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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