Positive feedback
Everyone understood our storyline.
Plum O'Keefe- Good Duologue
Tom Simpson- The use of the mirror was created tension.
Freddie- Music created suspense and Drama
Mina Hambro-Good camera angels
Ollie Baynham- Good use of sound
James Sheridan- Good Acting
Tom Gass -Good establishing shots and close up
Sarah Findlay-Interesting music
Georgia Morton-Good and Realistic setting
Charlie Morton- Good slow build up of suspense
This was fabulous feedback and we were very happy with it because we got across the message to the audience. We also were happy our choice of sound obviously made an impact and helped to create tension and build up suspense. Plus our use of Camera shots had an impact on how we told the story to the audience. We are also happy that they enjoyed our panning shots and tracking shots. Overall we are happy that the efforts we put in to this Main task was understood by the audience and the messages we created came across to the audience.
Improvements that could be made
Vicky Cooper- Quicker shots
Georgia Morton- More dramatic music
Tom Gass- sound levels need improvement
Ollie Baynham- emphasised that the detective was the villain, could have done something worse to the Mother to make it more shocking.
Charlie Morton- More action
We agree with some of this feedback for example we agree that the sound levels needed improvement, and if we had longer on the day we could have mastered this. Also we agree that the scene could have been more shocking, for example the detective could have licked or kissed the victim to show he was up to more than we expected. However we wanted the tension to slowly build. To do this the shots were not as quick in the beginning. This was to create more drama so that the climax of the scene would stand out more and leave the audience left in shock, and asking questions.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Looking back at my preliminary task
In our Preliminary task we didn't require much planning, we were given a story board to work from, and we were given shots to do, therefore not a lot of pre production work was required. However in our thriller, we had a lot of work to do before we got round to actually filming it, we planned props, costumes, location and story line. We drew our story board from start to finish. In our story board we aimed to have a detailed plan of what our finished piece was going to look like, we rewrote it with pictures to give us a better idea, as the drawings didn’t seem to help, we were required to research other thrillers and relate them back to our choices to make sure we had all the right elements to live up to the conventions of a thriller. We also had to then ask permission to film in the location we wanted and buy any props, we had to write a script which unlike the prelim was not given to us, we had to find actors that fit our type cast and give them the script to learn therefore planning for our main project was much harder than our preliminary it required much more planning and organisation before we even got around to filming.
In our preliminary we were given the shots that we needed to do, we were told how to do a shot reverse shot, and we planned to do a high and low angle, the story was very basic therefore the shots were limited we focused more on the dialogue than telling the story through shots. In our thriller, we used the shots visually such as panning with the hand to show that the main male character wasn't a policeman we relied on the shots to tell the audience he wasn't who he said he was because the dialogue doesn't give this clue, we showed this visually rather than verbally. When planning the shots we thought about how each shot showed different things to the audience such as high angle giving status and low angle giving less status. We took pictures of the set from the angle of each shot and referred to it whilst filming so we had a visual plan, in our preliminary we didn't use such planning because it wasn't as important, we wanted to be organised and not rely on the dialogue to tell our story. To set up our mise en scene in our prelim we didn’t need many props we just used the space we had, however in our thriller we set it up in a specific way placing toys around and having home drawings on the fridge, to make it look more realistic. We had to make sure our actors were in the right place for each shot to gain what we wanted, and we had to redo shots if there were problems such as continuity errors like the clock or if our crew could be seen in any of the footage.
In our preliminary task, we focused on shot reverse shot and sticking to the 180 degree rule, we weren’t as aware as close ups and panning shots and therefore our camera shots were not as sophisticated, we used a close-up on some of the props and faces however during our thriller, we made sure to use much more sophisticated camera work. We needed to make sure we used techniques such as eye line match, and panning shots, the camera work was much more difficult as we had obstacles such as a mirror, where we had to film without being seen in the reflection, this shot was important to us, as we needed to be able to show the policeman in the mirror so the audience could see how the mother would see him, without turning round. the camera shots were much harder to obtain, and we found ourselves stuck in small corners trying to get different angles, however we see how using more sophisticated camera work it made our thriller look more professional and create suspense and tension.
In our preliminary task we used limited sound and stuck to the sound of the surroundings and the voices of the actors, meaning we couldn’t signify anything through sound. In our thriller we used sounds constantly we added in low sounds and high pitch sounds and had them playing throughout to create suspense, as well as spending a lot of time making sure the dialogue sounded right and doing numerous retakes to make sure it lived up to our expectations we added in sound in post production to create atmosphere and tension, for example we had sounds to signify the change in character of the policeman and to show something wasn't quite right, we chose the sound and repeated it at significant moments such as him stealing the phone or locking a door. This is typical of a thriller as it builds tension for the audience and shows that something is about to happen, we had to balance out the sound of the dialogue to make sure it was the right volume and it all sounded the same to prevent any errors in the video and to make it flow better we also cut silence from footage to make sure we still got the ambience of the surroundings in times of silence in our thriller, the sound was important in creating tension and it was much more sophisticated in comparison to our preliminary, to make the sound for our thriller we had to overlap certain tracks a with the dialogue to make sure both could be heard, and we added the sound layer by layer, making sure it was balanced to the dialogue.
In our preliminary task, we had a limited amount of time to get the shots therefore we didn't have a huge range, this made picking and choosing our shots a lot easier, we were not expected to know how to cross fade, or cut things smoothly, but knew the basic tools of final cut pro and used them effectively however it wasn't as sophisticated as our thriller. In our thriller we took a long period of time on editing, we had to match up the sound perfectly to shots, and learn how to cut on the movement to prevent any jump cuts which would have made it look messy and unprofessional, we over lapped shots and used many tools, and we also used sound effects from the computer and put them in. Our editing process for our Thriller took a long time and I found it much harder, there was a lot of little details which needed to be fixed such as dodgy cuts, or continuity errors with lighting, also we used dialogue from different footage and added it to our favorite footage so we had to make sure it matched up with the what the actor was mouthing and this took a lot of time, we had to closely refine each cut to make it look like we hadn't cut it, we also needed to add credits to our opening sequence this meant making the font look exactly the same for each title and choosing names for our director, sound makeup and costume etc. we also had to make sure we placed them in the right place at the right time, and none of this was required for our preliminary. Therefore making our thriller an example of how much we had improved our film making and editing skills, in order to make our final project as professional as we possibly could and to stick with our idea as a group.
In our preliminary we were given the shots that we needed to do, we were told how to do a shot reverse shot, and we planned to do a high and low angle, the story was very basic therefore the shots were limited we focused more on the dialogue than telling the story through shots. In our thriller, we used the shots visually such as panning with the hand to show that the main male character wasn't a policeman we relied on the shots to tell the audience he wasn't who he said he was because the dialogue doesn't give this clue, we showed this visually rather than verbally. When planning the shots we thought about how each shot showed different things to the audience such as high angle giving status and low angle giving less status. We took pictures of the set from the angle of each shot and referred to it whilst filming so we had a visual plan, in our preliminary we didn't use such planning because it wasn't as important, we wanted to be organised and not rely on the dialogue to tell our story. To set up our mise en scene in our prelim we didn’t need many props we just used the space we had, however in our thriller we set it up in a specific way placing toys around and having home drawings on the fridge, to make it look more realistic. We had to make sure our actors were in the right place for each shot to gain what we wanted, and we had to redo shots if there were problems such as continuity errors like the clock or if our crew could be seen in any of the footage.
In our preliminary task, we focused on shot reverse shot and sticking to the 180 degree rule, we weren’t as aware as close ups and panning shots and therefore our camera shots were not as sophisticated, we used a close-up on some of the props and faces however during our thriller, we made sure to use much more sophisticated camera work. We needed to make sure we used techniques such as eye line match, and panning shots, the camera work was much more difficult as we had obstacles such as a mirror, where we had to film without being seen in the reflection, this shot was important to us, as we needed to be able to show the policeman in the mirror so the audience could see how the mother would see him, without turning round. the camera shots were much harder to obtain, and we found ourselves stuck in small corners trying to get different angles, however we see how using more sophisticated camera work it made our thriller look more professional and create suspense and tension.
In our preliminary task we used limited sound and stuck to the sound of the surroundings and the voices of the actors, meaning we couldn’t signify anything through sound. In our thriller we used sounds constantly we added in low sounds and high pitch sounds and had them playing throughout to create suspense, as well as spending a lot of time making sure the dialogue sounded right and doing numerous retakes to make sure it lived up to our expectations we added in sound in post production to create atmosphere and tension, for example we had sounds to signify the change in character of the policeman and to show something wasn't quite right, we chose the sound and repeated it at significant moments such as him stealing the phone or locking a door. This is typical of a thriller as it builds tension for the audience and shows that something is about to happen, we had to balance out the sound of the dialogue to make sure it was the right volume and it all sounded the same to prevent any errors in the video and to make it flow better we also cut silence from footage to make sure we still got the ambience of the surroundings in times of silence in our thriller, the sound was important in creating tension and it was much more sophisticated in comparison to our preliminary, to make the sound for our thriller we had to overlap certain tracks a with the dialogue to make sure both could be heard, and we added the sound layer by layer, making sure it was balanced to the dialogue.
In our preliminary task, we had a limited amount of time to get the shots therefore we didn't have a huge range, this made picking and choosing our shots a lot easier, we were not expected to know how to cross fade, or cut things smoothly, but knew the basic tools of final cut pro and used them effectively however it wasn't as sophisticated as our thriller. In our thriller we took a long period of time on editing, we had to match up the sound perfectly to shots, and learn how to cut on the movement to prevent any jump cuts which would have made it look messy and unprofessional, we over lapped shots and used many tools, and we also used sound effects from the computer and put them in. Our editing process for our Thriller took a long time and I found it much harder, there was a lot of little details which needed to be fixed such as dodgy cuts, or continuity errors with lighting, also we used dialogue from different footage and added it to our favorite footage so we had to make sure it matched up with the what the actor was mouthing and this took a lot of time, we had to closely refine each cut to make it look like we hadn't cut it, we also needed to add credits to our opening sequence this meant making the font look exactly the same for each title and choosing names for our director, sound makeup and costume etc. we also had to make sure we placed them in the right place at the right time, and none of this was required for our preliminary. Therefore making our thriller an example of how much we had improved our film making and editing skills, in order to make our final project as professional as we possibly could and to stick with our idea as a group.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Target Audience
The target audience for our film would generally be teenagers due to the generic storyline we selected in order to attract a younger audience, it is exciting and leaves the audience on edge, the fact it is an attractive young woman would attract the male audience and the fact she is a young mother would maybe attract the female, we decided our audience would mainly be couples going to the cinema on a night out. The fact it is a thriller would make boys want to go see it and take someone with them to enjoy the experience. Teenagers would be a suitable target audience because they have more disposable income and also they are at school so they have school holidays in which they would come to the cinema
Teenagers like going to the cinema to watch things together wether it be friends or couples, boys would want to go see it for the actress and the gory of the story so it would have to be advertised well. The woman is a single mum which would make girls want to go see it.
Our secondary audience might be more 25/30 I think they would enjoy our film due to the fact it is a physcological thriller and the audience is left to figuire out the policemans intentions. The fact both of the characters are adults would mean they can relate to them. I think our thriller would attract a male audience more because of the female actress when choosing her costume we made sure to pick something that would attract a male audience and the scary male policeman character makes the male gender look more superior therefore attracting males, however i think this thriller appeals to both genders as the mother is young and naive and has children making the female gender sympaphise with her and relate to her.
His Name is James he is 18 years old, he still goes to college he dresses normally for an 18 year old but is popular and outgoing so spends a lot of time out with his friends, he is young so would have disposable income from parents to spend on the cinema, he has a girlfriend so would probably take her to the cinema to watch our film, he is interested in football and is a Chelsea supporter he loves to play Xbox with his friends and his favourite games are action and sport, he enjoys chart music which shows he is a modern audience and would enjoy our film, his favourite genre of film is thriller or horror and his favourite films are Casino Royal and The Shining he also enjoys the film scream as does his girlfriend, he plays a lot of sport and he can drive so he is more likely to go out than stay at home. His favourite TV programmes are sports ones he also enjoys channels such as E4 and Comedy Central he likes “Friends” “Family Guy” “Scrubs” and skins. He is a stereotypical teenage boy, the reason he would want to see our film is because it involves violence and action, he could go see it with his friends who would enjoy it due to the attractive female lead or take his girlfriend as it would appeal to her due to the fact the women is an independent single mum and the girl would feel sorry for her, he has holidays and weekends free so we would probably show our film more on these days due to the fact it attracts a younger audience.
Teenagers like going to the cinema to watch things together wether it be friends or couples, boys would want to go see it for the actress and the gory of the story so it would have to be advertised well. The woman is a single mum which would make girls want to go see it.
Our secondary audience might be more 25/30 I think they would enjoy our film due to the fact it is a physcological thriller and the audience is left to figuire out the policemans intentions. The fact both of the characters are adults would mean they can relate to them. I think our thriller would attract a male audience more because of the female actress when choosing her costume we made sure to pick something that would attract a male audience and the scary male policeman character makes the male gender look more superior therefore attracting males, however i think this thriller appeals to both genders as the mother is young and naive and has children making the female gender sympaphise with her and relate to her.
His Name is James he is 18 years old, he still goes to college he dresses normally for an 18 year old but is popular and outgoing so spends a lot of time out with his friends, he is young so would have disposable income from parents to spend on the cinema, he has a girlfriend so would probably take her to the cinema to watch our film, he is interested in football and is a Chelsea supporter he loves to play Xbox with his friends and his favourite games are action and sport, he enjoys chart music which shows he is a modern audience and would enjoy our film, his favourite genre of film is thriller or horror and his favourite films are Casino Royal and The Shining he also enjoys the film scream as does his girlfriend, he plays a lot of sport and he can drive so he is more likely to go out than stay at home. His favourite TV programmes are sports ones he also enjoys channels such as E4 and Comedy Central he likes “Friends” “Family Guy” “Scrubs” and skins. He is a stereotypical teenage boy, the reason he would want to see our film is because it involves violence and action, he could go see it with his friends who would enjoy it due to the attractive female lead or take his girlfriend as it would appeal to her due to the fact the women is an independent single mum and the girl would feel sorry for her, he has holidays and weekends free so we would probably show our film more on these days due to the fact it attracts a younger audience.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Institution that would make our film
We decided on the institution Warp to make our film because they make low budget British films and have just released films in the horror/ thriller genre which means they are suited to our thriller.. examples of these are ‘Exhibit A,’ ‘Dead Man,’ and ‘Hush.’
Warp are one of the most respected independent film companies. They are based in London, Sheffield and now Melbourne Australia, because London is local to where we are based it would be convenient for us
They make low budget films which would work with our thriller as we are low budget that are made by small filming companies they are distributors, they are trying to branch out to Australia and try to make to films out there over the next three years.
Warp take on Low budget films made by first time directors as well as well as first time musicians. They are looking for commercial successe through finding their niche audience however they are not lacking in ambition as they have mad some outstanding films like ‘Submarine.’
They might make money out of our film by advertising it to a young audience perhaps around schools, and short film festivals, then by bringing it out onto dvd it would increase profits. They work in connection with film 4 which would enable them to premier the film on film 4 which would help with advertising and increase profits for our film.
Warp does not specialise in any type of genre from Comedy terrorists, 1980s skinheads, lovelorn teenagers, vengeful ex-paratroopers and evil cults. However they have made lots of films in the thriller genre, they appeal to all types of audiences which would be perfect for us as we are typically trying to attract the young and older audiences.
They are admired in the film industry because of the way they have grown as they have grow but also stayed with its independence. It supports new British talent in directing and supported some of the bold British films which is why we think they would be happy to help and support us in our project.
Warp have made a number of succses's and they distrobute films of many genres within Britain, we therefore think our low budget film by a first time director would suit the company's ethos and objectives and enable them to make profitable succsess and therefore give us the best platform to launch ourselves as film makers.
They believe that starting Film Makers need support and they are happy to give it to upcoming Film Makers. That is why we would choose Warp to produce our Film. Warp also work with Film 4 and lottery funding to co-produce and distribute films this is important for us as Film 4 would help our film find a target audience by releasing it on dvd with optimum releasing. This would enable our film to find a niche market denied to it by its more than likely platform release in arthouse cinemas at best. Film 4 could also advertise it on their channel and even premier it on Film 4 at the same time as its dvd release in the way that they did wioth This is England this would also help a niche market film find its audience and helps Warp offset their costs by working with other copmpanies to co-finance films.
Monday, 19 March 2012
How does our film represent a particular social group
In our thriller we wanted to be able to show the males in a bad light and the woman in a good light to conform to the stereotypical view that men are more powerful than women and to highlight the ideological belief that women are more vunerable than men, and that women need a man in order to be safe. We wanted to relate our thriller to something that has actually happened in real life so we were influenced by the story of Jo Yeats who was attacked in her home by a neighbour, the man who attacked her did the same as the character in our thriller, he made her trust him by making her feel like she could be safe and took advantage of the fact she knew him and trusted him. This highlights the message of our thriller which is that people in society trust too easily and this is also a representation of how easily women trust men. In our thriller we wanted the villain to have a position of authourity to emphasise how easily we trust people just because they have a position of authourity and in this instance she is taken in by his badge without taking into account he doesn't actually have the authourity to enter her house, and this shows how society go along with the idea that a simple symbol of authourity such as a badge is representive of their job which is negative as badges and uniform can be borrowed stolen or forged. We wern't looking to show the police in a negative light but emphasise how these symbols of authourity can be used for manipulation. Our thriller shows the binary oppisition between male and females, and subverts the dominant ideology that people with authourity can be trusted.
Examples of this in other thrillers, could be the film "Taken" here the females arrive in a different country and immedietly trust a complete stranger and then get kidnapped, this buys into the stereotypical view that females are more vunerable and naive than men are because in this thriller the father saves the girl, meaning it conforms to the stereotypical view that females need men.
Examples of this in other thrillers, could be the film "Taken" here the females arrive in a different country and immedietly trust a complete stranger and then get kidnapped, this buys into the stereotypical view that females are more vunerable and naive than men are because in this thriller the father saves the girl, meaning it conforms to the stereotypical view that females need men.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)