Evaluation question 7

Evaluation question 6

Evaluation quesiton 5

Evaluation question 4

Evaluation question 3

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

Key Points:
 Icon Film will distribute our movie.
It was founded in 1989, therefore have some experience.
They focus on small movies.
They have a very wide range of audience, which will bring us more viewers.
Working with them will allow us to gross higher profits, due to higher ticket sales in cinemas.

Evaluation question 2

Evaluation Question 1

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

Number 1.- 

The first image shows an over the shoulder shot. Such shot is used to allow the audience to focus on the facial expressions of one character in a certain scene; in this example it is clear that the character is irritated after the person, behind who the camera is, tells him something. It represents the character as someone easily angered, therefore sends a message to the audience that he is not someone to be messed with. In our media product, The Forest, we use similar shot type to express the facial expression of a certain character to represent him in a specific way.

 

In the above image, the investigator has a worried facial expression, therefore the audience aged 16-24 will be surprised about the fact that a police investigator is of similar ethinicity to them and, moreover, is worried about the victim. This would be caused because the media has injected different audiences with information that the black community will be unlikely to be in the law enforcement. We chose to break this stereotype because the younger generation is less likely to be segmenting different races into their stereotypical role, therefore will be more engaged with the movie as they will be able to see themselves as one of the characters.

Number 2.-

The freshly created movie "Split" has used lighting to represent the same person as different characters. In the example given half of the face of Hedwig, one of twenty-three personalities, is enlighted more than the other. Unsurprisingly, this has been done to create a specific effect. It represents the character as friendly and pure(bright side of the face) and at the same time it foreshadows that the character might not be who the audience thinks. This is a common convention in thriller movies because it allows the director to keep the audience on the edge of their seat as they will not know who to trust and who not to trust.

We have chosen to use this technique similarly to the big blockbuster thriller movies such as Split because lighting works more subconciously on the audience than anything else. Due to the fact that audiences such as males aged 18 who watch a lot of horrors or thrillers have previously seen the half-shadowed faces, they will subconciously reference our movie with a different movie such as Split. This will be extremely effective because such movie has grossed a lot of profit, therefore being similar to it is a guaranteed success.

Number 3.-

Extreme close ups have been a huge convention of thriller movies throughout the years due to their magnificent effect that has clear message or meaning: "This is important!" The movie Se7en has used an extreme close up on the razor blade so the audience can infer that within the movie there will be a lot of pathological violence.

This shot shows an extreme close up of the eyes of the main character which follows the convention of extreme close ups in thrillers. This has been done because teenagers aged 15 might not be able to infer the fact that the person sitting in the room is worried or scared, therefore it also has a clear message: "The situation is serious." Moreover, this is a way of simplifying the product to the youngest target audience so that they will be able to enjoy the movie as much as anyone else, which will enable us to generate higher profits.

Number 4.-

In many thriller movies such as Don't Breathe a big convention is mystery, this is usually created through the use of a shot where a camera is behind an object, making it seem as if the audience were there and were hiding too. 

This convention has been followed in our media product as it is an amazing way of making the audience feel that the movie is interactive which will appeal to all social classes and areas of the United Kingdom because everyone enjoys to feel as if they were inside the movie. This is a good way of replacing the fact that the movie will not be released in theaters in 3D, however it also allows all audiences to share the same experience which they will talk about, generating free marketing through the word of mouth which is crucial for a low budget movie like ours.

Number 5.-

In any thriller where there is an investigation it is impossible to miss out on the convention of brutal stereotypes, which somehow appeal to a certain target audience. In the image number five, the convention has been broken as the black protagonist is at the same or higher hierarchical level, they both wear suits and are walking shoulder to shoulder, implying they are equals. This is breaking the convention of the African ethnicities not being able to work for the law enforcement because they are usually represented as gang members.

We have followed the lead of Morgan Freeman's role and decided to make our investigator, who is from the Bangladesh ethnicity, wear a professional suit and a hat which completely breaks the stereotype and convention of the minoritiy people being the rebels and gangsters. This will highly appeal to the part of the audience who are 18-24 because at this age they will realise that what the media injects them with is absolutely not what reality is, making our product appealing to those who have realised that the "hypodermic needle" is not what they should follow.

Number 6.-

The idea of the "defenceless girl" has been around in many different genres such as thriller or horror, an example of this is within Paranormal Activity 4 where the blonde character is all alone in her room where something bad is bound to happen, however the audience know it making them more engaged.

One of the conventions that we have followed was that we chose our actress to walk in the middle of the forest, alone and in the dark when there is a killer on the loose. It gives the audience the idea that she is the stereotypical "defenceless girl". This, however gives our movie a spice of horror which widens our target audience which ultimately will bring higher revenues as more people will be willing to watch the movie.

Number 7.-

Some may wonder why the huge rivals, Batman and Joker, are sitting in the same room? A few thriller movies such as Batman use this convention to create a fake sense of safety or to create an enigma; the fact that two of the rivals are in the same location at the same time makes the audience wonder why and what will happen.

We have decided to follow this convention because it has allowed us to create an enormous enigma: "What will happen next?" It is one of the most used cliff hanger enigmas and is so popular because it makes the audience want to watch the full movie. This will ultimately persuade more audiences to watch the movie in cinemas which will generate higher profits for us.

Number 8.-

Phones and phonecalls have been often used to represent uncertainty and suspense in thriller movies just like in the movie Phone Booth(2002). The phone has connotation of bad news in thrillers due to the fact that every time the viewer sees the phone, they can be almost certain that something bad has or will happen, for example the famous quote "I will find you..." from the movie Taken has been transmitted through a phone, making it a unique convention of thrillers.

This convention has been followed by out product because it has allowed us to create a very short enigma within the opening sequence, therefore there will be a build up of suspense and then, as the audience might expect, bad news: "They're dead." This will appeal to audiences who enjoy to be kept on the edge of their seat every moment of the movie. 

Number 9.-

Specific production company logos are used depending on the type of movie that is being produced. For example, in the movie Inception the Warner Brothers logo has a somewhat visible maze inside of it which represents what the movie has in store for the audience. It is a good way of preparing the audience to know what happens within a movie, however it is not what we wanted to do with our media product.

Our media product challenges this idea as we have a production logo which does not give anything away- a burning candle. This creates enigmas from the beginning of the movie as the audience will be wondering what will happen as a candle has connotations of death if burned out or suspense. This makes our movie more suspensful and more appealing to all audiences who enjoy thrillers.

Thriller Opening draft

This was one of the final drafts for the thriller opening, however there were a few issues that we have come across, making us change our mind about whether we should use it or not.

One thing that didn't suit the genre was the music that we have made ourselves on a musical keyboard. It was very basic and did not build the tension that we needed, so that we could break it at the end when the main character and the killer meet face to face.

Also, the transitions were quite childish which also did not suit the theme and conventions of a thriller opening.

Evidence of After Effects

The screenshot below shows an image and a timeline for the motion tracking effect for a title.

The motion tracking assistant has created many key frames which enable the text to follow the camera movement, making it seem like the text is laying on the table which gives it a sense of reality. This has been done through the use of transformation option which allowed me to change the position (x and y axis) and the rotation which was 169.8 degrees clockwise. This gave the text the tilted look, making the effect realistic and more suitable for the target audience.

Production Logo first try

The following production company logo was the first try, which we didn't think was good enough to make it to the final opening sequence,

The candle was made purely in photoshop using the gradient tool, shape tools and the paint brush to create the light effect. It was a good way of a production company logo, however it was too unprofessional; the text was coming out of nowhere and the font was unclear and barely readable. Furthermore, the text had nothing to do with the candle itself which meant that it wasn't as pleasant to watch as the improved version. Overall, this try has allowed us to create an improved version making the logo more professional and clear.

Filming techniques

Lighting Technique

From what I've learnt from the course, the lighting emphasises facial expressions, emotions and creates suspense. Members of my group and I chose to put our main light on the right of the characters as this was where there most space to adjust the angle of the lights. This created suspense at the end of the opening sequence as the equilibrium has been broken in the third scene, it also creates an enigma because the audience doesn't know who exactly the inspector is, as he is a mysterious figure. Furthermore, the lighting was strong enough to emphasise the suit of the police inspector, therefore we have broken the convention that is seen in most thriller movies: the inspector is not white and is wearing a suit. 

Furthermore, the facial expression in the close up shot is extremely effective because only half of the character's face is enlightened, therefore the somewhat traumatised expression creates suspense as the darkness signifies the fear of the unknown- the audience will be afraid, however still not aware why.

Overall, the lighting has created much more suspense in the interrogation room and has allowed the audience to clearly see what we want them to see, for example the facial expressions and costumes.

Evidence of editing

In every movie the production phase ends and post production begins. Editing is a part of the post production; it is where people such as Richard Francis Bruce (Editor for the film Se7en) spice up the movie and put everything together in softwares such as Adobe Premier Elements or Adobe After Effects for special effects. I, however, am using Final Cut Pro which has many pros and cons. Most visible is, of course, the simplicity of the program; the simplicity allows new users such as me to learn editing techniques. 

The effect that I used in most of my shots is "Color Correction" as it allows me to change the colours, by increasing or decreasing highlights, shadows and midtones. Also, saturation in my opening sequence is used to create a flashback-like look as the highlights, shadows and midtones are brought down to the lowest(-100%)

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This is what the final editing looks like. The transitions that we used were:"Fade To Color",  "Bloom" and "Flash". Fade to colour is a transition used to create suspense because it gives the audience the feeling that the action is not over, which is exactly what we want to do in the opening sequence. An example of this is the last scene where the killer and main protagonist stand face to face and fade to colour transition is used. It creates an enigma; is the killer still alive? Who will he kill next? 

Some of the audio is disabled as there was a lot of background noise that was unwanted, however the audio clips that we used have key frames in them to take down unwanted noise and keep the wanted sound, such as the scream in audio clip 22.

Production company logo

This is the final production logo for CandleLight Productions.

To begin with, at the very beginning of the clip all that is visible is the burning candle which is a good representation of the name. A candle has a connotation of tension because you might never be sure when it will blow out, therefore it is suitable for the genre of thriller as it foreshadows that something will break the equilibrium of the movie, however the audience will not know when and by what it's broken. 

The text(name) of the production company will appear at the point where the fire from the candle is moving a little bit, making it a bit more smooth to watch. The text fades in from bottom to top which gives the audience the impression that the text somewhat comes out of the candle. It has also been given a blur, however the opacity of it goes down as the text is more visible as it gives it a feeling of it coming out of the unknown. The font is quite professional because I want the production logo to be associated with quality. furthermore the font is symbolic to the thriller genre.

Planning and chat messages

Before we filmed we made sure that everyone is available, otherwise there would be chaos and we wouldn't be able to film at all.

This is a screenshot of the conversation, it was straight forward because there are only three people that we needed for the part of the video at that day. Nevertheless, this kind of organisation and technology made it much easier for us to make sure everyone was on time and ready to film.

Behind the scenes, unused shots

As said in the video, we have filmed this scene in two different locations and that has helped us to develop the best possible lighting. This is a good way of development because we were able to trial and error this scene which means that if something didn't work out in the classroom, we were able to fix it in the drama studio.

On the other hand, the mise en scene in the drama studio wasn't the best because all the posters were visible and that took away from the mood of the scene. Nevertheless, we still tried to make it as appealing in the post production as possible.

Animatic

This the animatic which presents the ideas that we have in our opening sequence. Some of the transitions are very dreamy, this is because the transition is between real life and a flashback, therefore this animatic shows more or less how my group is thinking of editing the real opening sequence. Also, some of the shots do not have transitions because we believe that to build enough suspense we need to make some quick cuts which will make the opening sequence more exciting and thrilling. However, this animatic is only a plan and the rough cut will be done in much more detail to build suspense.

Editing decisions

For me, in the post production of creating a opening sequence the trial and error method allows me to create as effective clips as possible. There is a lot of different tools that I can use to create different effects.

This is the beginning of the post production for me. On the right hand side you can see the different transitions that can be used, for example the "bloom" transition, in my opinion, creates a good effect of a flashback when used at a rapid speed.

A little bit above that the effects window is visible and it is used for more specific visual and audio effects. For example the colour match allowed me to, more or less, make the lighting in the shots similar. Also, I found the transition tab very useful because it allows the user to create zooms and pans which is extremely important for such opening sequence.

This is the final version of the editing at the end. There are a lot of sounds that are disabled because they were extremely loud and didn't suit the entire theme of the thriller. Nevertheless, some were still used if it was possible to remove the background noises enough. Overall, the rough cut is around 1:55 minutes and uses transitions, effects, key frames and zooms to make it as effective as possible.

Lighting technique

There are a lot of lighting techniques that the members of my group and I can use to make the most suspenseful and yet entertaining scene possible. Three point lighting will be an amazing technique to use in our scene where the victim is interrogated since it allows us to create mystery and enigma. Furthermore, from the video below, I've learnt that three point lighting can be done in various ways which means we can use this kind of technique differently to everyone else to be unique and as effective as possible. On the other hand, this might not be the best idea because it creates so enigmas that it might not fit in with our plotline, the enigmas would be instantly revealed by the flashbacks. Nevertheless, this will be a good thing to have a look at whilst filming.

Movie opening first scene FIRST TRY

This video represents a pretty good idea of what we want this scene to look like when we finish. However, I think it should be a little bit more fast paced but it might feel more fast paced when the other scene is mixed up inside of this scene. This is not the final version and we will be recording it again shortly.

Evaluation:

To begin with, the first thing I've realised during the editing of this scene was that the usage of infrared on the camera to create a CCTV camera effect was not as effective. This is because there are built in effects within Final Cut Pro that allow to create such CCTV-like look. This mistake made the scene look in a bit worse quality, therefore less visually attractive- unlike real movies. However, this is a good thing since now, in the real video, we will know not to use the effect of infrared, instead play around with it in the post-production.

 

Also, in the post production process of this video I've realised that the camera collects a lot of background noises which was extremely annoying as it made the entire video look quite unprofessional. However, this practice allowed me find out that background noises can be reduced through the audio enhancement section, therefore in the final opening I will make sure that the audio will be professional and suitable.

 

Props list

Every movie uses a lot of props to make the storyline as realistic as possible. Imagine if a character in a film who has the role of playing someone poor or maybe even homeless turned up in this own clothes- that's just unrealistic and unbelievable for the viewer. Therefore, we have chosen to use the following props for different scenes:

• Scrappy, old and dirty clothes for a scene in the forest
• A suit for the interregator in the shot in the office
• Office chair
• Office desk
• A torch light for the scene in the forest
• Black shoes for the person running in the forest

We will purposely not use any make up to make all of the scenes look rough and realistic.

Equipment list

In the previous post i mentioned the the camera that we used. However, it isn't the only piece of equipment that we used.

First of all, the camera that we used was the Canon EOS 100D which is extremely good for the pre production pictures of the location because the quality of those is top class due to the focus and overall quality. This is the most important piece of equipment.

Tripod that is suitable for the camera that we are using(no specific name)

Lights - if needed we will use big and powerful lighting to create suspense. The powerful lights will look something like this:

• And lastly we will use our phones for secondary lighting that will not have much of an effect but might be able to emphasise certain objects or maybe even facial expressions.

Meeting Minutes

27th of December

• Khaleem has given us the idea of where we could film.
• We have agreed on the location which is the forest in Crystal Palace.
• We have decided which equipment we will use: the Cannon 100d as well as a suitable tripod.

• The equipment was given to us, therefore we were able to get familiar with it.
• We decided that we will take planning shots on the 3rd of January.

3rd of January

• We have met up near the location with the equipment.
• We went around the location to see for the best places where we could set up the scenes.
• After we found some good locations we took a couple shots so we will remember where they are.
  
  This is a good place to record a thriller because it is quite claustrophobic and might connote to the audience fear.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This shot was quite suitable as there is a quite steep fall which is not dangerous, however we can use it to our advantage to make some over the shoulder shot where someone will fall and disappear off the shot.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This scenery might not be the best due to the fact that it is very open, however it could also imply that something can jump out of anywhere which creates suspense.
  
  
  
  We've decided to record the scenes where we need the forest scenery on the 7th and 8th of January.

When do we film?

It takes good coordination to be able to get three people ready to film over the half term break- in between Christmas and New Year Evening. Therefore our group has decided to make it very crystal clear for ourselves when we will film. Here are some examples of how we did it:

Online poll was the easiest way for us to see when everyone was free because it is simple and very clear; if at least one of the answers was a no we would have had to chosen another date.