Feedback

We got alot of feedback from our final media production we showed it to 10 people and they gave overall responses such as:
'Good short fast opening'
'fast-paced'
'very exciting'
There was also comments on what worked well in our production and what could be improved these included:
'I like the white screen'
'the first person view was very effective'
They also commented on what could be done next time to improve the opening thriller and some suggestions were:
'keep the font the same'
'longer takes between clips'
'to fast and disorientating'
i took all these into account and next time i wopudl try to focus on some of these areas in order to perfect my production and the feel of my thriller.

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media production not only uses normal thriller and media conventions but also adds new dimensions and ideas to a thriller and media production. An idea that we had in a thriller was that weather we would reveal the scary character within the first two minutes and we decided against it as it would take the thrill and edge of seat experience if the evil, bad character was known. We however did decide that we would shoot within the eyes of the evil character through shots looking on at the victim instead as his eyes. The nature of our thriller was fast action and paced as it was a chase scene through the woods and therefore we decided on fast short snappy clips which added to the effect of a ‘race for life’. There is also confusion within my thriller as it jumps in clips from clip to show the fast paced struggle to escape from something. The shots of the feet is another convention that we wanted to look into as all the thrillers that we had analysed and therefore looked to add this and therefore add another convention and dimension to our thriller that separated it from other The set of my thriller production has not developed any forms or conventions as it is already a set thriller style background as the woods add emphasise and isolation among the trees. The trees also add darkness and mystery as there is an unknown aura around the hiding places and what is hiding among the shrubbery and trees. The original idea for a woodland background was through my analysis of ‘Book of Eli’. As I liked the idea of the woodland showing decay, death and hidden dangers. Cuts between scenes added new dimensions as it hasn’t been used as an editing technique before only to add emphasise on the hurry, rushed, panic stricken society. The use of a black and white fuzzed screen was not in any thriller movies that I had analysed before however I decided to add it as I felt that it gave my thriller production suspense with no real understanding into the reasons behind the black and white fuzzed screens and the overall storyline. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My media production our media project doesn’t really represent your average social groupings because there is no social scenes where social status and groups is explored. It is also limited to not representing any social groups as it involves one character. However the genre and style of the thriller could have more appeal to certain social group not through the character interaction but through the storyline, tempo and style it was shot. We had originally planned to aim our production after the questionnaire of ages 15 to 30 male as it was this category that mainly liked the genre. Later on in the film the social areas of the characters may be explored further and therefore stereotype our genre with a representation of a social group. With the opening scene there is a single male 17 years old and from this running the assumption of naughty and troublesome behaviour could be drawn as a social group and characteristics. Also the time limit of the outline was two minutes and therefore it would be hard to set a representation of a certain social group within the two minutes of the opening. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? A media institution that might have distributed my production could have been many different but I think that ‘Optimum Releasing’, could have distributed our production. On the basis that our production is not only a low budget film but it is also a possible typical British production in that it is on a low budget with the aim of making profit by spending little but hoping on the quality of the storyline which ours sets up a unknown confused aura. However on the other hand I think that possibly ‘Fox searchlight pictures’ as it has had a history of regular thrillers passed through there company. Also my production sets new dimensions and also blends the classic stereotypical thriller conventions mixed with new edgy ideas that entice the viewer in the first two minutes. A distributer such as ‘Optimum Releasing’ would also focus on the quality of the storyline and less on the extravagance of the production and the wow factor, this type of production would be reared more towards ‘Fox searchlight pictures’. Our production would have to be distributed by a multinational company as the British film distribution wouldn’t have stake in countries that would provide profit which a global Hollywood company would bring to my production.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our project would be 15-35 year olds from either sex; however the fast tempo seemingly action packed style might appeal more to a male audience. It would also suit a regular thriller watcher as it would provide them with a new style of thriller but still in keeping with traditional thriller conventions that this group of audience would need to continue watching. My thriller production is also appropriate for a viewer that likes to get into the action straight away instead of waiting for a slow build up and a final dramatic climax my production starts of fast paced but also builds up to the fast paced tempo within the first two minutes. However a thriller convention of a dramatic climax would still exist. We did understand that the opening two minutes would not easily allow us to set the exact audience range that were aiming for however we have managed to set the scene so that the viewer would be able to decide if it there type of film and therefore if they were the target audience. I also decided that by keeping the opening not too lenient towards a set target audience it would appeal to a wider variety of audience and therefore increase profit.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We tried to attract our audience by not showing too much and kept it very short, sharp and snappy to try and keep the audience guessing these also introduced enigmas which would be explored throughout the rest of the film. One of our first enigmas was the name of our production as we didn’t want entitle our production on the first two minutes of the film so with a different title it meant that the audience would be waiting and in suspense for the reasoning behind the title.

We also opened it with a heartbeat and some titles with images of a dead person which were meant to attract the audience straight away. . Rather than starting slowly, we tried to start it fast paced to get people in to the action straight away. .We also used different shots to try and attract the audience for instance we used first person shot as well as some different shots in the same scene to make it snappier.

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

Adobe premiere pro is easy to use but has quite a few flaws including it is sometimes hard to understand and use it is also hard to grasp at first until you understand the layout and what is happening then it becomes an extremely useful and efficient tool. The cameras we borrowed from college were easy to set up and useful for different shot including not only using the tripods but also for handheld shots such as the chase scene through the woods. Another technique that was useful for sounds effects was a website in which we downloaded various sound effects including a heartbeat various times throughout the production. We also edited the heartbeat so that it was slowed down and therefore fit with the on screen image we also built up the sound so that the end would be louder and therefore giver the effect of a dramatic climax

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

Upon finishing my preliminary task and main task I now feel that I have progressed in different areas. Areas such as editing and planning have improved in that I am able to edit confidently and effectively. This allows me to speed up the editing stage and use a wider variety of editing techniques which improved the overall quality of my thriller production. However I did improve in my ability to use the editing software I also had to leave enough time to edit it properly and therefore increase the quality and overall look to be more professional. Another thing that we had to adapt from our preliminary task was the overall timekeeping as it was not as accurate as we firstly believed and therefore had to adapt various deadlines so that we could achieve the product we wanted. We did along the way miss some deadlines due to lack of timekeeping however once we had understood our planning we were able to produce our production with relative ease. A problem of timekeeping was us not filming early enough and therefore limiting our time for editing and reshooting any inadequate parts. This overall technique helps us in the editing stage as we could see what needed to reshoot and re edit.

Final Edit

This is my final edit which we planned, shot and edited all ourselves. I am overall happy with my procduction however there are areas and parts that i would reshoot and re-edit to enhance the quality and get the exact filming i was happy with. watching it back i notice that some problems that were arised have been dealt with however there are also areas which still need to be adressed.
i was happy with my final production as the quality and overall feel of the production is what i was aiming at.

Self evaluation

I conducted my own mini evaluation to see what went well and what went wrong and want went well:

What went wrong:

I felt that we never managed to stick to our orginal planning at all due to a lack of avaibility in sets which we wanted when we wanted to shoot. this left us with the problem and we had to adapt our production completly so we could finish it with sufficient footage. After watching and assesing everything i decided that we should have moments where the footage stops completly so it gave the effect of hand held camera that was going through damage with the chase.

What worked well:

I felt that everything involved with our production went well and i was happy with the outcome apart from the problems faced and still to be adressed. this mini evalution gave me the chance to personally critcise my thriller instead of the group criticisim i could see what i felt worked well and could raise it with the group and therfore give us a more professional production.

Editing

This stage waqs the most demanding and required contant attention we spaced the editing out evenly both among the group and also across some days. The program we used was Adobe premeire pro and it was overall very effective and easy to use:

Day 1:
this involved the setting up of everythign and importing the relivant clips needed we basically went over every clip naming and deleting any unuseablke footage or clips that were messed up. This day set up the ease of the rest of the other editing sessions as it allowed us to have all the footage on Adobe premeire pro.
Day 2:
This day involved us from starting to get the clips we wanted to use and edit them into the sequence in order this involved us finding the order of the clips and what we wnated to go in varioius areas. we managed to get the entire timeline full ain the order and left the next to involve the editing techniques and technology behind what we wanted to do.
Day 3:
We edited our entire production together this involved the white fuzzed screen, jump cuts and blank areas which added the to the rushed nature of my thriller production. We also edited the titles in the stage and it mean that we had to add new images by the end of the day we had our complete thriller prodeuction finished and allowed us to crtitcise it and make imporvments so that we were enitrely happy with the outcome.

This is the title which was a white fuzzed screen behind an additional title title throug adobe.

This is the white fuzzed screen that we edited through the use of a green screen and chroma key on adobe.

Shooting

The aim of a filming day was to entirely finish our filming in order to keep continuity qwith weather, actors and general atmosphere of the production. we wanted to film enough material so that the editing stage would be easier with a mix of material so editing could be easier with more shots to chose from in order to enhance thew quality if we didnt like a certain shot.
First scene:
We started with filming of the first person views of the feet and the fall in the climax at the end. we chose to shot this first as it only involved one person from our team and therefore free up the other members to set up later shoots. the main idea in this part of the film was to get the effect of panic race againist death feeling and to also pu tthe audience into the view of the production and making them feel involved and feel the same emotions as the chrecters.
Second scene:
This shoot involved the high angle shot of me (the unamed charecter) running through the wood. This shot was in eyes of the stalker watching over the actions of the charecter and following him. we wanted this shot as it gave an opening background establishing shot and also gave the emphasis on the woods and the dnager hidden within.
Thrid scene:
The shot was again in the eyes of the stalker however this was on the ground at the same level and this was shot through a bush in order to give the audience the feel of danger lurking around in the woods it also set up this chrecter overlooking (the unamed charecter) as being stalked and victimised by someone or something.
Fourth scene:
This was the final scene and it involved the unamed charecter being actually chased by the stalker and involved both charecters in a pursuit for life and death. This shot was again through the eyes of the pursuer and showed the panic of the victim trying to escape from his fate that is not revealed in the opening scene.

Filming positions

Before we were filming our production we wanted to look at the possible positions and angles for the camera to be set up in order to achieve that shot we wanted. we needed a high angle shot to use during a running scene in the woods so that it gave us a wider shot. the position chosen for our high angle shots was up a small tree which was supported and safe for the camera and the group member. This was the tree used for thew high angle shot, chosen for its saftey, accessability and view from the shot we wanted:

During the wood scene there is also a stalking position from within a bush which we originally planned to have shot from a army camoflauge net but we decided to use the real bush as it added more of an effect that the net couldn't achieve. here is a picture of the location within the bush chosen for its safety, accessibility and view of the shot we wanted:

Filming Day 1

Today was the day of our filming of the chase wood scene and the army scene's, which were used throughout the duration of our production as cut aways ands additions into the production. The location for today's filming was Chetwynd Barracks inside a hangar, and also a woods which gave us access tour chase/stalker scene. The day as a whole went well with the completion of all the filming required in the one day and therefore add to the continuity with the actors, set and props being all available and within the same conditions to add continuity.
The risk assessment helped and there was no injuries or problems whilst we were conducting our filming.
There was a small problem with one angle that was chosen before arriving however when we arrived we noticed that this angle would not be possible as there was an obstruction in the way and therefore we had to adapt our production to fit arround this unfortunate occurance.

Questionnaire

The brainstorm we conducted goes through genres of which we produced a questionnaire as a handout on word which we asked questions to allow us the right target audience to aim at and the most watched/favorite sub genre thrillers:
Whats your favorite sub genre?
Whats age range is a thriller aimed at?
Whats your favorite thriller?
And the response from 20 questionnaires filled out allowed us to inter grate a target audience into or production and base characters and themes of our production towards that specific age range which was from 15 to 30 as the average age range. The sub genre allowed us to base our production and theme around a more favoured and more watched genre.
We accumulated the data from our question one and entered the data into Microsoft excel and formatted it into a pie chart so it was easier to read and understand for the group. The results also allowed us to see a clear defined winner in the sub genre category and therefore base our production on the most popular demand from the questionnaires. The overall favoured genre was action followed close by horror.

This is the result from the second question which allowed us to see what age range a thriller should be targeted for and therefore adapt our production through the actors, props and mise en scene, set, dialogue and the charecters roles. The overall age range that the particpants in the questionnaire was both 15-25 and 25-35 giving an overall range of 15 - 35.

Storyboard

Here is a picture of our storyboard that shows the basic outline of our production complete with camera angles and specefic props used in the shots it doesnt show the editing techniques dued to us not being aware of what type of shots and camera angles and lengths of shots to work with. we might also change various shots and angles during thge filming and contruction of the production. The story board also shows the type of shot we will be using during the production from close ups to mid to long to still images to add variety and diversity to our production to show the extent of our media technological knowledge.

Risk Assesment

Our set has not been fully risk assesed however there were already some risk we were aware of from our set which was the amount of glass in the form of test tubes and cylinders whihc while some of our scenes involve running and fighting the risk of knocking off some glass or it being hit was there. How ever we will try to offset this problem by moving the uneeded glass within the shot making paramount to keep continuity and to deter from jumps of props and sets and to minimise the necessity of glas in our production anyway.
Another problem that came to our attention was the lab coats which could cause the actors to fall whilst running during the more action scenes. to keep this problem down and decrease it hazard we decided that the coats should be clipped at the bottom during the action scenes as not to affect the continuity but to also ensure saftey of the actors and group. Along with the lab coats the actors would also be wearing large loose fitting army uniform which could get caught or snagged on corners so we made sure nothign sharp was sticking out for saftey to actors. although if there was corners we covered them with cloth to lessen the risk of the injury.
Here is a picture of the lab coats:

Here is the army uniform used in some clips:



Upon arriving at the various sets we noticed that there were additional risks that we were not aware of before in our planning and therefore had to make changes for the saftey of the actors and the group. during the chosing of the wood setting we noticed that along a proposed path was barbed wire close to the edge which was a high danger risk as this path invoilved the actors running. We therefore decided to move the path to another safer path well out the way of the barbed wire and that path was out of use for all personal. This is a picture of the barbed wire:


Others hazards that were noticable upon arrival was the poles laid around which were a medium risk to the actors as they weren't in hte path however they were on the path into the woods which was used by all members and a no running policy was implied. This is a picture of the poles:


After these hazards were minimised for safety reasons, we had chosen our paths that would be filmed on and all of the paths were chosen due to there safety and look for the production however one path involved going down a steep bank which was a lower level danger hazard then others but stilol needed to be assesed and during that clip the actors would slow down and a rope was used as a hand grip to steady the actors during descending down the bank. This is a picture of the bank:

These pictures show the paths that we used as they were mostly flat with good surface and open space to prevent falling or slipping:
This is path one used in a majority of our clips:

This is path 2 used in some other clips:

Props

Here is pictures of possible props to use in our production we had chosen to not shoot within the school but instead to wider or opportunities at creating a more realisitic feel to the opening sequence as to not just be in a school environment however we did use the school for examples of props and set scenerios to use in our production.

Brainstorm

Here is a picture of our brainstorm that we conducted after watching the opening sequences to various different genres of thrillers it allowed us to see what are stereotypical props, sets, basic plots and characters. it has allowed us to pick out some typical props, sets and characters that are conventionally used and also to mix it up and add possibly new dimensions to make our production unique to us. After our brainstorm we managed to narrow down our genre and other specifics required, for our production. We then combined our Brainstorm with our questionaire which allowed us to see what the target audience would prefer in genre and therefore incorperate the audience into the research and planning.

Film examples of genres we are considering

Examples of Action thrillers that we decided to focus our production on:


The Number 23 directed by Joel Schumacher starring Jim Carey and Virginia Madsen. This film budgeted at $30million came in with a gross revenue of $77,566,815 making a profit of $47million.


Taken directed by Pierre Morel starring Liam Neeson and Famke Janssen. The film budgeted in at $25million and with a gross revenue of $226,830,568 meant a profit of $201million was achieved.

Examples of Horror Thrillers another sub-genre we want to focus on and incorperate to our production:


Paranormal Activity 2 directed by Tod Williams starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. Was budgeted at $2,750,000 with a gross revenue of $84,749,884 resulting in a profit gain of roughly $82million.


Case 39 directed by Christian Alvart starring Renée Zellweger and Ian McShane. Budgeted with $27,000,000 and with a Gross revenue of $13,248,477 made a loss of $14million.

Researching of thrillers

Thriller Defined: 'There are all kinds, The legal thriller, mystery thriller, action-adventure thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, legal thriller. Thrillers use openness and unanswered questions to keep the audience interested. Thrillers all link through the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill.'

Sub-Genres:

Crime Thrillers: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts and heists. An example of a Crime thriller is Oceans 13 along with the others in the trilogy.

Mystery Thrillers: Suspense films where characters attempt solving, or involved in, a mystery. The usual stereotypes of a mystery thriller would be involving a crazed or disillusioned character. An example of a typical mystery thriller is black swan.

Political Thrillers: In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. A typical sterotype would be a hero trying to topple the corrupt regime usually involving in a race against time before a deadline or the charecter is caught. An example of a political thriller is Vantage point.

Religious Thrillers: In which the plot is closely connected to religious objects, institutions and questions. While suspense stories have always shown a significant affinity for religion and philosophical issues. An example of a religious thriller is The DA Vinci Code.

Out of all the Sub-genres we had found we decided to focus on a combination of Action or Horror as from our experiences in watching and analysing thrillers action and horror both appealed to the group and we felt that it would allow us to explore and it also interested us the most.

Opening sequence analysis (Book of Eli)

Camera
In the opening scene to 'Book of Eli' shows an establishing shot of a forest seemingly during august as the leaves are falling from the trees which straight away gives the perception of the approaching of the end of the year or possibly someones life. The seasons all follow the similar pattern to a human life as Spring brings new life summer is happy, autumn come around and shows the decaying of trees and winter brings the end of the life and year. The theme on camera stayed with the perception of death and decaying from the leaves a gun is shown and as the camera pans along to show a dead body with the hand outstretched as if there was a struggle or violent showdown between someone and the recently dead body. The leaves also act as a cover up to the dead body consuming the body and the evidence of a murder. The pan and track then reveals a human figure sitting barring a bow and arrow ready to use on the unsuspecting cat.
Sound
During the opening scene there is a ongoing deep percussion sound that immediately gives us the perception of a thriller/horror genre film. There is minimal use of sound during this opening scene only used at points of significance and climatic tension. The leaves on the ground add to the noticeable sound of footsteps with the crunching of dead and decaying leaves. This adds to the belief that there is nowhere to hide and the thriller/horror genre is reinforced. Halfway through the opening scene there is a slight sound bridge as we hear the deep breathing before the tracking shot pans over to reveal the human waiting to ambush the cat. The deep breathing not only reinforces the horror/thriller genre but also links the dead and seemingly deserted wilderness with human impact and presence. The ongoing percussion music is used as an indicator of a forthcoming climax and build up of tension like the dramatic build up to the abrupt cut revealing the hunters breathing once more until a sudden burst of sound from the release of the arrow giving the audience a shock, pinning the film as a definite thriller seemingly horror from he early signals like the music chose, percussion and deep breathing.
Editing
The opening scene for the 'Book of Eli' has a minimal use of editing techniques throughout the scene. The take is stretched out for one minute fifty six seconds however through out the long take the use of trees acts as cuts to break up the take into a seemingly normal set of takes. This elongated take creates tension and suspension asking rhetorical questions for the audience why is he there? who is he? whats the cat doing? These are all enigmas which will be answered later within the film but in the opening scene acts as a hook for the audience to watch on. There is a eye line match from the arrow of the hunter to the cat which is effective in showing us that the cat is aware of the presence of something and allows us and the cat to see the forthcoming fatality and his demise.
Mis en scene
The use of mis en scene in the opening scene is minimal but powerfully effective as it uses props such as the gas mask the hunter is wearing as enigmas and a sense of fear from the audience about the unknowing of who he is? why does he have it on? Also allows us to establish that this may not be the same world as we know it and therefore intrigue us to want to know more. The use of falling leaves gives us perception of autumn and also acts as a means of covering up what has happened when we see the dead body being overcome by the falling decaying leaves. The introduction of a gun from a gun on the floor to the bow and arrow could show how the new technology has been reverted back to primitive times and our cavemen, animistic instincts have shown through. the showdown between the cat and hunter makes us aware that perhaps something has happened with link to him wearing the mask as humans no longer engage in hunting in this way anymore where it is the cat fighting for his life and human for his ultimate showdown between man and beast.

Final Edit and Evaluation.

This is my groups final edit, our brief was to compose a production of a character walking into a room and having a four line conversation. we had chosen to produce our piece as a hostage situation and through a wide range of shots, editing techniques, mise en scene and sound. Our production overall went well and our team bonded and unified well to achieve our aims of the different days. Our planning and brainstorming ideas were made together and in the best interest of the team. We did come across problems with our production nothing that wasn't able to be sorted out and addressed our main fault is with the timing as the editing stage was carried away but with practice we could achieve a better timing slot however we worked well and completed the task.

Props, Lighting and Set

The set, props and lighting used in our production was chosen in order for the contiuity and realistic feel but also to allow the silhouette of the chrecters to be seen and no facial close ups till the end to keep a mysterious and unknown feeling about the production. The use a natural light was paramount in finding a set to work on as the confined space needed would not have shown a realisitic and frightening feel about he production. the set needed also had to be confined in order to give the idea that he was trapped and captured with no way out. the props used where to give the effect of violent happenings and possible happenings of tortue the use of a screwdriver gives the idea of scared tortue and unknowing about what the hosatge will endure. This image shows a still we took of our only prop in the production apart from a bin bag.

Dialogue

The dialogue that was a nessecary part of the criteria of the preliminary task, along with a charecter entering a room. the dialogue we used had to fit with the style that we had chosen of a hostage situation.The two charecters we are using is dougie myself as the charecters have no names and james:
Dougie: Wake up
James:Groan.
Dougie:Read this.
James: Help...
James:I'm being held hostage.

Editing

Today we started in our editing stage after completing our filming last lesson. Our aim if the lesson was to finishing editing to allow us to progress next lesson. We didn't manage tocomplete the aim as the software was new to us and we had to adjust to it. We used Adobe Premiere editing software. There was a problem with one of our cameras whic ment we could not complete our aim however I looked through the footage on camera and wrote down which bits we could use when footage had been converted to speed up the process.

Filming

Today our aim was to complete the filming stage of our preliminary task. We wanted to complete the filming all today as it allows us to edit next lesson and also the lighting, clothes and camera positioning where all the same which allowed the continuity of our footage to be more realistic. We did manage to complete our aim and the stuck to the planned script and stoyboard apart from minor adjustments to enhance and as some original ideas weren't possible. I was a character in the short clip and also contributed with some ideas and also the filming.