Question 7 - Mrs Georgiou 3184

 Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The preliminary task was to prepare for the thriller opening sequence and to make sure everything worked.  The equipment included the camera, the tripod and the editing software (final cut x pro) which we used to finish the film.

 From the preliminary task I learnt how to use the camera and all the function on it, also how I should go about actually filming our sequence such as using particular locations and specific camera angles e.g. high shot. These interesting shot angles would make film much more interesting than if we just used a middle shot to shoot it all.  Finally I learnt the way that I should get our actors to act while on camera so they know what they are doing. While filming I learnt how to direct, and how to use the camera on location and to edit the film to its finished product. In the editing I learnt how to cut, crop, input videos and how to add music.

In all I knew what I was doing in relation to filming before I went to the filming location and had it all planned previously. This made the filming much more efficient and most of the shots went to plan. Although things such as weather and light did make things happen differently than we originally planned on thing such as lighting. The preliminary task also enabled us to use editing techniques which further improve our film to make it look more professional.

Question 6 - Mrs Georgiou 3184

Question 5 - Mrs Georgiou 3184

                                                        How did primary and secondary research assist in planning your thriller. Primary research helped my own film in many ways, I used a questionnaire which outlined the questions related to a thriller. Such as what makes a thriller scene better, the build up of the scene with tension or the final thrill of the scene. Secondary research also helped me as I was able to research what other successful thriller films were, and take points from them. As we were meant to stay with the thriller convention it was easy to see the main points which continued to come up in lots of films. These conventions we would include in my own film.

Question 4 - Mrs Georgiou 3184

Question 3 - Mrs Georgiou 3184

Question 2- Mrs Georgiou 3184

Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main and only characters in my own film are a small woman and a murdering man who is masked. The victim in our film is a small woman on her way home from work who gets apprehended on her way to her house. We decided to use her for many reasons in our film, she is a small woman so is very stereotypical of the thriller genre as the damsel in distress and cannot defend herself very well. She is also physically weaker than the killer which puts her in a vulnerable position compared to a man of similar stature to the antagonist. This makes it easier for the audience to relate to her, she easily represents a vulnerable woman that the audience knows so the audience will care for her more than if it was a characters who they could not relate to. This can also be seen in men as they naturally would want to protect the woman against harm. Furthermore she wears some white clothing to represent how innocent she is to the audience, which again makes the compare her to the violent antagonist dressed in black. This all builds up to when she is murdered as when it comes to the murder the audience will have more of a connection to her and the killing will be more personal to the audience. This will make them want to continue watching as they want now to find out what happens to the killer.

The second main character is the murderer who is a young man who stalks and eventually kills the woman. The murderer is a man, so that puts him at a physical advantage over a smaller woman and a man is a stereotypical a killer as they are associated with real killers. This immediately makes the audience dislike him simply as he is a man as men are portrayed more negatively than women in many other thriller films. Secondly he is completely covered and we cannot see his face which makes the audience feel uneasy with him. This will make the audience dislike the man which is our objective as it makes the killing of the woman harder for the audience to watch and they will hate him for murdering her. This is one of the most important roles as it gives a reason for the woman to be murdered and makes for a better chase scene and without him no thrills would happen; which is the overall objective of a thriller film. To an audience this is the characters they want to hate, I do this by dehumanising him and this makes him more distant with the audience. This makes scenes feel more terrifying for them as it is someone they cannot relate to and cannot identify.

Overall we used typical stereotypes to represent our characters in our film for many reasons. This helps the audience relate to the characters and to make the experience more traumatic to them. Women are often seen as victims and that they are weaker and scared, this makes the characters much easier to relate to than a male. This is because women feel sympathy for them and men feel protective of the women in the film. If we use stereotypes then the audience can connect this with what they have seen in other films and make the relate it to other thriller films.

Men are often portrayed as strong characters in thriller films, they can either be the killer or the person trying to stop the murder. So it is very stereotypical that they are represented in my film as a negative character. They are often represented as either the killer or a strong character mainly due to the perception that men are strong and dominant, this makes it easier to represent them negatively this is why they are used in these roles.

Question 1 - Mrs Georgiou 3184

Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?  

The thriller genre has many conventions that are associated with it; these are just some of them: low key lighting, dark and light clothing, male and female characters, suspenseful music, quick cuts and the themes of shock and suspense. Some of the films that use these are Se7en with low key lighting, Shutter Island with suspenseful music and No Country for Old Men with different colours of clothing representing good and evil.

My group used the thriller conventions many times in our own film. One example is the clothing that is used in thriller film which can represent feeling and how good or evil characters are. Our murderer for example is in dark clothing which puts across the negative feeling that he is evil and not to be trusted.This makes the audience have a negative view on him which is exactly what we wanted, therefore this gives the audience a indication of what he is going to do. A second example is our female murderer, who is dresses in black and white, the white which makes the audience feel she is innocent while the black which may give the idea that something bad will happen to her. This makes the audience have sympathy for her as she is innocent and with bad things happening to her. The contrasting colours make her seem confused which makes the scene more conventional as the victim is unsure of the situation.

Another thriller convention is the use of shadows which is used in the ending of my own film, as the audience can see a man swinging the knife down on the woman and the screen fades to black. This helps with the thrills of the scene as we don’t actually see anything but the shadows this makes it all the more shocking for the audience. The shadows give the impression of a horrific death but still do not show what happened graphically.  This is used in Se7en where it is used effectively to hide the killer’s identity while still showing a death. This is conventional as the antagonist is still in the shadows but still commits a murder which links to hidden identity. This is much more appealing to the audience as it shows something that was not totally expected.

Having a female victim is also a convention and very stereotypical with it being in nearly all thrillers. This is used as women in general are physically less strong than men and is used to show innocence and vulnerability in thriller films. This is also generally why they are normally the first victims of a killer in thriller films, such as in Se7en with the detective’s wife.  This is conventional as the female is seen as the damsel in distress,  it is used in nearly all thriller films as the females in the audience feel sympathy for the woman and the men want to protect her. This is used in many films as it is one of the easiest ways in which a film can manipulate the audience.

 

Hidden identity is also a thriller convention which is often used to bring more fear to a killer in a film. I used this in my film and I believe it makes a killer somewhat scarier if you cannot see their face as the audience cannot relate at all to the character. This can also be seen in Se7en until the killer is finally found. It is also another easy way in which a film can make there antagonist feel separated from the violence. This makes it seem that the killer could effectively do anything as they are not responsible for what they do. This makes the antagonist limitless on what they could do.

Conventional sounds are also a way in which thrillers try to make the experience scarier  and more unnerving for the audience. If a scream is used at a perfect time it can take the scene to a different level of thrills from what it would have been without it. Another example is the sound of breathing which when used can mean someone watching, which is also very scary. This is used many times such as in Shutter Island when the detective is inside the cell block. In this scene it is used to shock the audience into making them jump from the sudden change in music and the image on the screen. In my own film it can be seen when the woman is being stalked by the antagonist. This is an effective way to make a scary scene into a terrifying scene.

Lastly, a quick cut is very conventional and is used in nearly all thriller films. This is when a quick cut is used when something happens and it goes very quickly from one shot to another. This helps as it can change the feeling of a scene quickly so is effective in keeping a narrative moving or revealing a killer. One example in my own film is where we first see the killer and it jumps to the victim. This is a excellent way in which a scene can become much quicker and action packed compared to other shots. This is also very exciting for the audience and makes them feel like it is happening simultaneously unlike other shots.

My own thriller film clearly defines the thriller genre as it incorporates many conventions that should be in a thriller film and I have made them more personal to my own film. It encompasses suspense, thrills and action and uses these effectively at points such as in my own film when the woman is being stalked without her knowing. Then the action and thrills start when she finally notices him and she is running away and the final murder. So overall it is clear that my own film closely follows the thriller film stereotypes and only adds a small amount of my own personality in the film.  

There were also many micro elements that I used in my own thriller to improve the quality of the film. An example is using a car park as a location; this creates the normality of a common place which makes the experience more unsettling with the killer for the audience.  Another is the iconography of using a knife, many films use knives as the deaths are more brutal. Also using a knife is much more dramatic than a gun which is good for a thriller film.  

My own thriller film can easily be compared too many other successful thriller films, this is due to me using conventions which overlap both films. The thriller film opening scene that I will be comparing to my own is the thriller film Se7en. Firstly the use of hidden identity in both films helps with making the killer more mysterious. We do it in different ways, me covering the face with a balaclava and Se7en not having his face in shot. This makes the audience feel more uncomfortable with the killer as they in no way can relate to them. We also both use conventional camera angles which add to the scene and conventional music at the correct times. This makes both films look much better than without these important conventions. We continue with the connections in that we both use unusual locations which are conventional to a thriller. I use a car park and a suburban street whereas in Se7en it is a small darkened room. This puts the audience in a unusual position as the scene does not match with the location. Finally low key lighting is used extensively in both films. In my own film it mainly is at the end of the film where the shadows start to form and darkness is more prominent.  In Se7en it is used throughout and is a main focus on the scene, the only light comes from a small light in the room.

Thriller Comparison- Mrs Georgiou

Thriller Comparison

Overall I believe that I have created a successful thriller sequence for many reasons. One reason is that we have managed to include many things that have appeared in many other films such as Se7en , Saw and Insidious. These things include low key lighting , hidden identity and the killer being unusual which accentuate thrills which is the purpose of a thriller. Another way that I created a successful thriller film is that sometimes the film deviates from the stereotypical thriller scene. We dedicated much more time to the stalking of the woman than the chase, in many films such as Se7en the chase lasts several minutes whereas ours lasts half a minute. Then instead of the killer finally catching the victim  the victim runs into the killer, this changes the rules of what is meant to happen in a chase.

There are many micro elements throughout the film which show things such as creativity and understanding . One micro element that I thought that shows creativity is the numerous locations that we used: a car park, a suburban street and a forest area. I thought this would be good as it both is stereotypical,the forest and unusual with the suburban street. A second micro element that I believe shows creativity is the narrative which deviates at some points in the narrative from a traditional thriller. Things such as the victim running into the killer rather than the killer chasing the victim shows how we have taken the traditional narrative and changed it to make it different. Another micro element that shows understanding of the thriller convention is the characters in the film.They are stereotypical of a thriller in the way that there is a male killer who is presented as powerful and dominating. This contrasts with the vulnerable and physically weaker female who is presented as the victim in the film and the clear distinction between them helps the audience understand who is who immediately. Lastly a way we have understood the conventions of a thriller is through the sounds we have used at certain points in the film. For example when the killer first comes into the shot the music instantly changes to a much darker sound. I believe this shows how I understand thriller conventions and can use them in a film.

     

 My own thriller in many aspects compares and contrasts with the opening scene in Se7en. The narrative of our opening scene's are quite different from each other, Se7ens scene does not contain much action but does give images for what is to come such as his victims. My own scene has more action and sets up what is to happen in the future using actions rather than images which Se7en did. This makes it easier for  the representation of characters as it makes a clear difference between them. In Se7en it is not clear whether this person is the killer or a victim although it leans towards the Killer which does not help people understand . This contrasts with my own which makes it clear immediately who is the killer and who is the victim and does this with the sound and costume . This I think helps the audience to get a preconceived idea of what is to happen and make more sense of the narrative.

The sound of the scene can both compare and contrast with my own, the sound has no dialogue which is the same as mine. I know that I did this is to gain interest in the film and not be distracted by too many things going on at the same time, this is what I presume is wanted by Se7en. The music however is in contrast to my own as I use background sound which make the scene more in depth whereas Se7en uses music which changes the mood of the scene.The editing of the scene is another way which both of the starting scenes are dissimilar. Se7ens editing is constant cutting and going from one angle to the next but they all link together. Mine however has cut scenes but has a longer period in between where actions happen. I believe this makes it easier to tell a story than the Se7en editing which is sometime hard to comprehend. Finally mise en scene is also very different beween both of the scenes. In Se7en it uses books and photographs to show what the killer is doing and who are his targets. In my own I simply use a knife to indicate who the killer is. In my own opinion I believe a weapon will make it easier to identify a killer than photographs of people who turn out to be victims. Although it does add suspence that the killer is not properly identified.

In conclusion there are many ways in which blockbuster thriller films can compare and contrast with my own thriller opening sequence .These ways are through mise en scene, editing, sound and cinematography.

Audience Feedback - Mrs Georgiou

 

 

Audience Feedback- Mrs Georgiou

Audience feedback is crucial to a production as it indicates to the maker of the production how the audience will react to it and if they like it or not. The production can then be changed and altered to suit that particular target audience which will make it more of a success as it caters to their wants. If you do not change the production to suit the audience then the production will not be as successful as it could have been , and will cause the film to be a flop.

I received audience feedback through three different ways : screening of the production, questionnaire and a focus group. We use these in different ways, the screening helped as we can see the reaction of the audience and this is a big indication if they like it or not. In the industry this is used as if the film is a success to the audience then they know they will make money from it. Also we know if some of the techniques we used such as hidden identity actually worked from the reaction that the audience gave us. The questionnaire is more specific than the screening  and makes it easier to see whether the audience liked it or not using the 5 questions. For example a question is "Do you think low key lighting contributed towards the overall narrative?". We learnt from this that we should use more music throughout the production than previously thought and one positive comment was "low key lighting really did help the narrative and made it more engaging". This is also helpful in industry as it gives specifics that a production company can work on and improve for the audience, which is what they need to make money from the project. Finally the focus group was one of the most helpful, this is where a group of people sit down and talk about the project. From this we learnt about the good points of the project " the narrative was easy to understand" which was helpful as a group of people agreed on, which makes it more reliable information. This is extremely helpful in industry as a group of their target audience will give a clear indication on whether the film will be a success or not.

There were many constructive points in our feedback that we can use to show that our production will be a success. One positive comment that came through numerous times on the questionnaire was "good use of low key lighting". This is reassuring as it was one of the points that I wanted to come across strongly in my production. This increases the suspence of a seen and makes it somewhat more scary for the audience watching. Another positive comment was that I had  " a clear narative " this is beneficial as it is one of the main parts of the film that can be hard to change if something goes wrong. A last positive comment was that I had a " good killer" , this is one of the best possible outcomes as if there is a weak killer it makes the idea of them murdering people seem absurd.

The three constructive comments that we had found from the questionaires are things that could be improved and I did improve. The first was " more music throughout the production" this can be easily changed by either making music longer or putting in new music. I chose to use the exsisting music as it contributes to the scenes and helps make an atmosphere. A second negative comment was to have "more of a chase scene"; this was hard to so as filming had been done at a paticular set but we managed to use existing scenes to make the chase scene longer using existing film. I felt this was one of the things that was hard to corect as it meant more film being used. Lastly we were asked why we " did not use dialogue" we felt this was one of the things that defined us. Some people saw this as a fault others saw it as a postive so I did not feel I wanted to change it. With these comments we can make our film even better and cater for our target audience which is 15 to 25 year olds. So we can make it quicker and more spooky than before as this is what our target audience wants.

In conclusion I felt that I fully followed the brief of making a two minuite long thriller opening scene. I belive I have done this fully with the thriller being about a killer who is after an innocent woman and the chasing and stalking of her. This is steriotypical of a thriller but wavers from in the way the killer does not chase her all he time but waits for her to come to him. This is the way that we have changed it from the mainstream thriller genre. The opening scene is als two minutes long so it fully supports the brief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rough Cut- Mrs Miller

Rough Cut 

Why is it important to make a rough cut?

It is crucial that a rough cut is used before a final cut because  it helps our group to improve the film and to make it an overall better experience for the audience. This feedback will come from our class who are going to watch it and give us feedback which we can analyse and use. Our trailer is no where near finished as things such as the credits and sound need work this is something that we found from the peer feedback. When we had finished the improving we uploaded it to youtube to make sure that everyone cane see.

Why is  audience feedback is important?

Audience feedback is very important for our film, this is because it gives an indication of what the response from the audience will be. It is also crucial, as these will be the people that we are presenting to and will have an opinion on the film. This will make our film better as with this information we can improve it and change to there tastes. Although this is not always compulsory as it may simply be the audiences opinion.

How did we get our feedback?
We received feedback from marks out of 60 on a sheet and to tell our group what went well and what we could improve on. They also had the mark scheme so that they could give an accurate estimate on how we did, this would also give us a realistic idea of where we were compared to others and how far we were from finishing. These where all done so that we could improve on whatever was indicated in the what could be better question.

We also used a power point at the start of this to indicate to our markers what we wee aspiring for,  this would give them a clearer idea of what we were going for and whether we accomplished it.

Our Results

We received feedback from 8 group who all filled out a sheet and gave us a score out of 60, this indicates what we did well on and what we could improve. Overall our scores had a mixture of things to improve and were very inconsistent. We had marks that ranged from as high as 49 all the way down to 33 which is quite a large range and makes it quite inaccurate. We found from this we were a low band three which makes us only a few marks away from a band four.

The things that the audience thorught we did well were camera angles, use of lighting and sound in certain points. The things we could imprve were consistent sound, more tension and better credits at the start.

From these results we have and accurate picture of what we need to improve and now we know that we can implement changes that will make our film better. We can do it through the use of editing and possibly more sound which will add more tension and help the film flow. Although the low sound could be contributed to the speakers not being turned up enough.