Main Task- Finished Film Opening

Main Task- Final Music Choice

The music we chose was from an album called 'Tomorrow Begins Today' by Roy Todd. Its pace is slow and fits well with our film opening. Its able to create tension with only a few notes. It has a chilling melody and gradually speeds up as it goes on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGZ6YResVuc

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 1

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

I think our film uses the conventions of a psychological thriller with the type of music we chose. Most thriller films don’t have very complex music scores because they don’t want the music to take away from the dialogue. But because we have one bit of speech in ours, we didn’t have that issue. I think the music is good with the film because it has a slow pace that matches the edits of the shots. It slowly builds tension and gradually starts to speed up further into the opening. At one point it even peaks which is at the point when the baby starts to cry. So it fits in well with what is happening in the film as well. The starting notes are very deep and foreboding, which allows the audience to tell that the film isn’t going to be cheerful. The weather also does the same and pathetic fallacy is used to show us that the mood is very bleak and almost hopeless.

Our films uses a lot of different camera angles which thrillers tend to use, for example; close ups show the audience only what the director wants them to see. Our character is revealed by a series of shots that are very ambiguous. Close ups of her feet, hands and mouth start to unravel the identity of this person. She even says her name and the camera is focused on her mouth, but because the audience still hasnt seen her eyes, they still don't know who this person is. I think we develop the ideas of certain shots because we used some shots that are not typical for thriller films, such as; wide shots to reveal locations, high angle shots to make the audience feel safe, only to be shown low angle shots, so that the character walks past them. This would allow the audience to feel part of what is going on and make them uneasy.

I think our film challenges the conventions of a usual psychological thriller because it tends to be a male protagonist and we chose to have a female one. This could make the audience think that our main character is harmless when in fact she is a murderer. She looks like an average teenager which could create a sense of uneasiness because it shows the audience that anyone is capable of murder without seeming like they are.

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think our media product represents particular social groups by the main protagonist being a teenager. In today’s society, some people believe that teenagers are hostile and moody and the way the girl has been portrayed and shown through the camera lense supports this idea. Our film involves female antagonist alongside a baby. This could be interpreted for women being associated more with children than men. In thrillers, men tend to be the main protagonists so it was a change for the main character to be female and to commit such a shocking crime.

In our film, the girl looks very antisocial and withdrawn into herself, which could be compared to the thrillers, ‘Don’t Say a Word’ and ‘Girl, Interrupted’. Both of these films have similar protagonists as the main characters but all are disturbed because of different reasons. I think that when women are associated with mental scarring, it is to show the audience that men are stronger than women, mentally and physically.

In our film, we don't really represent men because we don't include any in our shots. The idea of the film was meant to be that the interviewer is male and even though you can't hear or see him, he has a sense of power over the girl still. And he doesn't even need to be seen on screen to show his dominance.

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that our film would be distributed by production companies that specialise in the thriller/horror genre. FearDriven films would be interested in distributing our media product because they are the chosen production company for our film. FearDriven films specialise in the type of genre that our film is as well so it would be easy for them to promote it and have audiences that would be interested in watching it. Don’t Say a Word was produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and Girl, Interrupted was produced by Columbia Pictures, so these companies might also be a possibility if the film became popular enough to be produced by a mainstream company.

http://www.feardrivenfilms.co.uk/ 

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think the audience for our film would be people aged 15 years and over because our film includes themes that would be unsuitable for anyone under that age. I also think that they would have a hard time understanding what the film is trying to convey and because some things have to be read between the lines, it would be difficult for someone who doesn’t understand. There wasn’t a particular target group of gender that we aimed the film at because it can generally be enjoyed by anyone who likes watching psychological thrillers. Our film, alongside the other two, is rated 15. This is because some scenes are not suitable for anyone younger and misunderstood by others.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2/ 

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by word of mouth and social networking. We created a survey on Facebook and sent it to our friends, along with the link to our video. This helped us to receive feedback and find out what people liked and what they didn’t. We also created pie charts from the results, which can be found posted on our blogs. This made it easier to see how it was received overall. We found from the feedback that not everyone was able to follow the plot and found it confusing as to what was going on.

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 6

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

I think we learnt a lot through making this film opening because it allowed us to do some research into the psychological thriller genre itself and compare different films to each other. You see a lot of the same techniques used in similar films and they each have different purposes. Some films use mainly music to create tension, which is what we did in ours. We included one piece of dialogue but apart from that there was no speaking at all, yet it still had suspense and kept people on the edge of their seats. We became better acquainted with using the cameras and were able to choose some interesting shots by different angles and movements. We even improved our skills with using the Apple Macs and the software included on them. Final Cut Pro was the main program that we used to make our film but we also had to use QuickTime Movie Maker and some MP3 converters so that we could choose our piece of music and convert it into a file so we could use it in Final Cut Pro. I think that we are all more confident using the programs that we had to and the editing process sped up closer to the end. We had to re-film and re-edit a fair amount of shots because not all of them captured successfully which meant that the edits wouldn’t be as smooth.

We decided to include some video filters and transitions with our flashback shots, and we didn’t know how to do this at first. Once we learnt how to do them, we were able to use them throughout the film and even include titles at the beginning.

Main Task- Evaluation

Question 7

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

I think that since our preliminary task, we have developed our skills further and become more confident. I think this film opening is a large improvement in quality and we were all able to ensure that everyone could participate in doing something and understand everything that was being done. We started our film very late on and ended up having about a week to put everything together and finish editing. But in our opinion it turned out well and so far the feedback seems to be mainly positive. There is a larger variety of camera angles and shots used in this task and the edits betweens shots are a lot less noticeable than last time. This was because we were more familiar with the software and it made editing a lot easier. But we had to learn some new techniques as well. We used fade-ins between edits and included filters over the flashback shots to make a noticeable difference between flashbacks and what was happening in the present. We also used a black and white filter over them to change up the shots. We found that because none of us were acting this time round, it made it easier for everyone to participate in all areas of work; planning, filming and editing. We were much happier with the chosen cast this time round because the person we chose actually took drama for A-Level, so she was very professional and listened to everything that we said. Her appearance even suited the character's look and she was able to portray the protagonist exceptionally well. A lot more thought went into this task, such as; mise en scene, music, acting and camera angles. In my opinion, i think we worked better as a team in this task. This was because me and ellie weren't in the film this time and this allowed us to concentrate on other tasks that needed to be done; storyboarding, researching and editing. In our preliminary task, Rosie did the majority of the editing because she wasn't acting. This meant that me and Ellie weren't as familiar with Final Cut Pro as Rosie was. This helped us to develop our skills and become more confident with the software, which in turn, helped speed up the editing process. In the end I think this task has turned out a lot better than our preliminary and the only thing I think we could improve on would be to be more organised with meeting deadlines and not leave everything to the last minute.

Preliminary Task Video

Main Task Video

Main Task- Research- Don't Say a Word

Don't Say a Word is a 2001 psychological thriller film starring Michael Douglas and Brittany Murphy. The film was directed by Gary Fleder and written by Anthony Peckham and Patrick Smith Kelly.
Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas), is invited by his friend and former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young lady named Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium.
Previously, a gang had tried to steal a rare gem, but  were double-crossed. Patrick, the leader of the gang, kidnaps the psychiatrist's daughter as a means of forcing him to acquire a 6 digit number from Elisabeth's memory.

References
https://www.google.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Say_a_Word

Main Task- Research- Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama/thriller film about a teenager's 18-month stay at a mental institution, starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, with Jolie winning an Academy Award for her performance.
Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), 18 years old in April 1967, voluntarily checks herself into Claymoore Hospital after an overdose of aspirin and her stay extends for over a year.

References
https://www.google.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl,_Interrupted_(film)

Main Task- New Thriller Deconstruction- Don't Say a Word

The clip starts with background noise that sounds like a train or traffic. The first shot is a high angled establishing shot of The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The white noise continues in the background and starts to include car horns. The titles come up and are in a simple font and the colour white. The camera is moving closer to the city and the shot changes to a mid-shot of a train going past. The camera pans over a building and stops on a clock that is positioned in front of the building. The camera tilts down to two men coming out of the building, talking. They are dressed in casual clothes; jeans and a jacket. A man’s face then comes into the shot and you can tell that you are seeing it through a mirror. This means that the man’s perspective is the same as the audiences at the moment so they are seeing what he is. The next shot is of his watch which says the same time as the clock, 3.55pm. He looks back to the men, indicating that he was expecting them at this time. The camera goes to a close up of him sitting in the car smoking and looking past the camera. There is another man in the car with him who has an earpiece in. The camera cuts to him pressing some buttons on a device. With both these things, it appears that they are possibly undercover for something and watching the men. In the background you can still hear the men talking, along with traffic noise and some music starts. The music is quite fast-paced and has a strong bass-line, almost similar to rap. There is both diegetic and non-diegetic sound used in the clip, along with a variety of camera angles and movements. The location shots are still vague though which allows there to be a sense of ambiguity.

Main Task- New Thriller Deconstruction- Girl, Interrupted

Once the production company has come up the music starts, at first it sounds high pitched and is played at a low level, which makes it eerie sounding. A melody then starts and it ends up sounding quite happy and peaceful. This could be chosen because it is contrapuntal and would possibly confuse the audience as to what genre the film actually is. The camera tilts and a close up of one of the protagonists is seen on the screen. The lighting is quite dark but you can see that she is upset about something. The mise en scene is very bare and it looks like she is in a ware-house type place. The camera continues to tilt down until another protagonist comes onto the screen. She has a cut on her forehead that is bleeding and she is lying in the other girl’s lap, showing the she could be injured. She has tears in her eyes and also appears upset by something. Her hair is messy and her makeup has rubbed off. From what you can see, they are wearing quite plain clothes. The shot changes to another character who is sat in the corner behind a metal pipe. She is sobbing to herself and holding a cat. She has scarring on her face and is dressed similarly to the others. The cat jumps off her lap and she watches it walk away. The shot changes again to the cat jumping up to go in front of a window. The weather outside is gloomy and bleak looking. There are some trees but they have no leaves on them, which tells us that it is winter. The camera goes back to the first girl who is also watching the cat. The music continues and although the melody seems quite cheerful, the lyrics aren’t. Towards the end of the clip, a voiceover begins of a woman talking herself and the audience. There is little diegetic sound used in this clip, which is of the girl sobbing but there is mainly non-diegetic sound used; music and the voiceover. The titles used in this opening look like it’s been hand-written, like a diary. It makes it interesting because the title is ‘Girl, Interrupted’ and sometimes when you’re writing, it’s possible to be interrupted by other things going on around you.

Main Task- New Storyboards

Main Task- Production Company

The production company we have chosen is Fear Driven Films, which is based in the East of England and was founded in 2008. It is an independent film company and its goal is to produce high quality films of all styles, but specifically the thriller and horror genre. It has produced films such as; Drive By Sunset, Smiley and Stagnant. Smiley recieved two nominations at the 2010 British Horror Film Festival and the other films have recieved awards as well.

http://www.feardrivenfilms.co.uk

Main Task- New Name for Film Opening

We have been trying to think of a new name for our film opening because we didnt really like 'Jealousy', it did fit well because it relates well to the plot of film but it didn't seem right because it was hastily chosen. But we finally decided to name the film, 'First Born' because it seems to relate to the baby involved in the story and sounds quite foreboding.

Main Task- Change to Genre

After we presented our pitch, it was realised that our film isnt actually a horror but is a psychological thriller instead. This is because our film didnt have all the conventions of a horror film, so the genre was changed to a more suitable one.

Main Task- Presentation Pitch

Main Task - Location Shots

Main Task - Storyboard

Main Task - Initial Sketches

Main Task - Initial Ideas