Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Evaluation
Our brief was to create a two minute opening sequence to a thriller. My groups sequence is called Bullseye.
Joanne Andrews (Lauren Halse) is a cold blooded murderer using a game of darts to choose her next victim. Everything changes however when she picks vulnerable Emma Jackson (Natasha John), as her next victim.
After doing some individual research me and my group decided what we wanted our opening sequence to achieve. We decided that our opening sequence had to establish character and narrative context for the audience and set up some degree of enigma. This is so the audience have an insight into the narrative and who is involved without revealing what actually happens. One purpose of an opening sequence may be to establish setting. We have done this in our sequence by using an establishing shot. This is the first shot in our sequence and it is in the “murderers” garage and it is a shot of the dartboard. The dartboard is the main iconography of our film.
At a micro technical level I think we conveyed the typical conventions of continuity very well. This is because we obeyed the 180 degree rule and followed the production tip we were given regarding match on action. This enabled our sequence to flow and not confuse the audience. Although we achieved continuity, some of our original shots did not so we had to change some of our ideas. Our establishing shot was originally a shot of the murderers’ house and the camera slowly tracks down the driveway until it reaches an extreme close up of the garage. It then cross dissolves into a shot of the interior of the garage. To achieve this we strapped the camera to the seat of a bike. This idea did not work as the footage was too bumpy and we realised we did not have the technology so had to simplify our ideas.
One way which we deliberately challenged the typical conventions of a thriller is through the use of character. A typical murderer may be seen or stereotyped as a man, so in our thriller we purposely challenged this and our murderer is a woman. We thought this would be interesting and unique. In our opening sequence however it is quite difficult to know that it is a woman as we have purposely not shown her face in order to create suspense and keep the audience guessing. To keep the identity of the antagonist hidden the audience only sees shots of her feet or a 2 shot from behind both the antagonist and protagonist. The true identity will be revealed in the film making the audience want to watch it. A typical murderer may be stereotyped to wear dark, baggy clothing. We have gone along with this in order to create familiarity and help the audience to relate to other thrillers. This will help the audience immediately identify the murderer. One typical convention in the sequence is the use of binary opposites. We have complied with this convention using character. Opposite of the murderer (antagonist) is the victim (protagonist). The music we have used is typical of a thriller. It provides a sense of eeriness and atmosphere without being too creepy and sounding like a horror. In some film openings there is a lot of dialogue and so we are fully introduced to the main characters. We decided to do the total opposite. We have used no dialogue in our opening. Instead, the characters are shown through body language, lighting, music, costume, camera and other imposing factors. So our themed music plays throughout the opening, only interrupted by two voiceovers which give an underlying message to the audience. It also complies with the conventions as we have used titles which are present in all opening sequences. The titles are placed on top of the action as opposed to on a blank background so as they do not distract from the action but work with it. An important part of creating atmosphere is lighting. Thrillers tend to have more mysterious lighting effects such as blue or red instead of natural lighting. In our sequence we have used low key red lighting. We achieved this by using a bright lamp with a red gel in front of it. We also chose a red effect on imovie 09 when editing our footage. We picked red instead of the more common blue as red has connotations of blood and danger which is a common feature in thrillers. This connotation therefore was a good theme for our thriller. Low key lighting also helps to create a sense of the unknown. Our film on the whole complies with most of the typical conventions of films today. It complies with Todrovs theory which is present in most films and thrillers. He believes that the environment begins with a state of equilibrium (all as it should be, in a state of equal balance between powers of any kind). This is then disrupted in some way (disequilibrium). There is then an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption before a new equilibrium is reached. This theory applies to the whole film and not just the opening sequence alone. If equilibrium was lost and restored in the opening sequence the audience would have no reason or desire to watch the film.
Our media opening sequence presents a stereotypical view of teenage girls. All of the victims shown in our sequence are teenage girls. We have represented the girls as being vulnerable. In all of the shots of the girls they are alone which helps to give the impression of vulnerability. The victim, whom the sequence concentrates on, Emma Jackson, is wearing high heels which make her seem extra susceptible to danger. I think this representation is quite accurate of teenage girls today. We wanted this accurate representation to help give a sense of realism and help the audience get involved. We present a negative view of the murderer. The murderer’s appearance is somewhat similar to the stereotyped view of a young teenager/yob. She is dressed in black and has baggy clothing. She also has her hood up obstructing the view of her face. This helps to keep the audience intrigued as they will want to establish the identity of the murderer.
I think the main way in which we have created audience attraction is through realism. We have created realistic representations of the characters and therefore the audience will be able to connect and empathise with them. The other way we have attracted our audience is through narrative. I believe that our narrative fits in well with the typical storylines of thrillers. This will help the audience to relate and compare it with other films.
After our opening sequence was complete I did some research into media institutions and distributing our film. I found a film distribution company called Film London Microwave. This distribution company specialises in micro budget feature film making and marketing. As we would be working with a small budget this company seems like a realistic and good option. This would be a good way to distribute our film and show it to our target audience. The company also offers help with marketing, available funding, and knowledge from experts. To promote our low budget film further we could look into merchandising and promotional items to generate more interest in the film and get more people to watch it. Another option for us to distribute our film would be to distribute it online using Youtube. It is free, quick and easy and would be seen by a wide market. This is a great way for a low budget film to get audience feedback and it can be further distributed via facebook, email and twitter.
We decided that our film would be certified as a 15. The title sequence itself does not contain any unsuitable clips or language but the film itself would, and therefore a rating of 15 is appropriate. I believe that the film would appeal to an audience between 15 to early 20’s, particularly students. This is an obvious audience for us to target as we are more familiar with what appeals to them as we fit into the age group. The typical conventions including music and narrative would help them to relate the film to other thrillers, and hopefully make it more appealing. A typical viewer may be a student around 20 in their second or third year at University. They will be more mature that the younger students, maybe looking for a quiet night in. They will be looking for a well priced piece of entertainment and will not want to spend too much money. Also they will be in an ideal location to get hold of the film as it will be located in highly populated areas. A totally different viewer may be someone in their late 20’s who has finished University, has a steady job and a disposable income. They will have money to spend and will be looking for inside entertainment. The third potential viewer may be a 16 or 17 year old who has a full time/part time job so have a little money to spend. They are not old enough to “go out” and may get bored of going bowling etc. So they have a DVD night in with family or friends.
From my preliminary task to my final product I have learned a huge amount. The preliminary task was the first bit of filming that I had ever done so the whole process has been a combination of trial and error. The preliminary task helped me to create continuity and taught me that I needed to take more than one of each shot or clip in order to make sure that we have enough footage to work with in order to achieve continuity. Since the preliminary task I have learnt that being organised and time management is the key to a successful product. We had to film our opening sequence 3 or 4 times to ensure we had all of the clips that we needed. We realised that things do go wrong so leaving time to re-film is vital. I have also learned that there is a lot more to think about than just camera shots. Music, lighting, costume, characters, location and props all play a big part in the film. Some of the basic rules such as the 180 degree rule were very useful. They taught me that filming has to be done in such a way so as not to confuse the audience. I have learned that using a wide variety of shots helps to keep the product more interesting and can help to suggest or pronounce certain things.
In order to film our opening sequence we came across lots of technology that we had to use. Our group used cameras, lighting and imovie 09 on the apple Mac computers. Whilst filming our sequence we came across many problems with the cameras. The first time we filmed there was a problem with the tape so the whole day got cancelled as we did not have a spare. Our initial idea of zooming down the driveway of the house did not work as our technology was not advanced enough. Instead we took still shots using the tripod. It was very important that the tripod was secure and level so that our shots were steady and not crooked. One problem we had was with the memory on the apple Mac computers. This memory shortage meant we could not upload our footage and delayed the process greatly. When we finally got our footage uploaded and were editing our footage the editing tools came in very useful. It enabled us to change the brightness of shots, add music, titles and voiceovers. We also had to use blogging. I had never used blogger before and the experience was great! I love working on the computer and found it very different to work this way. We had some problems however using the blogging site in school but we overcame these problems and I am now a great fan of the process.
I am very pleased with the final product and think that our hard work finally paid off. If I were to do it again I would try and plan more efficiently and leave time to re film if needed to.
Joanne Andrews (Lauren Halse) is a cold blooded murderer using a game of darts to choose her next victim. Everything changes however when she picks vulnerable Emma Jackson (Natasha John), as her next victim.
After doing some individual research me and my group decided what we wanted our opening sequence to achieve. We decided that our opening sequence had to establish character and narrative context for the audience and set up some degree of enigma. This is so the audience have an insight into the narrative and who is involved without revealing what actually happens. One purpose of an opening sequence may be to establish setting. We have done this in our sequence by using an establishing shot. This is the first shot in our sequence and it is in the “murderers” garage and it is a shot of the dartboard. The dartboard is the main iconography of our film.
At a micro technical level I think we conveyed the typical conventions of continuity very well. This is because we obeyed the 180 degree rule and followed the production tip we were given regarding match on action. This enabled our sequence to flow and not confuse the audience. Although we achieved continuity, some of our original shots did not so we had to change some of our ideas. Our establishing shot was originally a shot of the murderers’ house and the camera slowly tracks down the driveway until it reaches an extreme close up of the garage. It then cross dissolves into a shot of the interior of the garage. To achieve this we strapped the camera to the seat of a bike. This idea did not work as the footage was too bumpy and we realised we did not have the technology so had to simplify our ideas.
One way which we deliberately challenged the typical conventions of a thriller is through the use of character. A typical murderer may be seen or stereotyped as a man, so in our thriller we purposely challenged this and our murderer is a woman. We thought this would be interesting and unique. In our opening sequence however it is quite difficult to know that it is a woman as we have purposely not shown her face in order to create suspense and keep the audience guessing. To keep the identity of the antagonist hidden the audience only sees shots of her feet or a 2 shot from behind both the antagonist and protagonist. The true identity will be revealed in the film making the audience want to watch it. A typical murderer may be stereotyped to wear dark, baggy clothing. We have gone along with this in order to create familiarity and help the audience to relate to other thrillers. This will help the audience immediately identify the murderer. One typical convention in the sequence is the use of binary opposites. We have complied with this convention using character. Opposite of the murderer (antagonist) is the victim (protagonist). The music we have used is typical of a thriller. It provides a sense of eeriness and atmosphere without being too creepy and sounding like a horror. In some film openings there is a lot of dialogue and so we are fully introduced to the main characters. We decided to do the total opposite. We have used no dialogue in our opening. Instead, the characters are shown through body language, lighting, music, costume, camera and other imposing factors. So our themed music plays throughout the opening, only interrupted by two voiceovers which give an underlying message to the audience. It also complies with the conventions as we have used titles which are present in all opening sequences. The titles are placed on top of the action as opposed to on a blank background so as they do not distract from the action but work with it. An important part of creating atmosphere is lighting. Thrillers tend to have more mysterious lighting effects such as blue or red instead of natural lighting. In our sequence we have used low key red lighting. We achieved this by using a bright lamp with a red gel in front of it. We also chose a red effect on imovie 09 when editing our footage. We picked red instead of the more common blue as red has connotations of blood and danger which is a common feature in thrillers. This connotation therefore was a good theme for our thriller. Low key lighting also helps to create a sense of the unknown. Our film on the whole complies with most of the typical conventions of films today. It complies with Todrovs theory which is present in most films and thrillers. He believes that the environment begins with a state of equilibrium (all as it should be, in a state of equal balance between powers of any kind). This is then disrupted in some way (disequilibrium). There is then an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption before a new equilibrium is reached. This theory applies to the whole film and not just the opening sequence alone. If equilibrium was lost and restored in the opening sequence the audience would have no reason or desire to watch the film.
Our media opening sequence presents a stereotypical view of teenage girls. All of the victims shown in our sequence are teenage girls. We have represented the girls as being vulnerable. In all of the shots of the girls they are alone which helps to give the impression of vulnerability. The victim, whom the sequence concentrates on, Emma Jackson, is wearing high heels which make her seem extra susceptible to danger. I think this representation is quite accurate of teenage girls today. We wanted this accurate representation to help give a sense of realism and help the audience get involved. We present a negative view of the murderer. The murderer’s appearance is somewhat similar to the stereotyped view of a young teenager/yob. She is dressed in black and has baggy clothing. She also has her hood up obstructing the view of her face. This helps to keep the audience intrigued as they will want to establish the identity of the murderer.
I think the main way in which we have created audience attraction is through realism. We have created realistic representations of the characters and therefore the audience will be able to connect and empathise with them. The other way we have attracted our audience is through narrative. I believe that our narrative fits in well with the typical storylines of thrillers. This will help the audience to relate and compare it with other films.
After our opening sequence was complete I did some research into media institutions and distributing our film. I found a film distribution company called Film London Microwave. This distribution company specialises in micro budget feature film making and marketing. As we would be working with a small budget this company seems like a realistic and good option. This would be a good way to distribute our film and show it to our target audience. The company also offers help with marketing, available funding, and knowledge from experts. To promote our low budget film further we could look into merchandising and promotional items to generate more interest in the film and get more people to watch it. Another option for us to distribute our film would be to distribute it online using Youtube. It is free, quick and easy and would be seen by a wide market. This is a great way for a low budget film to get audience feedback and it can be further distributed via facebook, email and twitter.
We decided that our film would be certified as a 15. The title sequence itself does not contain any unsuitable clips or language but the film itself would, and therefore a rating of 15 is appropriate. I believe that the film would appeal to an audience between 15 to early 20’s, particularly students. This is an obvious audience for us to target as we are more familiar with what appeals to them as we fit into the age group. The typical conventions including music and narrative would help them to relate the film to other thrillers, and hopefully make it more appealing. A typical viewer may be a student around 20 in their second or third year at University. They will be more mature that the younger students, maybe looking for a quiet night in. They will be looking for a well priced piece of entertainment and will not want to spend too much money. Also they will be in an ideal location to get hold of the film as it will be located in highly populated areas. A totally different viewer may be someone in their late 20’s who has finished University, has a steady job and a disposable income. They will have money to spend and will be looking for inside entertainment. The third potential viewer may be a 16 or 17 year old who has a full time/part time job so have a little money to spend. They are not old enough to “go out” and may get bored of going bowling etc. So they have a DVD night in with family or friends.
From my preliminary task to my final product I have learned a huge amount. The preliminary task was the first bit of filming that I had ever done so the whole process has been a combination of trial and error. The preliminary task helped me to create continuity and taught me that I needed to take more than one of each shot or clip in order to make sure that we have enough footage to work with in order to achieve continuity. Since the preliminary task I have learnt that being organised and time management is the key to a successful product. We had to film our opening sequence 3 or 4 times to ensure we had all of the clips that we needed. We realised that things do go wrong so leaving time to re-film is vital. I have also learned that there is a lot more to think about than just camera shots. Music, lighting, costume, characters, location and props all play a big part in the film. Some of the basic rules such as the 180 degree rule were very useful. They taught me that filming has to be done in such a way so as not to confuse the audience. I have learned that using a wide variety of shots helps to keep the product more interesting and can help to suggest or pronounce certain things.
In order to film our opening sequence we came across lots of technology that we had to use. Our group used cameras, lighting and imovie 09 on the apple Mac computers. Whilst filming our sequence we came across many problems with the cameras. The first time we filmed there was a problem with the tape so the whole day got cancelled as we did not have a spare. Our initial idea of zooming down the driveway of the house did not work as our technology was not advanced enough. Instead we took still shots using the tripod. It was very important that the tripod was secure and level so that our shots were steady and not crooked. One problem we had was with the memory on the apple Mac computers. This memory shortage meant we could not upload our footage and delayed the process greatly. When we finally got our footage uploaded and were editing our footage the editing tools came in very useful. It enabled us to change the brightness of shots, add music, titles and voiceovers. We also had to use blogging. I had never used blogger before and the experience was great! I love working on the computer and found it very different to work this way. We had some problems however using the blogging site in school but we overcame these problems and I am now a great fan of the process.
I am very pleased with the final product and think that our hard work finally paid off. If I were to do it again I would try and plan more efficiently and leave time to re film if needed to.
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