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

                 1        Title

• White text with quite a formal and serious feel to it which is against a black background
• This title fits with our theme because our film is quite serious as it has a scary feel to it. Also avoids distracting from the atmosphere build which is common for the genre.

 2 Credits

• Have the same font and style as the actual title
• Wanted to keep the feel the same throughout the starting of the film and wanted the credits to be simple because it’s not supposed to be happy and upbeat.

3, 4 and 5 Characters

• The characters that are children is psychological thrillers are normally quite curious and nosey which is shown when Georgina opens the front door when told not to
• Quite a lot of the time, they live in normal middle class houses
• They also have quite interesting bedrooms that contain personal items such as pictures with friends and family etc.
• This also creates a sense of normality that makes the disruption more noticeable - this is a narrative convention in horror and thriller.

           6 + 4 Mise-en-scene

• For mise-en-scene, we used props including the picture shown in number 6. This picture emphasises how Gillian misses her sister Georgina because she still has the picture in her room. Photos from the past are often used in the genre as memory plays a big part in psychological thrillers.
• The table in the kitchen is a significant prop as well because it is where Ellie sees Georgina being taken but the table hides her and is why she doesn’t get kidnapped as well.
• The main location of the film is at Georgina’s house which is significant because it’s where the kidnapping takes place and is an unexpected location - thrillers hope to surprise the audience. All our locations are ordinary and would not make the audience think that something is about to happen.
• Each room that the girls are in are tidy which is again allows for the disruption to be noticed.
• The first location is the hall and the stairs - a neutral environment - we expect the creepy part to be when the cupboard door is opened but this is a red herring.
• The second location is Georgina’s bedroom which is a tidy room with feminine colours like purple and pink.
• The last location is Gillian’s room where we see her having a nightmare and the room is very different to Georgina’s room showing a difference in personalities and that time has passed.
• Costume is simple - quite casual as it was just a normal day to show how they’re lives have been disrupted
• In the last scene with Gillian, she is wearing pyjamas which are important because she’s supposed to be having a nightmare.
• We cast Gillian to play an older Ellie because she has the same features and long brown curly hair and has green eyes.
• There is low key lighting when Ellis is having a nightmare to show that it’s at night and she’s not sleeping well at night as it’s haunting her. This is a conventional use of lighting.

            7, 4, 5, 6 Camera work

• We use a variety of different shots and camera angles in our film such as two shots, close up, tracking shots, establishing shots and shot reverse shots.
• We use close up shots to emphasise key emotions such as Ellie’s face when Georgina is kidnapped and when Gillian wakes up from a nightmare. Also a close up on the picture to show that they were close. This is a conventional use of close ups in openings of every genre.
• We have two shots between Georgina and Ellie firstly at the start when they’re saying goodbye to their mother and it shows their close ups. Another two shot is where they’re arguing. They’re at the edge of the frame. We used these shots to make the scene more intense and to show conflict which is a key part of a thriller.
• There is also a POV shot from Ellie’s perspective when Georgina gets kidnapped which is suppose to be a memory. Heavy breath also follows this to show how scared she is. POV shots are conventional in our genre as the tension builds from only being able to see what the characters see.

            Editing 2, 5

• We used quite a lot of continuity editing in our film so that it would run smoothly and allow the audience to ease into the atmosphere. This is quite standard in film openings unless a more distinctive editing style is chosen.
• We use editing with our transitions as well such as a fade to black and we have Ellie and Gillian’s voices overlapping when they scream ‘Georgina!’ to link with the psychological genre of the film.
• We also use editing for our title and credits; we created a black screen to add a sinister effect.
• Georgina and Ellie get the most screen time to show that they’re the focus which links with certain psychological thrillers where there is one or two main characters.
• The dissolving effect between Ellie seeing Georgina getting kidnapped and her waking up was used to show a distinct difference between dream and reality - psychological thrillers rely on combining these two elements.

             Sound 4, 8

• The main sound we have in our film is dialogue which gives a sense of the plot.
• We have overlapping of dialogue going on as well is important to the genre of psychological thriller as it shows how she is still haunted and effected by what happened to her those years ago.
• We have some non-diegetic music playing when Georgina gets kidnapped - music to establish atmosphere in this way is a thriller convention.
• The screaming from Gillian and Ellie when Georgina is very effective because it shows to the audience how upset they are. Georgina also screams when she is kidnapped to show how scared she is. This is a key sound in thrillers / horror.

Evaluate who would be the target audience for your product

Evaluation of Distribution Institution

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

Please view the full quality version on DVD.

Next Cut of Coursework

Evaluation of Representation of Social Group- Shannon Dunne

Our representation of women

-  In society, men frequently stereotyped as more powerful and dominant, women as vulnerable.

- Often the case when it comes to domestic violence.

Press focus on violence gainst women

Georgina being kidnapped in our piece - aggressive, taller, stronger male



Domestic violence in soap opera

- We have added to this stereotype - our main character in the opening kidnapped by an unknown, powerful male.

- Mise-en-scene - he is wearing a dark hoodie, a conventional media stereotype for expressign a thug / bully / 'villain'.

- Kidnap happens in broad daylight and in home, therefore more linked with emotions around domestic violence than 'thriller' style chase.

- Pickering argues stereotyping can be damaging to social groups - possible that we have reinforced ideas of men being violent / women being weak.

- Later in film, younger sister tracks down villain and has her revenge, so maybe this is balanced out in whole film.

- A more positive representation is of the sisters - clearly close.

- Younger sister seems lively and proactive.

- Her attachment to the photo is a traditional way of representing a close relationship in film.

- Close attachment between sisters is one of two competing stereotypes that are quite common in media (the other is that they are rivals)

-  It is also obvious that women are quite emotional and sensitive because through editing, we have a transition that allows the audience to see that Gillian was having a dream meaning that she still thinks about her sister a lot even though many years have passed.

- This representation of women is quite negative because it gives the impression that women are always vulnerable and naïve.

- Our film is quite stereotypical as it represents sisters to be quite tempestuous with their relationship. The dialogue shows this when Ellie is trying to convince Georgina to play hide and seek with her and Georgina responds telling her that she doesn’t want to. The two shot between Georgina and Ellie shows this when Ellie is leaning across towards Georgina wanting to play acting like a typical annoying little sister.

Two shot of Ellie leaning into Georgina

Two sisters from the film 'My Sister's Keeper' shows that they are close

Shows that they are quite close- tempestuous

Film representation of how sisters argue with each other - 10 Things I Hate About You'

- Overall we have used conventions for our genre as this helps tell the story - we needed to quickly establish a sisterly relationship and the basis for the trauma experienced by the younger sister that she deals with through the film - her finding resolution is the basic plot.

- However, it is a little concerning that we might have reinforced some negative stereotypes to do this.

- Hopefully the more positive representation across the whole film (loyal, determined, wants justice) balances this out.

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.

Target Audience

Target Audience
 

Psychological thriller
 

Psychological thrillers are a genre that focus on issues that can be made to appear 'realistic' or could possibly even happen in real life. They also make the reader question their own judgements which can make them quite scary. Common themes in psychological thrillers are paranormal activity, deaths, stalking, someone questioning their own sanity.
 

We felt that our target audience should be roughly between the ages of 14 to 34. We know that this is seen generally as the key demographic in terms of spending power and leisure time, and like any film company, we need to ensure the film makes a profit. On the whole we think it would appeal to a younger age group, but there is no real reason why older people wouldn't watch it. Horror is much more targeted at younger audiences as the cast is often young, and beyond a certain age, people don;t enjoy being frightened as much as they used to. Psychological thrillers share features with horror such as the 'jump' effect but they are less violent, so we won't alienate older viewers.

We don’t have any specific gender bias in our film, therefore males and females would both enjoy our film, but I think females would be able to relate to it more as they could put themselves in the position of the young girls.

By using mise-en-scene, we will use certain costumes and certain aspects of the setting such as the girl’s room to create an 'ordinary' environment so that the viewer feels that what is happening in the film could possibly happen to them too. Many psychological thrillers are based around  two people locked in a psychological struggle and the social class can vary widely as anything could happen to anyone. However the preferred class is the middle class such as the Paranormal films; they happen to a normal American family. This makes the disruption more enjoyable for the audience as the contrast between the old life and the new is more pronounced.
 

Our chosen genre
 

People that would enjoy our film would like it to be full of tense moments where you don’t know what is going to happen around each corner. Many people get horrors and psychological thrillers mixed up with each other but the main difference is that horrors are more violent and physical whereas thrillers can be psychological. They both have a similar appeal - seeing characters placed in situations that reflect our fears.
 

The main characters for psychological thrillers are normally no older than 30 years old. I think this could be because they’re young and because they would have more energy than an older person, they would make it more interesting as they can do all the frantic running and screaming that usually takes place in psychological thrillers. Also younger people tend to think things over more whereas older people usually are wiser and wouldn’t believe in some of the stuff that could go on in the film. For example, in ‘Paranormal Activity’, the couple are young. A further stereotype in the genre is that it is usually women who are the ones that believe that something sinister is going in. In the film, ‘Orphan’, the mother is the one who believes that ‘there’s something wrong with Esther’ and the father doesn’t believe it until the end.
 

I agree with Wikipedia’s definition of what a psychological thriller. It is technically a sub-genre because it comes under the genre ‘thriller’ and there are a range of different thrillers such as action thriller, romance thriller, crime thriller, conspiracy thriller. Also, quite a lot of thrillers can contain horror aspects such as the film ‘Saw’ and ‘Orphan’.

After looking at a few websites, I discovered that it depends on the film who the target audience for psychological thrillers is. I found that on one website, someone thinks that horror type ones are aimed at girls of a slightly younger age whereas. Some are aimed at young men with a rating of R, but some that are normal thrillers such as crime are aimed adults and are rated PG and thrillers in general are aimed generally at ages 18 to 25.

I also found that other people had slightly different and some similar views on the target audience. Someone feels that it should be between 16 to 35 which was close to my own personal opinion which was 18 to 34 but overall they are aimed at younger people.

Research Into the Film Industry

Please see my presentation on slideshare:

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Animatic

We made this animatic by photographing each shot of our storyboard and then importing the images to Final Cut Express. In the editing package we were able to vary the length of our shots and experiment with the way they ran together. We were able to get a more precise idea of how close we are running to two minutes with our storyboard ideas so far. We also started experimenting with Livetype, working out which fonts and effects work best for our title and credits.

Researching your chosen Genre

Thriller (psychological)

Analysing Genre- What is a psychological thriller?

A psychological thriller is a sub-genre that branches of from the genre of ‘thriller’. It is known as ‘psychological’ because of the way it can be quite disturbing to the audience watching it, is based around psychological manipulation and can rise questions as to what is, or is not, real. This genre of film can also be based around the relationships between characters as well. 

Quite a lot of characters in films have got psychological problems.  They have a heavy focus on the unstable emotional states of characters and can have a lot of mystery and twists to them. They look at many issues such as paranormal activity and other ‘scary’ elements such a stalkers, murderers etc. 

Thrillers are quite different to other genres such a comedy and romance because many people can feel intimidated and nervous and don’t find them enjoyable whereas most people can ‘have a laugh’ with a comedy. 
The genre thriller can also be mixed about with other genres such as sci-fi, horror and romance. 

Key elements/themes

      Ghosts- ‘Paranormal Activity’ ‘The Others’

      Psychological- ‘Shutter Island’

      Action - ‘The Fast and the Furious’

      Conspiracy- ‘The da Vinci Code’

      Crime- ‘Seven’

      Techno- ‘irobot’

Iconography

Thrillers can be set during all types of times meaning the iconography  can vary quite a lot. In our modern age when many people have the fear of cyber stalking or having their identities stolen, technological iconography is common. For example, to portray the 2000’s, there would be mobile phones, iPods, laptops, CCTV etc.

Characters and narrative

By looking at ‘thrillers’ my group and I discovered how they can vary quite a lot. The target audience is aimed towards teenagers from the age of 13 and upward. We think this is a suitable because our film is supposed to be relatively ‘scary’ and we think it would not be suitable for children under that age because it might be too scary for them. They also might not be able to understand the plot as because it has twists in it. There are also shadows in thrillers and dark corners and heavy breathing in thrillers so we decided to add a few elements of those into our first 2 minutes. A lot of psychological thrillers are based around a house and when it comes to ghost stories, it’s either the house that’s haunted or someone that lives there. The type of setting for a film like this would maybe have an establishing shot of the house and sometimes there might be a prologue narrative. The camera angles normally have quite a lot of close up to extreme close up shots to show that something is significant. In thrillers there are normally quite a lot of POV shots going on to give the audience an idea of what they are going through because they are normally based around an individual.

Mise-en-scene is also used in thrillers as well to give the audience information on what might happen and to add effect to the film. It also creates a mood for a scene for example, beige/yellow colours usually indicate that it set a long time ago and blue/grey usually indicates coldness. Costume/clothing also helps to set the scene because fashion changes and certain clothes are linked to a specific era. In the first two minutes of films there is usually background music playing to set the mood of what time of film it is going to be.

Narrative structure

Many genres have a typical storyline to them and for thrillers, it is usually based around one person on some sort of mission and while they try to complete their mission, there are always obstacles that get in the way of this happening but it ends alright in the end- mostly. In a psychological thriller, this narrative structure would take the form of the hero(ine) being on a mission to ridding themselves of a stalker / someone playing mind games with them and not succeeding / nearly getting killed many times until they are helped / kill the villain themselves.

Stock characters

A stock character is an emphasised character that represents a stereotypical personality usually portrayed in that specific genre. Depending on the type of thriller, it can range from a muscly, strong and handsome man to just an ordinary person. The ordinary person is normally the personality portrayed in psychological thrillers such as ‘Paranormal Activity’.  The man that is muscly etc. is usually the stock character in action thrillers; mostly spies or police officers that are high up in their job and have been sent on missions. There is normally always a killer as well for psychological thrillers. I have noticed that the main character is often female in the psychological thriller, and usually of the 'ordinary' stereotype. This is so the audience can relate to them and also so they feel that what the character is going through could happen to anyone. This is the case in our film.

Analysing genre - our techniques

Setting

The setting of our first two minutes is quite stereotypical of our genre because we’ve set it in the house where our person gets kidnapped. The house is supposed to be where the girl lives which add a thrill to it as most people don’t get kidnapped from their own homes. It is set in different rooms of the house and that shows how the two sisters are so different as the mise-en-scene reflects their personalities.

Costume

Due to the fact that there will be an age difference, we want to distinguish this by dressing the younger sister up in clothes that don’t coordinate well together because at that age, children aren’t that bothered. For the older sister, we will have her in fashionable clothes as the way you look can often reflect who you are and she is going to be quite a popular person.

 Lighting

To distinguish the difference between the times, we decided to put a beige/yellow filter on the lens of the camera to add an old effect to it. As well as this, we will have a light on in the porch to show the silhouette of the man who kidnaps the girl.

Props

We will be using props such as textbooks and exercise books to emphasise how the older sister was revising and didn’t want to play. We will also be using a table where the younger sister will hide and this will enhance the POV shots.

This is a two shot that emphasises the children’s terror and fear. The darkness also portrays negativity. The lighting and two shot work really very together to create a mood.
 

This is an establishing shot of the house that the film is set. It is also dark and foggy to show how something bad with happen here.

 

This is another two shot but there is a distance between the characters showing that they are not close because they’re at opposite ends of the frame. This shot also shows the type of clothes they wore in 1945 and the way the rooms used to be decorated.