Friday 27 March 2009
Monday 23 March 2009
Thriller Evaluation
There are many different sub-genres of Thriller movies however they all use different techniques and aspects of filming to create the main convention of a thrilling movie; suspense. Lighting, sound, editing, location and setting are used to create suspense within a Thriller movie. To give us an insight into Thriller films and what makes a good Thriller we studied the psychological thriller The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Kubrick uses camerawork, location and mise-en-scene to create suspense. However, the main feature used to create suspense is sound. During the opening sequence there is an ariel shot of mountains while a high pitched non diegetic sound is playing in the background. As the camera follows the car up the mountains; the volume, pitch and speed of the camera increases this in turn increases the tension and suspense. This is an example of how sound and camerawork creates suspense and tension.
We also stu
died a clip from 28 Days Later. Unlike The Shining, 28 Days Later uses location to create suspense. Set in the heart of London, we are shown Central London as an empty, desolate, lonely place. Due to our familiarity with London as a busy city, bursting with life, we are instantly aware that something has happened or is going to happen and therefore suspense is created.
Studying Thriller movies gave us ideas on what makes a good Thriller movie and how we can create suspense. In addition to watching Thriller films we also watched the Watching Documentary. From this documentary we were told what makes a good movie opening. A movie must instantly grab your attention but the opening should lead the audience into the film as smoothly as possible. Director Jean Jacques Beneix states that you should go into a movie slowly and then build up to the drama because if you start off too dramatic, you will not know where to go next because you will have to out-do the opening. Stanley Kauffman talks of the ‘Classic Opening’ which is still used in many movies today. The ‘Classic Opening’ begins with an establishing shot usually of a well-known location or landmark, the camera then goes up a building through a window, where we meet our main character. The purpose of the ‘Classic Opening’ is to introduce the main characters and gain a notion of the setting and location. We automatically know where the film takes place and the occupation of the character.
After studying the conventions of a Thriller movie and a good movie opening we tried to apply these to our own Thriller openings. In our film opening we tried to adapt a ‘Classic Opening’; however the order of shot are put together differently. Instead of opening with an establishing shot, we see our main character in action walking down the street, we then go on to have an establishing shot of the Tower Bridge and City Hall.
We also stu
died a clip from 28 Days Later. Unlike The Shining, 28 Days Later uses location to create suspense. Set in the heart of London, we are shown Central London as an empty, desolate, lonely place. Due to our familiarity with London as a busy city, bursting with life, we are instantly aware that something has happened or is going to happen and therefore suspense is created.Studying Thriller movies gave us ideas on what makes a good Thriller movie and how we can create suspense. In addition to watching Thriller films we also watched the Watching Documentary. From this documentary we were told what makes a good movie opening. A movie must instantly grab your attention but the opening should lead the audience into the film as smoothly as possible. Director Jean Jacques Beneix states that you should go into a movie slowly and then build up to the drama because if you start off too dramatic, you will not know where to go next because you will have to out-do the opening. Stanley Kauffman talks of the ‘Classic Opening’ which is still used in many movies today. The ‘Classic Opening’ begins with an establishing shot usually of a well-known location or landmark, the camera then goes up a building through a window, where we meet our main character. The purpose of the ‘Classic Opening’ is to introduce the main characters and gain a notion of the setting and location. We automatically know where the film takes place and the occupation of the character.
After studying the conventions of a Thriller movie and a good movie opening we tried to apply these to our own Thriller openings. In our film opening we tried to adapt a ‘Classic Opening’; however the order of shot are put together differently. Instead of opening with an establishing shot, we see our main character in action walking down the street, we then go on to have an establishing shot of the Tower Bridge and City Hall.
From the mise-en-scene and voice over we already know that our character is a possible agent on a mission to get a file that she does not have right. This immediately creates suspense because we know there is a chance of her getting caught or worse ca chance she may get herself into danger and therefore the audience are left on the edge of their seats waiting to see if she successfully collects the file.
In The Shining we are given hints about the events that will happen throughout the movie because the storyline is given during the interview with the hotel from this, the audience begin to think that this is what will happen to the family. This is quite suspenseful because as the audience we know what is going to happen while the characters do not and we are just waiting for it to happen. Similarly in our film opening the audience are given the context and narrative through the voiceover. This is a well known technique of Alfred Hitchcock (the ‘King’ of suspense) to create suspense. It is his idea of letting the audience ‘play-god’.
Our film opening challenges this technique/convention at the end of the sequence. The door is slammed and our main character jumps around. As the audience we know she has been caught but we do not know by whom because the person is not shown. This is the opposite of Alfred Hitchcock’s theory because in this shot the character has more knowledge than the audience.
Male are usually over represented in government corruption/ political thrillers. Due to our group being female dominated we decided to contest this representation and stereotype by try something different. The only character we are shown in the opening is a middle class, Latin, business agent in her early thirties.
This contradicts with the usual stereotypical representation of women in thrillers. Women are often shown as the gossip or the weaker character that is injured or dies first, where on the other hand men in suits are seen as powerful business men. In movies, Latinas/os are usually represented in a small enclosed community surrounded by crime and drugs. However our film opening shows the Latina as an independent and hardworking business woman.
Our thriller opening represents middle class women as independent and powerful. Although we are visually introduced to only one character, the character of the voiceover is also a female. Usually we are shown the men giving the orders to complete such a task but here we decided to use a female to give the orders and a female to receive and follow out the orders. Again, following the normal stereotype would have been difficult to show seeing as we were a female dominated group so the best option was to challenge the stereotypes and try something different.
I believe our film would most likely be distributed as a DVD release or a ‘made for TV’ film. The film was made on a very low budget with no real ‘Star’ appeals and so would not make it in Hollywood. Big Hollywood Blockbuster movies have a variation of UK and US actor/ess and also countries. Our film neither explores US actor/ess or US landmarks and so would not make it in the states.
The audience is an integral part of the decisions in every step of movie-making. Without the audience films neither makes back its money or a profit. The target audience of our thriller would be independent eighteen plus to middle aged women with the occasional feminist seeking for empowerment. However, due to the fact that this is a female dominated film, this will also attract the male audience, aged twenty plus to middle aged.
Our typical female who fits into the target audience would be Sara.
In The Shining we are given hints about the events that will happen throughout the movie because the storyline is given during the interview with the hotel from this, the audience begin to think that this is what will happen to the family. This is quite suspenseful because as the audience we know what is going to happen while the characters do not and we are just waiting for it to happen. Similarly in our film opening the audience are given the context and narrative through the voiceover. This is a well known technique of Alfred Hitchcock (the ‘King’ of suspense) to create suspense. It is his idea of letting the audience ‘play-god’.
Our film opening challenges this technique/convention at the end of the sequence. The door is slammed and our main character jumps around. As the audience we know she has been caught but we do not know by whom because the person is not shown. This is the opposite of Alfred Hitchcock’s theory because in this shot the character has more knowledge than the audience.
Male are usually over represented in government corruption/ political thrillers. Due to our group being female dominated we decided to contest this representation and stereotype by try something different. The only character we are shown in the opening is a middle class, Latin, business agent in her early thirties.
This contradicts with the usual stereotypical representation of women in thrillers. Women are often shown as the gossip or the weaker character that is injured or dies first, where on the other hand men in suits are seen as powerful business men. In movies, Latinas/os are usually represented in a small enclosed community surrounded by crime and drugs. However our film opening shows the Latina as an independent and hardworking business woman.
Our thriller opening represents middle class women as independent and powerful. Although we are visually introduced to only one character, the character of the voiceover is also a female. Usually we are shown the men giving the orders to complete such a task but here we decided to use a female to give the orders and a female to receive and follow out the orders. Again, following the normal stereotype would have been difficult to show seeing as we were a female dominated group so the best option was to challenge the stereotypes and try something different.
I believe our film would most likely be distributed as a DVD release or a ‘made for TV’ film. The film was made on a very low budget with no real ‘Star’ appeals and so would not make it in Hollywood. Big Hollywood Blockbuster movies have a variation of UK and US actor/ess and also countries. Our film neither explores US actor/ess or US landmarks and so would not make it in the states.
The audience is an integral part of the decisions in every step of movie-making. Without the audience films neither makes back its money or a profit. The target audience of our thriller would be independent eighteen plus to middle aged women with the occasional feminist seeking for empowerment. However, due to the fact that this is a female dominated film, this will also attract the male audience, aged twenty plus to middle aged.
Our typical female who fits into the target audience would be Sara.
Aged 23, studying law and aspires to be a successful lawyer, however their maybe the possibility that she I living her parents dream. Although her aspirations are big she struggles to balance her time spent on education and time spent having a social life. Sara fits into the niche audience and shops in Topshop and River Island. She loves going to bars and theatres when she is not studying.
Our typical male who fits into the target audience would be Andrew.
Aged 34 works in a banking office and has the stereotypical 2.4 average family. His constant love for his job keeps him away from his wife and children and so he seeks to the movie screens for female excitement. He is part of the mainstream audience and is classified as an achiever and shops in T.M Lewin.
Our typical male who fits into the target audience would be Andrew.
Aged 34 works in a banking office and has the stereotypical 2.4 average family. His constant love for his job keeps him away from his wife and children and so he seeks to the movie screens for female excitement. He is part of the mainstream audience and is classified as an achiever and shops in T.M Lewin.
To attract our audience I would market our film through the genre. This is because we have no real ‘Stars’ in the lead role. However seeing that we only made the opening to the film we could have a ‘Star’ introduced after the opening, maybe as the person that catches her going through the files. Genre and ‘Stars’ are the key aspects used to market a film, if the audience are not keen on the genre they will then look out for a movie with their favourite actor/ress. For example; Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, George Clooney in Oceans Twelve. 
The audience may not be interested in Action Thrillers however because their favourite actors star in the movie they will still go and watch it. I would advertise my film by trailers on TV but also on billboards and in DVD shops like HMV or Virgin Megastores.
Overall my experience on filming was quite interesting and informing. I learnt that a good film takes planning an organisation. From having a proper production schedule to the right props is key for making a filming session successful. Having previous preliminary tasks and practice made this experience a lot easier. However even with previous use, when using Final Cut pro to edit the final piece there was still aspects of the software that I had used for the very first time. For example; adding credits and re-framing. Simple software like Final Cut Pro made it able for amateurs to create a film opening, this just goes to show that with thorough planning and dedication it is possible for anyone to create a film or film opening. On a general note, the internet played a key role from the beginning. We used the internet to research for our plan but also to record the filming process on my blog and also release it on Vimeo and my blog. The internet has widened the potential audience for our film opening. Vimeo allows budding film producers to post their videos, this is where many film producers started off, by just posting their project on the internet.
Overall my experience on filming was quite interesting and informing. I learnt that a good film takes planning an organisation. From having a proper production schedule to the right props is key for making a filming session successful. Having previous preliminary tasks and practice made this experience a lot easier. However even with previous use, when using Final Cut pro to edit the final piece there was still aspects of the software that I had used for the very first time. For example; adding credits and re-framing. Simple software like Final Cut Pro made it able for amateurs to create a film opening, this just goes to show that with thorough planning and dedication it is possible for anyone to create a film or film opening. On a general note, the internet played a key role from the beginning. We used the internet to research for our plan but also to record the filming process on my blog and also release it on Vimeo and my blog. The internet has widened the potential audience for our film opening. Vimeo allows budding film producers to post their videos, this is where many film producers started off, by just posting their project on the internet.
Thriller films are suspense packed movies. Suspense is created by lighting, sound, editing and location. Looking back at our preliminary task I have learnt that for a film to be successful the planning has to be thorough and the target audience must be evident in every idea, plan and decision.
Storyboarding and planning are the base products to create a film, and if they are both not done precisely then problems will inevitably occur. If there was anything I would change I would have liked to have done a digital storyboard, therefore you could literally see what the film would be like when put together. After my storyboard was done accurately I would have made sure we stuck to our production schedule and storyboard. Looking back at our preliminary tasks I can clearly say that with practise things become well. Organisation, preparation and planning. Without those three aspects a film is destined to fail.
Audience Feedback
In general the audience really liked our film. This is because it was different from usual Thrillers and challenged a lot of stereotypes and conventions.
The audience was really impressed by out attempt to mimic the ‘Classic Opening’ using establishing shots of landmarks in Central London. They were also impressed by the shot of City hall through the Bridge and then the dissolve transition to City Hall, and the match cuts. They said that the actress came across very well and was extremely impressed by the thorough editing as we used four different locations and made the audience believe they were all in the same place. A member of the audience said this “worked flawlessly”. However our only downfall was the music. It was suggested that the music was played quietly under the voice over and the heartbeat should have ran into the music so that we had layers of sound.
Storyboarding and planning are the base products to create a film, and if they are both not done precisely then problems will inevitably occur. If there was anything I would change I would have liked to have done a digital storyboard, therefore you could literally see what the film would be like when put together. After my storyboard was done accurately I would have made sure we stuck to our production schedule and storyboard. Looking back at our preliminary tasks I can clearly say that with practise things become well. Organisation, preparation and planning. Without those three aspects a film is destined to fail.
Audience Feedback
In general the audience really liked our film. This is because it was different from usual Thrillers and challenged a lot of stereotypes and conventions.
The audience was really impressed by out attempt to mimic the ‘Classic Opening’ using establishing shots of landmarks in Central London. They were also impressed by the shot of City hall through the Bridge and then the dissolve transition to City Hall, and the match cuts. They said that the actress came across very well and was extremely impressed by the thorough editing as we used four different locations and made the audience believe they were all in the same place. A member of the audience said this “worked flawlessly”. However our only downfall was the music. It was suggested that the music was played quietly under the voice over and the heartbeat should have ran into the music so that we had layers of sound.
Thriller Evaluation - Oyin Balogun!!!
THRILLER EVALUATION – CORRUPT
My group consisted of four members (myself, Micheala, Stephanie and Kirsty – All females). Our thriller is called ‘’Corrupt’’ and it is about the government policy but instead of being male dominant we decided that it would make more sense to make it female dominant, seeing as all of us are females.
When thinking about our thriller, we all wanted to make sure that our thriller would challenge and be different to everybody else’s e.g. People usually have something blow up or a killers involved in their thrillers. We decided to stray away from the expected and make ours unique, which led to nothing blowing up and nobody dying. When watching thriller openings we also noticed that the majority of thriller opening usually involve two people that either know each other previously or somehow find themselves acquainted within the film. We decided to base our thriller around one individual through out the film, but also introduce another character without revealing their identity, this was done by a simple anonymous phone call. It was simple but very effective. Going into more detail about our thriller, i'd call it a political thriller.
Our thriller definitely portrays females having the upper hand, which usually isn’t the case. It’s usually middle aged men that are involved with the government and secret identities. This would have proven difficult for us to portray seeing as my group only consisted of female members. We portrayed women as the leaders of the universe. The female in our thriller, was of a Colombian ethnic background, in her mid 20’s, straight and would fall into a middle working class category, due to her smart dress sense. Even the phone call that was made to our main character was the voice of a female.
Our thriller would be described as, unique, unexpected, smart and manipulative which would attract many viewers. It strays away from the expected and becomes unique which is what many people have been trying to get out of film makers/directors. So to release our thriller on the internet alone would undermine our work and give it less that what it’s capable of achieving. So having said that, I’d keep it within its area and release it as a successful U.K Film. This is because, it’s usually children that watch films by surfing the internet, which then means that adults (who this film is mainly aimed at) would miss out on the opportunity to watch it, and also because releasing it as a film would mean that both age groups (children and adults) would get the opportunity to watch it at a price suitable for both.
Looking at our thriller, it would be easy to assume that our thriller would attract female viewers for the simple fact that it only involves female actors, but that is not always the case, because someone can argue the fact that men would be interested to see what female directors and actors are capable of, and also men would watch this because they may be attracted to the female actors involved. So therefore I would not put a restriction on the genders allowed to watch the film, I’d leave it open and say that it’s targeted to both genders. The age limit is tricky, because you get those rare children who are interested in how the country is being run and the government and then you have the ones who simply don’t care. It’s likely to find that young adults and adults are mostly interested in government policy and rulers of the world. So therefore the target audience for this thriller would be young adults within the ages of 19 to adults that would vary between 30 – 50. In terms of ‘’class’’ , it would be wise to say that it’s suited class would be middle class because it’s set in the well established parts of London, which would go on to attract very established Londoners. It would also attract ‘’achievers’’ as oppose to ‘’aspirers’’. This is because in order to become a politician or have any involvement with the government, it would be normal to think that you must have been motivated enough to become that and only people that need motivation and people that can relate to the film will be interested in watching it. So in a nutshell this film will be suitable for people like Sarah-Jane Wilkinson. Sarah-Jane Wilkinson is a 22 year old student, studying law at the London School of Economics and loves watching films that challenge her dreams. She lives in Essex with her father who is a member of the House of Parliament and her mother who also works alongside her husband. She is last born of 4 children and is fighting to achieve more than all her siblings.
When marketing the film, I will ask myself, what it is about other films that attract me. What makes me want to pay money to see a film? I usually watch films that fall into my favourite genre e.g. (Action, Thrillers, Romantic Comedy etc...), then it must have an actor or actress that is very well known and has already previously made a film that has made it into my top 10 films. So in terms of my thriller, I will advertise the actress (Stephanie Brand) as a very well known and established actor who has made films that have made it worldwide. I will then introduce its unique genre (Female Rulers – Government based), that in itself should already attract viewers, because it’s not what you usually hear of. In order to advertise it more, I will release a TV Advertisement (involving the actress, the ranking and the release date). I will then have billboards advertisements. And just to make sure that it really hits the public, I will cut a deal with a very well known product e.g. Pepsi, Coke etc... We enticed the audience by telling them that if you buy a can of Pepsi, you may win free tickets to see the film in cinemas.
The process of filming our thriller was not as difficult as we expected it to be. Even though none of us had experience using a video recorder, it was still easy to use because we were given a tutorial on how to use it, which made us more comfortable when using it. We were very careful with it and made sure that we followed every instruction given to us carefully. After using the video camera we then had to insert our thriller onto a software called ‘’Final Cut Pro’’ where we would have to cut out any un needed bits of our thriller and put the wanted bits together in order to make it look realistic. This is the bit that proved difficult as all the errors made when filming made it hard for us to make it look as realistic as we would have wanted it to. It was also a frustrating experience because not everybody agreed on the same thing. The internet has been very useful and has allowed us to get views and comments of other people. Our video was put on a website called ‘’Vimeo’’ which allowed our video to be viewed by others, and allowed us to view other peoples videos. There is also another website called ‘’YouTube’’. This particular website allows any and everyone to view your thriller and also allows them to write their comments underneath. Our video was not yet put on this site because none of us have a YouTube account, but we all agreed that should any of us activate a YouTube account, then we’d upload our thriller onto it. Watching our thriller in the cinema was an exciting, yet scary experience. It was exciting because we were anxious to hear the opinions of others and it was scary because we weren't sure if it would live up to what others had done. All in all, our feed back from out class mates and friends was postivie, but we were told that we could have used more shots, which we were already aware of.
I have learnt how difficult it actually is to make films, and that there is so much more that meets the eye, in terms of filming. I also learnt that more planning goes into filming than I though e.g. Story boarding. I never knew that you had to create a story board and then film whatever was drawn on it and I never knew about ‘’Final Cut Pro’’. I just thought that how you film it, is how it is going to be released. I also learnt that it is crucial that you stick to your story board other wise it’ll prove difficult in the long run and it’ll mess up your original plans. Planning is also a crucial stage to filming and it is vital that you plan ahead well to make your thriller of a good standard.
BY OYIN BALOGUN
My group consisted of four members (myself, Micheala, Stephanie and Kirsty – All females). Our thriller is called ‘’Corrupt’’ and it is about the government policy but instead of being male dominant we decided that it would make more sense to make it female dominant, seeing as all of us are females.
When thinking about our thriller, we all wanted to make sure that our thriller would challenge and be different to everybody else’s e.g. People usually have something blow up or a killers involved in their thrillers. We decided to stray away from the expected and make ours unique, which led to nothing blowing up and nobody dying. When watching thriller openings we also noticed that the majority of thriller opening usually involve two people that either know each other previously or somehow find themselves acquainted within the film. We decided to base our thriller around one individual through out the film, but also introduce another character without revealing their identity, this was done by a simple anonymous phone call. It was simple but very effective. Going into more detail about our thriller, i'd call it a political thriller.
Our thriller definitely portrays females having the upper hand, which usually isn’t the case. It’s usually middle aged men that are involved with the government and secret identities. This would have proven difficult for us to portray seeing as my group only consisted of female members. We portrayed women as the leaders of the universe. The female in our thriller, was of a Colombian ethnic background, in her mid 20’s, straight and would fall into a middle working class category, due to her smart dress sense. Even the phone call that was made to our main character was the voice of a female.
Our thriller would be described as, unique, unexpected, smart and manipulative which would attract many viewers. It strays away from the expected and becomes unique which is what many people have been trying to get out of film makers/directors. So to release our thriller on the internet alone would undermine our work and give it less that what it’s capable of achieving. So having said that, I’d keep it within its area and release it as a successful U.K Film. This is because, it’s usually children that watch films by surfing the internet, which then means that adults (who this film is mainly aimed at) would miss out on the opportunity to watch it, and also because releasing it as a film would mean that both age groups (children and adults) would get the opportunity to watch it at a price suitable for both.
Looking at our thriller, it would be easy to assume that our thriller would attract female viewers for the simple fact that it only involves female actors, but that is not always the case, because someone can argue the fact that men would be interested to see what female directors and actors are capable of, and also men would watch this because they may be attracted to the female actors involved. So therefore I would not put a restriction on the genders allowed to watch the film, I’d leave it open and say that it’s targeted to both genders. The age limit is tricky, because you get those rare children who are interested in how the country is being run and the government and then you have the ones who simply don’t care. It’s likely to find that young adults and adults are mostly interested in government policy and rulers of the world. So therefore the target audience for this thriller would be young adults within the ages of 19 to adults that would vary between 30 – 50. In terms of ‘’class’’ , it would be wise to say that it’s suited class would be middle class because it’s set in the well established parts of London, which would go on to attract very established Londoners. It would also attract ‘’achievers’’ as oppose to ‘’aspirers’’. This is because in order to become a politician or have any involvement with the government, it would be normal to think that you must have been motivated enough to become that and only people that need motivation and people that can relate to the film will be interested in watching it. So in a nutshell this film will be suitable for people like Sarah-Jane Wilkinson. Sarah-Jane Wilkinson is a 22 year old student, studying law at the London School of Economics and loves watching films that challenge her dreams. She lives in Essex with her father who is a member of the House of Parliament and her mother who also works alongside her husband. She is last born of 4 children and is fighting to achieve more than all her siblings.
When marketing the film, I will ask myself, what it is about other films that attract me. What makes me want to pay money to see a film? I usually watch films that fall into my favourite genre e.g. (Action, Thrillers, Romantic Comedy etc...), then it must have an actor or actress that is very well known and has already previously made a film that has made it into my top 10 films. So in terms of my thriller, I will advertise the actress (Stephanie Brand) as a very well known and established actor who has made films that have made it worldwide. I will then introduce its unique genre (Female Rulers – Government based), that in itself should already attract viewers, because it’s not what you usually hear of. In order to advertise it more, I will release a TV Advertisement (involving the actress, the ranking and the release date). I will then have billboards advertisements. And just to make sure that it really hits the public, I will cut a deal with a very well known product e.g. Pepsi, Coke etc... We enticed the audience by telling them that if you buy a can of Pepsi, you may win free tickets to see the film in cinemas.
The process of filming our thriller was not as difficult as we expected it to be. Even though none of us had experience using a video recorder, it was still easy to use because we were given a tutorial on how to use it, which made us more comfortable when using it. We were very careful with it and made sure that we followed every instruction given to us carefully. After using the video camera we then had to insert our thriller onto a software called ‘’Final Cut Pro’’ where we would have to cut out any un needed bits of our thriller and put the wanted bits together in order to make it look realistic. This is the bit that proved difficult as all the errors made when filming made it hard for us to make it look as realistic as we would have wanted it to. It was also a frustrating experience because not everybody agreed on the same thing. The internet has been very useful and has allowed us to get views and comments of other people. Our video was put on a website called ‘’Vimeo’’ which allowed our video to be viewed by others, and allowed us to view other peoples videos. There is also another website called ‘’YouTube’’. This particular website allows any and everyone to view your thriller and also allows them to write their comments underneath. Our video was not yet put on this site because none of us have a YouTube account, but we all agreed that should any of us activate a YouTube account, then we’d upload our thriller onto it. Watching our thriller in the cinema was an exciting, yet scary experience. It was exciting because we were anxious to hear the opinions of others and it was scary because we weren't sure if it would live up to what others had done. All in all, our feed back from out class mates and friends was postivie, but we were told that we could have used more shots, which we were already aware of.
I have learnt how difficult it actually is to make films, and that there is so much more that meets the eye, in terms of filming. I also learnt that more planning goes into filming than I though e.g. Story boarding. I never knew that you had to create a story board and then film whatever was drawn on it and I never knew about ‘’Final Cut Pro’’. I just thought that how you film it, is how it is going to be released. I also learnt that it is crucial that you stick to your story board other wise it’ll prove difficult in the long run and it’ll mess up your original plans. Planning is also a crucial stage to filming and it is vital that you plan ahead well to make your thriller of a good standard.
BY OYIN BALOGUN
Media Evaluation - Stephanie Brand
When we were planning our media product we made a decision and that decision was that we wanted our media product to challenge the typicall political movie. But with the difference that our Politcal media product was going to be different and we were going to challange this genre by using a Female actress to play the main role, the reason for this is because normally in political films men always play this role. Also this way we are showing the audience that Women can also do things that Men do.
We did take in consideration that these types of movies fully establish the location of where everything is taking place ie what country/city it is set in. So we thought about this carefully in our group and we decided that int he begining of our clip we were going to do this by showing off the location and buildings by using long distant shots of:
City Hall
Tower Bridge
By fully establishing where everything is taking place, our clip shows and fits in with what social group our media prodcuct represents. Our media product represents the Higher working class social group. We done this by making myself (the actress) look very sophisticated, quite wealthy and high statused. We dont this by the clothing that im wearing. I wore a Black smart knee length skirt, a Black smart blazer with a white shirt, Black heels and a rather expensive looking handbag.
My body language throughout the clip is quite secretive but at the same time i am dedicated to what i am doing and following orders. I personally think that where we filmed our media product, the way i am dressed, my body language all fit in really well with the fact that it represents a Higher class. We filmed in the heart of the City of London where ther are lots fo glass buildings, people walking around in suits and briefcases, this all links because the women in our clip has the power to enter these sorts of buildings because of who she is, he body language and the way she is dressed.
As we live in London and we wanted to show off the actress and the buildings properly, we wanted to make sure that the weather was nice and bright because we didn't want our clip to seem dark and dull. London's weather is unpredictable so this was going to be hard to do and it was! On our first day of filming it was bright and lovely, although it was a bit chilly there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so we took this opportunity to tape as much as we could. After that first filming session the weather completely changed, it even snowed which meant that we had to wait until all the snow had cleared up and completely dissapeared. Thankfully the weather did clear up and we succeeded on keeping our media product nice and bright, unliike most British movies which tend to seem grey and dull.
It wasnt hard to figure out who most of our audience would be. Most men like to watch politcal type movies because of the fact that it has thrill, mystery and some action in it. Our media product definatly has that bit of excitement, thrill but will attract more men becasue the main character isn't a man, this time round it is a female actress and men like to see women that are dressed up in smart sexy clothes but that all can be sneaky and mysterious. The age of our target audinece would probably be from early 20's to late 30's because people from these age groups are the ones that mostly attend the cinemas. They like to see what good movies are showing also they are aware of what is going on around the world and they like to analyse how well the movie has covered its expected storyline.
Using the different types of technologies was the easy part for me. I personally think that it was the easiest because before we stared to film our media product we had had practices using the cameras, the tripod and aslo Final cut pro on the iMac's.
I think the only hard part was using final cut pro right at the end of our editing. The reason for this is beacuse we had the whole clip ready, the clips were all in the right place, we had added the different transitions we wanted in it, we had also added the credits, our title clip but we left adding the sound and the voice over till last. This was a bit of a problem because we had to choose what sounds and what background music we wanted to add in our clip using Soundtrack but not only that, we had to add the voice over in the right place. We had added the sounds and the background music, we then recorded the voice over and inserted it in its right gap. But then once we played the whole toghether with the sound and the voice over, the voice over was playing to quick and didn't play according to what was going on in the clip. This is when we started to get a bit stressed out, but with the help of one of our teachers we slowed down the part of the clip where the voice over is meant to sound and made it fit in perfectly with each other.
Looking back on our task i learnt quite alot.
Firstly, planning and oraganisation are CRITICAL. If we hadn't of planned our media product carefully from the begining i dont think we would have gotten anywhere. There were parts when our group found ourselves a bit stuck because of the reason that we didn't follow our storyboard. This then leads on to organisation, we all had to be well organised and we all had to know what was going on, where and at what time. I made an error when it came to organisation, this was because when we first started our filming i had my hair straightend and clip at the back, but then when it came to our second filming session, my hair was naturally curly and tied at the back but the difference cud be seen just a bit. This was a bit dissapointing because i should have kept it all the same. So for our third filming session i had it stuck in my head that i had to be WEARING and LOOKING like i had looked for the previous filming session as we didnt want our film to look dodgey.
Research is also important because of research isnt made then there are no ideas of what kind of shots or sounds or what type of people to have to play the main roles.
Overall it was hard work, there were times when as a group we all got stressed because we felt we weren't getting anywhere but thankfully everything got done and we finshed sucessfully. We completed our media clip just how we wanted it and when we watched our clip in the Vue cinema in angel with the rest of our media students they really enjoyed our media clip, they cheered and clapped when it had finsihed.
Sunday 22 March 2009
EVALUATION
Media Evaluation- Kirsty Trevarthen
Before starting our media product, we looked at many different thriller openings. We also watched a documentary called “Watching”. This documentary was about film openings and the way that the opening of a film can either seduce the audience and make them want to watch the whole film or they can give too much away too quickly and therefore give the audience no reason to continue watching the film. According to the director Jean Jacques Beneix, a film opening should start slowly because if you start at a high point the audience will feel deflated by the end.
Stanley Kauffman describes the “classic opening” as a shot to establish setting, then slowly progress to a building or specific area, then slowly reveal where the character is by going through a window, and then the audience are fully aware of the characters situation. Rational progress is a good way to keep the audience gripped but also not giving away too much at one time.
Whilst deciding who we wanted out audience to be, we looked at some statistics based on the genre of films that men and women are more likely to go and see, what the most popular genre of films were among males and females, and what we thought he reasons were. The general viewing of thrillers at the cinema showed that men are more likely to go and see a thriller than women. Also spy films were also more popular among men and therefore we came to the conclusion that we would aim it more at men than women. The fact that the main character is a women and very powerful gives it a certain amount of sex appeal for men as well. The age that we aimed our film at was around 20-45, this is because of the nature of the film, the political awareness of the audience was a factor to consider as well as the maturity. However the age restriction would be a 15, because any higher than that would suggest violence and very graphic scenes, but our thriller did not contain these things. Our demographic would be a mainstream audience, this is because firstly, we do not want put too much of a limit on the people that can come and see our film.
On practical and hands on level, the technologies that were involved in the filming and editing of this project were quite easy to use, because of the practice tasks that we did before hand, we were used to using the equipment, and therefore we could do so successfully.
The Canon 3CCD DV Camera that we used The tripod that we used too.
The camera and the tripod were the two things that we were used to handling and transporting to different locations.
Final Cut Pro Screen shots
The cinema experience was a good way to see how people respond to your film, and it highlights the flaws but also the parts that work well. The audiences response to the fact that we did a political thriller was not greatly received, due to the stereotypes that surround the genre “Thriller”. Seeing our work on the big screen made me very proud of the work that we put into the project, and also made me think that the group I was with was very co-operative and we all worked together to make a good film opening.
Before starting our media product, we looked at many different thriller openings. We also watched a documentary called “Watching”. This documentary was about film openings and the way that the opening of a film can either seduce the audience and make them want to watch the whole film or they can give too much away too quickly and therefore give the audience no reason to continue watching the film. According to the director Jean Jacques Beneix, a film opening should start slowly because if you start at a high point the audience will feel deflated by the end.
Stanley Kauffman describes the “classic opening” as a shot to establish setting, then slowly progress to a building or specific area, then slowly reveal where the character is by going through a window, and then the audience are fully aware of the characters situation. Rational progress is a good way to keep the audience gripped but also not giving away too much at one time.
These pictures establish character and setting
We decided to follow this convention, mixed with the “classic opening” therefore the first shot that you see in our film is the main character walking down the street, and answering an “unknown” phone call with a mysterious voice over giving her orders. The audience therefore know that this is the main character and that she is possibly working on a 'secret mission'. The next two shots are then establishing the Mise-en-scene of Tower Bridge and City Hall, therefore telling the audience that this is set in central London. The cut between showing the audience the main character and then establishing setting follows Kyle Copper's convention of making the audience feel that the film can go anywhere from this point.
We decided to follow this convention, mixed with the “classic opening” therefore the first shot that you see in our film is the main character walking down the street, and answering an “unknown” phone call with a mysterious voice over giving her orders. The audience therefore know that this is the main character and that she is possibly working on a 'secret mission'. The next two shots are then establishing the Mise-en-scene of Tower Bridge and City Hall, therefore telling the audience that this is set in central London. The cut between showing the audience the main character and then establishing setting follows Kyle Copper's convention of making the audience feel that the film can go anywhere from this point.
Some of the films that inspired our shots
As a group, we decided that we did not want to follow the usual thriller conventions, such as..
Night time filming
A killing/murder of some kind
Deserted location
Stalker
We wanted to do a political thriller, and break some stereotypes of how thriller films should be.
As we had an all girl group we thought that having a political thriller, with a women as the corrupt character, this would be individual and interesting to film. This would give the audience something to think about and also not make the film too predictable.
As a group, we decided that we did not want to follow the usual thriller conventions, such as..
Night time filming
A killing/murder of some kind
Deserted location
Stalker
We wanted to do a political thriller, and break some stereotypes of how thriller films should be.
As we had an all girl group we thought that having a political thriller, with a women as the corrupt character, this would be individual and interesting to film. This would give the audience something to think about and also not make the film too predictable.
A hint that this is a political thrilleR.
Having a business women, who is dressed smartly, and clearly successful breaks the stereotype of men being the most powerful business people. Also, filming at locations such as Tower Bridge and City Hall, give connotations at how successful she is due to the fact that this is a very high status area. The voice over that gives the orders at the start of out film is also female. This further implies that there are no men involved in this corruption and therefore women are the higher status sex in our thriller.
Whilst deciding who we wanted out audience to be, we looked at some statistics based on the genre of films that men and women are more likely to go and see, what the most popular genre of films were among males and females, and what we thought he reasons were. The general viewing of thrillers at the cinema showed that men are more likely to go and see a thriller than women. Also spy films were also more popular among men and therefore we came to the conclusion that we would aim it more at men than women. The fact that the main character is a women and very powerful gives it a certain amount of sex appeal for men as well. The age that we aimed our film at was around 20-45, this is because of the nature of the film, the political awareness of the audience was a factor to consider as well as the maturity. However the age restriction would be a 15, because any higher than that would suggest violence and very graphic scenes, but our thriller did not contain these things. Our demographic would be a mainstream audience, this is because firstly, we do not want put too much of a limit on the people that can come and see our film.
An audience member profile:
Steve, 21, A university student of politics, loves to see films that gives him more of an idea of the corruption behind politics, he also likes powerful women, and is a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
He is white middle class, lives in London.
Steve, 21, A university student of politics, loves to see films that gives him more of an idea of the corruption behind politics, he also likes powerful women, and is a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
He is white middle class, lives in London.
We would advertise ourilm on billboards in many different areas, London in particular. We would also advertise it on the Internet, such as YouTube, Vimeo and other popular video sites. Due to the fact that political thrillers are individual, I think that the genre will attract people to see it, so therefore we don't necessarily need a well known film star in it to attract an audience. However, a relatively known well actor/actress may be needed for people to be that little bit more intrigued about seeing the film. This method of advertisement means that we would be able to reach both Niche and mainstream audiences, therefore getting a wider range of people and a bigger audience which would make the film a bigger success.
On practical and hands on level, the technologies that were involved in the filming and editing of this project were quite easy to use, because of the practice tasks that we did before hand, we were used to using the equipment, and therefore we could do so successfully.
The Canon 3CCD DV Camera that we used The tripod that we used too.
The camera and the tripod were the two things that we were used to handling and transporting to different locations.
Final Cut Pro Screen shots
We used Final Cut Pro to edit our film once we had finished all the filming of it. Final Cut Pro is fairly easy to use once you are used to the different functions. It makes it easier to make your film run smoothly and change the shots that did not quite work. For example, in some of our shots we had too much space above the characters head, so we used final cut pro to reduce this slightly so that it was a good shot. We then used it to put the credits onto our opening sequence, and to perfect the length of the shots so that the credits did not go past too quickly.
Sound Track Pro screen shots
Once we had finished editing our shots and had our film finished, we then had to put a soundtrack to it so that it was more suspenseful and interesting. I was not there for the lesson that we did this because I had another lesson to go to, but I knew how to use it because of the Preliminary task that we did before this. There are many different sounds on the program, so we spent a long time trying to choose one that fitted with the theme of our film and created tension. Soundtrack Pro allows you to start and stop the sound where you want in your film, and also allows you to create layers of sound, such as the heartbeat that we had playing underneath the main beat of our music.
Vimeo and Blogger allowes us to watch our thrillers once finished
All through the film making process, we had to blog everything that we did onto Blogger. This was a quick and easy way to record everything that we did each lesson and therefore allowed more time for filming. We uploaded the two filming tasks that we did before our thriller project. The first being “A Thrilling Read”, and the preliminary task that we did.
Vimeo is where all of the videos where uploaded. This has widened the potential audience for our product, for example, we could send the link to another country and anybody would be able to see the film that we made.
All through the film making process, we had to blog everything that we did onto Blogger. This was a quick and easy way to record everything that we did each lesson and therefore allowed more time for filming. We uploaded the two filming tasks that we did before our thriller project. The first being “A Thrilling Read”, and the preliminary task that we did.
Vimeo is where all of the videos where uploaded. This has widened the potential audience for our product, for example, we could send the link to another country and anybody would be able to see the film that we made.
Looking back on our preliminary task, I feel that our match cuts were a lot smoother, and the transitions between establishing shots were better. I have learnt that using a range of different camera shots and angles gives the film more depth.
Audience Feedback
Some of the things that the audience said after seeing out film were as follows:
The establishing shot of Tower Bridge is very good as you can see city hall through the bridge, and then the dissolve to city hall is very smooth and works well.
The establishing shot of Tower Bridge is very good as you can see city hall through the bridge, and then the dissolve to city hall is very smooth and works well.
The low angle shot of Stephanie at the beginning worked very well.
The voice over was effective, telling the audience that the character has orders to follow.
The title coming at the end with the effects gives a great conclusion
Using 3 different buildings, but portraying it as one worked well, City hall, Student accommodation doors and then the lifts in college, very professional.
Using 3 different buildings, but portraying it as one worked well, City hall, Student accommodation doors and then the lifts in college, very professional.
The only thing that could have worked better was the continuity of the music, When Stephanie goes into the lift the music should have continued but quietened down, The heart beat could have been underlying all the way through, and the editing of it could have been smoother.
The cinema experience was a good way to see how people respond to your film, and it highlights the flaws but also the parts that work well. The audiences response to the fact that we did a political thriller was not greatly received, due to the stereotypes that surround the genre “Thriller”. Seeing our work on the big screen made me very proud of the work that we put into the project, and also made me think that the group I was with was very co-operative and we all worked together to make a good film opening.
N1 CENTRE VUE CINEMA LOGO
I think that seeing it in the cinema made me realise that our film would either be a “made for TV” film or distributed in a number of UK 'arthouse' cinemas. This is because of the low budget that we would have to make the film a success, and also the amateur nature of the project would make it harder to become a big Hollywood movie.
I think that seeing it in the cinema made me realise that our film would either be a “made for TV” film or distributed in a number of UK 'arthouse' cinemas. This is because of the low budget that we would have to make the film a success, and also the amateur nature of the project would make it harder to become a big Hollywood movie.
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