Sunday 11 May 2014

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Evaulation Question 5

How did you attract 
your audience?

The main way i have attracted my target audience is through Laura Mulveys theory of the male gaze. The male gaze consists of having a pretty female lead to draw in male attention, so basically using a women and her features to lure in viewers, which is actually a pretty good idea.

In my movie as a whole, men like to see a mystery or a climax and so in my opening sequence i included both. The end shot is somebody being kidnapped which would keep people guessing all the way through. Women always want to see a bad guy in the film and so this is why i turned the opening into the introduction of the protagonist, giving a more mysterious effect ready for the film to start.

At the end of my opening I have created a small climax. This will be in no way as big as the one placed in the middle of the film h however it does mean that audiences will want to continue watching the film to figure out what and why this particular thing as happened. I decided to do this after carrying out a survey and discovering peoples preferences. It meant that people would stay engaged with the movie and not get bored enough to turn it off, something that can happen a lot in movie world.

Having a female protagonist also proves attractive as this can be very unique in thriller movies and so people are more likely to see this movie standing out if it's in. Bunch people may also appreciate the new angle and feel they want to try. New type of action where a women leads the fight.

Evaluation question 7

Looking at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 Since I filmed my preliminary task I can confidently say that my knowledge in the film industry has definitely grown, meaning that I could include many skills within my final thriller opening. The prelim task was short but it still portrayed many different skills needed to turn a handful of shots into a moving motion picture. In my opening sequence the editing skills I researched which are on my blog helped me to incorporate different shots (such as extreme close-up and panning shots) into my own final piece and so it had creativity and variety instead of simple boring shots that meant the piece didn't look right or fit together.
Shooting a prelim also meant that i could understand the feeling and the technicalities of the video camera and how to use it correctly by hand to get the best angles and positions for shots without variables like light or weather getting in the way and affecting how it looked in the end.

Friday 21 March 2014

Evaluation questions 3


3. When production teams have finished producing their later projects, it has been knitted together by the editing team and given the final okay from the director the net big step to get the film into the world is the distribution. It is one of the most important factors in film making because if the film is not put to the world in the right way audiences may not pick up on the film or won’t show any interest in it, creating some very big problems.

My opening sequence is a specific genre (thriller) and so I did my research as I wanted a company that was familiar with this theme and would know how to exploit it to its full potential. This being said I found in my research that many of the big production companies cover all types of genres and have all had a similar success and so my options were pretty much left wide open.

I created my project so that as soon as the first scene is shown you can instantly recognise that it is a thriller and so audiences would not be disappointed half way through the film.

I have addressed this is the beginning by having a dark opening picture and then a creaking gate which isn't usually associated with any romantic comedies...





Evaluation Question 1


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

My thriller opening uses many forms and conventions that you would see in many real media productions because I wanted to make the sequence seem as real as possible and this meant that more people could relate to it or compare it with other thriller openings. Firstly I wanted to make sure that the whole sequence had a dark tint to it just like you usually get in an action sequence and so I began filming in the evening and so the shots weren’t in broad daylight, that way they look eery and therefore slightly mysterious and creepy. I have two scenes where everything is quiet except from some digetic sounds in shot like the footsteps of a human or the opening of a creepy gate, this seems very real as it is building up the suspense within a particular scene, before the big climax, which would leave people guessing throughout the film. This has been done to attract the specific niche audience.
I have followed the normal conventions when creating my clip apart from one main aspect…my antagonist is a female and not a male. This is challenging the conventions because many people presume the natural stereotype of women is that they are weak and need to be protected  but it could be seen as a good thing. It would probably annoy many people but having a women also means that male gaze will apply and so men probably wouldn’t mind as much just like with Lara Croft. This is called the Laura Mulvey theory.
With all my other conventions like the dark scenes and the creaking gates all genetically follow the normal codes and conventions because this is a typical scenario in a thriller or scary movie, I have just developed these ideas in more depth to create a specific atmosphere to target a researched audience. This also helps with justifying what the genre is. The only thing not included in my opening is propps theory as we aren't introduced to any more than two characters from the film.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Opening Sequence

Time                                      Credit

0.2-                    Production company name
0.7-                    Producers Name
0.15-                  Studios name
0.19-                  Name of Title: Never Walk Alone
0.27-                  Sofia Potter
0.36-                  Anna Gable
0.43-                  Damien Deluca
0.48-                  Alfie Lines
0.56-                  Charlotte Rose Burns
1.03-                  Sasha Peters
1.08-                  Luke Barnes
1.15-                  Sean Grant
1.20-                  Lola Drew
1.28-                  Charlie Hunham
1.32-                  Scarlett Thomas
1.37-                  and Jo West

Storyboard for my thriller...


Initial ideas Storyboard for my thriller opening....

From the first square you can see a girl , and the moon and stars are there to emphasise that it is night time which is very typical for the thriller genre. However i have chosen to go against one of the main most of the main character's and first person you see in the opening of a thriller is a man, whereas i am using a girl. This may not sound appealing or successful to many people as girls are stereotyped as weak and helpless and dramatic but all these things are going to help emphasise that my genre is thriller!

In my second box i have used the girl listening to music, i might still use this but it might ruin the flow of the sketch and would have to be careful when running with it that it doesn't fall out or ruin the scene.

In the next four boxes i have a male character creeping up and scaring the girl  but it just turns out to be her boyfriend. After lots of consideration i have decided that i want to keep dialogue as little as possible and so i may leave this character out or have a shadowy figure follow the girl instead. However i feel like a small cameo would be better than leaving him out completely as it invites new characters into the storyline and a potential hero that reinforces Propps theory.

The last sketch on my storyboard is when the girl eventually slows down from running or her boyfriend leaves, she turn around starts to walk and then an arm grabs her from a bush and as she screams its a muffled sound as she drops to the floor. The scene cuts and the opening ends with you not knowing what has happened to her. This is conventional of a thriller because it sets up a plot scenario for the rest of the mo=vie and many thrillers always link back to the opening sequence because people make there mind up about the movie in the first few minutes.


p.s. my image takes a while to load.

Friday 17 January 2014

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule

Night scenes

Filming Locations: Page park, Staple Hill, Bristol.
                              Chesnut Road, Staple Hill, Bristol.

Time meeting: 4:00PM-7:00PM.

Dress code/ Costumes: Smart but casual, shoes that would make a noise when walking but also suitable to run in (NO HIGH HEELS), no dark clothes. Snatcher to wear leather glove.

3:30- Go to the first filming location and set up cameras, lighting, shots etc..
4:30- ACTORS MEET AT FIRST LOCATION- park scene, be ready to start filming at 5:00.
5:00- FILMING BEGINS WITHOUT FAIL.- Everyone in the right costumes, in the right place ready to shoot first scene.
5:30- MOVE TO SECOND LOCATION,SET-UP.
5:40- BEGIN FILMING.
6:30- END OF FILMING. (break)..probably to dark to continue filming.
7:00- FILMING SHOULD BE COMPLETELY FINISHED.


My BBRFC Certificate

My BBFC rating

I have decided that the certificate of my thriller opening will be a 12. This is because the dark scenes and instant kidnapping may be distressing or scary to smaller children and so it would not be a film that they would want to watch. Also a conventional thriller would usually have fighting or certain affectionate scenes that parents with children under the age of 12 wouldn't want them to see. This neither means it will be full of swear words, blood and gore however because the certificate is still at a rather low age.

Also when the arm snatches the girl it can be quite jumpy and so would frighten smalll children. It is not really a family film and so this is why you would have to be 12 or over to watch it, also they will be able to understand and follow the movies plot a lot clearer. They is no point in watching a movie if you are too young to even understand the storyline so this certificate is also a guide for that.