1. This shot was an establishing long shot, setting the scene and the characters. This in a conventional thriller would normally be spaced out through the opening however we through the majority of our charcters, including the antagonist and protagonists all in the same location, also another reason i feel like we challenged the conventional thriller is we have played outside the box, as the shot being filmed is not just the interview its the filming of the interview, we played with this because it made the audience think about why those characters are ther, are they relevent of just there as an extra.
We also started off with a slow pace of camera cuts, to keep a melow ordinary mood, instead of quick short cuts to get the heart rate pumping, this is because we wanted to make the audience relax to begin with which only happens in a small amount of thrillers for example: Pulp fiction or girl with a dragon tattoo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwusCDRiDwE
Also The titling in this shot we kept the quiet and small in the corner, this is the norm for thriller openings, slowly in and slowly out
2. This shot was our interview angle shot, we used this again to make the audience believe this is a casual interview to get to know the characters, it is the typical angle that the character gets shot (LA). Also this works with a thrilleresc camera shot as it could decide the power balence between the two characters.
This is another interview with the similer shot reverse shots and angle.
3. This shot was one of our flashbacks which meant that it changes the time line was no long liner but circular. This is againsimiler to Pulp Fiction and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This shot was very convetional though because it had a stereotypical one man tied to a chair in a damp dingy location with just the single light above him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Eo0qsmGU1g - james bonds torture scene
4. This shot was unique as we had a shallow depth of field from the camera and the subject, just as a clever shot to show that it is still braking the 4th wall and showing the cameras and the set up. This gives the audience something to think about as why would this film show that if it had no relevance.
5. This shot is another flash back, this is where like in a real thriller we started to raise the pace of the camera shots and the music shift from slow tempo to fast, and the climax when you could see the Antagonist in the window, the audience automatically knows more the and protagainist, this is used throughout thriller films to keep us shoting at the screens "GET OUT".
6. This shot was done to give the audience more of a clue to how the interview is connect by parallel editing to the flashbacks. The close up to the watch is the clue that later in the flashbacks you see the same watch on the antagonist which is the link that the audience are waiting for.
7. This shot same was done in a clever way which is later mimiced by the end shot, this shot is the climax of the opening where the audience work out who the interviewer. This like any thiriller is the point the audience know the plot and all the pieces are put together.
8. This shot was the shot that the characters knew what was going on as they have realised they are on CCTV. This also broke the convetional shot reverse shot as it was a HA, with finul cut we managed to make it grainy and black and white to give it the same effect. It is also a shot quiet common to crime thrillers.
9. This shot was a p.o.v from the protaganist about to get shot, this is where everything comes together in the scene as audience realise it is not an actual interview, just a sceem to kill the protagonist. and the other characters were in on it to, it was done to create a sudden shock to the audience as they didnt realise it would happen so suddenly as the pace of the peice was on averge slow. This also happens in a few Thrillers but not many.
how does your media product represent particular social groups?
- Gender
Then conventional stereotype of gender representation in a thriller is the female being the protagonist and the antagonist being the male who is normally the one who over powers they female because the male is usually stronger than the female. however in ours we challenge the audience by the female overpowering the male during a fight, however we do switch this back round by getting the male to shoot the female.
We did this by playing with the typical stereotype man stalking female by having the female subject in the camera shot (MLS) then as she bends down we have an image of the antagonist looking through the window. Also the Non digetic sound track we put over this gives the audience an assist to show power as they know something the subject doesn't.
After the punch the action of the male, hitting the floor aids us with our next camera shot of a LA P.O.V shot which makes the female more powerful than the male as she is towering over him.
Another contraversial gender representation we did was that our main characters we both male protagonist and antagonist. This is again a very differnt take on the thriller norm as its not the typical male after female. givin a possitve feminist view that the female is not the one being chased or attacked.
generally we showed the equal power between the two characters by having the majority of shot reverse shots and two shots in an eye level angle however we did change this depending on the converstation and who was winning over who. We finished off with the antagonist towering over the protagonist, we completed this by having a P.O.V shot from the protagonist giving a LA view of the the Antagonist.
We did all these gender represtation in this way because we wanted to be differnt to the conventional thirller, we represented female power to show a post modern view of the society change, to make the audience think of this as not the convetional thriller opening .
The power shift was done through the camera work and angles differing from high and low angles.
All these tecnics were used to through everything up in the air for the audience, in that way we kept it a thiller as we created suspence, confusion, tension and hopefully made the audience be at the 'edge of their seats'.
Ethnicity
one of our group decision when casting were to have our robber scottish as is was different to the norm, the audience wouldnt be dragged into the same as every other british thriller has a RP accent. This also gave us a broad group of race to look at as our killer was an Asian so to end of the spectrum, this gives our piece more diverisification and use of racial power agaisnt one another. A camera skill we used to convey this was a LA shot up to the Asian subject as it showed he has that power of the Brit
Another twist we looked at in a post modern view of the change of race and power as the rich murder is Asian and the one with less power and authoirty was a britsh man, this gives the audience another perspective to look at, as its different to what people are used to watching in a british thriller. a style we looked at was through Mise En Scene where we dressed the Asian Subject in formal expensive looking attire and the Brit in casual clothes.
3. what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Where the film will be consumed…
I feel like as our film is off a low budget I am not taking it through the cinematic process. This is because it would cost more money than I think our piece will produce. We would have to go through licensing and marketing as well as Prints and advertising, which is not needed as I would plan to take this film to the household.
Putting it on digital…
Would mean I cut the middle man and a lot of money as it cost £1500 per print of a film as cellular is expensive, and double that if I wanted subtitles, which I maybe considering as one of my main subjects has a strong Scottish accent. Also the reels are 25kg each so this will cost for travel and weight.
The house hold would mean…
I would plan it to be broadcasted on a digital channel. For this I would choose Film4, this is because They have seasons for British films so could show it through that, they also have a season for thrillers so it could be put in with that if I wished to have it on then.
After I would make sure it goes to DVD as well as download, which you could rent or buy off film4OD as well as iTunes.
This further more gives you an opportunity to put it on Portable devices, for example iPods, iPads, Mp3, laptops, mobiles etc.
Film Co.
The film company that I would choose to distribute my film would be Film4 Productions, which have done many British films low budget as well as high class. This also is good as I could get them to sponsor my film as it will be on their channel. - http://www.film4.com/productionsMarketing
For marketing instead of spending thousands on billboards I feel like viral marketing is the best way for me to sell my product. As word of mouth is the best way to get the message across, if I post trailers and interviews and backstage videos as well as extras for my product over the web, through social networking and video sharing people if they like it will post it on there friends pages etc. this then becomes a chain advertising my product, this is cheap and extremely effective.
4. who would be the audience for the media product?
Gender
Our audience in a gender perspective would lean towards the male side, this is because our cast is very male dominated, this gives the impression of it being aimed at males.
It also has elements of action in the opening scenes for example the the shooting, and fighting.
An example of a film similar to this is Seven - made in 1995 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YV2_TcCoE
Age
The age that we would be looking for, in a cinema certification way, would be 15, this is because it would have violence and strong language.
We would look at more young adults to sell this film because it has a very modern take on life and it is also set in the 21St century. So the audience would be able to relate to the film more.
A film which is very modern as shown by the car and the city scape is inception - 2010 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM
5. how did you attract/address your audience?
The narrative in this scene starts off with a male character (the protagonist), tied up to a chair with blood all over a torn shirt to give the impression of him being beaten up, this was the use of mise en scene that we did, make up and apearence. This attract the audience for the start as, they did not know the reason of the blood and what looked like a tortured man, this kept the audience gussing and wanting to know what happend. Also our subject had a bag over his head this also gives the audience a reason to keep watching as they dont know who it is.
This keeps the audience a part of the film as they are guessing and questioning it to find out more than the characters. This is a big convention for thrillers, many thrillers have the element of suspence in it. A famous scene which has given us that same feeling was Psycho - 1960. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3-GlvKPcg
We also used pace to create intensity if the scene by doing quick cuts of different angles, also to show the power of certain characters over others.
For example in this shot there is a LA shot of the protagonist what what could possibly be the Antagonist in the background in masking the subject.
The audience would be attracted to this as the intensity built and more character got shown but they we still hidden enough the the audience did not guess who they were. An editing technique we used to cleverly obsque the image with the use of lighting as well as manual focusing, gave us a figure walking a way and showed the audience another two chracters in this scene. Again creating more for the audience to peice the puzzle with.
The audience then gets shocked by the digetic foley we put in to create a larger connection for the punch as well as the raising non digetic sound track in the background.
The use of the Sound and Lighting was very simple but effective enough to make the audeince really feel emotion for this tortured character. through sound you heard the heavy breathing of the protagonist so you could tell he was in pain and exuasted.
For Lighting we had the Single light above the character to give it the spot light affect, so he was the person you had to look at. Also this one light gave the atmosphere a very greeny damp feel to it, this was what we were trying t convey to th audience that it was dindgy and dirty in the Garage. This made the audience feel more cold and concerned about what will happen in the location, which was a good use of Mise en scene as it had the feeling of clostrafobia for the cahracters which echoed to the audience.
And example of this is this group shot and the space between them is very little.
- what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
- looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?
The main progression i found wasthe use of white balance as in our prelim there was a shot that we had forgotton to put the white balance on and it really showed in the piece, i felt like it was a very dissapoinment compared tot the rest of the shots.
Also we used light more effectivly to give it more of a brighter feel to it.
Another improvement was that we did more camera angles and variations of movement etc. this gave the piece more play and dinamics.
We made sure we had plenty of time to film and edit as we knew that we were using final cut which is a lot more time consuming but benifitial .
Also we used light more effectivly to give it more of a brighter feel to it.
Another improvement was that we did more camera angles and variations of movement etc. this gave the piece more play and dinamics.
We made sure we had plenty of time to film and edit as we knew that we were using final cut which is a lot more time consuming but benifitial .
VG level 3/low 4 at present - easy to improve if read my comments - collect from my office tomorrow. well done
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