Friday, 1 May 2009
Friday, 3 April 2009
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For our thriller research we did in class, one film that heavily influenced our final production was ‘Leon’. It firstly influenced our plot and story which is a conventional plot. A young girl becomes a heavy drug user and becomes addicted, this leads to her not being able to pay for the drugs but physically needing them putting her into debt with the drug dealer who pays off the debt by killing the girls family. This is much like ‘Leon’ how the girl played by Natalie Portman has her house broken into and searched for drugs that were hidden which leads to her whole family being killed. It influenced our location of using a house and a staircase in particular with the family being killed in a claustrophobic flat and the first action scene heavily uses a stair case. The staircase is also used by Alfred Hitchcock in ‘Vertigo’. The music that we wrote for the thriller was influenced by the dark string based music notably seen in TV Drama ‘Spooks’. The strings are a very good conventional instrument to use to create a somber and melancholy mood in the atmosphere. The montage like beach shots were influenced by the Cohen Brothers ‘No Country For Old Men’ that has a voice over and montage shots of a southern state landscape with a voice over. Our voiceover was by influence in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill 2 in which the open titles are shown and a voice over was used so that the audience would primarily focus on the dialogue that fades into a black and white close up shot of Uma Thurman’s character. The use of black and white in Kill Bill 2 influenced us using black and white for the present and colour for the past. This also shows how the present was a grey blur for our protagonist and the past was a vivid emotional memory.
Our thriller also challenges conventions thrillers. In ‘Don’t Look Now’ the child in red is portrayed as innocent and naïve playing in the garden. In our thriller we do not include any shots of the innocents of the child (brother of our main character). We partly did this to keep the pace of the opening and keep within a time span also we did not want to focus on the child but the girls emotions. Our gangster was going to originally going to be a more conventional suited Mafiosi like character partly due to casting problems but also as we did not think a Mafiosi like character is appropriate for a British gangster so we chose to use a younger character more like a character from ‘Kidulthood’. The use of a beach is unconventional as usually thriller locations are dark, claustrophobic and confined but the beach is very isolated.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As our protagonist is a young teenager some of our target audience (18-28) may be able to relate to her or may have known someone in a similar situation, drug addict struggling to make ends meet through uncontrollable physical addiction. She also seems like a normal girl this is indicated by the mise en scene of both the house and the clothing. The house is a normal middle class terraced house. Throughout the scenes she is also wearing ‘normal’ teenagers’ clothes.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think the product would be distributed in a main stream multi-plex cinema due to it being quite conventional. Other mainstream thrillers that are similar are ‘Leon’ and ‘Memento’. The lighting isn’t too dark and noir to be an art house product and I think the final product is of higher standard than a straight to DVD product. Also I think the storyline is not expandable enough to become a Television series or parts of a TV film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Being a British thriller it will appeal to the British public rather than an American audience. Also being a psychological thriller it will appeal to an older audience (18-28). Our main character is a late teen girl who has become a drug addict this then may appeal to girls as she can be shown as an example of the pitfalls of drug addiction. But also may appeal to the male audience due to the characters and the morals of the gangsters and criminals within the film.
Leon
Votes Average
Males
113,824 8.6
Females
15,136 8.6
Aged under 18
2,136 8.8
Males under 18
1,683 8.9
Females under 18
450 7.8
Aged 18-29
85,553 8.8
Males Aged 18-29
75,593 8.8
Females Aged 18-29
9,636 8.9
Aged 30-44
33,774 8.5
Males Aged 30-44
29,829 8.5
Females Aged 30-44
3,590 8.4
Aged 45+
7,245 7.9
Males Aged 45+
5,841 8.0
Females Aged 45+
1,337 6.9
As you can see from the above chart, females aged 18-29 enjoyed Leon the most out of all audiences.
How did you attract/address your audience?
One way in which we attracted our audience was through the use of our music that is fitting to the emotions of the girl and fit well to the intriguing flashback. Our flashbacks are suspenseful drawing the audience into the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process constructing this product?
From the process I have learnt the importance of a varied amount of shot types and shot movements to create an interesting film. I have learnt how to use a digital and utilise its functions to our own needs. I have also learnt how to edit efficiently and with little inconvenience. This helped us construct the narrative structure to help the audience understand the opening. We used quite a few effects such as changing the saturation on the shot of the heroin being prepared, using a black and white effect on the present day shots and using ‘fade to black’ as a transitional effect. I also learnt how to edit very closely to try and create the best effect from the media product.
Looking back at preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel I have learnt a great deal. One major factor was getting the storyboards more accurate so we could get the correct shots. Also taking these shots as many times as possible and shooting any other shots that may not be in the storyboard but may be used. It also showed us how editing is the key to getting the film better as our preliminary task was not as well edited as our final thriller opening. It also showed us that we should all have more individual influence in the opening were we are more talented. Such as I did quite a lot of editing and produced the music. But as a group we shot the opening and planned the opening but, for example, as I’m not a very good drawer Rosy and Katie did the storyboarding. I think I learnt that using a variety of shots is important in keeping the audience interested especially close ups and extreme close ups to keep the audience in touch with the actors/actresses. Also master shots and establishing shots are important so the mise en scene is recognised by the audience. From the preliminary task I have also learnt that it is important to use match on action and the 180 degree rule so the audience does not get confused.
For our thriller research we did in class, one film that heavily influenced our final production was ‘Leon’. It firstly influenced our plot and story which is a conventional plot. A young girl becomes a heavy drug user and becomes addicted, this leads to her not being able to pay for the drugs but physically needing them putting her into debt with the drug dealer who pays off the debt by killing the girls family. This is much like ‘Leon’ how the girl played by Natalie Portman has her house broken into and searched for drugs that were hidden which leads to her whole family being killed. It influenced our location of using a house and a staircase in particular with the family being killed in a claustrophobic flat and the first action scene heavily uses a stair case. The staircase is also used by Alfred Hitchcock in ‘Vertigo’. The music that we wrote for the thriller was influenced by the dark string based music notably seen in TV Drama ‘Spooks’. The strings are a very good conventional instrument to use to create a somber and melancholy mood in the atmosphere. The montage like beach shots were influenced by the Cohen Brothers ‘No Country For Old Men’ that has a voice over and montage shots of a southern state landscape with a voice over. Our voiceover was by influence in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill 2 in which the open titles are shown and a voice over was used so that the audience would primarily focus on the dialogue that fades into a black and white close up shot of Uma Thurman’s character. The use of black and white in Kill Bill 2 influenced us using black and white for the present and colour for the past. This also shows how the present was a grey blur for our protagonist and the past was a vivid emotional memory.
Our thriller also challenges conventions thrillers. In ‘Don’t Look Now’ the child in red is portrayed as innocent and naïve playing in the garden. In our thriller we do not include any shots of the innocents of the child (brother of our main character). We partly did this to keep the pace of the opening and keep within a time span also we did not want to focus on the child but the girls emotions. Our gangster was going to originally going to be a more conventional suited Mafiosi like character partly due to casting problems but also as we did not think a Mafiosi like character is appropriate for a British gangster so we chose to use a younger character more like a character from ‘Kidulthood’. The use of a beach is unconventional as usually thriller locations are dark, claustrophobic and confined but the beach is very isolated.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
As our protagonist is a young teenager some of our target audience (18-28) may be able to relate to her or may have known someone in a similar situation, drug addict struggling to make ends meet through uncontrollable physical addiction. She also seems like a normal girl this is indicated by the mise en scene of both the house and the clothing. The house is a normal middle class terraced house. Throughout the scenes she is also wearing ‘normal’ teenagers’ clothes.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think the product would be distributed in a main stream multi-plex cinema due to it being quite conventional. Other mainstream thrillers that are similar are ‘Leon’ and ‘Memento’. The lighting isn’t too dark and noir to be an art house product and I think the final product is of higher standard than a straight to DVD product. Also I think the storyline is not expandable enough to become a Television series or parts of a TV film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Being a British thriller it will appeal to the British public rather than an American audience. Also being a psychological thriller it will appeal to an older audience (18-28). Our main character is a late teen girl who has become a drug addict this then may appeal to girls as she can be shown as an example of the pitfalls of drug addiction. But also may appeal to the male audience due to the characters and the morals of the gangsters and criminals within the film.
Leon
Votes Average
Males
113,824 8.6
Females
15,136 8.6
Aged under 18
2,136 8.8
Males under 18
1,683 8.9
Females under 18
450 7.8
Aged 18-29
85,553 8.8
Males Aged 18-29
75,593 8.8
Females Aged 18-29
9,636 8.9
Aged 30-44
33,774 8.5
Males Aged 30-44
29,829 8.5
Females Aged 30-44
3,590 8.4
Aged 45+
7,245 7.9
Males Aged 45+
5,841 8.0
Females Aged 45+
1,337 6.9
As you can see from the above chart, females aged 18-29 enjoyed Leon the most out of all audiences.
How did you attract/address your audience?
One way in which we attracted our audience was through the use of our music that is fitting to the emotions of the girl and fit well to the intriguing flashback. Our flashbacks are suspenseful drawing the audience into the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process constructing this product?
From the process I have learnt the importance of a varied amount of shot types and shot movements to create an interesting film. I have learnt how to use a digital and utilise its functions to our own needs. I have also learnt how to edit efficiently and with little inconvenience. This helped us construct the narrative structure to help the audience understand the opening. We used quite a few effects such as changing the saturation on the shot of the heroin being prepared, using a black and white effect on the present day shots and using ‘fade to black’ as a transitional effect. I also learnt how to edit very closely to try and create the best effect from the media product.
Looking back at preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel I have learnt a great deal. One major factor was getting the storyboards more accurate so we could get the correct shots. Also taking these shots as many times as possible and shooting any other shots that may not be in the storyboard but may be used. It also showed us how editing is the key to getting the film better as our preliminary task was not as well edited as our final thriller opening. It also showed us that we should all have more individual influence in the opening were we are more talented. Such as I did quite a lot of editing and produced the music. But as a group we shot the opening and planned the opening but, for example, as I’m not a very good drawer Rosy and Katie did the storyboarding. I think I learnt that using a variety of shots is important in keeping the audience interested especially close ups and extreme close ups to keep the audience in touch with the actors/actresses. Also master shots and establishing shots are important so the mise en scene is recognised by the audience. From the preliminary task I have also learnt that it is important to use match on action and the 180 degree rule so the audience does not get confused.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Method 2 – Unit G322 evaluating audience research
Method 2 – Unit G322 evaluating audience research
Age?
Occupation?
Gender?
aspirations?
who do you prefer to view films with?
What is your favourite film genre?
how do you prefer to watch films?
How much TV do you watch a week?
What is your favourite TV genre?
What thriller films have you seen recently?
what of the following British films have you seen? Essex Boys
snatch
Billy Elliot
Control
Brassed Off
this is England
Trainspotting
Rock 'n' Rolla
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Get Carter
Shaun Of the Dead
What do you think makes a good thriller film?
Who is your favourite Actor/Actress?
Have they featured in any thriller films you know of?
What is your favourite thriller film?
Who is your favourite thriller Director
from this list?
Quentin Tarantino
Michael Scorsese
Steven Spielberg
Alfred Hitchcock
What is your favourite TV Series?
Do you watch any of the following British TV Thriller series:
Life of Mars
Ashes to Ashes
Criminal Justice
Touch of Frost
Midsomer Murders
The Bill
I asked people at random to do my questionnaire that I had compiled for audience research. I asked 12 people to do the questionnaire and the following evaluation is on the questionnaire results.
For my first few questions I got some background information. My participants were 5 to 7 ratio girls (42%) to boys (58%). Most of my candidates were between 16 to 19 years old (66% 16, 16% 46, 16% 17, 8% 19) and were students (83% students). I had 2 other candidates who were both 46, one a carpenter (13%) and one a secretary (13%). Most aspirations were university and higher education, few traveling and one sarcastic comment ‘too late for that’. These questions were to get some bases of their background so I could evaluate what characteristics and lifestyle chose what media. The results and percentage of the demographic would have been one sided due to the questionnaires mainly being filled in and collecting in a school resulting in a high percentage of under 19’s and high aspirations for university which may have not been as high in a demographic taken from a source with more elderly people.
For my second band of questions I asked about viewing and favourite genres. I asked both favourite genres for TV and film.
TV
Film
There is collation between the 2 as my focus group appear to favour comedy as a genre overall but then thriller is favored within film. I think this is due to plots and story which an hour and a half comedy film may lack in comparison to gripping thriller. An example of this may be ‘Borat’ as as a TV programme with a short scene it has more spark than an hour and half long of the same humor in contrast to ‘Pulp Fiction’ that throughout has gripping scenes and fast paced action along with a great story line and superb narrative structure in which it is told.
The next graph shows how people prefer to watch films. This shows how most prefer to watch it at a cinema. I think the advantage of being at home is the comfort of your own home and own control over the film but this is probably out weighed by the quality of picture and sound and grand screen at a cinema and the release of new material all the time.
How do you prefer to watch films?
For the question about how much tv each subject watches a week an average came out as 11.4 hours.
The next questions were on films and actors. For favourite thriller film the results were very one sided surprisingly as this pie chart shows. (Pulp Fiction 42%).
This is backed up by the question on favourite directors.
Where it shows the director of Pulp Fiction being favorite of the 4.
The figures for the question ‘what of the following British films have you seen’ the results were evenly balanced with only ‘Shaun of The Dead’ being the one film that the majority of the subjects had viewed. This shows their support for British comedy and links back to the favorite genre question as comedy was the overall favorite.
The next question that was asked was what makes a good thriller this gave some interesting views.
As seen above the most valuable characteristic to audience in a thriller are the characters and the action. This maybe due to my focus group being able to judge and relate to characters within their own lives. Also they may find it easier to follow action through a film rather than a complex plot . Also such characteristics such as music and lighting are unusually unconsciously recognized by the audience only 8% of my target recognized it as s feature. With few films using different time frames with the exception of Tarrantino’s work it’s not a recognized feature of thriller films.
The Last set of questions asked about TV. The list of British thrillers showed how half of my participants watch Life on Mars showing its success (50%) and then a quarter of my participants watch the follow up series ‘Ashes to Ashes’ (25%) this could show that they did not enjoy the ‘Life on Mars’ enough to watch the follow up series. Out of all the thriller series listed only ‘Criminal Justice’ was not viewed by any of the 12 participants.
I find interesting that 2 of my participants were a couple and same age (46) and much of their data was similar. They had both had watched the same films from the list of British films( all but Rock ‘n’ Rolla), both watched the same British TV thrillers (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), both chose thriller as their favourite film genre and both chose Pulp fiction and Tarantino as their favourite director and film.
It would appear that some answers from participants were influenced by the situation they were in at the moment of completing the questionnaire. Such as the response of wanting to become an astronaut or wanting to watch a film ‘with my eyes’. I think this is due to me handing out a bunch of questionnaires in the study hall to a group of students who knew each other and wanted to make a joke so they wrote these humorous comments.
Also as in my question about aspirations I did not put in options boxes so one reply from my one of my eldest participants (46) was more sarcastic, ‘to late for that’. I think this shows how aspirations die out over years.
In conclusion I think my question shows continuity between TV and film media and its consumption by the audience and also how people pick out certain points from a film/tv that they find easy to follow.
Age?
Occupation?
Gender?
aspirations?
who do you prefer to view films with?
What is your favourite film genre?
how do you prefer to watch films?
How much TV do you watch a week?
What is your favourite TV genre?
What thriller films have you seen recently?
what of the following British films have you seen? Essex Boys
snatch
Billy Elliot
Control
Brassed Off
this is England
Trainspotting
Rock 'n' Rolla
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Get Carter
Shaun Of the Dead
What do you think makes a good thriller film?
Who is your favourite Actor/Actress?
Have they featured in any thriller films you know of?
What is your favourite thriller film?
Who is your favourite thriller Director
from this list?
Quentin Tarantino
Michael Scorsese
Steven Spielberg
Alfred Hitchcock
What is your favourite TV Series?
Do you watch any of the following British TV Thriller series:
Life of Mars
Ashes to Ashes
Criminal Justice
Touch of Frost
Midsomer Murders
The Bill
I asked people at random to do my questionnaire that I had compiled for audience research. I asked 12 people to do the questionnaire and the following evaluation is on the questionnaire results.
For my first few questions I got some background information. My participants were 5 to 7 ratio girls (42%) to boys (58%). Most of my candidates were between 16 to 19 years old (66% 16, 16% 46, 16% 17, 8% 19) and were students (83% students). I had 2 other candidates who were both 46, one a carpenter (13%) and one a secretary (13%). Most aspirations were university and higher education, few traveling and one sarcastic comment ‘too late for that’. These questions were to get some bases of their background so I could evaluate what characteristics and lifestyle chose what media. The results and percentage of the demographic would have been one sided due to the questionnaires mainly being filled in and collecting in a school resulting in a high percentage of under 19’s and high aspirations for university which may have not been as high in a demographic taken from a source with more elderly people.
For my second band of questions I asked about viewing and favourite genres. I asked both favourite genres for TV and film.
TV
Film
There is collation between the 2 as my focus group appear to favour comedy as a genre overall but then thriller is favored within film. I think this is due to plots and story which an hour and a half comedy film may lack in comparison to gripping thriller. An example of this may be ‘Borat’ as as a TV programme with a short scene it has more spark than an hour and half long of the same humor in contrast to ‘Pulp Fiction’ that throughout has gripping scenes and fast paced action along with a great story line and superb narrative structure in which it is told.
The next graph shows how people prefer to watch films. This shows how most prefer to watch it at a cinema. I think the advantage of being at home is the comfort of your own home and own control over the film but this is probably out weighed by the quality of picture and sound and grand screen at a cinema and the release of new material all the time.
How do you prefer to watch films?
For the question about how much tv each subject watches a week an average came out as 11.4 hours.
The next questions were on films and actors. For favourite thriller film the results were very one sided surprisingly as this pie chart shows. (Pulp Fiction 42%).
This is backed up by the question on favourite directors.
Where it shows the director of Pulp Fiction being favorite of the 4.
The figures for the question ‘what of the following British films have you seen’ the results were evenly balanced with only ‘Shaun of The Dead’ being the one film that the majority of the subjects had viewed. This shows their support for British comedy and links back to the favorite genre question as comedy was the overall favorite.
The next question that was asked was what makes a good thriller this gave some interesting views.
As seen above the most valuable characteristic to audience in a thriller are the characters and the action. This maybe due to my focus group being able to judge and relate to characters within their own lives. Also they may find it easier to follow action through a film rather than a complex plot . Also such characteristics such as music and lighting are unusually unconsciously recognized by the audience only 8% of my target recognized it as s feature. With few films using different time frames with the exception of Tarrantino’s work it’s not a recognized feature of thriller films.
The Last set of questions asked about TV. The list of British thrillers showed how half of my participants watch Life on Mars showing its success (50%) and then a quarter of my participants watch the follow up series ‘Ashes to Ashes’ (25%) this could show that they did not enjoy the ‘Life on Mars’ enough to watch the follow up series. Out of all the thriller series listed only ‘Criminal Justice’ was not viewed by any of the 12 participants.
I find interesting that 2 of my participants were a couple and same age (46) and much of their data was similar. They had both had watched the same films from the list of British films( all but Rock ‘n’ Rolla), both watched the same British TV thrillers (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), both chose thriller as their favourite film genre and both chose Pulp fiction and Tarantino as their favourite director and film.
It would appear that some answers from participants were influenced by the situation they were in at the moment of completing the questionnaire. Such as the response of wanting to become an astronaut or wanting to watch a film ‘with my eyes’. I think this is due to me handing out a bunch of questionnaires in the study hall to a group of students who knew each other and wanted to make a joke so they wrote these humorous comments.
Also as in my question about aspirations I did not put in options boxes so one reply from my one of my eldest participants (46) was more sarcastic, ‘to late for that’. I think this shows how aspirations die out over years.
In conclusion I think my question shows continuity between TV and film media and its consumption by the audience and also how people pick out certain points from a film/tv that they find easy to follow.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
BBFC
1. Explain the role of the BBFC
The BBFC, that use to stand for British Board of Film Censorship but stands for British Board of Film Classification, are an independent classification company. There job is to create regulations and age restrictions on films and video games also giving guidelines to the audience of what is contained within the film. They charge the distributor of the film a fee to empower them to classify their film.
2. How does regulation impact upon the distribution and marketing of a film?
Most films have ask or want to be put within a certain band so there widest potential audience can view it. For instance a Disney film would want a U or a PG so that their target audience could go and see the film. Most companies do not like to get an 18 rating as most cinema audiences are around the age of 15. When a film is being distributed and marketed the distributors and marketing team would want the film to get the rating they would want to make the most money if they do not get the rating they want they may have to re-cut the film to get the needed rating to make the most money but also getting the balance right as they may over-cut the film. One example is the film ‘Veronica Guerin’ in which one violent scene brought the film up to a 15 from a 12 but the if the scene was cut the rest of the film may have been out of context.
3. How might technologies and new ways of distributing film problematise the way in which film is regulated?
With DVD’s widely available the extra’s on the DVD may raise the rating of the film as the extras or extended versions of films have more explicit content within them
4. Paragraph
One thing I found interesting about the workshop was that local branches and administration could overall the BBFC’s decision. This was surprising although in practice I would not have thought many authorities utilise this option.
One thing I didn’t know was that the BBFC was not a government based company. I thought that films would have to be rated under government law so this would lead to the classification company also being under government control.
One thing I can link to my media studies course is our Thriller opening. From our 2 minutes of film that we have shot I would say the film would be a 12 as there is violence but no infliction of pain is seen and also there are scenes of drug use.
5.
• Intro
• BBFC’s work
• Films aim at certain rating
• How a rating can effect distributor
• How a rating can effect potential audience
1. Explain the role of the BBFC
The BBFC, that use to stand for British Board of Film Censorship but stands for British Board of Film Classification, are an independent classification company. There job is to create regulations and age restrictions on films and video games also giving guidelines to the audience of what is contained within the film. They charge the distributor of the film a fee to empower them to classify their film.
2. How does regulation impact upon the distribution and marketing of a film?
Most films have ask or want to be put within a certain band so there widest potential audience can view it. For instance a Disney film would want a U or a PG so that their target audience could go and see the film. Most companies do not like to get an 18 rating as most cinema audiences are around the age of 15. When a film is being distributed and marketed the distributors and marketing team would want the film to get the rating they would want to make the most money if they do not get the rating they want they may have to re-cut the film to get the needed rating to make the most money but also getting the balance right as they may over-cut the film. One example is the film ‘Veronica Guerin’ in which one violent scene brought the film up to a 15 from a 12 but the if the scene was cut the rest of the film may have been out of context.
3. How might technologies and new ways of distributing film problematise the way in which film is regulated?
With DVD’s widely available the extra’s on the DVD may raise the rating of the film as the extras or extended versions of films have more explicit content within them
4. Paragraph
One thing I found interesting about the workshop was that local branches and administration could overall the BBFC’s decision. This was surprising although in practice I would not have thought many authorities utilise this option.
One thing I didn’t know was that the BBFC was not a government based company. I thought that films would have to be rated under government law so this would lead to the classification company also being under government control.
One thing I can link to my media studies course is our Thriller opening. From our 2 minutes of film that we have shot I would say the film would be a 12 as there is violence but no infliction of pain is seen and also there are scenes of drug use.
5.
• Intro
• BBFC’s work
• Films aim at certain rating
• How a rating can effect distributor
• How a rating can effect potential audience
Friday, 6 March 2009
Leon
Leon was released on 3rd February 1995. The film was directed and written by Luc Besson. The film was nominated for 2 awards and had another 8 nominations. The film stars Natalie Portman as a 12 year old girl, Gary Oldman and Jean Reno. The whole story is based around Leon who is and Italian Immigrant who had become a hit man. Mathilda the twelve year old girl live in the same apartment as him. Because of her dads drug dealings her whole family are murdered by Stansfield apart from Mathilda who was out shopping. She meets Leon and they develop a friendship as Mathilda has no family left.
The film begins with a birds eye view of New York City the camera continues to go over the city and then along the streets and finally moves closer and closer to a door at the end of the street. This shot creates a sense of tension and mystery which intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch more of the film. It also helps to establish the genre. The Camera then cuts to inside where two men are sitting down discussing a “job” one of the men is Leon and the other one is leons boss Tony although it is not obvious to the audience at this stage. The two men are sitting in a dark room either side of a table. The lighting in this scene helps to create a sense of mystery. The extreme close ups on Leon helps to establish him as the main character in the film also we do not see his whole face so it builds up tension and makes him more mysterious. Also when he drinks a glass of milk quickly it gives us an in sight into his characters personality although we do not realise this until later in the film. In this scene the camera cuts quite fast to each shot which builds up the tension in the film. Leon wears a pair of glasses as well which help to obscure his face even more. It could also be a quite scary feature as you can’t see his eyes. The shots in this scene are very quick and don’t last for more than a couple of seconds.
The camera then cuts to a man wearing sunglasses walking down a corridor. This is the man Leon has been ordered to kill. He proceeds through the building and enters a room. He speaks to the people who work for him. The light it quite bright in the scene which is a contrast from the previous scene. The man is talking to his men and then you see a close up of a man opening a briefcase. The camera then cuts and move to a shot of the man you saw earlier standing at the front of the building. You then see a shadow cover the man’s face. I think this is the moment in the film when you know that something wrong is going to happen. A shot follows with a man speaking to the guy that Leon is trying to kill and he has a gun to head. You can’t see who is pointing a gun so there is a still a sense of mystery in the scene. The camera cuts and you see blood splattered against the wall. I believe this is the point in the film where the equilibrium is broken. After speaking to his guards to go and get the Leon there is an elevator sequence where there are a series of close up shots of the numbers of the elevator this again builds tension and as an audience you expect maybe to see the Leon come out of the elevator but instead there appears a man bent over dead with blood dripping from him.
The opening of Leon is good because it uses close up shots to build tension and intrigue the audience. The use of lighting with shadows helps to create mystery and tension. This is something I will take into account when making my thriller film.
The film begins with a birds eye view of New York City the camera continues to go over the city and then along the streets and finally moves closer and closer to a door at the end of the street. This shot creates a sense of tension and mystery which intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch more of the film. It also helps to establish the genre. The Camera then cuts to inside where two men are sitting down discussing a “job” one of the men is Leon and the other one is leons boss Tony although it is not obvious to the audience at this stage. The two men are sitting in a dark room either side of a table. The lighting in this scene helps to create a sense of mystery. The extreme close ups on Leon helps to establish him as the main character in the film also we do not see his whole face so it builds up tension and makes him more mysterious. Also when he drinks a glass of milk quickly it gives us an in sight into his characters personality although we do not realise this until later in the film. In this scene the camera cuts quite fast to each shot which builds up the tension in the film. Leon wears a pair of glasses as well which help to obscure his face even more. It could also be a quite scary feature as you can’t see his eyes. The shots in this scene are very quick and don’t last for more than a couple of seconds.
The camera then cuts to a man wearing sunglasses walking down a corridor. This is the man Leon has been ordered to kill. He proceeds through the building and enters a room. He speaks to the people who work for him. The light it quite bright in the scene which is a contrast from the previous scene. The man is talking to his men and then you see a close up of a man opening a briefcase. The camera then cuts and move to a shot of the man you saw earlier standing at the front of the building. You then see a shadow cover the man’s face. I think this is the moment in the film when you know that something wrong is going to happen. A shot follows with a man speaking to the guy that Leon is trying to kill and he has a gun to head. You can’t see who is pointing a gun so there is a still a sense of mystery in the scene. The camera cuts and you see blood splattered against the wall. I believe this is the point in the film where the equilibrium is broken. After speaking to his guards to go and get the Leon there is an elevator sequence where there are a series of close up shots of the numbers of the elevator this again builds tension and as an audience you expect maybe to see the Leon come out of the elevator but instead there appears a man bent over dead with blood dripping from him.
The opening of Leon is good because it uses close up shots to build tension and intrigue the audience. The use of lighting with shadows helps to create mystery and tension. This is something I will take into account when making my thriller film.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Titles
For our titles we used a simple block like font with that fades in and out for each credit over a black background. The titles consist of 'Reel Film Production', 'Directed and Produced by', 'Music By' and at the end the film title, 'Safe From Harm'.
Our titles are the focus at the start as they are the only visible object in the mise en scene. The titles are reminiscent of older thriller films such as Alfed Hitchcock's 'Birds' or 'Pyscho' which had little or no activity other than the rolling titles.
Our titles are the focus at the start as they are the only visible object in the mise en scene. The titles are reminiscent of older thriller films such as Alfed Hitchcock's 'Birds' or 'Pyscho' which had little or no activity other than the rolling titles.
Shooting Schedule
Our opening is set in two different locations so we are going to firstly shoot at my house which is the girls house in the film. After we have shot all the shots in my house and alleyway we will go to haulkham beach to shoot the secound location shots.
20th December 12.00 noon - college road norwich, norfolk.
4th January 1.00 pm - Haulkham beach, north norfolk.
20th December 12.00 noon - college road norwich, norfolk.
4th January 1.00 pm - Haulkham beach, north norfolk.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Reflection and Amendments from original plan
On reflections from our original plan we did come across some difficulties. Firstly we was going to use 'Safe From Harm' by Massive Attack but due to copyright infringement laws we could not so we decided to compose our own music to fit stylistically to the film atmospherically and ambient and also synchronous to key points in the opening. Our secound obstacle was finding the right actress as we did have a lead actress for the role of our protagonist girl but due to difficulty with times and dates we could not film with this actress at Holkham beach. To solve this we got another actress with more flexible time to come film at the beach with us and this turned out to be a success. One part that we had planned is for our lead actress to walk slowly into the sea as a ambiguous ending in which we would have created suspense due to the audience not knowing if she is going to commit suicide or not but due to the weather being close to 0 degrees we felt it was not neccessary to so we did not take shots of her in the water.
We referenced other films within our film. Most notable is 'Leon' as we took a lot of inspiration from the scene in which Matilda's family is killed in their flat. We also referenced scenes from 'Trainspotting' with the use of drugs, especially heroin.
We referenced other films within our film. Most notable is 'Leon' as we took a lot of inspiration from the scene in which Matilda's family is killed in their flat. We also referenced scenes from 'Trainspotting' with the use of drugs, especially heroin.
Script:
Boyfriend: [Annoyed] What d'ya want me down 'ere for then?
Alice: [Desperate] I can't do it.
Boyfriend: [Confused, angry] Do what?
Alice: [Begginning to cry] You, the drugs, everything.
Boyfriend: [laughs nervously] Don't be so stupid-
Alice: [Stubborn but still sad] No! It was only meant to be one time and now look at us, look at me. It's got to end...
Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill 2' uses the same concept of a voice-over over a black shot. This draws focus on the diagetic sound rather than the mise en scene or action. It also means the voices have a lot of mystery behind them as we can not see who is talking or where they are. This is a convention of the genre as mystery and incognito disguises are used a lot in thriller films. Such as 'Leon' when we do not see all of Leons face but extreme close ups of the glass of milk, his dark glasses ect.
Boyfriend: [Annoyed] What d'ya want me down 'ere for then?
Alice: [Desperate] I can't do it.
Boyfriend: [Confused, angry] Do what?
Alice: [Begginning to cry] You, the drugs, everything.
Boyfriend: [laughs nervously] Don't be so stupid-
Alice: [Stubborn but still sad] No! It was only meant to be one time and now look at us, look at me. It's got to end...
Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill 2' uses the same concept of a voice-over over a black shot. This draws focus on the diagetic sound rather than the mise en scene or action. It also means the voices have a lot of mystery behind them as we can not see who is talking or where they are. This is a convention of the genre as mystery and incognito disguises are used a lot in thriller films. Such as 'Leon' when we do not see all of Leons face but extreme close ups of the glass of milk, his dark glasses ect.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Evaluation of characters and actors, location, costume and props and soundtrack.
Characters and Actors
Within our opening for our thriller we have four characters seen throughout also with another character's voice in the narrative at the start. The main character is the girl, played by Meghan Summerfield, she is a drug addict who keeps on failing to pay her dealer the money for her drug addiction. This leads to her being threatened by the drug dealer but she doesn't listen to the threats. The drug dealer, who is played by Jack Mullane, is a thuggish gangster type character much like a characters from Guy Richie films such as 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' or 'Snatch'. The mum and child are innocent characters blind to their daughters/sisters drug addiction. The mum is played by Katie Boyer and the Child by Chris Boyer.Within our initial research we found characters such as the young girl in 'Leon' who's family are killed due todrug related problems. This is similar to our films as we have a young girl who is addicted to drugs and due to this her family are killed.
Locations
The opening takes part in two locations. One is the present and the other is the past seen as flashbacks. The 'present' location takes place at Holkham Beach in North Norfolk. We thought the setting was perfect as the beach is long and wide with a ripe tide, surrounded by the sea and pine woods made it the perfected isolated spot reflecting the Girls isolation in the world after the death of her close family. The 'flashbacks' take place in my house which is a medium sized terraced Victorian house that is backed onto by an alleyway. The house is used as the Girl's and her family's house that gets broken into by the dealer as he kills off her family. The alleyway was perfect as it is normally very quite and realistic as that would probably be the preferred route in if breaking in. The house we use is like the house used in equilibrium as its subdued and claustrophobic. The locations fit the conventions of a thriller as they have there own feelings attached such as solitude or claustrophobia.
Evaluation of Props and Costume.
The props we are going to use are; BB Gun, Needle, Spoon, Chili powder and toys. The spoon and chili powder is going to be used to create a fake heroin scene as well as the needle. The gun is for the drug dealer and the toys for the Girls brother playing with them showing his innocence. For the costumes we need a hooded top, a scarf, jeans and trainers for our drug dealer, the scarf so he can counsel his identity. For the Girl at the beach we need a long flowing scarf to blow in gusts of wind and hopefully lay on the water as she walks in. The staircase that we are going to use in our opening is conventional to the genre and is used in many thriller films including 'Leon' but 'Leon' uses a spiral staircase but we are going to use a normal staircase. But we are going to use the same birds-eye view shot of both the child and the killer.
Soundtrack
For our soundtrack we we're going to use 'Safe From Harm' by Massive attack but due to copyright infringement we cannot. So instead we are going to compose our own music. I think this will be more suitable and create more drama in the scenes as we can manipulate the song to the films edited version. We think we are going to create an ambient dance track with heavy use of strings to create a melancholy, somber and gloomy atmosphere. For the sound effects we will need a gunshot sound for the flashback scenes.
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Music for our Thriller
We decided that for our thriller both me and Katie would compose the music as both of us are Music A level students and enjoying composition. We initially wanted to use 'Safe from Harm' by the Massive Attack but due to copyright laws we were not allowed. So instead of using free uncopyrighted music we would write our own. The benefits of this would be less restriction and more freedom within the music to express the cinematography. We wanted a piece that had both a sorrowful classical element along with dance music influences due to the more classical element giving the emotion and tension with contrast to the dance element reflecting the characters taste in music and overall also reflecting our potential audiences taste in music.
We decided that for our thriller both me and Katie would compose the music as both of us are Music A level students and enjoying composition. We initially wanted to use 'Safe from Harm' by the Massive Attack but due to copyright laws we were not allowed. So instead of using free uncopyrighted music we would write our own. The benefits of this would be less restriction and more freedom within the music to express the cinematography. We wanted a piece that had both a sorrowful classical element along with dance music influences due to the more classical element giving the emotion and tension with contrast to the dance element reflecting the characters taste in music and overall also reflecting our potential audiences taste in music.
Monday, 12 January 2009
Colour and filter effects
Saturation: is the effect used to enhance or weaken the colours within the shot. This either makes the shot more bleak and boring or more vivid and harsh.
Lighting: There are many different types of lighting with different effects and uses. Ambient/naturalistic/artificial lighting is lighting that is supposed to look natural or is natural. Low keyl is dim light. Chiaroscuro is vivid black and white. Accent/spot light is a light used to highlight or emphasis something.
Filters: filters are colour lens to put over a camera to create a certain effect such as a cold feel with a blue filter, used throughout 'Minorty Report', or a red filter to create a warm feeling.
Saturation: used in 'Don't look now' to highlight the red coat of the young girl and also the blood.
Lighting: The overhead spotlight in the opening scene of 'Leon' to create dark shadows and creates a minsterious feeling as some of the characters features are hidden by shadows.
Colour: In 'Sin City' is used throughout to highlight certain colours out of the black and white background. Examples such as the red lips, the blood and the yellow of the evil yellow man.
Lighting: There are many different types of lighting with different effects and uses. Ambient/naturalistic/artificial lighting is lighting that is supposed to look natural or is natural. Low keyl is dim light. Chiaroscuro is vivid black and white. Accent/spot light is a light used to highlight or emphasis something.
Filters: filters are colour lens to put over a camera to create a certain effect such as a cold feel with a blue filter, used throughout 'Minorty Report', or a red filter to create a warm feeling.
Saturation: used in 'Don't look now' to highlight the red coat of the young girl and also the blood.
Lighting: The overhead spotlight in the opening scene of 'Leon' to create dark shadows and creates a minsterious feeling as some of the characters features are hidden by shadows.
Colour: In 'Sin City' is used throughout to highlight certain colours out of the black and white background. Examples such as the red lips, the blood and the yellow of the evil yellow man.
The Tudors
Within the scene shown in the TV drama 'The Tudors' many editing techniques are used. One of these is a shot/reverse shot sequence when you see the POV of the Englishman seeing the Frenchman and then shot of the Englishman coming towards the Frenchman. The scene becomes disorientating as a the Englishman is chased by the French. One way in which this is done is that the 180 degree rule is neglected. This could also show opposition between the characters showing the fear in the Englishman and making the audience feel symphatic for the Englishman. Also varied cut speeds creates disorientation.
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