Question 6:
Tuesday 17 March 2015
Question 7
Question 7:
For the preliminary task I had to work alongside my group members to become more comfortable working with all of the new equipment we would be using both as a group as well as individually. We soon discovered that all of this equipment was new to all of us which meant we were all literally starting from scratch together. Hence this was the perfect chance for us to get use to working with all of this technology as well as working together and discover each others as well as our own strengths and weaknesses and how this could benefit or having a knocking effect on our film.
For our official task we had to film a scene focusing mainly on the importance of our camera shots/angles rather than the dialogue or anything else. We were provided with a list of shots and angles we had to film from so to achieve the task. In doing so the aim was for us to have mastered filming from these different shots/angles so that we would be confident and able to film from them when it came to the filming of our thriller film opening sequence.
I found that this was a good task to par-take in prior to the filming of our thriller opening sequence as both myself and the members of my group found it to be a learning experience and were able to take aspects from this experience with us when filming our own thriller opening sequence. One of the things this task taught me was how simple it is to produce a shot reverse shot as well as how through the use of editing you are able to make a sequence run smoothly without awkward breaks etc as well as logically even if it wasn't film in that order or you changed your mind at the last minute. Hence this early experience with editing enabled me to be more familiar with it when it came to editing our final product naturally with this added experience making all of us better editors. I found that shot reverse shot was a technique I really liked as it allowed the audience to have a better focus on the character as they are speaking/reacting so the audience is able to have a better understanding for the and then going back to the other person enabling the audience to switch the two characters at the exact right time which can make them feel more involved with the on screen antics as they feel more involved. One thing I decided to make clear the importance to the group of how big an improvement we needed the steadiness of our camera to be when filming. Straight away if the audience sees the film as being shot badly they are likely to view the entire production as unprofessional and lose faith in it hence loosing interest. When using a hand held camera rather than using the tripod it can be tricky to keep the camera filming on a even level as the slightest body movement can result in the camera moving and therefore ruining the effect of the film making it a less realistic image and ruining the audiences experience.
I have learnt a lot about technologies via the process of constructing this product. My learning of these new forms of technology to me began when I done my preliminary task. When filming our preliminary task I soon discovered that Emma was unsure of how to film a close up as when it was time for that shot rather than simply zooming in she thrust the camera into my face. Not only was this an unprofessional way to film the shot when she could have just zoomed in but it also meant that they camera was unstable and she only had my cheek in the shot. Once we saw Emma doing this both myself and Harry got out of out sits we were filming from and told Emma to stop filming. We took the camera from her and found the zoom button then went through as a group how best to use this. Whether we wanted to use a fast zooming close up or a slow one whether we wanted the shot to began on a close up or whether we wanted the audience to follow the movement of the camera going in closer. These were all decisions we had to make so not to close out our options we decided to film the camera zooming into my face at a fairly average speed. This meant that we were able to either keep the zooming in our filming or cut it out in the editing stages as well as speeding up or slowing down the speed at which the camera zooms. I told Emma that it would be best for her to leave the camera on the tripod for this shot as it would mean that the camera would be more steady for filming. Something else I discovered whist completing this task was that the tripod was surprisingly hard to work. I found that the lever on the tripod which I later decided would be good to use when filming Carol laying dead on the floor with the antagonist standing over her was really stiff making it hard to pull either upwards or downwards without finding that it has stuck half way through or keeping it at a good pace. Unfortunately this still wasn't something I had managed the knack of until filming for our opening sequence however this early experience did make me more aware of the problem as well as ways in which it worked less well so this did help me in the final stages of filming. I also decided that any filming I done by myself would be done on a tripod if possible as I was aware throughout this task just how easy it is to accidentally make the camera move without even noticing until you watch it back to do your editing. If you are unaware of this mistake through watching it on the small screen on the side of your camera then it is likely that you will leave the shot as it is thinking that it is good enough for the editing stages meaning that you'll either have to work with what you've got or go back out and start filming again. Which can be very difficult considering you need to find the right time, if the locations outside the weather may need to fit in with other scenes, hope that costumes are still good for this particular filming, get everyone there who needs to be etc filming isn't just something you are able to wake up and decide you want to do it takes time and much preparation.
I found that I done many things differently when filming my thriller film opening sequence compared to the way I done them when par-taking in my preliminary task. For instance I found that I had much better communications when filming. For instance myself and my group members were in the middle of shooting a panning shot when I thought we had finished and turned around and shouted that I thought I had ruined the shout by slipping slightly watching the footage back I realised that it wasn't in fact my slight slip which ruined the footage as this went unnoticed but when I turned around out of character which ruined it. From this I was able to fully understand the importance of communications within filming, this provided that I was unaware of when I would be out of shoot which was something that I needed to know to make sure that I didn't come out of character before we had finished filming as this would have ruined the effect. Due to this when we began our filming for our thriller film opening sequence I made sure that we had all communicated with each other properly and that everyone was fully aware of where they were suppose to be and when so not to course any slip up which could ruin the effect of our film had they gone unnoticed on location as well as wasting valuable filming time and demotivating all those involved in the filming and production.
Question 2
Question 2:
My media product represents adolescents/young adults through the representation of character Brittany who I portrayed myself hence meaning that I had a hands on experience in making sure that she stayed as true to her age range as she possibly could. It is very stereotypical for thriller films to showcase this age group as they are generally viewed as having less experience of the world hence meaning that they have less knowledge making them more impressionable and vulnerable to the horrors of the world. Another reason this age group is often used is that this is the most popular age group for watching the thriller genre again this relates back to them being less mature than those older them and naturally younger children are unable to watch films of the thriller genre due to restrictions such as age certificates for films in the UK put in place by the bbfc. So if film makers want to make the film more relatable to the audience which they tend to as it means the audience are able to connect with it more then they would use this age group as this is the group which tends to watch thriller films the most. As I said earlier this was evident from research I took out both myself as well as with my group and having compared research we had gathered individually. As well as including results from both questionnaires as well as previous knowledge I already obtained from watching films of the genre prior to working on my media product. Results from my questionnaire also indicated that thriller watchers enjoyed to watch thrillers which they found to be more relatable providing us with yet another reason as to why it would be a good idea to have the main character/victim Brittany as a member of this age group. This makes the film scarier for the audience as they are able to picture themselves going through the motions on screen making the situation appear more real to them.
There are scenes of Brittany in her school uniform reminding the audience of her age and reinforcing the idea of how she was just a normal girl before all of this began highlighting the effect it must have had on her life. Reminding the audience of her age makes them even angry when considering the awful torment Steve is putting her through. We also see her sitting at home in her pajamas as she is rather covered up in her nightwear the audience is to see her as just as innocent as she has portrayed herself to be throughout. Often within the genre young girls are seen to be wearing very little clothing which has been known to annoy audience members seeing Brittany with long selves and long fluffy bottoms can help to make her more likable as she isn't doing things to aggravate the audience or to suggest to them that perhaps Brittany had in some way done something to Steve so to make him want to take out revenge.
Character Carol is a good representation of young adults just sort of coming into themselves and trying to do good within the world. We decided to have Carol as still fairly young as it is still fairly relate-able to the audience as this will be the age group that they will be approaching, they will be likely to have friends, older siblings as well as other people they may be looking up to of the age group hence they are able to relate the film to them also. Carol is dressed in rather sweet, comforting colours indicating that she is friendly and someone you can go to with your problems who is willing to help and look out for others. Carol displays hope within our thriller, the situation has nothing to do with her in fact she had no prior relationship with Brittany she just happened to be at the right place at the right time she could have left her there and it would have had no lasting effect on her life yet she didn't. Conveying how much of a nice person she really is saddening her death even further. The character of Carol was put into the film to add suspense and upset the audience further as well as display the great lengths Steve is willing to go through. Carols death indicates that Brittany isn't just imaging things that this really is happening to her. Carols death is set to upset the audience and course further emotion rather than just fear and suspense it is also set to be the cliff hanger between the opening of the film and the rest of it. It will create a variation of different questions for the audience for instance; what's the antagonists next move? Will he get caught? Is he willing to hurt Brittany? etc one of the most important elements to a thriller is to keep the audience guessing so to keep them interested hence it is important to have a cliff hanger between the opening and the main block of the film. I also suggested to the group that we have this as a cliff hanger as so much had already happened and been reveled within the opening sequence we needed to leave important parts of the story-line and key questions left for the main part of the film. If we reveled too much in the opening then the rest of the film may play out for some viewers to be to predictable or to be a long lead up to the end hence boring them and ruining their experience of the film.
Steve's purpose within the film is to play our antagonist meaning that he needs to lead up to the typical expectations of a antagonist within the genre. Having to set the tone of a frightening character with dark intentions, setting the fear in the audience of what his next move may be, without Steve the narrative would be completely different. Within films often a disequilibrium (a problem) is needed so that characters are able to over come it this is what Steve provides he is that disequilibrium with his actions stalking Brittany. The audience is set to watch Brittany's difficulty as she faces the troubles he brings her and hopes to watch her over come him. Antagonists such as Steve with a hidden identity tend to mostly be male as males as thought of as the stronger sex both mentally and physically. Meaning that putting him against a young innocent girl would put him at a frightening advantage hence coursing the audience to become angry as they view how unfair and unjust the situation is. Steve is set to be a rather unlikable character for the audience some may describe the relationship between the audience and antagonist as being one where they love to hate him. Steve is set to both anger and frustrate them as they watch him watch Brittany and hope that she is able to escape him.
Gender is represented rather stereo-typically throughout our film, often through our use of conventions such as Brittany being the typical female victim showing her and women alike to be weak and inferior to the stereotypical male antagonists of the world. Although some people are said to find stereotypes particularly annoying it is a common trend within the thriller genre as you can tell through the use of all the various different conventions throughout the genre. This is another reason why we decided to roll along with the stereotypes as appose to subversively having a male character as our victim. This would change what a lot of the audience are use to in their choice of thriller films and could go against what they had in mind of watching. Gender is also represented stereo-typically as we chose to have female character Carol to be our protagonist. Women are stereotyped to be much more in touch with their emotions and much better at expressing them as well as being better at connecting with others and being their for them. Hence it made sense for us to use a woman for this role rather than being subversive and using a male character as it would be easier for the audience to understand Carols intentions without having to be told too much taking up valuable time. If we were to use a male character audience members could be left to question his intentions, possibly seeing his kindness as a trap, even considering whether he was the antagonist without the disguise luring Brittany into his trap.
My media product represents adolescents/young adults through the representation of character Brittany who I portrayed myself hence meaning that I had a hands on experience in making sure that she stayed as true to her age range as she possibly could. It is very stereotypical for thriller films to showcase this age group as they are generally viewed as having less experience of the world hence meaning that they have less knowledge making them more impressionable and vulnerable to the horrors of the world. Another reason this age group is often used is that this is the most popular age group for watching the thriller genre again this relates back to them being less mature than those older them and naturally younger children are unable to watch films of the thriller genre due to restrictions such as age certificates for films in the UK put in place by the bbfc. So if film makers want to make the film more relatable to the audience which they tend to as it means the audience are able to connect with it more then they would use this age group as this is the group which tends to watch thriller films the most. As I said earlier this was evident from research I took out both myself as well as with my group and having compared research we had gathered individually. As well as including results from both questionnaires as well as previous knowledge I already obtained from watching films of the genre prior to working on my media product. Results from my questionnaire also indicated that thriller watchers enjoyed to watch thrillers which they found to be more relatable providing us with yet another reason as to why it would be a good idea to have the main character/victim Brittany as a member of this age group. This makes the film scarier for the audience as they are able to picture themselves going through the motions on screen making the situation appear more real to them.
There are scenes of Brittany in her school uniform reminding the audience of her age and reinforcing the idea of how she was just a normal girl before all of this began highlighting the effect it must have had on her life. Reminding the audience of her age makes them even angry when considering the awful torment Steve is putting her through. We also see her sitting at home in her pajamas as she is rather covered up in her nightwear the audience is to see her as just as innocent as she has portrayed herself to be throughout. Often within the genre young girls are seen to be wearing very little clothing which has been known to annoy audience members seeing Brittany with long selves and long fluffy bottoms can help to make her more likable as she isn't doing things to aggravate the audience or to suggest to them that perhaps Brittany had in some way done something to Steve so to make him want to take out revenge.
Character Carol is a good representation of young adults just sort of coming into themselves and trying to do good within the world. We decided to have Carol as still fairly young as it is still fairly relate-able to the audience as this will be the age group that they will be approaching, they will be likely to have friends, older siblings as well as other people they may be looking up to of the age group hence they are able to relate the film to them also. Carol is dressed in rather sweet, comforting colours indicating that she is friendly and someone you can go to with your problems who is willing to help and look out for others. Carol displays hope within our thriller, the situation has nothing to do with her in fact she had no prior relationship with Brittany she just happened to be at the right place at the right time she could have left her there and it would have had no lasting effect on her life yet she didn't. Conveying how much of a nice person she really is saddening her death even further. The character of Carol was put into the film to add suspense and upset the audience further as well as display the great lengths Steve is willing to go through. Carols death indicates that Brittany isn't just imaging things that this really is happening to her. Carols death is set to upset the audience and course further emotion rather than just fear and suspense it is also set to be the cliff hanger between the opening of the film and the rest of it. It will create a variation of different questions for the audience for instance; what's the antagonists next move? Will he get caught? Is he willing to hurt Brittany? etc one of the most important elements to a thriller is to keep the audience guessing so to keep them interested hence it is important to have a cliff hanger between the opening and the main block of the film. I also suggested to the group that we have this as a cliff hanger as so much had already happened and been reveled within the opening sequence we needed to leave important parts of the story-line and key questions left for the main part of the film. If we reveled too much in the opening then the rest of the film may play out for some viewers to be to predictable or to be a long lead up to the end hence boring them and ruining their experience of the film.
Steve's purpose within the film is to play our antagonist meaning that he needs to lead up to the typical expectations of a antagonist within the genre. Having to set the tone of a frightening character with dark intentions, setting the fear in the audience of what his next move may be, without Steve the narrative would be completely different. Within films often a disequilibrium (a problem) is needed so that characters are able to over come it this is what Steve provides he is that disequilibrium with his actions stalking Brittany. The audience is set to watch Brittany's difficulty as she faces the troubles he brings her and hopes to watch her over come him. Antagonists such as Steve with a hidden identity tend to mostly be male as males as thought of as the stronger sex both mentally and physically. Meaning that putting him against a young innocent girl would put him at a frightening advantage hence coursing the audience to become angry as they view how unfair and unjust the situation is. Steve is set to be a rather unlikable character for the audience some may describe the relationship between the audience and antagonist as being one where they love to hate him. Steve is set to both anger and frustrate them as they watch him watch Brittany and hope that she is able to escape him.
Gender is represented rather stereo-typically throughout our film, often through our use of conventions such as Brittany being the typical female victim showing her and women alike to be weak and inferior to the stereotypical male antagonists of the world. Although some people are said to find stereotypes particularly annoying it is a common trend within the thriller genre as you can tell through the use of all the various different conventions throughout the genre. This is another reason why we decided to roll along with the stereotypes as appose to subversively having a male character as our victim. This would change what a lot of the audience are use to in their choice of thriller films and could go against what they had in mind of watching. Gender is also represented stereo-typically as we chose to have female character Carol to be our protagonist. Women are stereotyped to be much more in touch with their emotions and much better at expressing them as well as being better at connecting with others and being their for them. Hence it made sense for us to use a woman for this role rather than being subversive and using a male character as it would be easier for the audience to understand Carols intentions without having to be told too much taking up valuable time. If we were to use a male character audience members could be left to question his intentions, possibly seeing his kindness as a trap, even considering whether he was the antagonist without the disguise luring Brittany into his trap.
Saturday 14 March 2015
Question 4
My thriller appeals to my target audience in a variety of different ways. For instance I decided it would be best to have my victim as the same age as my target audience (adolescents to young adults) thrust making it more relatable to them so that they were able to understand her more as well as being better able to picture themselves in her situation hence enabling them to have a better understanding for what my victim who I portrayed named Brittany is going through. All of this is important as it helps the audience to build a better relationship with the character of Brittany as they feel more emotions towards her and are therefore hoping for a better outcome. This creates further intensity for audience members as they watch with more interest hoping more deeply for a better outcome for her. Hence film makers wouldn't be able to achieve this if the audience felt a less strong bond with the character as well as feeling less sympathy for them as they naturally wouldn't care as much making the situation less intense for them meaning that the narrative wouldn't be as effective spoiling the effect of the film.
Friday 13 March 2015
Final production
West Hatch High school - 16807
Cara Jackson 9344
I worked alongside:
Harry Osborn 9126
Emma Allen 9303
My final product:
Cara Jackson 9344
I worked alongside:
Harry Osborn 9126
Emma Allen 9303
My final product:
Tuesday 3 March 2015
Friday 13 February 2015
Question 1
For my brief I had to create a two minute opening sequence for a thriller film. I worked in a group alongside Harry Osborn and Emma Allen. Generally we worked well together however we faced complications along the way throughout our production such as the breaking of our camera as well as discovering that we had the wrong memory card for our new camera however working together we managed to over come these problems and complete our opening sequence to the best of it's ability.
Although we worked together for the project done as a whole we did have allocated productions roles:
Harry had the official role of being the director, editor and screenplay writer.
Emma took on the roles as camera man and music producer.
I myself took on the roles of being an actress, producer and MES coordinator.
It is important to have allocated separate production roles in the process of a production such as a thriller film as it means that everyone is aware of their individual tasks. This means that nothing should be left uncompleted as everyone has a set job rather than people not communicating properly and working on similar aspects of the production leaving others untouched. It also means that people will be able to take more recognition in their work as well as pride as this is a set task allocated directly for them, this is the piece of the film that they are in-charge of, hence people are more likely to try their very best with it as it will be noticed as a piece of work they have completed their added input into the film. However having these allocated roles does not mean that you cannot have more than one person working on an aspect of the film or that you are unable to help others. For instance both myself and Emma helped with the directing yet this was Harry's allocated production role as well as myself and Harry working on music even though this was Emma's allocated job. Just because something is someone else allocated role rather than your own doesn't mean that you decide to leave all of that work to them if it needs more working doing to it and you are physically capable of helping out further then you need to for the benefit of your film. Allocated roles simply makes things clearer and provides a set standard guideline to follow so to make sure everything is running smoothly and puts people in charge of certain aspects ego giving someone set responsibility so to make sure that each task is being completed correctly and appropriately.
From my allocated tasks I learnt the responsibility of being a producer as well as how much harder it was to act than I had originally thought, for instance I didn't realise I would find myself getting as distracted as I did when shooting I found that often people hanging around the scene not filming found ways to put me off course or make me laugh. So to overcome this problem I made people stand out of my eye-line when filming so not to waste valuable time. I also found that I rather enjoyed taking on the role of being a MES coordinator although at times it was stressful. This job involved me finding the locations for shooting which I found surprising easy as once I had an idea in my head of how I wanted to capture the scene for instance when finding the perfect place to capture Brittany on the bridge I simply considered all of the key elements and different pieces of iconography I wanted to be involved around the scene. In this case this involved a bridge (the most important thing as this was what Brittany was about to jump off of taking her own life), I knew I wanted the place to be deserted so to work with the story-line and display Brittany being alone in her battle, I also wanted a sort of forestry background all of these factors and more enabled me to find the perfect place for the scene. I also had the responsibility of the characters/actors costume. Hence I had to think about the clothes which I thought most suited that character for instance for the antagonist Steve I pictured him wearing all black with a hood as not only would this help to disguise his identity but the colour black itself has connotations of death and evil, often people claim to be afraid of the dark hence the colour black can work with this idea. Unfortunately we were unable to get hold of such clothing in time for production which meant I had to reconsider the clothing for this character and settle for the next best alternative which still involved key piece of iconography a hooded jumper. Through doing so I learnt about the different kinds of difficulty film makers face as well as the methods they can adopt to over come them within the time limits provided.
Personally I think that we have made a successful thriller film as we have selected a variation of conventions which we have added to our opening sequence making it conventional to the genre hence making it a successful one as it is fitting to it's label. There are many different routes in which you can go down when creating a film of the thriller genre with a variety of different outcomes however fans of the genre will expect to see conventions towards the genre no matter what route you enter as they're what they are looking for within the film. It's these elements which make the film a thriller. If your film was to be without them and a thriller fan watched your film they may feel disappointed even cheated as they were expecting a thriller only they were unable to relate the film to one without it having the conventions towards one. For instance one of the many typical conventions we display within our film is having a typical female victim. This is often done within the genre as women are stereotyped to be the weaker sex hence often being viewed as weak and vulnerable as well as needing protecting due to this women often find that they receive more sympathy than men this is important within the genre as it means that the audience are able to build more of a relationship with the victim feeling more sorrow for them as well as a deeper intense atmosphere as they are becoming more involved especially during chase scenes which helps them to stay focused on the narrative and keeps audience members interested in the film.
Question 1:
The generic conventions of a thriller film include things you would typically expect to see within the genre such as blood, death, violence, mass murder, weapons such as knives, female victims, male antagonists, hidden identity as these elements are acting as conventions towards the genre they are therefore expected as well as being able to add to the fear factor of the thriller genre
Mass murder is a convention often used within the thriller genre for instance in films such as American psycho, the Scream series, my bloody valentine etc this can be demonstrated within films of the thriller genre to portray just how dangerous and unstable the antagonist is, these actions show them to be out of touch with the norms of society and capable of almost anything. The mass murders are able to create a certain fear factor as the audience are faced with the intensity of watching them as well as the after math of what the killer is capable of having taken the victims life and for the mean time having gotten away with it. Mass murders are not only conventional in them-self but they involve many other elements of the genre this often happens throughout the genre for instance, the antagonist themselves are a convention to the genre (especially if they are male) as well as their weapon of choice, this piece of iconography can be a gun, knife, axe or something different it doesn't matter a murder weapon represents that murder either has or is going to take place as well as displaying themes of fear and un-stability.
Baring in mind how important conventions are to the thriller genre I made sure that we used a lot within the opening sequence. Luckily it was made fairly easier when we met as a group and found that we all thought it best to have a female victim as this is a largely popular convention to the genre. We also decided that it would be best to have a male antagonist another typical convention. Having talked this through I thought it would be a good idea for our antagonist to have a hidden identity backing this up by stating that this was something I came across on a number of occasions whilst completing my research in films such as Scream, valentine, I know what you did last summer, my bloody valentine and many more. I mentioned how much scarier it made the antagonist that both the victims and the audience didn't know their true identity as well as the added power it gave them. This lead to much trouble over the costume of the character as I stated previously however it was important that we maintained a similar vibe to the costume we had planned and that the audience were unable to work out anything personal to the character or see anything on or about the character which they may be able to relate too easily the true identity of the antagonist they may see later on in the film ruining the hidden identity of the antagonist making the film less interesting and more predictable than it should be. This would be taking away three key elements shock, suspense and surprise if the audience are able to work out the following narrative the effect of the film is ruined and it is unable to provide escapism as character feel no emotions towards it due to accepting what is about to happen before it has been shown to them. This meant making sure we only shot the antagonist from certain angles so not to give anything away about his identity for instance we didn't want to give to much away about his body structure however we did want him to appear tall and broad making him appear more fearful hence the idea of using a silhouette shot of him came about which is shown as he is watching Brittany from outside the window. We also had to take such things into consideration with the victim (Brittany) portrayed by myself we needed to make the character appear as like able and relate-able as possible without giving away too much information about her, this was avoided as it would have been pointless to the narrative and took up crucial time as well as possibly becoming boring to some viewers. It is important for the audience to feel that Brittany is a nice, sweet, innocent girl so that they feel more sympathetic towards her making those crucial scenes between her and the antagonist all the more intense as they are more deeply routing for a better outcome for her. As a group we decided it would be best to have Brittany around fifteen to sixteen years old as we were aware from evidence we gained from our questionnaire as well as prior knowledge that the most popular age category for watching thriller films adolescents to young adults hence having Brittany fitting to that age would make her more relateable for the target audience meaning they found it easier to become interested in the film as they would have a better understanding of Brittany's every day life and would find it easier to consider what it would be like if you were to suddenly find yourself being stalked in a place you had grown up and felt safe in.
Another convention we used throughout our opening sequence was a key piece of iconography a knife, which Brittany picked up for protection in the house, this represents just how far Brittany has come from being a sweet young girl to someone who considered using a knife. A knife can represent a lot for instance the mental state of the beholder. Using a knife you would have to get a lot closer to your victim than using other weapons such as a gun this shows a fearless attitude as well as perhaps an unstable one as many people would find the thought of having to force a knife into someone rather sickening.
Our opening sequence armed with codes and conventions of the thriller genre defines the genre to be frightening yet in a different way to that of the horror genre through showing the effect that stalking has had on Brittany for instance how it has changed her mental state as well as displaying the ill-mindedness of the antagonist himself the thriller genre is defined to be a physiological method of scaring the audience.
The effect of having a hidden identity is also demonstrated within thriller 'My bloody valentine' as the killer behind the mask could be anyone from the town with a brief idea of it's history. Comparing this use of a hidden identity to the way it is used within our opening sequence demonstrates how it may be used for various different effects and uses. The two killers had very different motives yet are both mentally ill, the killer in my bloody valentine was re-acting murders which had already taken place many years ago, it was in fact these events which lead the killer into the state that coursed them to take out this behavior whereas what lead the antagonist in our thriller film (Steve) to become so attached to Brittany is unclear. Although Steve did have to kill the films protagonist (Carol) that wasn't part of his motive it was simply something he saw he had to do along the way in order to achieve his goals surrounding Brittany whereas the antagonist (Tom) in my bloody valentine portrayed by Jensen Ackles had the motive of killing numerous people this character was also displayed to have a split personality as in scenes he was shown to be watching a man in a miming suit locking him in the cage as he then watched this same man murder another man down in the mine. Only it was later revealed that it was Tom himself who killed this man along with all of the other victims and locked himself in there for the other men to find him. However both characters fit to the convention of being a male antagonist as well as being an antagonist of un-sane mind.
Often within the genre characters are shown to be mentally ill, many viewers find this interesting as they try to work out even understand the mindset of said characters. These characters are often used as it means that the audience is even more unaware of their next move, these characters are often seen as being capable of anything as they lack the instincts to tell them not to behave in a certain way and often lack basic human empathy. These characters are able to open up many different doors for film makers as my blood valentine and my groups opening sequence (Suicide) shows they are capable of many different motives and are willing to go to extreme lengths such as Steve killing Carol an innocent woman who had nothing to do with his mission to achieve so.
Although Tom is in fact the antagonist throughout my bloody valentine he is displayed to be the misunderstood victim this contrasts the typical codes and conventions of a thriller as I have previously mentioned this role usually goes to a female being off the weaker sex and therefore more vulnerable and able to collect more sympathy. It's interesting how the film is able to go against these typical elements of the genre it pushes it's limits and keeps the audience guessing outside of the box. Yet the film produced by Lionsgate remains within the typical conventions of a thriller displaying other female victims along the way and using typical pieces of iconography like weapons such as guns and axes so to keep thriller fans happy and at ease that they are in fact watching a thriller. This displays just how important it is to stick to the typical elements of a thriller so not to drive your audience away by boring them or advertising your film to be something different as they are unable to recongise it as a typical thriller.
Throughout my research I looked into and watched many different thriller films so to collect inspiration for my own film one way in which I did this was by looking for various different conventions towards the genre collecting inspiration from them for my own media product.
Conventions I followed in creating a thriller film:
I followed the convention of having a typical female victim of the audiences age (adolescents to young adults) this meant that the victim was more relateable to the audience therefore meaning that they would take more of a liking to her and in turn build a stronger connection with her routing for her best interests. This is a usual convention towards the genre to add as it means that audience members shall suffer further suspense when watching crucial scenes between the victim and the antagonist as well as others a like as they are more interested in their outcome due to this stronger bond. Where as if they didn't particularly feel any caring emotions towards the character then it is likely that they won't feel as much suspense as they're not as interested.
Cici from Scream 2 portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar was a character/portrayal I looked to for inspiration as fitting the conventional role of the typical young female victim:
Cici Scream 2
Helen Shivers from I know what you did last summer also portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar was another typical female victim I looked to for inspiration:
Helen Shivers I know what you did last summer
Another convention I followed towards the thriller genre was that of having a hidden identity covering our antagonist this was a convention towards the genre which I had previously noted I enjoyed watching prior to my research as it was something I had picked up on in many different thriller films. However I began to research it much more deeply once I took it upon myself to become inspired via this convention for my own thriller film opening sequence.
One of the films I took inspiration from for the usage of a hidden identity was the scream series with their antagonist otherwise known as 'Ghostface':
'Cupid' from Valentine.
It was also important for me to display a variety of different micro-elements related to the genre within my thriller film opening sequence for instance one of the micro-elements I used was a reaction shot. This was something I noticed being in a lot of different films of the thriller genre through my research. Typically being used via the female victim hence I decided that it would be a good idea to film a variety of different reaction shots of the female victim I was portraying Brittany. A reaction shot is a good way to demonstrate the thoughts and feelings of a character to the audience as well as what they are experiencing without having to tell them or have the character use dialogue which would be directly informing them of this. Often audience members find that they find characters who complain about their troubles to be aggravating and therefore feel less kindly towards them hence meaning that they are unlikely to build a strong bond with said character. As they find the characters complaints to be annoying possibly even attention seeking. As a result they are less likely to feel any sorrow or empathy for the character meaning that certain crucial scenes within thriller films where the audience is suppose to be made to feel more suspense due to their affection for the character will be ineffective ruining their film experience. As they are less interested in the character and there outcome.
Another micro element I managed to successfully use was panning. This was a shot I filmed myself as protagonist Carol laid dead on the floor with antagonist Steve standing above her. First the camera focused upon Carol laying dead on the ground then I lifted the camera up using the leaver on the tripod to reveal the antagonist gradually firstly showing his shoes. The effect of this created further suspense for audience members are they awaited the reveal of the person standing before her although they should be fairly certain it is the antagonist it is possible that they will hope that it is a friendly citizen trying to help someone in need. Or they may question whether Carol is in fact dead or whether she is just pretending to be in the aim of her survival.
I also included many other micro-elements including other camera shots as well as many other different aspects of micro elements. However just because micro elements were filmed doesn't mean that they all made the final cut.
It was important for me to include micro-elements within my sequence for a variety of different reasons. For instance this made the quality of the film better as using different camera shots etc makes the film appear more realistic as real life doesn't stand still. This shall also make the experience more interesting as often audience members find it can be boring watching something from the exact same angle and position all of the time where as changing shots up makes things more interesting and less dull. Different shots themselves are also capable of showing and representing separate things, for instance using a fast paced camera speed, or staggered camera movements.
Although we worked together for the project done as a whole we did have allocated productions roles:
Harry had the official role of being the director, editor and screenplay writer.
Emma took on the roles as camera man and music producer.
I myself took on the roles of being an actress, producer and MES coordinator.
It is important to have allocated separate production roles in the process of a production such as a thriller film as it means that everyone is aware of their individual tasks. This means that nothing should be left uncompleted as everyone has a set job rather than people not communicating properly and working on similar aspects of the production leaving others untouched. It also means that people will be able to take more recognition in their work as well as pride as this is a set task allocated directly for them, this is the piece of the film that they are in-charge of, hence people are more likely to try their very best with it as it will be noticed as a piece of work they have completed their added input into the film. However having these allocated roles does not mean that you cannot have more than one person working on an aspect of the film or that you are unable to help others. For instance both myself and Emma helped with the directing yet this was Harry's allocated production role as well as myself and Harry working on music even though this was Emma's allocated job. Just because something is someone else allocated role rather than your own doesn't mean that you decide to leave all of that work to them if it needs more working doing to it and you are physically capable of helping out further then you need to for the benefit of your film. Allocated roles simply makes things clearer and provides a set standard guideline to follow so to make sure everything is running smoothly and puts people in charge of certain aspects ego giving someone set responsibility so to make sure that each task is being completed correctly and appropriately.
From my allocated tasks I learnt the responsibility of being a producer as well as how much harder it was to act than I had originally thought, for instance I didn't realise I would find myself getting as distracted as I did when shooting I found that often people hanging around the scene not filming found ways to put me off course or make me laugh. So to overcome this problem I made people stand out of my eye-line when filming so not to waste valuable time. I also found that I rather enjoyed taking on the role of being a MES coordinator although at times it was stressful. This job involved me finding the locations for shooting which I found surprising easy as once I had an idea in my head of how I wanted to capture the scene for instance when finding the perfect place to capture Brittany on the bridge I simply considered all of the key elements and different pieces of iconography I wanted to be involved around the scene. In this case this involved a bridge (the most important thing as this was what Brittany was about to jump off of taking her own life), I knew I wanted the place to be deserted so to work with the story-line and display Brittany being alone in her battle, I also wanted a sort of forestry background all of these factors and more enabled me to find the perfect place for the scene. I also had the responsibility of the characters/actors costume. Hence I had to think about the clothes which I thought most suited that character for instance for the antagonist Steve I pictured him wearing all black with a hood as not only would this help to disguise his identity but the colour black itself has connotations of death and evil, often people claim to be afraid of the dark hence the colour black can work with this idea. Unfortunately we were unable to get hold of such clothing in time for production which meant I had to reconsider the clothing for this character and settle for the next best alternative which still involved key piece of iconography a hooded jumper. Through doing so I learnt about the different kinds of difficulty film makers face as well as the methods they can adopt to over come them within the time limits provided.
Personally I think that we have made a successful thriller film as we have selected a variation of conventions which we have added to our opening sequence making it conventional to the genre hence making it a successful one as it is fitting to it's label. There are many different routes in which you can go down when creating a film of the thriller genre with a variety of different outcomes however fans of the genre will expect to see conventions towards the genre no matter what route you enter as they're what they are looking for within the film. It's these elements which make the film a thriller. If your film was to be without them and a thriller fan watched your film they may feel disappointed even cheated as they were expecting a thriller only they were unable to relate the film to one without it having the conventions towards one. For instance one of the many typical conventions we display within our film is having a typical female victim. This is often done within the genre as women are stereotyped to be the weaker sex hence often being viewed as weak and vulnerable as well as needing protecting due to this women often find that they receive more sympathy than men this is important within the genre as it means that the audience are able to build more of a relationship with the victim feeling more sorrow for them as well as a deeper intense atmosphere as they are becoming more involved especially during chase scenes which helps them to stay focused on the narrative and keeps audience members interested in the film.
Question 1:
The generic conventions of a thriller film include things you would typically expect to see within the genre such as blood, death, violence, mass murder, weapons such as knives, female victims, male antagonists, hidden identity as these elements are acting as conventions towards the genre they are therefore expected as well as being able to add to the fear factor of the thriller genre
Mass murder is a convention often used within the thriller genre for instance in films such as American psycho, the Scream series, my bloody valentine etc this can be demonstrated within films of the thriller genre to portray just how dangerous and unstable the antagonist is, these actions show them to be out of touch with the norms of society and capable of almost anything. The mass murders are able to create a certain fear factor as the audience are faced with the intensity of watching them as well as the after math of what the killer is capable of having taken the victims life and for the mean time having gotten away with it. Mass murders are not only conventional in them-self but they involve many other elements of the genre this often happens throughout the genre for instance, the antagonist themselves are a convention to the genre (especially if they are male) as well as their weapon of choice, this piece of iconography can be a gun, knife, axe or something different it doesn't matter a murder weapon represents that murder either has or is going to take place as well as displaying themes of fear and un-stability.
Baring in mind how important conventions are to the thriller genre I made sure that we used a lot within the opening sequence. Luckily it was made fairly easier when we met as a group and found that we all thought it best to have a female victim as this is a largely popular convention to the genre. We also decided that it would be best to have a male antagonist another typical convention. Having talked this through I thought it would be a good idea for our antagonist to have a hidden identity backing this up by stating that this was something I came across on a number of occasions whilst completing my research in films such as Scream, valentine, I know what you did last summer, my bloody valentine and many more. I mentioned how much scarier it made the antagonist that both the victims and the audience didn't know their true identity as well as the added power it gave them. This lead to much trouble over the costume of the character as I stated previously however it was important that we maintained a similar vibe to the costume we had planned and that the audience were unable to work out anything personal to the character or see anything on or about the character which they may be able to relate too easily the true identity of the antagonist they may see later on in the film ruining the hidden identity of the antagonist making the film less interesting and more predictable than it should be. This would be taking away three key elements shock, suspense and surprise if the audience are able to work out the following narrative the effect of the film is ruined and it is unable to provide escapism as character feel no emotions towards it due to accepting what is about to happen before it has been shown to them. This meant making sure we only shot the antagonist from certain angles so not to give anything away about his identity for instance we didn't want to give to much away about his body structure however we did want him to appear tall and broad making him appear more fearful hence the idea of using a silhouette shot of him came about which is shown as he is watching Brittany from outside the window. We also had to take such things into consideration with the victim (Brittany) portrayed by myself we needed to make the character appear as like able and relate-able as possible without giving away too much information about her, this was avoided as it would have been pointless to the narrative and took up crucial time as well as possibly becoming boring to some viewers. It is important for the audience to feel that Brittany is a nice, sweet, innocent girl so that they feel more sympathetic towards her making those crucial scenes between her and the antagonist all the more intense as they are more deeply routing for a better outcome for her. As a group we decided it would be best to have Brittany around fifteen to sixteen years old as we were aware from evidence we gained from our questionnaire as well as prior knowledge that the most popular age category for watching thriller films adolescents to young adults hence having Brittany fitting to that age would make her more relateable for the target audience meaning they found it easier to become interested in the film as they would have a better understanding of Brittany's every day life and would find it easier to consider what it would be like if you were to suddenly find yourself being stalked in a place you had grown up and felt safe in.
Another convention we used throughout our opening sequence was a key piece of iconography a knife, which Brittany picked up for protection in the house, this represents just how far Brittany has come from being a sweet young girl to someone who considered using a knife. A knife can represent a lot for instance the mental state of the beholder. Using a knife you would have to get a lot closer to your victim than using other weapons such as a gun this shows a fearless attitude as well as perhaps an unstable one as many people would find the thought of having to force a knife into someone rather sickening.
Our opening sequence armed with codes and conventions of the thriller genre defines the genre to be frightening yet in a different way to that of the horror genre through showing the effect that stalking has had on Brittany for instance how it has changed her mental state as well as displaying the ill-mindedness of the antagonist himself the thriller genre is defined to be a physiological method of scaring the audience.
The effect of having a hidden identity is also demonstrated within thriller 'My bloody valentine' as the killer behind the mask could be anyone from the town with a brief idea of it's history. Comparing this use of a hidden identity to the way it is used within our opening sequence demonstrates how it may be used for various different effects and uses. The two killers had very different motives yet are both mentally ill, the killer in my bloody valentine was re-acting murders which had already taken place many years ago, it was in fact these events which lead the killer into the state that coursed them to take out this behavior whereas what lead the antagonist in our thriller film (Steve) to become so attached to Brittany is unclear. Although Steve did have to kill the films protagonist (Carol) that wasn't part of his motive it was simply something he saw he had to do along the way in order to achieve his goals surrounding Brittany whereas the antagonist (Tom) in my bloody valentine portrayed by Jensen Ackles had the motive of killing numerous people this character was also displayed to have a split personality as in scenes he was shown to be watching a man in a miming suit locking him in the cage as he then watched this same man murder another man down in the mine. Only it was later revealed that it was Tom himself who killed this man along with all of the other victims and locked himself in there for the other men to find him. However both characters fit to the convention of being a male antagonist as well as being an antagonist of un-sane mind.
Often within the genre characters are shown to be mentally ill, many viewers find this interesting as they try to work out even understand the mindset of said characters. These characters are often used as it means that the audience is even more unaware of their next move, these characters are often seen as being capable of anything as they lack the instincts to tell them not to behave in a certain way and often lack basic human empathy. These characters are able to open up many different doors for film makers as my blood valentine and my groups opening sequence (Suicide) shows they are capable of many different motives and are willing to go to extreme lengths such as Steve killing Carol an innocent woman who had nothing to do with his mission to achieve so.
Although Tom is in fact the antagonist throughout my bloody valentine he is displayed to be the misunderstood victim this contrasts the typical codes and conventions of a thriller as I have previously mentioned this role usually goes to a female being off the weaker sex and therefore more vulnerable and able to collect more sympathy. It's interesting how the film is able to go against these typical elements of the genre it pushes it's limits and keeps the audience guessing outside of the box. Yet the film produced by Lionsgate remains within the typical conventions of a thriller displaying other female victims along the way and using typical pieces of iconography like weapons such as guns and axes so to keep thriller fans happy and at ease that they are in fact watching a thriller. This displays just how important it is to stick to the typical elements of a thriller so not to drive your audience away by boring them or advertising your film to be something different as they are unable to recongise it as a typical thriller.
Throughout my research I looked into and watched many different thriller films so to collect inspiration for my own film one way in which I did this was by looking for various different conventions towards the genre collecting inspiration from them for my own media product.
Conventions I followed in creating a thriller film:
I followed the convention of having a typical female victim of the audiences age (adolescents to young adults) this meant that the victim was more relateable to the audience therefore meaning that they would take more of a liking to her and in turn build a stronger connection with her routing for her best interests. This is a usual convention towards the genre to add as it means that audience members shall suffer further suspense when watching crucial scenes between the victim and the antagonist as well as others a like as they are more interested in their outcome due to this stronger bond. Where as if they didn't particularly feel any caring emotions towards the character then it is likely that they won't feel as much suspense as they're not as interested.
Cici from Scream 2 portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar was a character/portrayal I looked to for inspiration as fitting the conventional role of the typical young female victim:
Helen Shivers from I know what you did last summer also portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar was another typical female victim I looked to for inspiration:
Helen Shivers I know what you did last summer
Another convention I followed towards the thriller genre was that of having a hidden identity covering our antagonist this was a convention towards the genre which I had previously noted I enjoyed watching prior to my research as it was something I had picked up on in many different thriller films. However I began to research it much more deeply once I took it upon myself to become inspired via this convention for my own thriller film opening sequence.
One of the films I took inspiration from for the usage of a hidden identity was the scream series with their antagonist otherwise known as 'Ghostface':
Ghostface from the Scream series
Another film I took inspiration for this idea from was the remake of My bloody valentine staring Jensen Ackles:
The masked antagonist in My bloody valentine rumored to be someone who is known as dead.
I also took inspiration for the idea of having a hidden identity from the film Valentine (2001). Which follows a narrative whereby five women are stalked. (again this was another concept I liked as I thought it would be another good clear convention to make and show that the antagonist was stalking his victims. I also noted this would be another good way to show that he was mentally insane.) This was also a good film to watch as there was a group of female victims meaning that I could also focus on them as well as viewing a different interpretation of the hidden identity technique.
'Cupid' from Valentine.
Other conventions I used include the iconography of having a knife as a weapon involved in one of our cut scenes as Brittany runs to the kitchen and grabs a knife for protection after hearing a noise and receiving a frightening phone call as well as her own paranoia and awareness of the situation which lead her to believe she was in danger. We also displayed intense music throughout our opening sequence often within the thriller genre it is found that the music is able to make scenes a lot scarier due to the intense vibe they bring and the affect they may have on the atmosphere of the film, having a male antagonist (Steve) the purpose of this character is to scare the audience as well as to build intensity as they are unaware of what his next move may be as well as the damaging effect it could have on the victim. I also decided to have a protagonist (Carol) whose purpose was to provide the audience with false hope for the safety of Brittany as well as her setting her own death up to be further saddening as she was someone the audience found that they liked and was able to create a bond with hence feeling more sadden at her death. Which was also able to show the antagonist to be even more heartless and dangerous as he was able to kill a character as kind and loving as Carol with no remorse, this was also set to make the audience fear on Brittany's behalf even more as the audience are now visibly seeing the extreme lengths Steve will go to. Throughout I also displayed themes of death as well as being stalked.
It was important for me to include conventions to the thriller genre throughout my sequence as this helps the audience to define the film and set it to it's genre. Without these key and clear conventions audience members may feel that the film hasn't been able to fit it's tittle of being a thriller and therefore has been a disappointment as it hasn't fit it's title of being a thriller. As well as most likely being a bad film experience for viewings as they weren't receiving the style of film they were looking for as it is these conventions which help to build a thriller and make it a part of it's genre.
It was also important for me to display a variety of different micro-elements related to the genre within my thriller film opening sequence for instance one of the micro-elements I used was a reaction shot. This was something I noticed being in a lot of different films of the thriller genre through my research. Typically being used via the female victim hence I decided that it would be a good idea to film a variety of different reaction shots of the female victim I was portraying Brittany. A reaction shot is a good way to demonstrate the thoughts and feelings of a character to the audience as well as what they are experiencing without having to tell them or have the character use dialogue which would be directly informing them of this. Often audience members find that they find characters who complain about their troubles to be aggravating and therefore feel less kindly towards them hence meaning that they are unlikely to build a strong bond with said character. As they find the characters complaints to be annoying possibly even attention seeking. As a result they are less likely to feel any sorrow or empathy for the character meaning that certain crucial scenes within thriller films where the audience is suppose to be made to feel more suspense due to their affection for the character will be ineffective ruining their film experience. As they are less interested in the character and there outcome.
Another micro element I managed to successfully use was panning. This was a shot I filmed myself as protagonist Carol laid dead on the floor with antagonist Steve standing above her. First the camera focused upon Carol laying dead on the ground then I lifted the camera up using the leaver on the tripod to reveal the antagonist gradually firstly showing his shoes. The effect of this created further suspense for audience members are they awaited the reveal of the person standing before her although they should be fairly certain it is the antagonist it is possible that they will hope that it is a friendly citizen trying to help someone in need. Or they may question whether Carol is in fact dead or whether she is just pretending to be in the aim of her survival.
I also included many other micro-elements including other camera shots as well as many other different aspects of micro elements. However just because micro elements were filmed doesn't mean that they all made the final cut.
It was important for me to include micro-elements within my sequence for a variety of different reasons. For instance this made the quality of the film better as using different camera shots etc makes the film appear more realistic as real life doesn't stand still. This shall also make the experience more interesting as often audience members find it can be boring watching something from the exact same angle and position all of the time where as changing shots up makes things more interesting and less dull. Different shots themselves are also capable of showing and representing separate things, for instance using a fast paced camera speed, or staggered camera movements.
Friday 16 January 2015
Rough cut - Miss Georgiou
A rough cut is the first version created of a film after the preliminary editing is complete, this is the first stage in which films begin to resemble there final product.
Rough cut feedback analysis:
Receiving feedback is a hugely important part of our production of our opening sequence as it allows us an insight into what our potential viewers (target audience) may be thinking when viewing our sequence. As well as discovering whether our film has been successful in conveying certain key elements to our film which are conventional to the genre it is important that we display these conventions as this helps us to make sure that we have structured our film as a thriller and that it is clear for the audience to recongise it as a thriller and therefore won't feel disappointed via the advertising of the film. If a film is said to be of the thriller genre then the audience are going to be expecting to see certain elements of the genre within the film without enough of these then viewers may feel disappointed in that what they are watching is not in fact a thriller and not something which they wish to be watching. These could not only result in a bad experience for the viewers but also this could have a negative effect upon the people involved within the production of the film for instance the production company. Finding this feedback also informs us of the reaction we may be receiving from the release of our film and therefore preparing us for it. However the most important thing we can gain from this is the knowledge of how we are able to improve our film for the better hence allowing us to make it as successful as we possibly can.
In our group we received feedback from the audience within a variety of different ways. This consisted of taking out a focus group upon people whom we knew were knowledgeable of the thriller genre from more than just a viewers perspective. We also took out a questionnaire which was able to help us discover what the public's general view was on thrillers as well as our own personal ideas although we manly used the video we put on you tube and the comments we received from it. These gave us a clear unbiased opinion of our film as did the focus group. In fact their views provided us with a deeper insight into the effects of our micro elements throughout our opening sequence. The participants were able to tell us what was effective as well as what we may need to either add /change in order to make our film more successful and to further convey the various conventions displays throughout. This is all most helpful as it aids us to relate to our audience as the people involved within our focus group and watching our video on you tube are likely to be members of our target audience.
Here are some of our feedback comments:
Feedback for improvement:
- 'The plot is seen to be too complex and maybe too much like a trailer'
This would be a problem for our production as if the audience see's the narrative as to be too complex for them to be able to follow with ease then many members of the audience will simply loose interest. Another negative side effect from this could be that audience members may view the plot to be something completely different and miss out on the point altogether.
After all we have carefully set and structured our opening sequence to be a certain way hence this is how we would wish for it to come across otherwise we haven't worked towards our achievement. So to make sure we are able to keep the audience engaged and interested within our film as well as following the story-line as intended we need to ensure that we make our sequence as clear as possible via making certain adaptions.
So to make the plot appear less complex we can go through our sequence and only keep scenes which we feel simply add to the main narrative so taking out any scenes which we think take away from that and aren't necessarily needed and may in fact confusion the plot.
As we can tell from our feedback we have made our story-line too complex for the main audience which isn't something we want to do as we will be eliminating most of our audience from having an enjoyable experience.
Viewers may feel that our sequence appears like a trailer as scenes are shown from different time frames. If audience members were not to understand this and recognise that this scenes are shot from different time periods and that some are from the present whereas others the past then they may think that it is just a trailer showing a variety of different events throughout the duration of the film.
- 'The camera work was slightly unprofessional and jagged, maybe due to the camera itself being insecure'
This could have a negative effect upon our film as it means that it could ruin the experience for the audience as the camera angles could put the audience off however in some scenes staggered camera shots/angles are used to represent elements of the film such a panic. When going through our editing phrase we will have to see if there is anything we can do to fix this perhaps cutting certain shots, going through our old shots to see if there is anything similar which we can work with that has been filmed at a high standard, we can also experiment with the editing software on final cut pro and see if there is anything we can do on there to fix this problem.
- 'Could do with a sound track running throughout the sequence'
This was something we were yet to add to our sequence we showed it to our critics. We had everything intention of adding this in later on however we were having dilemmas with adding this in in time for our showing.
Positive feedback:
Viewers may feel that our sequence appears like a trailer as scenes are shown from different time frames. If audience members were not to understand this and recognise that this scenes are shot from different time periods and that some are from the present whereas others the past then they may think that it is just a trailer showing a variety of different events throughout the duration of the film.
How myself and my group members shall make use our criticism:
One thing we have spoke about doing would be to simplify our narrative so that it is easier for the audience to follow and stop them from getting lost or confused and therefore loosing interest within our film making it a bad experience for the viewer. We shall conduct this via cutting out scenes from our sequence which may lead to confusion and only leaving in those key elements which are important to the narrative and help to tell it within a clear motion hence making it far easier for the audience to be able to follow.
We have also discussed including another sound track to input running throughout the duration of our opening sequence. This shall in theory make our film flow in a more smooth action and allow the narrative to be uncovered as the story progresses along with the music and sequence.
Fitting in with this we have also decided that we would like to improve the transitions which occur in-between our separate shots. Again this shall be creating more of a flow to our sequence and shall be able to highlight the different tenses in which the scenes are taking place, for instance we have some scenes from the past and some from the present, this shall help the audience to be able to distinguish what time frame the different scenes are happening within therefore helping them to be able to understand and follow the narrative with more ease.
Rough cut feedback analysis:
Receiving feedback is a hugely important part of our production of our opening sequence as it allows us an insight into what our potential viewers (target audience) may be thinking when viewing our sequence. As well as discovering whether our film has been successful in conveying certain key elements to our film which are conventional to the genre it is important that we display these conventions as this helps us to make sure that we have structured our film as a thriller and that it is clear for the audience to recongise it as a thriller and therefore won't feel disappointed via the advertising of the film. If a film is said to be of the thriller genre then the audience are going to be expecting to see certain elements of the genre within the film without enough of these then viewers may feel disappointed in that what they are watching is not in fact a thriller and not something which they wish to be watching. These could not only result in a bad experience for the viewers but also this could have a negative effect upon the people involved within the production of the film for instance the production company. Finding this feedback also informs us of the reaction we may be receiving from the release of our film and therefore preparing us for it. However the most important thing we can gain from this is the knowledge of how we are able to improve our film for the better hence allowing us to make it as successful as we possibly can.
In our group we received feedback from the audience within a variety of different ways. This consisted of taking out a focus group upon people whom we knew were knowledgeable of the thriller genre from more than just a viewers perspective. We also took out a questionnaire which was able to help us discover what the public's general view was on thrillers as well as our own personal ideas although we manly used the video we put on you tube and the comments we received from it. These gave us a clear unbiased opinion of our film as did the focus group. In fact their views provided us with a deeper insight into the effects of our micro elements throughout our opening sequence. The participants were able to tell us what was effective as well as what we may need to either add /change in order to make our film more successful and to further convey the various conventions displays throughout. This is all most helpful as it aids us to relate to our audience as the people involved within our focus group and watching our video on you tube are likely to be members of our target audience.
Here are some of our feedback comments:
Feedback for improvement:
- 'The plot is seen to be too complex and maybe too much like a trailer'
This would be a problem for our production as if the audience see's the narrative as to be too complex for them to be able to follow with ease then many members of the audience will simply loose interest. Another negative side effect from this could be that audience members may view the plot to be something completely different and miss out on the point altogether.
After all we have carefully set and structured our opening sequence to be a certain way hence this is how we would wish for it to come across otherwise we haven't worked towards our achievement. So to make sure we are able to keep the audience engaged and interested within our film as well as following the story-line as intended we need to ensure that we make our sequence as clear as possible via making certain adaptions.
So to make the plot appear less complex we can go through our sequence and only keep scenes which we feel simply add to the main narrative so taking out any scenes which we think take away from that and aren't necessarily needed and may in fact confusion the plot.
As we can tell from our feedback we have made our story-line too complex for the main audience which isn't something we want to do as we will be eliminating most of our audience from having an enjoyable experience.
Viewers may feel that our sequence appears like a trailer as scenes are shown from different time frames. If audience members were not to understand this and recognise that this scenes are shot from different time periods and that some are from the present whereas others the past then they may think that it is just a trailer showing a variety of different events throughout the duration of the film.
- 'The camera work was slightly unprofessional and jagged, maybe due to the camera itself being insecure'
This could have a negative effect upon our film as it means that it could ruin the experience for the audience as the camera angles could put the audience off however in some scenes staggered camera shots/angles are used to represent elements of the film such a panic. When going through our editing phrase we will have to see if there is anything we can do to fix this perhaps cutting certain shots, going through our old shots to see if there is anything similar which we can work with that has been filmed at a high standard, we can also experiment with the editing software on final cut pro and see if there is anything we can do on there to fix this problem.
- 'Could do with a sound track running throughout the sequence'
This was something we were yet to add to our sequence we showed it to our critics. We had everything intention of adding this in later on however we were having dilemmas with adding this in in time for our showing.
Positive feedback:
Viewers may feel that our sequence appears like a trailer as scenes are shown from different time frames. If audience members were not to understand this and recognise that this scenes are shot from different time periods and that some are from the present whereas others the past then they may think that it is just a trailer showing a variety of different events throughout the duration of the film.
How myself and my group members shall make use our criticism:
One thing we have spoke about doing would be to simplify our narrative so that it is easier for the audience to follow and stop them from getting lost or confused and therefore loosing interest within our film making it a bad experience for the viewer. We shall conduct this via cutting out scenes from our sequence which may lead to confusion and only leaving in those key elements which are important to the narrative and help to tell it within a clear motion hence making it far easier for the audience to be able to follow.
We have also discussed including another sound track to input running throughout the duration of our opening sequence. This shall in theory make our film flow in a more smooth action and allow the narrative to be uncovered as the story progresses along with the music and sequence.
Fitting in with this we have also decided that we would like to improve the transitions which occur in-between our separate shots. Again this shall be creating more of a flow to our sequence and shall be able to highlight the different tenses in which the scenes are taking place, for instance we have some scenes from the past and some from the present, this shall help the audience to be able to distinguish what time frame the different scenes are happening within therefore helping them to be able to understand and follow the narrative with more ease.
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