Opening Sequence Progress

1st

                                                                                                               

Taking on the comments given to us and what we thought would look more appropriate for a thriller film, we decided to make some changes. We decided to change the titles first as we thought that the font wasn't appropriate for a thriller. We also changed the positioning of the titles. We moved the titler 'On Edge' from the beginning to the end. By doing this we believe that it will create more suspense. 

2nd

We showed this version in class and continued to get more feedback. It was said that the titling was very minimalistic which worked well. We stuck with it being basic although we decided to change the font and also the positioning. There was a ripple effect used and it was seen as unnecessary so we decided to take it out. The reason for it being there was to show you are going back into her mind. 

3rd

Changes we would make - Ellie Tooth

If we had the chance to create our opening sequence again with titles, we would change the titles first. Looking at real thrillers we can see that the font in ours isn't appropriate for the genre of our film. I would also move the titles towards the end of the film. This is because you are given the title of the film at the beginning of the film and it doesn't create any suspense for the audience. I would of have the fotage first with the stars names along wih who produced it then as she closed her eyes use a fade to black with the title 'On Edge' in the centre of the screen or to the left or right but it still being in the middle.

Evaluation - Emily Tuite

THE EVALUATION

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

Look from top left to right across

• The first picture on the top left matches a thriller convention. This convention is called enigma. Enigma basically means mystery. I believe this has been created due to the camera movement being a tilt.The shot starts at the bottom of the characters feet, slowly moves up and stops for a short amount of time before revealing the face. This shot creates enigma because the identity is concealed and audience are left not know who the character is until the character reveals the face. The audience would be left asking questions of who the character is, male or female? and why is the character locking a door and standing facing away from the camera. If the camera had revealed her face straight away from the beginning of the opening sequence this shot wouldn't be as affective.
• The next picture along is a shot of the character holding a tub of pills. The connotations of pills/medication are negative. With illness, sick, hurt, pain, unhappy. These things are all negative and suggests that the character may feel some of these things but audience are unaware why the character might. Suggesting restricted narration. This shot is a use of iconography another generic convention. The pills create suspense and adds to the enigmatic feel of the opening sequence. This is created because audience aren't sure of what the character is going to do with the pills as well as why she has them.
• The next picture along shows a clear thriller convention or having a protagonist. This frame suggests that this character is the protagonist because she is the first character shown and also the first character to have there name shown by the credits, next to the character. Every thriller movies has a protagonist that is shown by camera angles, shots or the credits.
• The next shot along I have chosen because at the time of this shot on screen diegetic sound is heard at the same time as they character banging on the door. The sound is the boy banging on the door. This diegetic sound is used for realism and creating an unsettling mood. Also has the audience thinking why he is banging on the door and wondering who he is. This is another generic convention of a thriller because thrillers are made to get the target audience thinking. And this is what this shot does.
• The next shot along shows a good use of mise en scene. This frame shows the characters costume. The costume is shown to be a desaturated colour black.Using symbolic colours is a thriller convention. Black has negative connotations such as; dark, dull, sadness, unhappy, drab, death. This suggests to the audience that the character is unahppy and sad, linking with the iconography of the tub of pills this will imply that this character is very unhappy and in need of help but still audience are unaware why.
• The next shot along shows a close up and point of view shot of the boy characters on the handle trying to open it but not managing too. POV shots are very typical in thriller films because it helps suggest a feeling or emotion to the audience. In this shot panic and worry is suggested to the audience this helps to create suspense and tension. This is what is aimed for in thriller films.
• The next shot along is a extreme close up (ECU) of the protagonists chest. Her chest is shown breathing in and out very quickly for a short amount of time, this is to distort the audience and not so much confuse them but make them have to catch up and rethink things as to why she is breathing like this. Also this suggests that the character is upset or panicking about something but again creating enigma and suspense keeping the audience wanting to ask questions.
• The next shot along is represented as the starting frame as the second soundtrack starts. This sound track sounds very different to any others and suggests the protagonist is in her very own world and head space suggesting she is sick, ill and has thoughts she shouldn't be having. Also this soundtrack engages the audience and has them sitting and wondering what is going to happen next and creates suspense and enigma. Again having the audience wanting to ask questions is a typical thriller convention.
• The last shot along is the serif end credit of our opening sequence. Most thriller films don't have the title of the film at the beginning of the film and would show a small clip of the film typically the end of the film at the beginning and after the audience have seen this the title will be shown. Also most title credit is not in the middle of the screen in thriller films this is why we chose to do this. 

Thriller films tend to explore 'dark' themes and that is exactly what has been portrayed in my opening sequence. A theme of psychological/mental illness and suicidal thoughts.  

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

I believe my media product represents the female teenage social group. I think this because the protagonist is a young girl and teenagers undergo difficult emotional problems.

• My media product shows a negative representation of the teenage social group because the opening sequence shows to have negative thoughts in it such as;     

-negative thoughts
-suicidal thoughts
-not wanting to talk to talk to anyone. (boy knocking on the door)
-deep thought about her scar

• How have we created negative representation of the teenage social group?

-Mise en scene:

• The pills are an immediate negative representation. Pills have negative connotations of illness, sickness, medication, sadness, unhappy, mental illness, physiological illness and physical illness.

• The make up of the scar on her face has a negative representation and connotations such as pain, hurting, trauma, insecurities and no self confidence.

• The costume of the protagonist isn't very exciting and implies she doesn't take much care in her appearance. The costume is black and black also hold negative connotations.

-Camera: Extreme Close ups of the protagonist gives the audience an easier insight to emotion and trauma and pain she is feeling. She doesn't look happy therefor the extreme close ups are negative representations.

 
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


Distribution

Film4 logo

•   I believe that film4 would be an appropriate distribution company to distribute our film because it is a British production company  therefor would be an appropriate company to distribute our film because my opening sequence is and English thriller film.
• We know that film4 shows thriller films because on their website the headliner is 'Dannys Boyle's hypnotic thriller out now'. (see below)

http://www.film4.com/

• http://www.film4.com/

• I believe that our independent movie will do well being shown on an internet streaming site such as Lovefilm or Netflix. I found that on the Netflix website they show independent films aswell as large movies. This would be a perfect way for gaining audience.

http://movies.netflix.com/WiHome

• http://movies.netflix.com/WiHome

• Lastly I think that our film is perfect to be shown in an independent movie cinema because my opening sequence is an independent thriller movie. The Duke of York is an independent movie cinema and it is in the city Brighton. 
•  http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Duke_Of_Yorks/

independent movie cinema - Duke of York, Brighton

Promoting & Marketing

• Because my film would be made independently, the company wouldn't be able to promote and market using the expensive ways such as tv, billboards etc.
• Social networking sites such as; facebook, twitter, myspace and tumblr would be a great way to advertise our independent movie because of the minimized cost and effective ways in having people see our add.

• Facebook would be one of the best ways to promote because of the minimal cost and having a wide audience using the site. Facebook is also used by 18-35 year olds a lot. This is good because this is our target audience for our film.

• On facebook you can pay to advertise on having cover photos made, advertise on the side of pages, making your own facebook page and banners along side people posts.
• Twitter would be another good one to promote on because you can pay to have promoted trends so people would be able to see it easier. 
• Twitter would be good to keep audience updated on where the movies is being shown, where to see it, how much to pay to see it. Twitter is good on informing things to audience.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

• I feel our target audience is definitely 18-35 year old females. this is because of the genre of the film; as it is a thriller anyone younger wouldn't understand and due to the storyline anyone older than 35 may not be able to relate as well or may not be interested as the character is a lot younger than them.
• I believe this because firstly the character that is in my sequence is a female.
  
  Immediately attracting female audience. Because the female character hasn't been made to be a sex icon by wearing leather, showing cleavage and skin and not look sexy and seductive that would stereotypically attract men suggested by Laura Mulvey who thought of the Male Gaze theory. I feel it would attract females.
• Having a female character might make audience (females) feel connected with her. 
• The character in my sequence is going through a difficult time and is thinking about committing suicide, during the opening scene audience are unaware why she is feeling like this.  
• Audience might feel connected to her by understanding emotions that are portrayed in my opening sequence.

•  Our independent movie is certification '18' because our sequence implies suicidal thought, psychological illness and shows drugs. Not suitable for persons under 18.

What other films might you enjoy, if you like our independent movie?

•  Inception: I believe our audience will like this film because it has a similar narration to ours. The beginning of the film starts with the ending of the film. Therefor has a twist to the film. Its a thriller and has brilliant reviews. Also, Inception is not a film stereotypically made through the 'male gaze theory' made by Laura Mulvey. And start Leonardo De Capreo, a man stereotypically like by women. Suiting out target audience. 

Inception poster

 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• I feel that using a female character would help to attract our target audience because females are stereotypically sensitive, sympathetic and understanding. Our female isn't typically dressed to fit the male gaze theory. This suggests that it would be more typically suited for woman more than men.
• Teenagers are also likely to understand what the protagonist is feeling and would feel they could connect with this character because teenagers undergo problems everyday such as; family break up, relationship break ups, loss of a sibling or friend, bullying, cyber bullying, education stress and fall out with friends causing teenagers to feel lonely and sad and some extreme cases depressed.
• Because woman are more sensitive it maybe that woman would be able to understand the trauma and emotion of the protagonist.
• The mid close up frame of the protagonist looking in the mirror at her scar on her cheek (indicated below in the red circle) I particularly feel target audience (woman 18-35) would understand.
  

• I believe this because woman are very conscious about the way they look and one thing they believe is an imperfection about themselves can make them feel self conscious and sad. As the character is looking at this on her face the audience will empathize with the character because females will understand what it is like to have or see something about yourself which you don't like.
• The tilt up the protagonist at the beginning of the sequence also helps the audience to feel connected to the character because seeing every part of the character helps you to learn about them and feel you can stat to understand them more. Also this suggests to the audience that the sequence is going to be about this character. Therefore the audience will want to take in everything about them and try to put themselves in the characters shoes. 
• Because the ending or the what would be in our film has been put as our opening sequence would draw in and attract our audience because they will be left with question they will want answered.

• The extreme close up of the protagonist face after the boy is banging on the door obviously worried about her and wanting to get in our stop something shows audience the pain and panic she is going through. Extreme close ups are used to suggest things to the audience and this is what this shot does. Audience will immediately feel sorry for her. Woman are most likely going to empathize for her. 

Audience Feedback - what you liked? what you didn't? how was this acted upon?

Feedback

• Above is a comment made from audience feedback. The bit i had taken into account was 'However, one of the transitions (the ripple) was fairly unnecessary'. Although we had been having mixed opinions on this we had decided to remove this transition because we felt it wasn't communication anything important to the audience and they had obviously felt the same. 

Feedback

 

Feedback

• We had thought about our shots carefully whilst story boarding and wanted the CU and MS to communicate what the protagonist was feeling to add to the atmosphere and so the audience would empathize with the character, we were told during our feedback stages that this had worked well. Which we were very happy about.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing  this product?
My video will not upload? Will be uploaded in acouple of days.


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

Look from top left to right, across

• The first picture from top left to right, across is the frame at the beginning of the shots which look fake and not so well acted or badly directed. These shots made the sequence seem comical when these shots where not meant to take to that effect, in comparison with our final thriller opening sequence we learnt from this mistake and tried to make all our shots more serious and not comical. As the atmosphere and mood we where trying to put across to our audience was a serious theme. If wew were not happy with a shot we had taken then we would redo it making sure our shots were fulfilling the effect we were trying to achieve.
• The next shot along on the right represents our extremely jumpy shots which we had no explanations for because it was purely bad editing. We tried our best to learn from this mistake and be careful not to make the same one, however we still did have jumpy shot in our thriller opening sequence but we tried our best fix this to the best we could by taking  another shot and putting it in between of the two jumpy shots where the protagonist in out thriller sequence was rumiging through the cabinet to find her pills. The shot we had added in made it less jumpy.
• The next shot along we had not added sound fx to exaggerate the girl waiting on the time to see the boy. So the message we wanted to put across here was not as strong as it could have been. However in the thriller opening scene we had made sure the bath running and the locking of the door and the banging on the door was exaggerated and louder. To suggest a stronger message such as she was alone and didn't want to be disturbed. She was running a bath but she wasn't looking prepared to have a normal bath and the panic of the boy character in reaction to whats going on. This created a bigger atmosphere and created suspense much better.
• Next shot along was to represent a good time of putting in a soundtrack to help make the transition smoother however we didn't do this in our preliminary sequence although this would have improved the scene. We learnt from this and added in two soundtracks into our thriller sequence. We had been told that the soundtrack was very effective from our feedback. From making this mistake in our prelim we learnt from this and were able to improve.
• The next shot along represents the dialogue and, the bad editing. At 00:24 it is heard that the director is saying 'cut' which should have been cut and edited out but wasn't noticed therefor we were unable to do this. However looking back at it we noticed this and attempted to fix this but we were out of time so we were unable to do this. But again we learnt to be more careful and look/listen for things like this in our thriller movie, the mistake wasn't made again.
• At the time the next frame was being recorded a terrible nose in the background could be heard, due to this the dialogue being said at this time could hardly be heard. Because of this we planned our location carefully so we wouldn't have the same problem and if it did happen we could take out the sound altogether and put the dialogue back in separately. We then decided we wouldn't have any dialouge in our opening thriller so the audience would know less about the characters and whats happening. This created enigma well, a generic convention of a thriller movie.
• The next shot is representation of the shots we have used in our prelim. We had not taken a wide choice during this, therefor we didn't have a wide range of shots in our piece. We had mostly used Extreme close ups (ECU), Mid Close ups (MCU). Because different type of shots can help to create and connote different things we took this into account and decided to use more shots and angles. This was to make our thriller sequence more effective so we could communicate to the audience exactly what we wanted. 
• The next shot is a shot from our thriller sequence. I have included this because I feel this makes are sequence a lot more interesting. In our prelim we hadn't experimented as much with shot but overcame this in our thriller piece. We had decided to use a tile and this shot is the beginning of this. Using a tilt helps the audience to learn about the character and keeps the identity hidden for a while untill the tilt reaches to the face, revealing the identity. The shots and angles made our thriller much more interesting than the prelim video.
• Finally, the last shot is to represent the different actors of our characters. We had chosen friends to act out in our prelim video, they had proved to be less confident to act out not fulfilling our characters traits. Although the had done well we had decided for our thriller piece we would pick our actors carefully to show the characters traits a lot better. We had chose Lydia Graham and Max Boisvert to act in our thriller piece. Both actors acted and put across out characters traits very well making it look less staged and more professional.

Title Sequence Research- Ellie

Sweeney Todd

As you can see in the opening title sequence they have kept the background very dull making it easier to show the text. The text is white which shows up best on the dull background. Although the moving imagine seems to be a pan across several images, they are a blur, making the text the main focus. The text is important in the opening scenes and is shown clearly by the white text. It is the only colour along with red, which is shown as blood. This gives you an insight into the film and what it is about. The positioning of the text is shown on a moving image but they have placed it in the dead space.

Seven

At the beginning of the opening titles, the first shot you see with an image in shown with a shallow depth of field. This shows only part of what is in the frame where as everything else is blurred. In this shot because the person is blurred leaving mystery for the audience to guess who it is and what they're looking for in the book.

     All shots used in this title sequence are shown  in a closes up. This is focusing on the movement of of whats happening and whats in the shot 

Old Boy

Title Fonts Research and Planning- Ellie and Emily

Nearing the end of our editing process will we need to add a title sequence. This communicates the title of the film and the main actors.

After looking at a veriety of opening thirller titles we have found that the most effective and most common use of title are used on  black background. The text is used in many different places on screen, but the title of the film is normallly center of the screen. As it is the main focus with the names of actors being put in the corner of the screen. If a title of the film was to be put at the side of the screen it may be because they are wanting you to know that it isnt straight to the point and the film isnt going to be right infront of you to figuire out. Its there to make you think. If a title isnt used on a black background its normally used within the shot where there is dead space. Limitless is an expection in this.  

Editing

When editing we had someone who didnt study media with us so that they could have an imput and for them to say what looked good or bad and what needed to be changed. Having someone who who wasnt a media student and was someone who  is the targeted audience for our film helped us as they said what they would look for in a thriller film. As we know what we wanted our opening to look like, they were able to help us as they were open minded about it.

Filming Day 1 By Ruby and Ellie

On our first shoot of filming we filmed all of our bathroom scenes. This is where most of our thriller opening takes place. We used various shot sizes such as close ups, long shots, extreme close ups. We also did some panning and we also experimented with the zoom. The natural lighting in the bathroom was good so there wasn't much need for extra lighting using the LED lights. Although we did add a few. LED lighting was used when ____ was sitting on the toilet.

 To get a birds eye view in the last few shots of our opening we decided to stand on the bath to get the height and also the shot that we wanted. We didnt have any other way so we had to imporvise. Luckily for us it worked and the shots and what was in the frame was perfect for what we needed.

Costume, Hair and Make-up Emily and Ellie

COSTUME

• We have decided due to our characters mood they are driven to having suicidal thoughts and attempts to commit suicide, this suggests the character isn't thinking straight, You wouldn't find them dressed formally suited or dressing to impress anyone nor caring about his appearence. 

• She is also more than likely going to be wearing dull colours such as black, grey and dark blue. These colours have negative connotations such as depression, darkness, secrets and loneliness.

• We have thought about this and taken this into consideration to plan the characters costume. As costume helps with mise en scene we need to plan carefully so the costume doesn't contradict the emotions and feelings the character is experiencing.

• The type of costume we would put our character in would be everyday clothes that look like they have been worn a lot to suggest his appearance is the last thing on his mind.

• We chose to put the character in all black because black isn't an exciting colour and has no positive connotations.  

HAIR

• To match the costume we have decided to have scruffy/messy hair. 

• We have decided this to suggest again she isn't thinking about his appearance because of other thoughts.

• This will make the character look unkempt and ill.

MAKE-UP

Applying Make-Up

• We decided to have our characters make up naturalistic. 

• To match our story and plot we put a scar on the side of the characters face to suggest she has been through pain and trauma. 

• We used felt tip lip pen, lip gloss and black eyeliner.

• We did this to create enigma- because the target audience are unaware why the girl has her scar, we have done this so the audience are thinking looking for answers throughout the sequence.  

Between the group finishing the story board and filming we had to change our character from a male to a female. This is because it was hard to find an actor who was free when we were. This is why our storyboard it drawn as a male and in our opening it is a female.

Animatic With Voiceover

Animatic

• Here is our animatic. This shows our storyboard, what we plan to shoot and from what angles. Each shot is shown for the length that each shot will last.

Locations By Ruby and Ellie

Location 1-Bathroom

• This is where most of the scene is going to take place
• Craig lock himself in the bathroom to self harm
• Lighting will be used to make it brighter and to also show facial expressions
• We have planned our story board based on what is already in the bathroom
• We are going to make the most of the props that are already in there. Eg, sink, cabinet, mirror, lock, door. 

Location 2-Allyway

• This is a public alleyway although very quiet
• This is where shot 8 will take place
• We have chosen this one because it is very dark and quiet
• It can make Craig feel like he is alone
• It also has fences surrounded by trees

Location 3- Lounge

• This is where shots will be shot in 14 and 15
• Its a natural setting where a lot of family daily activities take place, such as; laughing, watching TV, playing games and talking.
• Using natural setting for this scene shows that they were once a normal family and this were once happy.
• There is nothing in this scene to suggest that things would then change and end up where they are now