Thursday, 11 May 2017

Evaluation- Marking

1) A pretty thorough attempt- no mood board
2) Good effort with blog 2 but more on representation of women would have been better
3) Examples of other thrillers that Paramount have been involved with?? Vague on the role of a film company. Not a great post
4) But what constitutes a 15? More women going into this type of career?? Surface psychographics here!
5) Was there low key lighting in your thriller? Another post which is solid but there could be more- the Twitter page is lovely but there are so many other possibilities on social media
6) "
7)I liked this post!

Ella 13
Olivia 12

Tuesday, 9 May 2017

Film Opening- Marking

Level 3 36–47 marks

There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:
• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects

I like the opening. The material is clearly appropriate to the thriller/crime drama genre.
The titles are unobtrusive, conventional and nicely paced. Liked the OE production company.
The sound used is fairly basic but appropriate for setting the mood of the piece and raising audience expectations. The gun shot could have been edited more tightly along with the cut to the train although I thought this was a nice idea.
The camera work is generally good. i question the decision to start fairly close and then go into ELS before getting nearer again and the POV from what I assume is the killer was confusing with the other ELS shots. There was one rather strange cut which broke the 30 degree rule at about 44 seconds. Good to avoid shadow at start!
On the whole the editing worked although, for me, there was some confusion between the POV and the ELS. Overall meaning was clear.

Ella and Olivia  provisionally 43

Sunday, 7 May 2017

Research and Planning- Marking

Olivia and Ella's mood boards demonstrated an understanding of genre although both seemed to emphasise the countryside for a setting when the first could have been more general in approach. The film analyses are pretty good (what happened with the font??) although it was only the Dark Knight one that had reference to film openings in general. Some of the details picked out such as comparing the three girls to the witches at the start of Macbeth, were excellent but delivered in slight a clumsy way. The post on Opening Sequences identified differences in styles but did not really get to grips with what these styles were and why they would be used. The analysis of the Inception poster lacked insight.

The girls' questionnaire was far too short and I wasn't entirely convinced by the questions in terms of how the answers would influence the product. I did like their analysis of the pyschographics of their young adult audience. I felt that this post indicated a real attempt to understand this process. I liked their podcast(??) on the focus group but the questions and answers were a little stilted.

The posts on the Hazards and the BBFC showed an understanding of the regulations placed upon industries although, in the case of the latter, it would have been nice perhaps to have used some examples in order to drill deeper into these issues. The posts on Film Company and Logo showed some insight into the way that companies tend to specialise.

I liked the post on Filming Days and Problems as they highlighted a willingness to adapt and learn as the project went on. The Storyboard, Music and Sound, Character Profiles all showed an appreciation of choices and audience interpretation. The pitch would have been better if it had been for the film rather than just a plan for the opening.

The girls demonstrated an understanding of marketing. The Social Media post demonstrated a good understanding of how this process works. Perhaps guerrilla/viral advertising could have been included here. The post on posters and trailers could have included a little more detail in terms of analysis. The girls then backed this up by later posting examples of a Facebook and Twitter page as well as a film poster which I really liked.

The girls have worked equally hard on this and produced work of a similar standard. I felt that the analysis was not the strongest- lacking any real depth. However, the thought that went into the planning and marketing was detailed. There was some variety in the presentation of the blog but it was a shame that some issues remained about fonts.

Olivia  14/20
Ella  14/20 

Friday, 5 May 2017

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Evaluation 6



Evaluation 6 from ellabarringer16

This SlideShare PowerPoint discusses how we documented the process of making the film opening, how we  promoted the film, the ways that we researched throughout the project and how and what we used to produce the final film.

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Evaluation 5

 The Sixth Sense is a thriller that attracts young adults because it is known to build tension and young adults enjoy the sensation of being scared, where they are used to being exposed to it. Also the plot twist at the end is a twist that everyone is always stunned about and is so unexpected. We included tension through the use of music in our opening as that is something that a lot of young adults like.

The film Se7en attracts a young adult audience because it is a crime film with a lot of twists and also has a psychological aspect to it. This film is liked by our audience type as the survey results showed that the second most liked sub-genre of thriller was Psychological. There is also a lot of enigma used throughout this film, so we made sure to include some sort of enigma in our opening, as this is known to be likable by young adults.

Shutter Island is a thriller that has a lot of psychological and crime aspects to it, and since this was the two most popular sub-genres on the survey that we had people complete, this film would appeal to young adults. We took the crime idea from this film and applied it our own as it is fairly easy to apply crime to a thriller opening, Whereas it would be more complicated applying psychological.







Evaluation 4

                                                Our audience


Our target audience is ages 15-24. This is because after completing primary research such as an online 

questionnaire and focus group we found that this age range was the most common occurring. This age range 

were the group who answered the survey the most and who said that they liked. We also looked on the BBFC


to see what age ranges suited what films and looked at similar horrors to see what age rating they have and 

audience type.




Genders


Crime genres are usually aimed at men due to the crime, use of guns, knifes and blood.


However our horror is less gory and more just mystery based of using clues to find bits our therefore ours is for


both genders as there is far more women going into this type of career also.




Age range


Official statics have shown that people of the ages 15 years to 24 years are most likely to go to the cinema to


see crimes in comparison to only roughly 20% over 40 year olds.




Here are some typical types of people who would like this kind of genre...



Jenna, shes age 17 and loves going to the cinema. When she goes to the cinema she would usually see either 

horror or crime based films. She loves psychological books and likes the film Se7en. She said one of her 

favourites is inception which she really enjoyed, with thrillers she thinks they make you worried for the main 

victim but also excited as there is always clues to pick up on throughout the film. Other teenagers of the same 

age as her would most likely have mutual feelings, especially liking the fast tension and build up.



Ellie is a 23 year old lady who has a strong interest in crimes. Both documentaries, films and TV series too, 

which encourages her to go to the cinema as soon as a new crime film is introduced out. She spends a lot of 

time out with friends watching this genre of films. A lot of her time is spent with her friendship group which 

usually consists of a group of boys... giving her even more reason to like thrillers!



Both of these girls would be an example of someone from our target audience as they are interested in the 

aspects of crime we tried to involve, for example Jenna likes psychological films and books. Ellie also likes 

crimes, both of these girls would fit our audience perfectly.

Monday, 1 May 2017

Evaluation 3




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



Production company

A production company is an institution that produces and makes films.They are also included in such things


like promoting and advertising. They do things such as setting the budget for the film to be made.

Production companies can be either small or large and some films even have more than one production 

company.
Related image




Distribution purpose

Distribution is all about getting the product out to the audience and consumers and there are a fair few


methods of doing this. The most up to date way now is through it being put out in the cinema first of all.

The distributor is mainly the one who promoting the film, usually by posters and sorting out the adverts. They 

set dates for the films to come out in the cinema, also maybe creating twitter, Facebook and Instagram 

accounts. 


What distributor would be use ?

We would most likely ask someone such as Paramount as they have distributed other thrillers. They tend to 

distribute films to do with horror, thriller and crime, for example paranormal activity. We produce and create


the film and they distribute it.


Funding

If we was to fund everything just by ourselves it would more than likely not go ahead as we wouldn't be able to 

cover all the costs ourselves. We'd have to keep the budget low otherwise we'd financially struggle a lot. By 

working alongside a popular more successful company, it allows us to up the budget and not struggle. Letting 

us have a much more impressive location, props, actors and costumes. Also the cameras themselves to help 

get the best possible shooting we could. By having more money to fund means not only the production of the 

film can be impacted upon and improved but also more aspects can be increased like fro example marketing 

and advertising. Paramount are a crucial part to creating the film as without them the film would be basic with 

low levels of actors, poor locations and hardly any props or costumes making it less successful.

Money from merchandises and cinema costs can go back into the making of the film once it is created.


What is our film similar too

Our film has inspiration from several things. The main one that has been mentioned which is Vera the TV


series as it has the same sort of location and backgrounds, it is all mysteries. Also in Psycho the fact that n


othing happens for a while, just like in our opening you wouldn't guess something is going to happen. 


Saturday, 29 April 2017

Evaluation 2


Role in the film:

 A character similar to the girl in our film opening is Marion Crane from Psycho. Apart from of course being a

female character, there are many similarities. Marion was the victim in Psycho as she was stabbed in the

shower whilst staying at the Bates Motel by an unknown antagonist. She was getting on with her day to day

business, whilst being watched by Norman Bates. This is similar in the fact that our female character at the

beginning of Paranoia, our film opening, is killed by gunshot after being stalked and watched at the stable,

whilst getting on with her day to day routine with her horse. again this killing is done by an unknown

antagonist. Both characters though are oblivious to what is going on around them and only act when it is too

late. Another similarity between the two characters is that their deaths are both the reason as to why the film

even begins, they leave the audience with questions and it set the enigma for the film.



Costumes and appearance:

The characters costumes are nothing a like simply due to their ages. Both characters are young girls but

Marion is more mature in the fact that she is more at the stage of being a woman with a career. Whereas the

girl in our film is at more of a college age. Marion is often seen wearing quite formal, work looking clothing,

such as a long sleeved dress, that is blue in the coloured version of Psycho, with her hair which is quite short

in curls. Whereas the girl in our opening is seen in riding gear, a pink long sleeved top, black leggings. brown

riding boots with her hair tied back in a ponytail.

Representation:

Both characters are seen by the audience as being vulnerable simply because they are female characters and

females are often seen as the weaker sex and in cable to defend themselves. Also the fact that they are both

killed without a fight makes them appear weak and exposed. Another thing that portrays them as being

vulnerable is the fact that both characters are often seen alone, the girl in our opening is only ever seen with

her horse and Marion is only with someone at the start when she is working or when she is talking to Norman

Bates. Otherwise they are both alone when their deaths occur. The coloured version of Psycho Marion's hair is

blonde and in our opening film the girl killed is a blonde female. Now typically blondes are portrayed as being

less intelligent, in comparison to brunettes, quite feminine and attractive. Marion was viewed as attractive by

Norman Bates, we could tell this from how he watched and looked at her throughout Psycho. Then our

opening character could be seen as being quite feminine from her clothing to her hobbies, as horse riding is

viewed by society as being as being quite a feminine sport.



Image result for marion psycho colour






Friday, 28 April 2017

Evaluation 1

                  In which ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

                                   and conventions of real media products?




Our title

The title of our thriller/crime is called Paranoia. We kept it simple and short so that the audience didn't get too 

much of an understanding over the film through the title, not giving much of the story line away or easy to

guess. We wanted it to have the audience wanting to find out and guess what the story line could be about.





Setting and location

We set our filming in a typical setting of fields/land in open areas. This is how many thriller/crime films are 

filmed also. We wanted to have an over-cast sky as in many films in order to cause that effect of vulnerability 

the skies are usually dull, however we added an effect in to give ours the same atmosphere as that was the 

idea we was going for, this adds danger and creates a more of a negative effect on the situation.


Camera work and editing

We tried to vary our shots as much as possible so that we could show the filming from different directions and 

angles... especially different points of view. One being the general filming and then the other being from a

point of view from someone. We opened our thriller with a camera shot looking out on two horses looking

around outside their stables. After this we see our main character walk onto the yard. We ended up putting an

effect onto our footage as on the days filmed it was pretty bright and didn't give off a dull environment where

crime would occur so we added an effect to make it look slightly less bright. However by it not being the typical

crime setting of police tape and it being all rainy and dull, may have made it more interesting and stand out

because its the car pulling up and the sound of the gun going off which allows the audience to realise the

genre properly.


Title and font type

We spent a lot of time looking around for a font to sit nicely with our opening and also one that isn't always 

stereo typically used in this genre. So we wanted a font that would be effective but different, however we didn't 

want to make it random so that people didn't think it related to genre, which could then cause confusion for

them.We placed the credits in the fonts we had chosen at the bottom of the opening which came on gently and

every few seconds at a rhythm as we wanted to come in steps which is what the girl is taking to get to the field.

With our title we took a while changing and swapping the name of our film about. We decided on the 

name of 'Paranoia' and we chose a font finally. The title of our film is placed at the end to fade from 

the sky into darkness which is a black screen. We wanted it at the end so that it is effective as it can be due to 

having a build up first of all before it properly even works. Our title is a different font to our credits to 

differentiate them from each other as the title is meant to be more eye catching.


Genre and how the opening sets it 


Our genre is crime. When even planning our filming we knew we wanted to include enigma as it is known to be

convention of thriller/crime. We used a few shots that included signs of danger which should've helped give

that something was going to happen to build something up. this is what creates the enigma for the audience as

they see things there but they are unsure and unaware of why its there.


How characters are introduced


There are only two characters in the opening of our crime. we wanted to introduce Olivia's character on her

own so it was easier to follow her and her actions. Allowing the audience to gain a relationship with her as they

follow her step by step doing her jobs. This also showed that she was alone and almost isolated as she

worked a fair distance with no interference from other humans. We first bring her into shot from no where so

 that it looks a bit strange from the point of view of the audience. Along side this we used shot to keep her face

hidden.








Audience Feedback

After planning our film, filming our film, putting together our film, editing our film and putting 

music to our film, we asked for our audiences opinions and feedback.



We did this through playing the film opening to them once and asking for a positive, then playing it 

again so they could give us some criticism and then we asked for an overall opinion of how they 

thought it went, By doing this it allowed us to get the best outcome from them as they were concentrating on 

each opinion individually so we was able to get accurate feedback back. We asked five different people so

that we was able to get a good amount of different opinions and some constructive feedback to help us on

future pieces and to see where we went wrong for personal references. We asked three students who were in

our class and we then asked two students from outside the class. This was allowing us to get a mixture of

feedback, from both media students and non media students. 


Here is some feedback we received from them following people on our film:

Our first piece of feedback that we received back was from a girl in our class who took media.

She said the following...

'The film opening overall went together smoothly and sat well with the music in the background however the

last few scenes were slightly more cut and choppy, although overall it was a great outcome of the film.'



The next piece of feedback we received was from another student in our class, this time a boy.

He stated the following feedback...

'The film needed slightly more indication on what was happening or more to it of the genre. The music fitted 

really well though and some of the shots were really nicely done.'


We took another lot of feedback from a girl within our class.

The feedback said...

'The shots throughout were a good mixture and some of the shots were really good for showing the

environment, however some shots weren't helpful to what was happening, some shots were more nicely done

than others.'

The film opening in general was put together well.'


We then asked two students from outside of our class so we had some feedback

from non media students. 

This would be helpful to us so that we had a variety of different views,comments and feedback

The first piece of feedback we received was -

'It was made well, as it was far from a professionally made one. The shots of the scenery was shown clearly 

and I liked the music presented with it also.'


A second piece of feedback was critical comment which was a good response for us.

They said...

'The film could have been made to be more dull to support the fact that it is a crime/thriller. The dull scenes 

would have helped portray this better as a crime. Apart from that the actual film opening was put together very 

nicely and worked well as a opening for a crime, the shot at the end leaves us/me as the audience hanging.'



All this feedback helped us as a partnership to see if the overall opening was effective or not. The majority of 

the feedback was positive which we was happy with, however the negative last comment about the lighting 

(sunny skies) we were happy to receive as we felt this also however we did add an effect to dull up the sky so 

we was happy with the outcome of lighting in the scenes.























Thursday, 27 April 2017

Analysis of film poster


                                                        INCEPTION


This poster has a slogan that allows the audience to read it as if it is a dream or maybe not all necessarily 

right. It allows us to make a decision for ourselves whether the background image is real or not. 


The name of a famous well know actor is placed at the top separately to entice people who of a fan of him 

not just a fan of thrillers which the name of the film may give away. 


From the image itself you can tell something has happened, maybe something spectacular due to the city 

streets empty which would usually be full, giving off a sense of mystery. It also has unanswered questions 

due to the lack of knowledge you get out of the image as he holds a gun but there's no one in sight. Is he 

the one who's vulnerable protecting himself or is he the antagonist.


It states under the title in a medium font "From the directors of The Dark Knight" allowing any lovers of 

that film to have an interest into "Inception".

The lighting through the middle is made brighter and lighter so that he stands out right in the middle of the poster. Is this done for any particular reason ? Is he being shone down onto?



Image result for inception film poster


Rating for our thriller


We looked at different crime/thrillers and their ratings which was usually of a 15. We also asked our focus group 

what they'd say a thriller/crime is rated at usually and they gave us an answer of 15. We then looked through 

the different age ratings on the BBFC and from all this information put together we decided on our film being 

certificated at a 15 also this means that the film can only be viewed by people 15 and over. Our film has no 

drug content in it therefore it shouldn't be graded as a 18 as there is no need The BBFC website states that 15 

rated films may include "strong threat and manace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualise". We feel this 

comment describes our film well therefore it is being certificated as a 15.


Also we wanted to target an audience of about the age of 15 and also above to around the age of 25. By giving 

it a 15 certificate will allow our whole target audience to watch it.





Image result for 15 certificate

Character profiles

We only had two characters throughout our filming of our opening film to make it simple and 
have no complications.One of these characters being a mammal not a human, in fact a 
horse. The other being an average girl going about her daily business.

One character -

Name : Olivia
Age : 17
Part : Main character at the opening

We are firstly introduced to this character when she first sets foot into the gates of the 
location of the stables. As we follow her along the way throughout the opening she's only 
seen from behind or half a head sideways, this is to keep her unseen throughout. She is the 

protagonist. 

The other character -

Name : Rio (horse)
Age : -----
Part : Olivia's horse

This character/animal is not shown a great deal but is there to give an indication as to where this opening is 
situated and also to allow a little bit more mystery into the scenes.

The antagonist is not revealed in the opening, however you can tell that someone else is present during the scene.