FINAL OPENING SEQUENCE

Here is our final coursework. This is a compressed version to meet Blogger upload maximums. Please see DVD for full quality:

Evaluation of Appeal to Audience / Feedback

This presentation shows how we are hoping that our film will appeal to the target audience. This has been carried out as a group project and we have all been involved in the creation of the captions.
Please view the full quality version on DVD as this is how it is intended to be seen.

Evaluate what you have learned about technologies

Please click on the link below to see the PowerPoint we have made discussing what we have learned about technologies across the process.

Presentation

Evaluate your progress from the Prelim Task to the AS opening sequence

 

 

Progress in Research and Planning

Prelim
 

From looking at our prelim task, we did not have the range of initial ideas that we had for our final piece. We used this prelim to practise our composition of shots and camera angles in order for us to be confident when selecting techniques that we would want to later use.
 

The techniques that we used did not relate to our chosen genre as at this time, we had none. With this, we had no plan and had not even considered music as this was just a practise. The dialogue used was roughly scripted so that our actors knew the basis of how the seen needed to plan out.

Final Task

To do our final task, we looked at many openings of films and looked into how they had specifically targeted both genre and age of the audience in just the first 2 minutes. We also picked up on the standard techniques that the genre uses in relation to camera angles, sound, editing and mise-en-scéne.

 

In planning our final task, we drew out each individual camera angle that we were planning to use as this later helped us when we started to film. We too looked into how much dialogue appears in the opening of thrillers which is quite minimal. We also researched the type of music we would need to use in order to create an eerie atmosphere that is common within a thriller.

Progress

Our prelim task helped us focus on the specific areas that we were poor on such as panning shots. In our final task, we made sure that when using panning shots, we chose someone with a steady hand that would move the camera smoothly. Shot reverse shots are common in thrillers and were a key feature in our film as it establishes the initial relationship between the two female characters. 

Progress in Camera Work

Prelim

We used the tripod but we weren't familiar with it yet so we had trouble adjusting it to the angle and/or level we wanted.

Screenshots of oupoor camera work on our preliminary task:

Hands in view on left

Poor framing

Again the tripod is tilted and framing is poor

This shot has Hanisha's hair blocking some of the lens

This is a poor shot-reverse-shot as Hanisha is nearly blocking the camera lens

There were also jolting shots - we were not familiar with using the handle and swivel so went we did the panning/tracking shot, it didn't appear to be smooth.
Screenshot of shot-reverse shot - continuity error, Hanisha and Shannen stay in the same side despite being in different over the shoulder shots.
Lighting - we had problems with backlighting.
Over the shoulder shot - there was no shoulder, we only had part of Hanisha's hair.

Final Task

Using the camera often, with a bit of practise, we were comfortable with using it.
We learnt how to loosen the swivel and the handle for a smooth panning shot.
We took more time in levelling out the camera for a straight angle.
Lighting - backlighting problem solved by considering in making the room brighter by turning on all the lights and closing part of the curtains.
We improved filming our shot-reverse shots by considering where people's positions were and what they will be in a different shot.

Screen shots of better camera work in Final Task

 

Curtains pulled to help back lighting issues

Two shot of the sisters

Shot reverse shot showing a conversation

This long shot shows the aggression through Ellie's POV

Transition between dreams and reality

Progress in Storyboarding and Script

Prelim

For our preliminary task, we didn't create a proper story board but we did put a small script together so that each character would know what to say and it would flow for us to see what we were doing wrong or right. We filmed our task in a classroom were the tables and chairs were situated in awkward positions and we hadn't planned where we were going to film which could be another reason why the camera angles are strange.


Final task

For our final task, we created a story board which we decided to alter a few times to make it flow better. The storyboard showed to us where we had to change certain aspects of it.

When we put the animatic together, it allowed us to experiment where to put certain pieces of music and dialogue.

We also knew where certain locations were going to be.

Progress

because we made sure the animatic and storyboard, it meant that things went smoothly on the day of filming.

We followed the script well meaning weren't improvising on the day.


Screen shots of our animatic:


The animatic has captions of what we had intended to put at that part of the extract

Shot / reverse shot sketched and planned

Thought about camera angles

Dialogue was thought through

The arrow shows the intended movement

This has a focus on sound



This screenshot has where we intended to put the movie title

Progress in Editing

Prelim

When we used Final Cut Express for our prelim task, we did not have much experience in using the software. This meant that we were still learning how to use the software so the editing that we did was not of a high standard.

There were several different problems we encountered whenusing Final Cut Express, for example we did not know how to close the gap properly, so therefore we had to manually close the gaps which sometimes was not accurate.  Another problem that we encountered when editing is that we kept cutting the piece in the wrong places at one point our prelim task we cut Hanisha out completely, which would be seen as her leaving the scene, when in actual fact that scene carries on and she is still in it.

In our prelim we did not use any sound or include music or titles and credits so we did not have any experience in putting our titles and credits in. We also did not have any music in our prelim so when it came to the real piece it look a long time to search for the right music and put it in at the right places and to make sure that each cut of music fits in with each cut of our piece.

Final Task

When it came to editing the final piece, it took a couple of lessons to get into the swing of constantly editing, but when after about one week of editing, we got into the swing of it, making progress quickly. Once we had the rough cut of our piece, we all took it in turns to make adjustments to the piece to make sure that it was up to the standards that we wanted it to be to.

When editing our final piece we used lots of layering to make our piece more effective to ensure that we achieved what we intended our outcome to be. We built up layers of sound as we had different music playing at the same time. We also had music and dialogue playing at the same time so there was sound layering where this occurred.

We were a lot more careful with continuity in comparison with our prelim task. Especially when we were editing match on action shots. We took into consideration when the character was in frame and making sure that each shot linked perfectly. We did this by enlarging the tracks to check we were cutting at exactly the right moment for matches on action.

We used different effects and transitions in our piece to make sure that it flows smoothly and to allow the audience to understand the general mood of the piece, for example a fade of non-diegetic music is used when the younger sister is hiding to make sure the audience knows that something bad is going to happen. It also creates an atmosphere which tells the audience how to feel depending on what type of music is being played at each point during the piece.
 

We used a different program to make the title and credits, called Live Type. Once we made the titles and credits we transferred them over to Final Cut Express and put them in the places allocated for each title and credit. Once we did this we became a lot more confident in our piece. The comparison to our prelim task has such a big gap as we would not have been able to add in titles and credits as we did not have much experience.

Progress

We can see a significant amount of progress that we have made form our prelim task to our final task. We have improved majorly when it comes to editing. We have much more understanding of the potential of the editing packages and how they can be combined. Our editing is a lot more accurate compared to the editing of our prelim task and it is very clear to see this. Final Cut Express became a lot quicker and more efficient to use as we used it a lot more frequently in our final piece.

Evaluate how your product used, developed or challenged the form and conventions of real media products

Evaluate how your product used, developed or challenged the form and conventions of real media products

Contact Sheet

 

1.    Title

 

• Plain and simple white text on a black background. Slightly bigger and the motion is slightly slower than the credits.
• The type write font that is used is simple but effective and suits our genre of a psychological thriller.  

     2.     Credit

• White text on a black background.
• Type writer effect very similar to the title so it all fits in with our genre, which needs to have simple and non-distracting credits, to be able to still have a thriller sense about our film.
•  

     3.     Characters

• We wanted our film to have a happy ‘home life’ feel about it where the characters are ordinary so that events seem even more shocking.
• Characters that are used in psychological thrillers are usually people that have a stereotypical ‘ordinary’ life like the two sisters do.
• The age of our main characters are 11 and 17.
• It is very stereotypical to have young people in psychological thrillers as their youth makes them vulnerable.
• As Ellie is younger and has an innocent look about her, it would be more stereotypical for her to be kidnapped where as we have changed this to her older sister to be kidnapped - this shows how you can surprise the audience if you subvert conventions.

4, 5 and 6 Mise-en-scène

• Lots of thrillers are set in houses where the family living in it are a happy family.
• We tried casting people that were just seen as ordinary people that did not have anything that would stand out as not being normal. This helps to create a sense of reality to help connect the audience to the characters
• When casting our kidnapper we had to make sure that his build was like a stereotypical kidnapper. This was so that we could give a realistic affect that the audience would know.
• The only main prop that we used was the photograph at the end of the sequence. This was to make sure the audience knew that this was Ellie grown up and the nightmare did really happen. A photo from the past is a very common prop in the thriller genre.
• The costume that we used for the sisters was just average day clothes that you would wear when you’re at home.
• As for the kidnapper, we thought about how a stereotypical ‘media presented’ kidnapper would be dressed. With this in mind we decided to dress him in all black with his hood up, so he could not be clearly seen.
• The lighting that we used in the first part of the sequence was natural light. As the house was bright it gave that warm feel we were aiming for.
  

7. Editing

• When we were filming we have to take into account what we had to edit, so that  it would flow properly in order to have continuity editing. This kind of editing helps to really draw the audience in and make them believe in what they are seeing.
• A good example of this was the shot reverse shot, which you can see in picture 7. We had to make sure that everything was in the same position in order for it to flow smoothly, so that the editing does not draw attention to itself.
  

8 and 9 Camera Angles and Movements

• When we were filming we tried to get as many different shots from different angles as we could so when it came to editing we could pick the ones that we liked most.
• We a used a good close up of Ellie when she is looking for somewhere to hide as you can see in picture 9. It is important in thrillers for the audience to be able to identify with the main characters and their emotions need to be tansparent.
• Another close up that we used was when Georgina was getting kidnapped. This was to show the scared emotion on Ellie’s face.
• For the scene where Ellie is grown up and having a nightmare, we used an establishing shot at the beginning to show where she was and to show the audience what she was like now that she has grown up.
• We used over the shoulder shot in the bedroom when Ellie and Georgina were having a conversation. This is typically used in all types of films and is a simple technique to show who a conversation is between and to see the facial expression of the characters.
• We used a panning shot of when Ellie is grown up and turns to look at the photograph. This gives the audience a chance to see the location of Ellie’s bedroom.
• The last shot in the sequence is a close up of the picture. We used a zoom for this so that that we could understand Ellie’s focus and concentration. This shot also allows the audience to see what Ellie is looking at.
• We have also used a POV shot form Ellie’s perspective in order to show what she is seeing when her sister is being kidnapped. This positions the audience to feel sorry for Ellie and she is having to experience her sister being kidnapped. POV filming is very common in our genre for this reason.

Evaluate who would be the audience of your products

Evaluation of Distribution Institution

From left to right: Shannon, Hanisha, Georgina, Shannen:

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Next Cut of Coursework

Representation of Social Groups in Our Media Product

 Representation of Gender in our Opening Sequence

We originally did not want to follow too many genre conventions for our film to be classed as a stereotypical psychological thriller. The reason for this was so that our film had a sense of originality about it.

However it is stereotypical to have a psychological thriller based around a male villain and a female victim, which is what we have gone for. Therefore our representations may be more conventional than we hoped for.

This is because it was harder than we expected to be original while conveying a clear narrative. Using stereotypes operates as a kind of short cut to signposting what the set up is to the audience.

Patterns of media representation probably result more from the need to tell an effective story quickly than social considerations. This does not mean that repreated stereotypes are not potentially harmful (Pickering). Repeating the idea that men are stronger than women and can use their strength to overpower them is not a choice we would have made if we were not thinking primarily of telling a story everyone can identify with.

 

It is not moral, but because this stereotype is so common and accepted, it does make our film more believable and tense, which is the mood we wanted.

Right from the beginning of our film, we see the relationship with the sisters as being quite close and we know that they are sisters because of the use of dialogue - hopefully this represents women more positively.

It is very stereotypical for a psychological thriller to be based around a family, mainly focusing on siblings. This is what our film does, because family ties mean the idea of one character spending their life searching for the other seems more plausible.

Sister are represented in two kinds of way through media, for example the way that they are represented in the film ‘Ten Things I hate About You’ is negative (competition, a threat). this is done to create comedy as this is the genre of the film. The sisters are also represented in a negative way in the TV show ‘Friends' for the same reason.

 

Our representation is positive - sisters that are close and will do anything for each other. For the representation to work we had to make sure that we cast the sisters so that they looked similar, in order to make it apparent to the audience that they were sisters. The dialogue that was used was constructed to show a realistic but affecgtionate relationship. 

Soap Representation of Sister

  

Our Representation of Sisters

'Friends' Representation of Sisters

'10 Things I Hate About You' representation of sisters

 

• When considering our kidnapper our representation has ended up a stereotypical kidnapper that you would normally find in stereotypical physiological thrillers - stronger, aggressive male. This is potentially negative stereotyping for both men (violent) and women (vulnerable, victim).

• When casting our kidnapper we had to think about who would fit the role best. We decided to cast Georgina’s brother (Wayne) as he was quite tall, had a strong build, in order to give the effect that he could kidnap Georgina.

• We used mise-en-scène to create a recognisable look about our kidnapper. He was dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans order to give him a mysterious look. When deciding how he would wear his hoodie we decided that he would have his hood up so that the audience would not clearly see his face.

• This works for us as we want to scare the audience if possible. However we could be accused of negatively stereotyping men here.

• A similar representation is used in TV programmes such as ‘Criminal Minds’.

Our Representation of male kidnappers

TV Representation of male kidnapper

'Criminal Minds' Representation of male kidnappers

• It is quite common for the setting of a psychological thrillers to be a family home that has a very cosy feel to it. The lighting in the house is very natural and very bright - creates idea that something can happen even where you feel safest.


• When choosing the location of our film we had to think about the key aspects of a setting of a psychological thriller. This included the thought about what sort of rooms the sisters had and the links we could make with the characters with the setting.

• Using ‘Criminal Minds’ as inspiration we can see that when a kidnapping has taken place the location of it is a normal family house hold.

Media Representation of a location

Our Representation of  a Kidnapping Location

'Criminal Minds' Representation of Location

• 

Cut for Audience feedback

Progress With Editing

Some screenshots showing our approach to editing and two versions of an early cut of the footage.

Photos from Filming

These photos were taken while we were filming and show us trying different camera angles and distances to get our shots.

Script for Filming

Ellie: (Barges into Georgina’s room)

Georgina:

What are you doing?

Ellie:

Well… was wondering if, you would play hide and seek with me please?

Georgina:

Don’t be silly I have better, more important things to be doing than playing hide and seek with you.

Ellie:

Oh please Georgina!

Georgina:

No, just go away and do your homework like mum told you to.

Ellie:

But I have finished it

Georgina:

I don’t care just leave me alone

Ellie:

Please just one game?

Georgina:

Fine one game and that’s it. You have till I get to 20. 1, 2, 3

Ellie:

(Interrupts) hey that’s not fair!

Georgina:

Just go and hide before I change my mind.

Ellie:

Okay, okay (I’m going)

Georgina:

4… 5… (Stops counting)

Concerns Before Filming

As we are now coming up to our filming day, we share some concerns about it, that we will only really be able solve on the day of filming if we were going to: 

• We originally wanted to film when it was dark but we are aware that without expensive lighting equipment, this can result in poor quality filming.  However this can put a bit of a twist on our story as it can still be frightening in daylight.
• Another concern that we have it is that we won't get every shot that we want and then when it comes to editing we may not have the shot we originally wanted. Sometimes in the past we have realised that a shot is missing only when it comes to editing, and although you can go back and refilm, this makes continuity very difficult.
• Another concern was that our chosen actresses were not going to fit the role that we have chosen for them. We don't have much drama experience in our group, and we are also relying on a Year 7 actress who we will have to direct and explain exactly what we want from her. As we all know our pieec, we know what we want to achieve with each shot, and we hope we are able to explain this clearly to the Yeat 7 actress so that she understand what look we are hoping for.

Costume

Older Sister- Casual clothing preferably leggings to show a more laid back approach. The reason for this is that during the film, she will be seen working on a bed which does not require a dressed up look.

Younger Sister- Again quite casual clothing as the film is set at a home and neither characters are actually going out so there will be no need for going clothes as such.

Younger Sister (Grown up)- This character will be in pyjamas as her scene in the film is in a bed, waking up shocked.

Kidnapper- Black clothing so we can get the full silhouette figure and create a creepy atmosphere.

We will also need a photo of the two sisters as a key prop.

Cast List

We have selected these actors to play these roles in our film:- 

Older Sister- Georgina O'Sullivan
Georgina does drama as an A Level. She looks like she can play a good older sister as she has an edgy and grown up look about her. The audience would also be able to see the relationship between her and the younger sister.  

Younger Sister- Ellie Carroll 
Ellie looks quite similar to Georgina which would enable the audience to see visually the relation between them allowing a more realistic approach overall . Ellie has quite a young look about her which helps with the role she will play. She has also taken part in another Media film so she is natural around the camera and has some understanding of how filming works and how it is different to acting on stage. 

Younger Sister (grown up) Shannon Dunne
Both Shannon and Ellie could look quite similar which helps with the easy actress change later on in the opening. 

The kidnapper- Wayne (Georgina's brother) 
We chose Wayne because we felt that he could with the right costume, look like a kidnapper. He has quite a broad build which is ideal for the role he is playing as it will allow him to give the effect that we want.  

Reasearching the Target Audience

These are my handwritten notes researching the target audience for our film. I have been looking at ratings categories, demographics, the appeal of our film and my opinion of the target audience we have identified as a group (promarily 16 - 34 age range, male and female).

We think we can target both genders because our film is a thriller rather than a striaght forward horror. This article reports that men enjoy horror films more and have a less extreme reaction to them, which is what you would guess before researching:

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1830207240848270959#editor/target=post;postID=4060975617851473082

However the researchers note that women are drawn to the psychological aspect with greater use of the words 'disturbed' and 'uneasy' and this might explain why there is a wider audience for psychological thriller as the genre taps into the tendency to focus on the mental state of the main character, a vulnerable female in our case.