be advertised.

To get our thriller distributed by one of these film industries would be a great achievement, however it is very unlikely. It would be more realistic for our work to be distributed by a company in England, that produces amateur films, such as Film4, who created a number of films, and short films such as 'This is England' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' which have been huge hits. 

The Microwave Scheme

In lesson last week, as an introduction to our exam preparation, we learnt about 'The Microwave Scheme'. It was a project set up by the UK Film Council, where young amateur film makers were provided with £100,000 to create their own film. In lesson we watched 'Shifty', which is one of the films funded by the Scheme. The film only took 18 days to make, and was good enough to be distributed by 'Metrodome'. Though this Scheme would be a more realistic way of getting our film distributed.

Evaluation 2) - How does our media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening only has a limited number of characters in it, abut those it does have are represented equally, and pretty ordinarily. A female critic may say that the main female character Christy is representing weakness, however it could be argued that the figure that she sees in the warehouse is also female, and is a strong character. 


Me a Tom made the following presentation to explain what each character represents. 

In our film there is a lack of input from ethnic minorities which was not taken into consideration. However we do not have any offensive or racist language or actions. We did not feel this was a relevant issue during the making of our film. The characters (other than the hooded figure) are shown quite positively, however we do not know their backgrounds, or much about their personalities at this time. 

Similarly to this, we did not feel that sexuality was relevant, however we were not offensive in any way throughout the film. The film is appropriate for a person of any sexuality. The characters are displayed in such a way that their sexuality is unknown. 

Our film opening features characters in their late teens. The thriller we have made would probably be considered to be inappropriate for younger children, as they mind find it disturbing or scary. The teenagers, from the short opening, do seem to be normal stereotypical teens. I previously made a post in December about the various film certificates, and about the BBFC.

I consider the film to represent middle-working class people. Making them ordinary people means that more of the audience would be able to associate with the characters, making them feel more included in what is going on.

Evaluation 1) - In what way does our media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The conventions of a thriller are techniques that are specifically used to make a thriller and what is expected in them to make them effective.
Our thriller opening uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions in a number of ways, in particular those of a psychological thriller. This often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre, and it often deals with the abnormal. A number of our ideas were inspired by other films, for example the close up shots that we did of eyes, can be seen in western film, 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'. These close ups emphasis can emphasis feelings of characters, such as fear or anger. 

A number of thrillers often suggest a character is being watched by an unknown person. We attempted to create this effect through the use of shots, such as the doorway shot, where Christy see's something flash across.

My costume was based manly around such characters as the girl out of the ring, but mainly, the grudge. We likes the idea of the pale ghostly face and long black hair.

We build tension throughout the opening, through the use of music, which is parallel to the mood that we wanted to set; one of mystery and suspense which builds up throughout the car scenes, right up until the climax at the end. 

We used the warehouse as it was isolated and no other people are around. This leaves the impression that of something bad were to happen, there would be no one around to help, or save Christy. We got this idea from watching "No Country for Old Men", as much of it is set in on plains of wasteland and desert, and no one is around to help any victims of Anton Chigurh. (Shown in image below)

Progress

Although today I haven't yet posted anything onto my blog, I have been completing the evaluation questions in detail for most of the day. Tomorrow all our group will have to do is make any final changes to the actual film, and create an interview demonstrating public opinion on our coursework.

Plans for today

Today we plan to spend from 10:50am until around 3:15pm editing our film, and completing our blog. In this time, we hope to;
- Finish our film completely, including music, sound effects and actual transaction between shots.
- Complete our evaluation on our coursework.
- Film a sequence of short interviews held with a variety of people, answering questions on our opening, after watching it, to gain public opinion.
- We may also use survey monkey to gain additional public opinions on our film, by posting a survey on facebook, along with our thriller opening.

Music Change

Originally, we were going to use the piece of music called 'Ariel' for the second half, the more faced pace half, of the thriller opening, however we have now decided that this would be more appropriate for the first half, to build tension, and so we are going to find another track for the second half. We also still need to find music, or sound effects for the nose to nose shot, and the two close ups of mine and Christy's eye, which Dan is currently attempting to do.

Editing the film

Today and yesterday we have really focussed on fine tuning the film. We have made sure all shots flow and there are smooth transactions between them. One way of doing this was by adding in fade in and fade outs. By doing this, we were able to make the quick shots between myself on the stairs and Christy walking around the warehouse more effective. We also added all the credits (image 1), which Tom created on Livetype, which we were really happy with. We put the credits in at various points throughout the opening, where we felt appropriate. Furthermore, we used a tool on Final Cut Express to adjust the sound levels of each shot (the pink line, image 2 below), for example, making the door slamming, and the bangs that Christy hears louder, and decreasing the volume of the wind on the outside shots. 

Considerations when marking

Today, i looked at a checklist consisting of everything that i need to include in my film and blog, in order to get a good mark. I particularly looked at the construction of the film, and what we need to make sure is included in it. In my opinion, i feel we have included each of the following necessities, to the best of our ability.
- Holding a  steady shot
- Using a variety of shot distances
- Framing a shot
- Shooting appropriate material
- Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figures, lighting, objects and setting 
- Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
- Using varied shot transitions and captions
- Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task

Change in the credits

After a discussion with my group, we decided today that we are going to make up names for the credits, rather than repeatedly using our names, to make it more professional looking and realistic. 

The Free Sound Project

We found an amazing website, called thefreesoundproject, on which we have located a number of different sound effects that we can use in our film, including the sound effects for our ident, our thriller title, the fast pace close ups of the eyes, the door slamming, and the dark mysterious figure that shoots across the screen.

Editing the Film

Today we continued to edit our film, this time in more detail, making more precise and accurate cuts between shots, and adding fades, as well as the preface, which were all successful. We plan to continue on Friday afternoon.

Filming

Over the past week or so, we have managed to get all our filming done at the warehouse, which we're all really pleased about. It went pretty well, and we got it done in good timing, as we now have about two weeks to edit it, and add sound and credits.

Our Tracking Shot

Whilst doing our filming at the warehouse, we decided to experiment and create our own tracking shot, using a wheelie bin, which Tom sat on, and filmed Christy, while me and dan pulled him along, as demonstrated in the following video.

Art of the Title

Today i visited a website called www.artofthetitle.com in order to gain an insight into the making of effective opening sequences. I looked at a variety of different film openings, such as 'Quantum of Solace' and 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World'.

Halloween
Halloween is an opening which i looked at in more detail. It uses quite pain font, meaning the audience isn't distracted by the font when reading the content of the credits. The colour scheme is black and orange, which are colours usually associated which halloween, meaning they are obviously appropriate. The Pumpkin gradually gets closer and close to the camera in each shot, which builds tension. The way that the light within the pumpkin is considered to be 'spooky'. As i was unable to put the actual video onto here, the link to it features below.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/10/31/halloween/

Today in lesson

Today we uploaded all the filming we have done so far, and are going to use for our thriller, including the waking up scene, the car scene and receiving the text. We only created a 'rough version', focussing only on getting our work onto the program, rather than worrying too much, at this stage, about the timing.

Dialogue in our Thriller

Originally, we had decided that we would not need much dialogue in our thriller opening, other than the occasional shout from Christy, when she's trying to find Dan. However, since we changed the story line, we decided to film Christy and Dan in the car, discussing how she had got a text, telling her to meet someone at 'Fairgroves Estate', as we were no longer using shot of the text content, only Christy actually receiving it. However we are still debating whether this scene in the car is necessary and whether or not it would catch the attention of the audience enough, considering this is what the opening of a thriller aims to do.

Filming

Yesterday, our group went and re filmed our driving scenes in the light,rather than in the evening as we did before. It didn't take very long, as we already knew exactly what we were doing, which was good. We also ran through our plot with our main actress Christy, and have arranged to film the exterior scenes of the warehouse, for example arriving in the car, on Tuesday, then we are going to finish all filming hopefully on Friday. This will give us 2 weeks to do all editing, add music and credits, and it will also provide us with time to sort out any problems we come across.

Season of the Witch (2010)

Myself and Tom went to see 'Season of the Witch' at the cinema. In summary, the plot involves 14th-century knights transporting a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague. It included several componants making it a good thriller. It was quite gory, it was at times jumpy, and it was psychologically testing, and kept the audience guessing. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy.

Buying the costume

Yesterday after school we went and bought my costume from Party Go Go. We bought a black wig and face paints (white and red). We will also be getting a black cloak. 

Location of our Thriller

As i have previously said, we plan to use my dads warehouse in Romford for our filming. We believe this is a good location because its is closed in, isolated, and will provide the right atmosphere. Below are a few photos of the warehouse.  

Re-think on our thriller

The other groups filming has been a success and is nearly complete, however in our own filming, we hit a number of obstacles, which we have had to alter, in the form of completely changing major ideas we previously had. On Friday, we managed to do some successful shot of Christy driving in the dark, however due to our changes of plan we will no longer need them. Will still put them on the blog however. 
Firstly, we discovered that we would not be able to film very late in the day, or as it gets dark, due to the closing time of our location. For this reason we relocated to the woody area of our school back field. At the weekend we went there to film however it was too dark and we therefore couldn't use the camera to the best of its ability and we were unable to achieve affects and shots we wished to.
Today we have discussed in depth what we are going to do, and have changed many aspects of the thriller opening. We have relocated to my dad's workplace; a warehouse in Romford. We are also going to film during the daytime. Below is an outline of the new plan, as well as some photos. 


LOCATION: warehouse
- need to re-film Christy and Dan in the car, in the daytime


SHOTS TO DO...
- Christy receives a text
- Her and Dan coming out of house
- Getting in the car
- Driving off
- Pulling out onto the main road
- Parking up at location and getting out of the car
- Dan disappears
- Doorway shot of something moving in the warehouse
- Outside shot of christy going into the warehouse
- Inside shut of door slamming behind her
- Christy gets scared, hears noises
- See her walking over to stairs
- See Me coming down

- See her walking over to stairs

- See Me coming down

- See her walking over to stairs

- See Me coming down

- Christy is looking in the opposite direction from the stairs

- She turns and sees me

- Nose to Nose

- Christy screams and falls

- I stand over her

- All goes black

Plan of my costume

Birds eye view drawing of the warehouse, helps us to plan our shots and ideas

Tom planning

Notes and planning ideas

Helping the other group

Over the past week, we have been helping the other group to do their filming, as well as attempting to start our own.

Our Finished Title

This is the finished product which Tom created on Livetype; the title of our film that will feature at the end of our Thriller opening.

Our Title

As a group, we decided on the title of our thriller- 'Hide and Seek'.
Over the past week, Tom has been creating the title in Livetype, deciding on font, colour and animations, as shown below.