Feedback for Practical

An extremely successful sequence. Effective use of lighting (shadows in particular) Follwed hidden identity conventions which built suspense. Good variety of pace in terms of editing. Soundtrack is also extremely effective. Flash of light that introduces the tiles is very successful and it woul;d be good for you to experiement with this sort of effect more in the the next project (if appropriate to the genre). Effective use of out of focus shots which encourages the spectator to feel uneasy. Well done.

Production Meeting 7

Today we have been doing our final editing. We have finished our title sequence and are very happy with the finished product. 

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Evaluation Notes

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- The music is a generic convention because it is a simple looped composition.
- It creates suspense in the sequence and helps to link the spectator to the scene.
- We have used one male character in our sequence which is stereotypical towards males.
- We used artificial light which increased tension in the scene.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
-It represents isolation of individuals, emphasising that some people have no social groups, and the effect that this can have on someone.
-It also has a stereotypical view of a male, as we chose to use a male instead of a female as this is a more traditional view of a male.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
-I think that our film would be for internet use only, I feel that it is not professional enough to go into a cinema or picture house. Therefore I feel that the film should be presented on the internet for people to view. Unless it was filmed and produced professionally, then this is the place for our film.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
-I think that young adults are our target audience as it is definitely not a child’s film but would not be suitable for the elderly either. Young adults would be our target group but I think that adults in general would suit this film.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
-The suspense and tension allow the spectator to get involved in the sequence and try to understand the meaning of what is happening.
-This targets young adults as it lets them use their mind and they are more capable of trying to figure out aims and understanding.
-It specifically has confusing things in the sequence as it targets this audience.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
-The dolly was too big to fit in the media room so we had to do the filming hand held.
-The programmes were useful

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
-I have learnt that changing shots can be more effective.
-The use of different shots and how they can be used.


Here are just a few ideas for our group to get us started on the evaluation. We are all writing our own evaluation but we need to include the same things. This is just guidlines for understanding the questions.

Our Ideas For Thriller Conventions

• To create suspence and tension. This can be created through many different media techiniques, such as close ups, for example, somebodys face or hands. The music creates most suspence by using eerie or tension creating music, it reflects the mind of character, this is to make the spectator uncomfortable. Lighting to reflect mood and create the mise-en-scene, usually dim lighting etc. We feel that in our sequence suspence and tension is created.
• Good/bad character structure, this is sometimes not very clear. In our sequence we feel that this is a clear convention.
• Visual and narrative hints - motifs
• Plot, the sequence should have a twist in the narrative and make it a mystery to get the spectator thinking.
• You need to create a enigma around a situation or a character. The narrative can be based around the protagonists flaw so he/she is held back in some way.
• Music, a non-diagetic soundtrack which creates the atmosphere and suspense in the sequence. Short titles to create suspense, maybe indicating the flaw or something to do with the film narrative. For example 'Vertigo'
• The main indetity of the character should be questioned. For example, if the character is an evil or kind character.
• Flashbacks could be used to create suspense and create the effect of confusion to keep the spectator interested and wanting more.

Evaluation Questions

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Thriller Rough Cut

This is our rough cut for our thriller title sequence.

We know that this is only rough which is why the sequence is long, we realise that we need to cut out many shots that are not needed and make the sequence less then two minutes long. 

The shots are all in order and the soundtrack is made to go with the sequence. We need to edit the shots to make them ore continuous and edit the soundtrack to fit in. The titles are just placed into the sequence at the moment, however, we need to make them more like titles, so we need to edit them.

In a group discussion along with Emma, we decided on the following improvements:

• Shorten the sequence by at least one minute
• Change the duration of the shots to add suspense and variety
• Edit the titles to make them more interesting and effective
• Edit the soundtrack to fit in with the sequence and give it more suspense
• We need to link shots together with fades and other effects.  

List Of Shots Used

Here is a list of the type of shots we used:

• Match on action. We thought this would be effective as the spectators would be in two situations at once. This makes the spectator think about both scenes and try and piece them together. It shows how real life is relevent as many situations happen all at once and this is how tension is created. It flicks between two different scenes to put the spectator in suspence.
• Close ups.This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a detail of mise en scene. This shot magnifies the object and shows the importance of things. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get that close to our face e.g mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. This is effective as it is used to make the spectator feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character.
• Birds eye view. This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first. This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things.
• Hand held shots. It gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot, and is favoured by filmmakers looking for a gritty realism which involves the viewer very closely with a scene.
• We thought about using a dolly to move around our character whilst also moving upwards to get his whole body, but we filmed in the media studios and it was too small to fit the dolly in it, so we didnt use a dolly, we filmed hand-held, we thought this would be effective as the character is not still in the sequence so we thought the camera shouldnt be, it helps put the spectator into the characters position.

Costumes

We didnt really have a theme for costumes as we were mostly using close up shots so didnt feel the need to have proper costumes.
The male sitting on the stool is wearing a look a like strait jacket, which still looks as effective as it would if it was a real jacket, unfortunately we could not get hold of a strait jacket so we used a coat instead that looked similar.
The shots are mostly close up, and in the dark, so the male is just wearing a dark pair of jeans and a white jacket, no one could tell the difference, which is why we thought to do this. The male is in bare feet. We thought this would be effective as shoes would not look as good in the frame.
The male sitting at the table is wearing a dark jacket with a hood so we can not identify him, and thats basicly all we see of this character so the costumes were not as important.

Possible Title Thoughts

Here are some possible titles that we thought about and the one we chose:

• A Lost Soul
• A Broken Mind
• Destroyed
• Psycho
• Silenced
• An Empty Mind

We chose to use A Broken Mind for our film as this is the one we liked the best and thought had the most relevance.

Production Meeting 6

We have decided that all our filming has been filmed so in todays meeting we will edit our sequence and upload our rough cut to our blog.Our soundtrack is almost finished, however, we need to fit it into our sequence. We will edit our sequence and put it in the right order and add the soundtrack for our rough cut. we will then edit it thoroughly so it looks almost professional.

The music has to fit in with our sequence and we need to edit the soundtrack to do this.
We looked at fonts today to try and find a decent font to use for our titles... here are a few that we liked:

We are very pleased to be nominated for blog of the week as we have all worked very hard on our blog. :)

Analysis Of Student Thriller

We analysed a student thriller to see what expectations we need to consider when producing our thriller. This is what i analysed:

Camerawork: There is many repeated shots to create effect of repetition, to show the spectator that the certain shot is relevent. The shot is being emphasised to keep the spectator wondering about what is happening. The producers of this want the spectator to make relations to a certaing shot. There are close ups of peoples legs and feet to emphasis that the spectator can not see the charactors face, this also keeps the spectator wondering about who the people are in the sequence and what they are doing, it is very important to keep the spectator guessing, and unaware of what is happening. The producers do not want to give away everything before the film has started which is why this is effective. There is a close up of someones eyes, to show their emotion, to keep the spectator aware of the mood of the sequence, this is an important thing to do, so the spectator is interested and is set up for the rest of the film. the opening sequence has to set the mood for the film, and this sequence does. The shots are very dark which may sugest uncertainty whihc could be effective in many ways. The handheld camera creates the effect of movement, it keeps the spectator on the edge of the seat. The producers of this sequence has done exactly that by keeps the spectator involved and interested in what is going to happen.

Editing: There are fades and transitions used to keep the film continual, to create the effect of continuous editing. The transitions are a perfect chance to put in the titles, which in this sequence are good. In one shot of people walking, the pace is slowed down and the shot is in slow motion, this automatically makes the spectator think about the pace to come in the film, the pace is slowed down and speeded up al the way through this sequence, this can be good as it keeps the spectator interested. Some shots have been edited to be black and white, this could create the effect of darkness and uncertainty. It may give the spectator a feel of a colourless picture, which could also set the mood as the mood given out is dim.

Sound: At the beginning of the sequence the sound is really fast paced, this is an instant set for a pace but then throughtout the sequence the pace is slowed down and speeded up. This is done by a variety of shots included slow motion and change in music, in some parts of the sequence the shots are slow paced and the music is slow paced, but in other parts the music is fast and the shots are fast. This shows that the producers have really thought about what mood they want to set and done this in an effective way.

Mise-en-scene: The titles over the picture creates the effect of making the spectator read both the titles and get what is happening in the sequence, this is effective as it helps the spectator link the shots together. The titles are also shown over blank screens which could also be effective as it isolates them to help the spectator concentrate on the titles without linking them to the picture. The sequence has an over all good plot, which is presneted nicely with the shot durations etc. The cliffhanger at the end is really effective as it keeps the spectator wanting more, which is what a title sequence is supposed to do, it makes the spectator want to watch the whole film and put the pieces together. The clothing and settings are kept to a minimal, which suggests that they wanted the spectator to guess the locations, the shots were mostly close ups so you didnt see much of the locations anyway, this could be effective as the spectator is left on the edge of their seat wanting to watch more.

Overall, this sequence has been an influence, as we have an idea of how to produce our title sequence, it helps us to understand properly the point of a title sequence and what effect it can have on the spectator. We will takes points from this sequence and use them to construct our own title sequence. It has been a big influence on us.

Actual Props and Locations

This is another of our locations, we are filming Scott at a table, we are planning on using these clips as flickering images to create the effect of making the spectator unaware of what is happening. These are also the props we are using to place on the table, to make the spectator wonder what the male is doing.

This is the table we are using, it contains a rope, empty film cases and an old broken camera, this is suggesting to the spectator that the male is some kind of psycho man. The table has blood stains on it to make the spectator think he has done something wrong, this is flickering images that link to the male in the empty room. These are linked as its the same male, the male at the table is before the man sitting in the room, to make the spectator wonder what he has done wrong to end up isolated in a room, by himself. We decided not to use a lighter and a knife as this would mean bringing a knife into college, which may cause some problems, we also decided to use a pen and paper, so the character can draw a picture, a childs picture, to suggest he is a psycho. We were planning on using crayons, but couldnt get hold of any so we used a pencil instead, which will still contain the same effect we were planning.

Before we started filming we made sure we had pictures of our locations and props to show what we were going to use and where:

This is a picture of one of our locations, this is where we will be filming most of our main shots.The dark room is to emphasis the isolation of the character, and show that he is in a dark room by himself.

The stall suggests that he is not worthy of anything more, to suggest he is there for a good reason.

The lighting in this picture is natural lighting but as a group we decided to use artificial lighting as this would make our editing process easier, so every shot will have the same lighting. If the lighting was natural we would have all different types of lighting which would look odd.

Blog of the Week Nomination

Just a little note to say I have nominated you for Blog of the Week so keep your eyes open. This blog is excellent. Well done. EMC

Thriller Deadlines

We are fully aware of the thriller deadlines:

1. End of the last lesson of w/c 24th November: ANIMATIC DEADLINE.
2. End of the last lesson of w/c 8th December: ROUGHCUT DEADLINE.
3. End of 1st/ 2nd lesson of w/c 15th December: FINAL CUT DEADLINE.
4. 9am 19th December COMPLETED EVALUATION POWERPOINT TO MOODLE.

Influences On The Soundtrack...

Today i watch a student produced film named Grounded to get some ideas of what to incorperate into the soundtrack for our very own soundtrack. The film gives me an insight into what i should include. Grounded really creates a lot of senses of atmosphere in the viewers mind with dull aching sounds which really create a sense of pain. The soundtrack in Grounded is difficult to listen to because of the screeching and painful sounds which are used in it, and i have found out that a soundtrack with high piching noises and dull drones makes the viewer uncomfortable so i am going to use this idea in my soundtrack.

Production Meeting 5

Today we checked out the studio where we will be filming and we found out that there is a black studio and a white studio. We have decided to use both but for the two different situations. With the black room we will film the guy sitting on the stool and in the white room we will film the guy at the table. This is a big contrast as it sets two different moods for the same guy.
We will get pictures of each room to show as evidence.

We have decided that with the lighting we will either use a bulb to emphasis the situation which will put all the attention on the male. This will help set the mood of isolation for the film. The title sequence is really important in setting the mood for the film, which is why we are considering how to use lighting to emphasis this. We also thought about using natural light to get the effect of realism. We could play around with the blinds in the studio to make the light how we want it to look. We thought that using lighting such a as bulb would help us when it comes to editing as the lighting would be the same in every screen, whereas if we used natural lighting which changes all the time could be hard when it comes to editing because every screen would have different shades of light.

Animatic Feedback

We watched the classes animatic sequences to give them feedback and here is the feedback that we received.

"Shots were fast paced which sets the mood for the title sequence".
People thought this was a positive element as they thought it showed detachment from the main sequence drawing the mind away.


"The spaced out titles shows isolation which emphasis' the story line and sets the mood"
The class thought we put a lot of consideration into our title sequence and believed when fully edited will look professional.


"They had a good sense of how to build suspense with techniques by using different shot types and durations. They have the strengths of a titles sequence with different angles and shot types. They have a good sense of themes and identity and are good at representing it. They have strong imagery"

We had mostly positive feedback feedback from the class although someone did mention that our titles were too fast and hard to read. We have already taken this into consideration as we know it is only a rough cut and not the actual title sequence. We realize that this animatic will help us in our production and have understood that we will have a lot longer to edit when it comes to the final production. We only had a set amount of time to edit this animatic so it is not perfect!

Overall Plan

We now have a good idea of the production of our thriller title sequence.
The aims are to keep the spectator interested and involved in the sequence. The purpose of a title sequence is to establish the mood and the visual charactor or the film, to introduce the spectator to some of these elements:

• Characters
• Locations
• Narrative
• Plot
• Themes
• Genre
• Visual style

Looking back at thriller conventions we have A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions. Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations. A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved. Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist. Titles reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist’s psychological state.

We plan to film like our storyboard, but in more detail. We hope that our sequence goes to plan. We will have soon uploaded images of our loacations and actual props.