Evaluation - Beth Mills

Our project is an opening sequence which a girl is at a cemetery while being there she has flashbacks of her and her friends being held hostage. I worked in a group along side two other people Blake and Nushy. We also had to ask a friend of mine Katherine Whittaker to be an actress in the sequence. During the actual filming I was an actress as well as working the camera to see which shoots and angles would work best I also help decide which shots we should re-shot and which looked good. I edited the film saying which shots would look best where and if we should re-shot some of the scenes along with Nushy and Blake. I wrote the script and the storyboard and created the storyline. During the editing process we decided we needed more shots of the hostage situation to balance the cemetery scenes out. So I went with Katherine my friend to shot more close up shots.

Our genre is thriller. The conventions we have used are titles, characters, natural lighting, music digetic and non-digetic, different shots, setting the scene and place and the genre these are they typical elements to a thriller opening sequence. We made sure we used the typical elements as we no that we can attract the audience with this as we have the statistics to prove it. However, we didn’t want to make a film that was to typical as this would make the film look like the others in the same genre, therefore we used flashbacks, a non-linier narrative by showing the end of the film at the beginning, we also researched to make sure the idea of the film had never been done before. We think it’s vital to do something new to the genre as you are giving them the familiar so that they watch, but in a new way to keep it fresh. Therefore we think the opening sequence was a success because it’s something that the audience have hardly scene before. The social groups we have shown in our opening sequence are criminals and victims with most of the spotlight on the victims this is shown through the actions used by both the victims and the criminal. The actors portraying the victims use the actions of scared and worried look and there body language is defensive and twitchy when the criminal is around. We have also shown the representation of men and women as the man is the criminal, the dominant part of society, and the women are the victims, the weak part of society. The criminal uses the actions of a dominant strong and angry person that shows anger in there eyes through the gas mask. The criminals clothing it typical to someone who is trying to hade, they wear black clothing with a mask. The lighting is dark and sadistic through the use of natural lighting. The cinematography also helps portray the criminal victim’s social group as there are high angles looking down at the victim’s shows them as weak and scared. The low angles on the criminal shows he is strong and aggressive. The sound of crying at the cemetery shows a victim and the sound of struggling at the hostage situation shows people trying to escape. Our product follows the stereotypes that we see in the media as the audience then understand what is being shown to them.

A British independent film company such as film4 would produce this film as they have produced films such as ours with the same sort of storyline before. The audience of our media product would be any gender age 16-25 but may also fall under the age of 25-34, any ethnicity, this is what the typical audience for our genre. This is a good audience to target as it is a wide range audience targeted at people that buy films or go to the cinema to see the film.

To attract our audience we set up equilibrium and disruption in the narrative because you see a woman walking through the cemetery in the day light, this shows the main character being a woman coming to visit a grave this sets the scene as well as telling the audience it’s during the day. This shows the audience the scene and the main character then you disrupt the event to set the story in motion by having the first flash back to the hostage situation. A sense of time has been created by showing the actors in modern day clothing. The flask backs also create chronology as it shows the woman at the grave side crying about what has happened. Tension is used in our sequence by using flashbacks and the increased stress and panic the woman is under. You also never see the killers face so you don’t know what they look like this makes you think about what’s behind the mask. The hostage situation also builds tension with the use of sound to suggest the struggling of people. The music also builds tension as it slowly builds up as the scene builds up. We use tension to set up enigmas which make the audience want to watch. There are messages in our sequence, which suggest that life isn’t easy and horrible things do happen to people and that there is real crime in the world and that there are real people that go through what the hostages went through no matter who you are. There is use of enigmas in our scene such as, who is she? Why are they being held hostage? Who is the killer? Do the hostages no each other? Why is the criminal holding them hostage? Does the killer no his victims? Why does she survive? Does the killer get caught by the police or does he get away? Whose grave is that? ECT. We used enigmas to make the audience want to keep on watching to see what happens next and to answer those questions.

From making this product I have used a variety of technology I’ve never used before such as apple Mac’s, camcorder and tripod, DTP software, using sound clips and video clips and embedding them via pen drive, all these helped make our opening sequence. However as I have never used these before it was hard to get use to them, the editing on the apple Mac was the biggest limitation as there was a lot to learn. There was filming close-ups in the hostage scene we had to do again as the cemetery scenes out weight the hostage scenes also we had to copy and paste the sound from another scene into a few scenes as some didn’t have enough sound for the audience to hear. We also had to use music so we had to find the music then download it on to our project. We used effects such as black and white to help us show the hostage situation being in the past. Using this technology we were able to create our vision of a woman at a grave side having visions of her past.

The opening sequence worked better than our preliminary task because in the preliminary task we had problems with the sound because Nushy was wearing bracelets than made a sound as they were being banged on the table this made the editing process difficult as we didn’t want that sound in the scene so we had to work around that. The shots that we had were hard to fit together in the preliminary task, so, in the opening sequence we made sure the scenes were exactly how we wanted them so we had to make sure we planned it better. There was a shot in the preliminary task the didn’t look realistic the shot was of a hand holding a piece of paper and someone else’s hand taking it from them, the camera angle made the shot look unrealistic therefore not drawing the audience into the film as expected, so we had to make sure the opening sequence looked realistic therefore using a number of camera angles and finding the best one. More enigmas were set up in the opening sequence than in the preliminary task and that made the audience more interested in the sequence than the preliminary task.

Our project turned out better than I expected. The major strength of the project was the enigmas set up. Other strengths were showing the ending of the product at the begging and the music made it sound strange but it was music that portrayed sad emotions. One of our weaknesses were the hostage scenes and the fact that we didn’t have enough of them and the sound we had to copy and paste it would have been more effective if each scene had there own sound of the struggle, but the with the music being over the top it wasn’t obvious to the viewer. I think the opening scene is very close to the real article as the audience feedback suggested that they wanted to find out what happened who the people were and what the killer was killing them for.

Blake Blackburn: Analysis

Truthful Lies
Truthful Lies is a Drama Thriller with the conventions of revenge killings/murder. It was vital to use such typical elements such as is common with the genre, so as to interest the all ready existing audience for films of this particular genre. The difference between our piece and other existing products is that instead of the usual main characters (killer in particular) being adults aged 20 to middle age we used teenagers for both the victims and killer. This is likely to prove successful into attracting a larger audience for our target age range, teenagers.
The social groups represented in our film are teenagers, they are portrayed by the victims wearing normal everyday clothing/appearances bar the killer. The killer however is not wearing everyday clothing, he is portrayed wearing dark clothing and a gasmask to conceal any features/humanity, this was done to create a dark aura about the killer making him look almost inhuman. This challenges the normal media representation of teenagers as hooligans (‘yobs’ or ‘hoodies’) and offers an alternative darker, even more sinister view of them, rather than the random gang stabbing, the killer is shown acting out a cold blooded ‘execution’ of his victims.
Our film is a low budget British movie which is most likely to be funded/produced by British companies such as the UK Film Council, or Film 4, who have made similar products such as “Dead Men’s Shoes”. These low budget British dramas are typical of such companies therefore for more likely to be produced by them than big Hollywood companies such as Paramount or Universal Studios.
Our media product is aimed at British teenagers between 16-25. This is a good target audience due to 16-25 year olds being the most common cinema goers within the UK, the reason that our product is targeted at a British audience and not an American or international audience is that low budget films such as these don’t always appeal to a wider audience, social realism films tend to appeal mainly to British working class viewers who opt for realistic gritty films, rather than Hollywood’s over the top glamour films. However this said Thrillers with conventions such as ours do appeal to nations such as the US, therefore though not directly aimed at a US audience, there is still a slight chance that American viewers may be interested in the product. We created feedback sheets, and asked our class to fill them in after viewing our finished product, all of the feedback we got back said that they would watch the rest of our film if created to find out the answer to enigmas we had established, such as who the killer was, how did the main character survive and why was the killer after them in the first place?. This evidence proves that we were successful in appealing to our target audience.
We attracted/addressed our audience by offering them a non-linear opening sequence that instantly showed the viewers what the film was about, whilst setting up enigmas for later on, such as who the killer is, why is he after the victims and how the main character managed to survive. We started the scene in a graveyard, where the main character is visiting a grave of one of the victims, we then added numerous flashbacks to the garage when and where the killings took place by using editing effects such as cutting and black and white filters. This showed the audience the main theme throughout the film whilst keeping them guessing at certain enigmas and at the same time creating a sense of distortion and confusion with no real sense of time, this chaotic editing matched the chaotic events unfolding through the flashback scenes (garage killings) creating tension, suspense and even possible fear for the audience (One persons’ feedback even suggested the genre was horror due to this). We built tension through out the opening sequence by the use of non-diegetic slow, dark and dramatic music mixed with black and white effects over the flashbacks, and fast paced editing. We also filmed the killer mainly in low angle shots, to make him look dominant and powerful (also involved in making the killer feel powerful/dominant was the fact that he was the only male in the scene), props and costume also helped make the killer seem menacing/powerful, the use of a gasmask to hide all features and dark clothing also helped. The victims however were filmed in high angle shots making them look weak and helpless, wearing normal everyday clothes, we also used close ups to emphasise their emotions; fear and confusion.
Technologies, mainly the computers have helped during this project. We researched the internet to find examples of existing similar media products (such as Dead Men’s Shoes) and posted our progress on sites such as blogger.com, helping us to keep track of our own progress and eventually upload our preliminary task and our finished product. The Apple Macs have also proved useful when it came to editing, I already had a good understanding of how to edit films on I-Movie (due to High School) so editing proved to be easy and straight forward in my case, using effects such as fades, cuts, black and white filters and superimposed text. The digital camera also proved as a vital asset, with the ability to quickly and simply firewire our tapes onto the Macs for easy editing.
In comparison to the preliminary task, this final piece proved superior in many ways, through the making of this product we have learnt more and more about various cinematography techniques, editing techniques and further establishing characters/scenarios.
Personally I believe that our finished opening sequence was a success. We managed to attract the attention of our target audience and generally create an entertaining piece of film. However some weaknesses are that within the flashback scenes, I think that the victim’s voices (generic struggling noises) are too loud and overwhelm the slow, dark music, and personally seem to compromise the tense and distorted atmosphere. On the other hand I believe that the editing and general cinematography are the products main strengths, the low key lighting and various low/high angle shots really help to create a sense of tension and a dark atmosphere.

Finished opening sequence

We used the rule of thirds in every scene and the line of action is never crossed. The flash backs work well as they set up enigmas such as were are they? What they doing? The close up of the eyes and feet also work well as it makes the audience see the pain the hostages are going through this also makes the audience connect with the victims. The point of view shot by one of the hostages puts the audience into the shoes of the victim which also draws the audience into the action.

I think we could have got some more shots of the hostage situation so the shots are equal to the cemetery shots. In some of the hostage shots there is no sound our the sound doesn't sound right therefore we had to copy and paste sound from a scene that has sound that we need so some of the scenes sound the same it isn't noticeable but it could make the sequence more effective if the sound was different.

Beth

Changes to the storyboard

As we were filming our storyboard changed. We decided to change the story board a bit to make the sequence more effective. 

We toke the loading of the gun scene out as in the filming process it looked like a fake gun. 

We took the flowers out as they blew about while we were trying to film. 

We also took the point of view of the killer looking down the gun at the hostages as this scene didn't look right as we came to film it. 

The extreme close up of the eye we added in as we thought it would look effective.

these changes we thought would add more effect to the sequence and we thought would give us a better grade.

Beth

storyboard

Before we started filming we had to create a storyboard to follow, this is our storyboard. 

Beth, Blake, Nushy

Mise-En-Scene

Before we filmed, we had to make sure everyone knew where we were filming, the props that were needed, costumes and we had to make sure we had enough actors.

The locations we have chosen to film in is, a Cemetery and also in a garage.

The props we will be using are:

• Masking Tape
• Gun
• Mask
• Flowers
• Gloves
  

The costumes we will be using are: 

• Killer- Dark clothes
• Survivor(cemetery)- Dark Clothes
• Hostages- Casual, everyday clothes

The actors we need in the film are:

• Killer (1)
• Survivor (1)
• Hostages (1)
• Hostage (2)
• Hostage (3)

Beth, Blake, Nushy

Media Coursework- Script

Before we begin shooting our media film, we wrote a script to help us get organised for our filming, this will also help in our editing as we know exactly what we want and where we want it. 

1st Shot: Cemetery- ELS- Beth walks through the graveyard carrying flowers

2nd Shot: Showing hostage situation- MS-  blackout, just hear struggling people, muffled voices.

3rd shot: Cemetery- LS- Beth walks through graveyard carry flowers

4th shot: Hostage situation-LS- garage door opening, see outline of killer and hostage

5th shot: cemetery- LS- Beth stops in front of a grave and looks down on it 

6th shot: hostage situation- LS- see all the hostages reaction

7th shot: Cemetery- LS- Beth kneels down next to the grave

8th shot: hostage situation- LS- killer throws hostage into pile

9th shot: Cemetery- MS- Beth puts flowers onto the grave

10th shot: Hostage situation- CU- killers leg and gun, hostages shown in the background

11th shot: Cemetery- ELS- Beth knelt down on the grave

12th shot: Hostage situation- MS- the back of the hostages looking at the killer

13th shot: Cemetery- CU- Beths face

14th shot: Hostage situation-CU- Bag taken off Beths face

15th shot: Cemetery- MS- Beth knelt down crying

16th shot: Hostage situation- CU- Killer loading gun

17th shot: Cemetery- MS- Beth scared

18th shot: Hostage situation- ECU- Killers eyes

19th shot: Cemetery-MS- Actor comes and calms Beth down and takes her away

20th shot: Hostage situation- POV- Killer points the gun towards the hostages

21st shot: Hostage situation- CU- Barrel of the gun

22nd shot: Titles 

Beth, Blake, Nushy

Example of an opening sequence

In this preview you see flash backs which you see during the actual film and in our opening sequence. Dead mans shoes is the inspiration for our opening sequence as this film is about revenge killings which is the theme of our opening sequence, it is also a low-budget British film which fits in with our film.

Beth

Dead Mans Shoes Analysis

The film dead man's shoes is a low budget British film with similar genres and techniques to our opening sequence. 

The film dead man's shoes focuses on realism through out the film, portraying the grittiness of lower class British society. This is done using mainly realistic mise en scene where nothing looks out of place, for example all the clothing fits the characters, the boiler suit and gasmask creates a sense of tension and fear within the audience while still being convincing, unlike many hollywood costumes. The housing, cars etc also are all convincingly realistic, the messy surroundings fit both the characters and the scenario.

Another technique that fits with our style and creates realism is the films invisible editing. Due to the low budget the film makers cannot/did not use over the top editing styles as many big budget hollywood films use. The film also uses varying transitions such as fade in fade out (invisible), the other transition is the white flashes, these create tension and adrenaline. The editing style creates realism and helps  'direct' the audience through the scene.  

Blake

Analysis of "Dead Mans Shoes"

"Dead Mans Shoes" is the film that fits into the type of genre our opening sequence is to portray. The media language that the low budget british film creates has the essentials that will be needed in our project.
The simple but effective cinematography that has been manipulated in "Dead Mans Shoes" makes the film look realistic and believable which shadows our aim for the opening sequence. "Dead Mans Shoes" had been filmed using a hand held steady-camera because it is a low budget film. It uses a variety of long shots, medium shots and close ups which gives the film some different scenes making and keeping it interesting.
The mise-en-scene that has been filmed in Dead Mans Shoes is a fine example of how our opening sequence will be constructed. The scenes shown in our video clip of Dead Mans Shoes consist of a very messy and typical home, a usual yard/back garden and a winding countryside pathway. The costumes worn by the characters is of a casual day to day dress wear which again keeps the film believable and realistic.
The invisible editing that the film has is very effective, especially the flashing fade in/out, which we will also use in our opening sequence.
Another elemant which is the result of the low budget british film is the lighting which is natural throughout the whole film. This again will be part of our opening sequence.
The sound in Deads Man Shoes is kept natural and only consists of special sound effects and background music to create the atmosphere that is needed to produce different emotions within the audience.
All the five elements of the media language in Dead Mans Shoes are appropriate for our opening sequence therefore we beleive that this is the film that is representative of what we expect as an outcome even though our plot and story line differs from this.

Nushy

Analysis of dead mans shoes

The film we have chosen that is "dead mans shoes" a low budget British film that has the same genre as our opening sequence.

In dead mans shoes they use natural high key lighting that makes the film look realistic. Most of the film is shot using an steady-cam as its low budget the editing is invisible. The sound is realistic and what you would expect that makes the film more believable. The mise en scene used is also realistic as everything used in the scene fits in they are at one point in an abandoned house in the country side and in the house there's no floors the walls are bare and there is no door the only things in the house is some crates and a few pieces of scrap. The cinematography used is all different camera angles such as high angles that make people look weak and low angles that make people look strong. 

Putting all these different media techniques in makes the film look realistic and as though it is actually happening which makes the audience become attached to the characters which makes them want to watch the film to find out what happens.

Beth

Preliminary Task

Our group decided that we would base our preliminary task on an assassin receiving a new assignment. 

If we were to remake our project again we would plan the scenes individually, so that when it came to filming our process it would be more efficient, so then when it came to editing we would be able to put the scenes together more effectively. 

The sound was also a problem when it came to editing as it occasionally jumped when the scenes changed for example the exchanging of the envelope. the sound in some cases were that bad we had to edit in audio from separate clips.

Overall we were happy with the outcome of our preliminary task, as the good points out weighed the negative points.

Beth, Nushy, Blake

target audience

Our opening sequence has to get people to watch and enjoy it for them to be able to watch the rest of the film we looked into our target audience and looked at the statistics.

We found that the regular cinema goers of the age of 15-34 have the largest percentage than other age groups. so we are going to make our opening sequence for the age group of 15-34 and any gender so that if our film was ever made it would meet the target audience.

Beth

example of an opening sequence

For us to be able to get a good mark we need to do research into other films that have been made that link in to our genre and ideas.

We believe the film 28 days later fits in with our construction of the film as the low-key lighting and grittiness of the opening sequence.

blake

initial ideas

For us to be able to create an opening sequence we have to define what an opening sequence is and its functions- there are 7 functions to an opening sequence  

1. to establish place and time.
2. introduces any themes and motifs linked to the ideologies in the film.
3. to set up the initial equilibrium that will be disrupted later.
4. to reassure the audience by demonstrating the conventions of the chosen genre.
5. setting up audience expectations e.g. in plot, style/media language.
6. introducing and establishing characters, usually the main character/protagonist.
7. usually sets up many enigmas.

the two main functions we are gong to use are 6 and 7 as these link in with the ideas we have.

Beth