Final Film

Final film changes

For our film film edit the main aspect which we changed was to order of events in our sequence. We decided that the simple order of present to past and then present became a little boring due to the repetitiveness and simple. So to make the sequence more interesting and to keep the tension, confusion and mystery throughout we altered the order of events so that both the external and internal scenes are contrasted as the sequence changes from present to past time frames. Despite this making the order of events a little more confusing, this is the effect we wish to create for the audience, simulating questions which can only be satisfied by watching past the opening sequence. We have resolved this confusion by using the use of colour to indicate the time periods, with the red colouring in the present and the darker black and white/ sepia being the past events, effects like this can be commonly seen to indicate time differences in other films of a similar genre.

We included more footage from the darkroom in our second edit in order to disperse this between the external scenes in the park, This was mainly just focus on the room itself and not the characters to emphasis the importance of the act of developing the photo in our narrative. We also changed the way in which the sequence ended with the character falling to the floor with the use of a POV shot as we believed it built upon the tension of the scene and the desire to continue watching after the opening sequence. A POV also puts the audience in the position of the character to make them feel included in the scene and closer to the action occurring. 

A final change was the audio, keeping the soundtrack the same however adding some ambient sounds from the dark room, including the dripping tap which can be heard across the footage throughout the sequence. This is an eerie sound which connects both the past and present scenes with this continuity. Other ambient sounds include both the scratching and foot tapping from the protagonist. 

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 6

 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

 

 

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When deciding who our production would target we considered the age, gender and class of the audience in order to maximize the success during its promotion. We settled on the demographic being males and females, aged from 15 to 25. 

To decide on the age we first researched into the BBFC guidelines, as to what is acceptable to include in a production to be viewed by 15 year olds. We found that:

• Language may be strong however used in an appropriate manner, 
• the threat can be strong with no inclusion of sexual threat
• Sexual context with limited detail
• violence should not dwell on the infliction of pain. 

After researching these guidelines we believed that looking at our opening sequence with limited and non graphic violence that the narrative and scenes would be appropriate for this age range. An advantage of having a film targeted at a slightly younger audience means that our production can reach a mass audience as they are not restricted by any age boundaries. Using age 15+ we found is a common age in which films from the thriller genre are most popular as youths tend to be attracted to the tension,suspense and common conventions of the genre.

We kept the targeted gender appropriate for both male and females because, through our research, it was discovered that this genre is widely enjoyed by both genders and there is no predominant one whom the genre is more popular among. To achieve this we refrained from including any stereotypes which would suggest that the film is for only male or females. Therefore to subvert these we included a strong female protagonist and both males and female characters to relate to. Furthermore, no stereotypes could be suggested through use of costume or props as both were kept neutral and there was no emphasis on these, such as the sexualisation of females, through costume, which may be seen in a production targeted at males to satisfy the male gaze. Again having the film available for both males and females increases the variety to which the film will appeal and make profit.

Overall, i believe that we have successfully created a film which would appeal to the target audience of 15-25. Producing something with a target audience with a similar age to ourselves gives an advantage as we know what aspects to include based on what we would like to see. Our opinions can then be generalised to a wider population of a similar age with similar preferences to achieve a successful production.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

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

A media convention depicts and conveys the genre of the film to be interpreted by the audience. In our film we used our research into films of a similar genre to follow the conventions best suited to our genre and demographic.

Credits and titles

To begin when conducting our research we found similar conventions across the genre to which we followed when producing our on titles and credits. This being that they were often bold, capitals with a distorted typography which appears to have been scratched or distressed suggesting that there is something wrong which may occur in the narrative, creating a sense of fear. 

We also found that  the font colour of the film titles in the thriller genre often have contrasting colour in order to attract attentions, keeping by this we decided to use black and white giving the title a simple yet professional look. This also means that the text can be clearly read despite the slight distortion in it. Similar text can be seen in the titles of The Maze Runner which is a thriller, dystopian film. The text as shown below is more bold than what we have chosen with a grey tone as opposed to white however both have been distressed, giving the text an aged look.

We decided to name our film 'Captured' as it links well with our narrative therefore enticing the audience. The name can also be interpreted in two alternative ways, one of which is captured implying the camera which is a dominant feature in the narrative and another is the capture of the kidnapping. 

We included credits as they are also conventions which would be found in a real media production. For our credits we used a bold font which appeared in the corner of the screen over the moving image of the scene, this can be commonly seen in other film openings. We chose to overlay the credits as it made the scene more interesting, giving the audience something else to observe so the scene duration was not overly long and uninteresting, without as having the text over the image an distracting the audiences attention from the scene. We decided to not make the titles last over the entire opening sequence as the audience may find this repetitive.

Props

Other conventions include the props which are featured throughout the sequence, one dominant prop which we chose to include was the camera, showing its significance added to the narrative and linked well with the film name 'Captured'. We showed the significance of this prop using a mid shot of the female character walking past with the camera in clear view for the audience.

Another prop which is a significant part of the narrative and is conventionally seen in thriller films is a weapon. In our film this weapon is the blue rope, with the presence of this weapon the tension in the scene increases and fear is felt amongst the audience as there is now a clear threat to the audience. Seeing this convention in other thriller films means that there is already an association with weapons and following events therefore suspense is created. 


Shots

With our production we chose to use a selection of close up shots. After researching into similar films we found that shutter island used predominantly close up shots of the props and actions of the protagonist so we repeated this in our filming.

Using this to ensure the audience feel uncomfortable as they cannot put themselves in the scene and relate to any of the characters as the identities are unknown. Use of close up shots means the scene is slowly revealed to the audience not giving away what is occurring in  the scene,  increasing the tension in the scene and making the audience impatient to receive more information

                                                                                    

These close up shots continue when the characters are introduced, typically the audience is shown the character profile through use of mid and close ups shots. We decided to subvert from this, showing only the characters costume and slowly revealing the identity through the course of the extract.
this is scene through the use of a close up on the characters shoes, the manner in which he ties his laces is meant to signify his aggression and subtly build upon his character.

Location
In choosing our location we thought about a setting which would increase the tension and build upon our narrative. For our internal scenes, the darkroom fit best in order too achieve this. It linked with our narrative as the protagonist is a photography student, however adds an eerie aspect to the scene with its unusual lighting which also connotes danger and death.

Our external location was situated in an isolated park, using a long shot and pan to establish this. Through research we found that isolated wooded areas or parks were conventionally used for the thriller genre as the concept of being alone makes the scene more dangerous and suspicious. This location also builds upon the narrative and fits with the kidnapping, as a busy, urban area would not have been able to achieve the same effect.

Editing 
In our editing we used techniques such as a graphic match to symbolise the transition of time from present to the past. This match can be seen from the dripping water from the tap in the dark room to the dripping leaf in the park. Using a graphic match means the narrative is consistent and flows through a transition of time with out making it too obvious or confusing the audience

Our editing is non chronological as shots from the past have been edited in the present sequence using cross cutting. These shots have are predominantly short duration and are used to represent snapshots of memory. Keeping them short ensures that the tension builds and the audience do not loose interest in the narrative

Both of these editing techniques can be seen in similar thriller genre productions, therefore in this aspect of out production we have conformed to the editing style of real films

Target Audience Feedback

We decided to receive feedback from our target audience to hear their opinions o what they would change to our film. From this we learnt that the audio in some areas of the opening did not flow properly and didn't match the action on screen, for example the clicking sound from the camera after the picture being taken by the protagonist.

Another thing we learnt was that the storyline did not come across clearly, however this is an intentional part of our opening sequence as confusion is created and this is used to intrigue the audience. Furthermore, the feedback suggested that the audience should have more of a personal connection and understanding of the dog walkers character before they are killed.

Our next action will be to edit the film and fix the audio in order to make our film become more fluent and make it more professional.

Film Edit 1

Post Production- Editing

Titles

 When choosing our film titles we researched other titles of similar thriller genres, this research demonstrated that the titles are commonly bold and contrast against the background to ensure that they can be clearly seen

In ours we kept the titles back and white this gives the film a more professional serious look. Using black and white also juxtaposes the theme of good and evil due to the connotations of the colours. 

To find a suitable font we looked at films of the same thriller genre, one of which was 'The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials' We chose a similar destroyed style as we believed it worked well in the opening sequence of their film and was suitable for the target audience. 

We used the website DaFont to find our titles, we had several options before settling on the one that fit well with our scene, we then inverted the colour on photoshop so the text was white and the back ground is black

When putting our titles onto our film, we kept the titles an off white colour to contrast it against the red background. However, we did not want to make the colours too bright and happy otherwise it would not fit the conventions of the genre. we decided to make the titles bold and visible as they needed noticeable next to the other action in the scene

Company Ident

We decided to keep the company ident simple with the contrast of the black and white to juxtapose the theme of good and evil which also runs throughout our opening sequence. The ident is a still image which is inspired by other idents such as spyglass with a simple image, black background and white clear font to give it a professional look, making it more appealing for the targeted audience. We  kept the company name simple, short and therefore memorable for the audience to recognised if used in any other productions. The dark ident also fits well with the colour gradient of our film.

Post production- Sound

With regards to sound we had to find non copyright music to use in our production in order to avoid issues using another artists music. We decided to find non- copyright music on the purple planet website which had music suitable for a variety of genres. For our thriller genre we chose a piece of instrumental music which increased the tension and suspense throughout by building in volume and tempo over the course of the opening sequence. The piece of music that we found was called 'Insidious' which we found in the 'creepy' category on the purple planet website. We chose between this piece and 'Trick or Treat', deciding on this because the build up and beats in the music fit our action in the sequence.

Once we had chosen our non-diegetic sound we cropped some of the sound so the beats fit with the transitions between scenes to increase the tension and make the scenes more fluent. We edited this using the premiere pro programme.

We chose to include diegetic sound to make the scenes more realistic and put the audience in the scene. These sounds included the dripping tap in the dark room and the scratching of nails on the wooden surface. We increased the sound of these diegetic sounds so they were audible over the music.




http://www.purple-planet.com/creepy/4593380250

Ident Research

When creating an appropriate company ident we researched into professional companies such as DreamWorks and Spyglass. We found that the idents were often kept simple with bold white writing and an image to accompany it which is relevant to the company name. 

With the DreamWorks ident there is a dark image in the background of clouds relevant to the title and a bold font with a bright colour which contrasts in the foreground. This is also positioned on the centre of the frame to attract the audiences attention and imply that it is the main ficus of the scene. In this ident i found the moving visual very effective and makes it more interesting, captivating the audiences interest.  Keeping the images simple makes the ident and company appear more professional, this how i want my ident to appear, in order to achieve this i will keep out ident similar to this. 

The Spyglass image is similar to this however the image, which is positioned centrally on the screen, is the main focus. Both the image and the text contrast against the black background, again keeping the colours a simple black, blue and white with the font entirely in capitals to capture the audiences attention. The image accompanying the text means the audience are more likely to remember the company name as the image is there to assist the audience in remembering  this.

Character costume

We decided to keep this costume all black with a hoodie to conceal the identity. Both the lack of identity and the colour makes the character more threatening, a hoodie connotes violence being commonly associated with aggressive individuals. Also black is a convention of the genre and connotes death or a threat. 

The costume for our protagonist is predominantly black and white which balances the characters personality as black and white often represent good and evil, this along with the green coat demonstrates that the character is neutral, neither good or bad. This makes it difficult for the audience to respond to the characters actions as they are unsure of their intentions, this intrigues the audience further.

Risk Assessment

Moodboard

Through our research into genre we decided upon the thriller- mystery as we believed it would be best suited for our genre, these two genres follow similar conventions. Sharing these similar conventions means that it becomes easier to create a successful production. 

In this moodboard i have included the stereotypical conventions of the thriller genre including the  locations which we plan to film in, being a dark room and a dark wooded area and the weapons, characters and props.

Call Sheets

Planning: Initial Ideas

Planning: Choosing an idea

When choosing our idea for the production we believed that the thriller genre would be the most suitable genre for our targeted audience, males and females aged 15. This genre is tailored for the audience as there is a lot of action and suspense which would appeal to the younger audience however as we've chosen thriller as opposed to horror as there is less violence and gore to abide by the guidelines suitable for that age to view.
The idea includes characters who are the age similar to our own and the target audiences this means that the characters are easier to sympathise and relate to.
The locations were chosen according to the genre, these being a isolated park , which is sinister and eerie and the dark room which is inclosed with red lighting to suggest danger.