Question 2

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We decided to get together and discuss the evaluation question: How does your media product represent particular social groups? We did this as we felt it would be a good way to all clearly understand and engage in the question. To answer this question Florida, Tajinder, Tina and I all sat together in front of a camera and discussed the question, each giving answers for different aspects. 

Question 3

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media production and why?

A film could be distributed in the UK by production/distributing companies such as film four, metrodome via the microwave scheme etc.
A film could also be distributed in the USA by production/distributing companies such as 20th Century Fox, Universal, Columbia, Paramount, Disney etc.


A film could be viewed via cinema (either celluloid or digital), a website on the internet, YouTube, DVD/blue ray, television, viral marketing etc. 


I think the methods I would use for our thriller would be to distribute it in the UK with metrodome via the microwave scheme. I would do this as our film fits the criteria that the microwave scheme requires. It would be filmed in 18 days and within the budget of £100,000. 
I would choose for my film to be viewed via the internet, television and DVD as all three of these technologies are very popular with teenagers who are who my film is aimed at. 


I would compare our film to the film Shifty as it is similar in many ways. It also is distributed by metrodome via the microwave scheme and is aimed at teenagers. It uses similar settings such as streets, parks and estates. 

It uses fast pace, modern music in its trailer to attract the audience as did we. 

Question 5

Question 5

How did we attract/address the audience?

We had characters that were similar ages as our target audience so that they would beable to relate to the characters. Also with the setting being a park and the storyline being a girl and her ex boyfriend it will relate to alot of teenage girls and boys as the park is a popular place for teens and alot of teens go through relationships and break ups.
Also I think they would be attracted to our film as the story line is very attention grabbing and so I think they would be curious and want to watch the rest of our thriller.
Our music was very modern and fast paced which would also attract teenagers to watch our film.
These are examples of the responses we got to our thriller:

QUESTION 7

Looking back at my preliminary task I do feel that I have learnt a lot and progressed since. 


I think my understanding of technology has improved, as frequent use of the camera and editing software has led me to learn a lot more about it. 


I have learnt all the adjustments that can be used on the tripod to set up certain camera angles, and by experimenting with this in the preliminary task I see which angles would be effective for specific parts of our thriller

As the images  show, (the above left image being from our preliminary task and the right being our final product), you can see that I learnt the use of effects to portray the past.


Since the preliminary task I also started to aknowledge how much preperation goes into even a two minute film clip. Ive learnt how to organise the use of dialogue, characters, props, costume, setting and film timing. 


I have learnt how to plan shots, scenes and filming time tables. 


I think the preliminary task definitely benefited our final product as it was like a trial run for us to experiment with the equipment and practice planning a short clip. 

Our thriller

Changes to our thriller

We did make a few small changes to our thriller as we all agreed the changes made were convenient and necessary to make our thriller. Our first change was our protagonist who was now Nyero Sobudo. Also the look alike (Tina) was accompanied by two friends (Florida Doci and Natasha Chemjong). This was because of times arranged for filming, certain people could not attend whilst the majority could. One other small change made was that the coat that both girls wore which caused confusion to the protagonist is now blue instead of red. 

Target audience

Before we began filming we looked at our results from our survey taken by our target audience. We found that suspense was a really popular aspect and so we took this into consideration when putting together our thriller opening. 


This is a screen shot of our survey results. 

Editing

The basic editing is now complete, all that there is left to do is put our music into our film, our titles and transitions. Once this is completed our thriller opening will be finished. We all took time to look through possible fonts for our titles and decided on the font 'cracked' as the style of it, looking creepy, relates well to our story. 


This is a screen shot of our editing in progress. 

Filming

Our group spoke about filming and took time to make sure we picked a date that we could all attend and a day that we would have our props and our actors. We decided that Thursday 2 February 2012 would be our first filming day. 


Filming on Thursday was a success as we completed all that need to be filmed. We filmed our shots more times than needed and for longer than we will use so that when it comes to editing we will have what we need. 


These are a few images of our filming in progress. 

I think our filming went well as we all carried out our jobs and helped each other to complete our filming in the time we had. 

Sound Effects

We have chosen our sound effects to use in our thriller from a software called Final Cut Express. 

Art of the title screenshots

We looked on art of the title to look for possible titles that we could use for our thriller. 

Music to accompany our ident

Our production company name is T.E.F.T.  We chose a piece of music from mobygratis.com to accompany our ident which is titled "not sensitive".


This is the form we had to fill out in order to get a license to use the music for our ident. 

We received conformation once sending our application off. 

Our Production company

We used Aurora3DAnimations to create our ident and all decided on the final result. These are screen shots of our ident.

Location pictures.

Our film is set in central park and so we went there in advance to decide which places we would use for particular shots. 
This is the where Tina (my look alike) will say goodbye to her boyfriend and walk away down the path to go home.

This is the path that she will walk down whilst she is being watched, however she will be unaware that someone is watching her. 

The antagonist (Ahmet) will be hiding behind this tree and waiting to attack Tina who he believes to be his ex-girlfriend Ellie.

The Brave one

This is another effective opening of a thriller. We start of with a woman's voice over whilst we view the city. We then see a woman walking in the city with a microphone, trying to listen to spirits. We know this is what she is doing because the voice over talks about death and ghosts. The camera then starts to repeatedly go in  and out of focus moving closer to windows of a building. We then see the woman who is the voice over talking into a microphone. I think its effective how the sound goes from non-diegetic straight to diegetic. She ends with the "street walker" which keeps us engaged as we feel we have been walking down the streets with them.

Shaft

Shaft was the first Hollywood film that was directed and starred a black man as the main character. It starts with an establishing shot, showing us that the film is set in New York. The sound starts of as the natural surroundings and then a song about shaft begins as we see him walking through the city. The camera tracks him and follows where he walks. Seeing him walk through the street, walking straight across roads and ignoring cars in his way shows us that he is a confident man who has no fear. We see he is a detective when he flashes his badge to a jewellery seller on the street. We see that he is a very powerful character. 

Panic Room

The opening of panic room is very effective although it gives nothing away. We know straight away that it is set in New York City from the establishing shot. All of the credits are 3d which really draws our attention to the film. The music helps with the suspense as it starts off quiet and then builds up louder and faster as it goes on. We then go from the general to the particular seeing a woman casually walking down the street. 

Dexter

The opening of Dexter is very effective as the opening is very intimidating and threatening as blood is very emphasised however it is only the man getting ready in the morning. When we see him kill a spider it looks very aggressive. He then shaves and cuts himself. The camera does a closeup on the blood in the sink and then shows us it spreading onto the tissue. We then see meat being cut which looks like skin however we then realise he is just making his breakfast. Same with his orange it looks like blood and flesh being crushed. The man then ties his shoes which represents him strangling someone. Every thing he does connects with something threatening which is a really effective way to show the type of man he is without showing any violence. It shows that his whole life involves violence even when he gets ready in the morning. 

Music

Music

The music we have chosen is an instrumental by Shredda called 'A nightmare in London'. This instrumental is non copyright and so is possible to use. We have decided to use more than one instrumental for our thriller as different parts of it would suit different types of music. 

Vox Pops

To maximise our audience research, as well as our questionnaire we also did vox pops. We created a set of questions and asked the public. From doing this we found out that people who were about twenty years old or around this age group go to the cinema much more often than others, however they don't seem to pick out qualities of the film and techniques used within them. Those who were thirty and above paid more attention to the conventions within the film and not just the suspense, shock and action. 

Our production company

This is our groups production logo. We used all of our first initials for the wording and used logoease.com to create the logo. 

Sound for our thriller

Mobygratis.com is a site we used to find music for our film as it is all non-copyright. However after our group looking through we didn't manage to find music suited to our thriller. Therefore we will try a different site or technique to find music for our thriller. 

Thriller titles

After the IDENT use a FADE IN. The titles should then be in the following order:
(1) 'Your Production Company' Presents
(2) A Film by 'One name - usually the director'
(3) Starring or With
(4) Male star
(5) Female star or other way round
(6) Title of film - or could be at the end
(7) Also starring - 2/3/names - each on separate title
(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on separate title
Editing
Music
Cinematography or Director of Photography
Casting
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Script
(9) Then Producer(s) - can be more than one
(10) Always finish with Director - one name, usually the same as A Film By ...
(11) Could put title here
Remember to use LiveType and try to make titles interesting. They can be either over black or superimposed over your film. Space them out over the two minutes of the film.Give the audience plenty of time to read the titles.
(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

Animatic

This is our animatic for our film Mistaken Identity.

Story Board

This is the story board that we created for our thriller. 

Survey

We created a survey on survey monkey to collect information on peoples opinions on thrillers. As Tajinder has high profile social networking sites, she posted it onto them so that we could retrieve results. 

Target Audience

Target audience

Our target audience will be young adults such as ourselves. Our film, Mistaken Identity will be a 15 certificate as although it has violence it isn't graphic and you do not see any weapons. 

Our scenes

These are our final plans for our film. We all decided on our scenes and the shots within them. 

Scene One - DARTBOARD 

     

• Close up of dartboard with pictures of the protagonist wearing her signature red jacket. (Shock)
•  Medium shot of knife being thrown, signature ring of antagonist is seen.

Scene Two - FLASHBACK

•  Long shot of the couple (antagonist and protagonist) walking through the park.
•  Close up of the couple, holding hands and the signature ring is seen.

Scene Three - ANTAGONIST 

•      Close up of antagonist observing, wearing a hoody, covering face with hand again ring is seen.
• Point of view (POV) of antagonist watching look-a-like and co. Hear heaving breathing, then sees look-a-like walking alone. 

Scene Four - MISTAKEN IDENTITY 

    

•  Medium shot of antagonist grabbing look-a-like and stabbing her in the stomach.
•  Point of view (POV) of the antagonist spinning look-a-like around, looking at her and pushing her away. 

We then cut to the title - Mistaken Identity

Planning development

My group is Myself, Florida Doci, Tajinder Sandhu and Tina Clark. We have decided that our title will be MISTAKEN IDENTITY as that is the shock element in our film. Our production company is T.E.F.T productions which is made up of our groups first initials.


The story line that we decided on consists of four people. The idea is that something has happened between a girlfriend and boyfriend for them to split, however the audience do not yet know what. This has left the boyfriend full of hatred for his ex girlfriend and plans to hurt her.
Our film starts looking at a dartboard with pictures of the ex girlfriend on it. All of sudden a knife hits the dartboard. We then see a males hand throwing the knife and notice a ring which we see through out the film to identify the antagonist. We then go straight into a flashback of when they were happy, seeing them both walking through the park together. We then see the antagonist back at the same park looking through the bushes at who he thinks is his ex girlfriend with another boy. As she leaves the boy, he grabs her and hurts her. We see her scream and then the screen goes to black. 


Our actors:


Ex girlfriend - myself
Girlfriend look alike - Tina Clark
Antagonist - Ahmet Sammali
Girlfriend look alikes boyfriend - Clayton Le surf


Setting locations:


Central park
Either a shed or we will use a wooden fence to portray a shed. 


Props: 


ring ( linked to the antagonist)
red jacket ( associated with the ex girlfriend)
dartboard
Artificial knife
Photo's of the ex girlfriend

Planning

Our group all sat down and wrote out all the aspects and ideas our thriller would involve. We discussed conventions we wanted to include, possible story lines, characters and props. 

We decided straight away on a setting which would be central park as it was a realistic destination and possible to use. We also decided that someone would be attacked or kidnapped by a mysterious person. With this decided we thought about possible story lines that would fit with this.

One of our first ideas was that a group of friends would be sitting in a park together. Someone would then decide to go home but on the journey through the park they would be injured or kidnapped by the antagonist. 

Our next idea was that a group of friends would be coming home from a party and decide to cut through the park. On their journey the same thing would happen as before.

The story line we decided on would be just one girl and a boy walking through the park. Once we had agreed this we started to plan out the whole story line. 

Cinematography

This is the making of films which contains camera angles. Every camera angle can give a different effect.


Examples of this are as follows:  


extreme close up - This brings the audiences attention to something in particular. It gets close up to either a persons features or an object. 


close up
medium shot
long shot


The above are all main shots used which show us different amounts of people of the place. They can be used for different reasons for example if you were just shown the murderer in a film it would be a close up of their face so you can identify them. However if you were seeing someone walk away it would be a long shot so that you can see where they are going




high angle - A high angle shows that the person in the shot is powerful and could be threatening. 


low angle - A low angle shows that the person in the shot is vulnerable. 


shot reverse shot - This is used to show a conversation. 


point of view - a point of view shot shows the audience what the character is going through and gives us a chance to see through their eyes at what they are experiencing 


over the shoulder shot - An over the shoulder shot can be used in a conversation. 

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene simply means what is within the frame. There are five key features within mise en scene.
 These are: 

•  Settings and props
• Lighting and colour
• Positioning of characters and objects within the frame
• facial expressions and body language
• costume, hair and makeup 

Sound

There are two types of sound, diegetic sounds and non-diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds are sounds which are part of the film such as dialogue or a door slamming. A non-diegetic sound is not part of the film such as background music or a voiceover. 


There are also two sections that we put sound into which is parallel sound and contrapuntal sound. Parallel is a sound that works with what is being shown to us and matches the mood that the image is giving us. A contrapuntal sound is where the sound is the opposite of what we are being shown, for example if we were watching someone happily swimming and then horror music began to play.

Editing

The two main aspects of editing is the speed of the editing and the style of editing. One type of transition used is straight cuts which are used a lot and help show the pace of the film. Another transition is a fade out. This is where the screen fades to black which is usually used at the end of a film. Dissolves are when an image slowly appears through another which can show time has gone past. A wipe cut is where the screen literally wipes from one side to another changing the frame. Another transition is a jump cut which are used to bring the audiences attention onto something. 

Film language - camera

I have learnt alot about film language and the four main aspects of film. These are camera, editing, sound and mise en scene.

There are alot of camera angles and movements that can be used and they all create different effects.

camera movements and techniques

Tracking shot - This is where the camera moves along tracks to follow the action happening.

Steadi-cam - This is where the camera is worn by a person in the camera crew and they follow the action. This is used when tracks can not be put down, for example if a person was running through the woods in all different directions, a steadi-cam would be used.

Panning shot - This shot is usually used for an establishing shot as the camera moves slowly from side to side on a fixed axis which shows us the surroundings.

Crane Shot - This is also a main shot that is used for establishing shots as the camera is on a crane which pans around what is below. This gives us a birds eye view of the surroundings.

Tilt shot - This is where the camera moves up and down on a fixed axis.

Rolling shot - A rolling shot moves diagonally which makes the image askew. This suggests to the audience that the character is drunk or has been drugged.

Analysis of past students work

I have chosen to analyse past students work, The night walker, as I think it is a very effective and imaginative opening to a film. The film begins with a person playing piano with blood on his hands. This sets off the eery mood of the film and makes us already start to question who this person is and what have they done. As the music begins it is very slow and suttle, however as the film progresses, so does the music and it begins to pick up pace and give a more thrilling aspect to the mood. As we see the antagonist looking at photos and cutting out peoples eyes we then know that he is a threat to someone and is clearlly a dangerous person. As the girl is being chased we understand her sense of fear however the fear she has is unknown as we do not see the antagonist throughout the beginning of the film. Backlighting is used so that we can only see his silhoette which gives him a sense of mystery. The ending leaves us wondering whether he caught up with her, and if he did, what did he do. I think this opening was very realistic and effective. The credits and titles used kept within the films scenes and added to the eery feeling throughout the opening.

Brick

The camera uses high angle shots and shot reverse shot to show us the protagonist and the dead body. Mainly straight cuts are used as it makes the film run at a faster pace. The music is parallel with the films mood as it adds to the gloomy, sad atmosphere. 

When the phone call is made, the audience gets a sense of suspense. A graphic match is used in this film which runs very smoothly. It is used from the scene in present day to a flashback, showing us the dead characters bangles. 

Memento

Memento's events are told backwards in ten minute segments which is a difficult narrative structure. This represents to us as the audience the confusion that the protagonist is feeling as he cannot remember. This film includes conventions, for example blood. It uses a wide range of shots such as close ups and extreme close ups. A long shot is effectively used to show us the abandoned feeling. The long shot makes us aware of its surroundings and the setting in which the characters are in. Flashbacks were filmed in black and white which symbolises the past and makes it easier  for the audience to determine whether they are watching part of the past or the present day. The atmosphere in the film and the mood of the audience is tense throughout the film. The music is parallel with the films mood and so gives us an idea that something terrible has happened. 

Devices used

Continuity editing


The clear establishment of "cause and effect". Plotting which establishes character motivations and helps tell an interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily. 


Enigmas


This refers to a puzzle, something mysterious or inexplicable, or a riddle or difficult problem.
In thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try to find out or solve before the narrative an film finishes.


Red Herrings


A red herring is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. This can work with other devices such as enigmas to create suspense.


An example of this in Saw. Two characters spend time imprisoned in a room in which a third character lies dead. Through out the film both characters appear to be guilty of a series of murders, until it is discovered at the end that the third person in the room is not actually dead but it, in fact, the killer.


Another example is in North by North West. Roger Thornhill is sent to meet a man 'Kaplan' who will explain to him why he has been mistaken for a government agent and we believe him.


Cliffhanger 


Sometimes, although not always used, cliffhangers often feature a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation. This can entice the audience to keep watching in order to see how the situation resolves itself.


An example of this is the famous ending of The Italian job (1969).
They find there selves hanging off the edge of a cliff with the gold they have stolen likely to fall out. The film ends with us still wondering whether they will survive and if they do will they of saved the gold as well. 

The Psychological thriller

The Psychological thriller
The mind , conflict and the past


The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one an others minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the others mental state.


Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflicts with their own minds. Usually this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them.