AS Evaluation-Q3

AS Evaluation-Q7

Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Finally comes my favourite moment, which is when we had to do our preliminary task. The purpose of the preliminary task was to get to know how our equipment worked and how we could use it. Our task was to create a short piece of film in which there are several camera angles used and there is conversation between two characters. 

From the task we learned that Danni was shy to be filmed. Also she was looking sometimes clueless towards the camera, which shows that she had no idea what we were playing. This means that she needed to concentrate on her lines and look towards the other actor, in order to make the film story look more realistic.
We also learned that George was good at editing and all of us were good at using the camera. We made a mini conclusion that I was good at creating a storyline and sort of acting. There were points where the lighting did interfere with the behaviour of the characters. So we concluded that we must make sure that the lighting is adjusted correctly, otherwise, we would not look like a professional production and it would not make the thriller look successful or realistic.

Another problem which we faced was the sound insulation as voices from the library could be heard. From That we have learned that in order to make a more realistic thriller clip, we must make sure that the sound is well insulated in order for the audience not to be able to bear with deteriorated sound. 

Also following these mistakes, another was found by the sudden and probably accidental movement of the camera. the high angle camera angle had moved swiftly to the left and then to the right which is not acceptable for a film out of any genre. We learned that we must make sure that the camera is not moving when it is filming a steady shot of a certain scenario/scene.

A part from that, I learned that under all circumstances, one must create a plan before filming (A script would be quite the bit). 

AS Evaluation-Q2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our first character is called Stacey. She is 25 and arrives from the former republic of Ygoslavia. Stacey is an everyday housewife. She spends every day looking after the home. Her main tasks involve cleaning the house, washing and cooking, nice homemade meals (which we discover in the opening scene). This way, the audience can relate to her and develop a relationship with her. Unlike our audience, Stacey doesn't have any friends due to bad college years and her family consists of just her husband (Dave) and their two sons. Stacey's character appeals to the target audience as she uses very basic makeup and her hair is tied, showing a sense of vulnerability yet confidence so teenage females can learn that it's okay to look how you do. This makes Stacey approachable to the audience. By showing to the audience that she is a weak character, the audience would want to reach out and help her as she has had a lot of miss fortunes in her life.

The second Character is called Dave. He is 25 years old and comes from the Czech Republic.  Dave works as a solicitor. He is on a case as a defendant for a victim against a well-known criminal, who is dangerous and ready to stop anyone from going to prison. Dave is happily married with his wife; Stacey. They have two sons and a nice house. Dave became a solicitor because although Christian, he believed in the aspect of karma. Dave has grown up with both parents. He has two older brothers who are twins, and one younger sister. He is also a family guy. Dave would appeal to the audience, as he is represented as a good soul who is willing to help and the fact that he is a solicitor allows the audience to trust him because of his authority and would therefore hold respect for him. The use of his outfit where he will be wearing a smart suit, along with a brief case show's that he is a sophisticated character and that he is a bit conservative. It is important to pursuade the idea that his character is strong to the audience as it will give a strong sense of security for the audience, therefore allowing him to appeal to the audience. Also the difference in clothing between him and Stacey shows the comparisons of a strong character and a weak character.

And finally, our killer. Although my group dismisses the idea of him having a name, I did give him a name and I will always call him Jerald. In the posters and trailers he will never have the name written but I will call him as I find it funny. He is British, age is unknown. This killer is currently facing a trial in court for attempt of man slaughter. he has no friends nor family. As a young boy growing up, he was around a lot of nasty areas where he saw crime take place right in front of him. He witnessed his mother getting aggressively stabbed when he was 11. Since then he hadn't been the same, he had studied hard at school until he was 16 and then left. At this job, he was treated with no respect. The killer may not appeal to the majority of the audience. This is because this character is seen as violent and morally wrong in his belief. However, taking this attitude on the character works because in order for a successful thriller, we need the enemy to be feared by the audience. Yet, despite the audience not relating to this character, they still want to know more and engage with the film so it would still relate to them and appeals to them because it achieves an effective reaction.

AS Evaluation-Q4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

A target audience is a specific group of people within the market at which the product is aimed at. The target audience for the thriller would fall in the filming certificate bands for a specific age range to watch a certain film. 

My target audience was 12 year olds as our thriller was not going to show a lot of violence and it would only be using a limited amount of props such as weapons due to the tight budget. However after a meeting my group and I decided to expand the age to 15 year olds as they are the convectional target population for the projection of a thriller movie.
This was further reinforced by the target audience results which we recieved after we sent a survey.
I am sure that the  age range of 15-18 would like our thriller opening sequence as we will use several camera techniques including, my favorite Point of View camera angle, as it involves each of the audience personally, making them believe that they are in the movie. Our narrative relates to their parents`s everyday life. They would see that the main character is capable of doing anything to preserve his life in order to be next to his children.

The purpose why one, has a questionnaire is to find out whether, the target audience I have selected is correct and whether I should add more effects to the film, in order to spice it up and intrigue even further my audience. The survey was spread through the Internet via a survey website. As my ideal target audience (at the time) was 12, I was given the task to research the various film certificate requirements. I then found out that our thriller (Although packed with interesting techniques) would be quite dull, due to the limited special effects. 

Furthermore, the audience will be limited to what kind of weapons it can see as. This is why when we had a group meeting, we discussed and concluded that our target audience would be better to be increased to the age of 15. This way, not only do we gain more income (as mainly teenagers’ view thriller movies) but we also get a wider range of ages to watch it. It would be a wider as people in the age branch 20-29 like watching gory thriller movies.

AS Evaluation-Q1

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

Usually, thriller films use successful conventions to try and make their thriller more spiced up and acceptable to the needs of the targeted audience and create the 3 S` (suspense, shock and surprise). 

Many of the conventions are directly involved with the characters, iconography, lighting, etc. I decided to use a few of these conventions for my product because I wanted to create a successful opening sequence. This is why I needed to create the opening sequence with convection such as a blond victim. 

*

One of the conventions that I used was with the characters. In my thriller I used the stereotypical blond victim. I used it as many members of the world population believe that blond women are more vulnerable and susceptible to being on the less intelligent side. This should create suspense as the audience will be waiting for something interesting to happen to Stacy. In thrillers such as "Scream", the use of a blonde victim 

Another convention which I used was in the  iconography, in particular the use of a knife. The reason for choosing a knife rather than a gun or a machete is because it is a blunt weapon, which means that it is quiet when operated and can make the victim twist in pains in order to display its discomfort. Also more blood can be displayed by the victim in order to be able to further shock the audience. Knife weapons are also usually assosciated with the thriller and horror genre as the murderers want to be silent in order to surprise their next victim (Something which the pistol or semi-machine gun can not achieve). In my thriller, there was a scene where the killer enters the house and then chooses a knife and goes upstairs to surprise Stacy (The wife). Another reason for me to choose the knife was because it is a more affordable and accessible weapon.

Another convention which I used was in the setting. I used a standard British house in a suburb town as it makes the audience believe that even in a normal household a perillous situation might be inevitable. Another reason why I used it was because the audience can relate to it as they also live in a house like the one I had used. 

 In order to spice up the cocktail of emotions, which the target audience was recieveing we wanted  and did use a conventional POV shot with which we put the audience in the shoes of the killer. This way, the stress between them will increase.and complete one of the 3`s. The use of POV is conventional as in many thriller films such as "Jaws", it is used in order to either keep the identity of the killer or to create tension between the audience as they will have no idea what might happen.

The identity of the villain is meant to be an enigma for the audience so we decided to use the convention of masks and gloves in order to keep the identity hidden. It is normal for the villan to be unable to be seen with his character lines so the use of a mask and gloves, gives the chance of a hidden identity.

Conventionally, low key lighting was used in this scene to show the outline of the victim as she goes to throw away the rubbish (In the case of the rough cut)/When going upstairs to her room(The Final opening sequence). The low key lighting displays the time of the day and gives the incentive to the audience that unknown events are available to happen. Thus the convention is completed and appropriately used










*Some of the pictures used are from our Rough Cut post as they are better examples at displaying the certain conventions. The actors which we used after we gathered our results are displayed in the character representation question (Evaluation Question 2). The reason was that after we gathered the results, the targeted audience preferred the main characters to be older, so we did comply with their demand. Also the setting has been slightly changed as the previous house had central lighting, rather than lamps with which to full fill the essential low key lighting.

Thriller Comparisson

Thriller Comparisson
13/2/14
Vasil Nikolov

I believe that my thriller sequence was successful as it shows to the invigilator with many different skills that I have learned through my course. For example, my thriller contains conventions that I taken from other successful thrillers, such as: "The Shining".

My opening sequence contained features, such as: low key lighting, which were used through out in order to show a convention of the time in which evil rises. Also effective were the tense sounds which we used in order to make the audience scared, as they would be not aware of what will happen. 

The cinematopgraphy used within the sequence was very conventional to thrillers as camera angles, such as:

• hand held
• high angle
• close up

These camera angles allowed the audience to view and relate to the characters in the fiilm.

Throughout the whole opening sequence I contributed with the directing, edditing and aiding with the filming (Outtakes to arrive soon in the DVD version). This is because, the required expectations on how to direct, give advice and help with the filming as there were no scripts online on how to direct. The only way I learned how to directa thriller was from interviews with directors such as Quentin Tarrantino and his . For example, similarly to him I used the connotation of using a youthful female character which is blonde. This is because it has been seen in many films, such as Hitchcock's Pyscho, Jaws, Kill Bill and many more. Blonde victims are usually assosciated with being, weak, lack intellegence. This would not surprise the audience however, because the female character was blonde and young, my male audience would be interested to watch the film.

Using the budget that I had to create a gripping thriller, my set had to be real and the propps had to be housebased as they are cheap and increase the reallity. The good thing was that my father owned a VW Passat 2.0 so Danni can represent Dave (The main character) more businesslike. This would allow the audience to feel a sense of security, as the male character is showing the audience that he has this strong approach to him, yet as the sequence goes on, there is a clear show of vulnerability which therefore tricks the audience.

Research into Sound-MIss Miller

In films, sound is important as it creates an atmosphere with the audience that creates an emotional bond, between them and their characters within the scene. In a sequence, the sound features used gives a depth to the action that is happening, allowing people to understand what film genre they are lavishing. In thrillers, the producers tend to use sounds that create the 3S. They use sounds such as:

• Diegetic sound
• Non-diegetic sound
• Off screen sound
• On screen sound
• Parallel sound

For our thriller opening sequence we used all 5 of these sounds. Mostly, we used: on screen sounds as well as diagetic sounds in order to increase the level of realism as much as possible.

An example of the sound which we used was some off screen sound of the mans wife on the phone. We added it at the start of the opening sequence as it creates an everyday atmosphere for the audience, making them relate to the everyday chores one has to do. This conersation can be counted as an off-screen sound as we cannot see the wife talking, but we can hear her. One should mention that although, the conversation was not diagetic(it was not added in the editing stage) it is counted as a conventional feature to the thriller genre as many directors use a phone call to create a realistic scenario just like we did. They do this to get the audience engaged into the scene, leading them into a full sense of security and then a twist to the scene in order to scare them.

Planning Sound-Miss Georgiou

Planning Sound
04/12/13
Vasil Nikolov

In order to flavour our thriller and make it more interesting, the need of sound effects would be crucial to add. With these sound effect, not only would the thriller sound more interesting and scary, but it can also be a cheaper option rather than adding special effects when for example one of the characters is killed.

The importance of sound in a film is that it matches with the images and the audience during the film in order to create positive emotions from them towards the film. Planning is needed in order to match the correct sound to the correct frame in order for the audience to feel engaged with the film. If used properly, the sound effects can create enough tension to not have the need of a special effect. 

In our thriller, we will be using:

• Off-Screen Sound
• Silence
• Eerie music
• on-screen Sound

The first sound technique that we will use is on screen sound. An example would be when the camera makes a close up on the husband`s phone in order to be able to see that the screen has brighten up, showing a call forwarding. This directs the audience's attention to the phone as it gives them an incentive that it is an everyday situation with which the audience can relate to. The story so far does not move from equilibrium to disequilibrium.

The second sound technique is called a parallel sound. A parallel sound usually collides perfectly with the scene in order to create emotions within the audience such as: surprise, shock or suspense. We intend to use this technique when, the main character opens the door with the killer waiting in front of him. This is to create suspense and tension as the audience would start to sit on the edge of their seats. 

Thirdly an eerie music soundtrack will be used throughout the film, so that it makes the audience feel nervouse as they would assosciate the scary music with a bad event about to happen. This is to engage them, as if they are in the film.

Lastly the use of silence to create suspense and tension so that the audience can not sense that something is going to happen. An example would be the scene where the killer, kills the female (which is screaming) and the camera jumps to the candles.

http://freesound.org/people/Under7dude/sounds/163383/ (heavy breathing)

The sound of heavy breathing which is intended to be used in our opening sequence when the villain who is looking at the victim while she is taking out the trash. The villain is meant to be unidentifiable, which is why we will have to use a POV camera angle when he is walking. Another way to continue hiding his identity would be to use a mask and a hat in order for the audience to be interested in him.

Other Examples of sounds which we will use:

http://freesound.org/people/Mixedupmoviestuff/sounds/179222/ (stabbed cabbage/woman)

http://freesound.org/people/Loffy/sounds/89948/-(Car engine start)

http://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/70225/ (For the passing by)

http://freesound.org/people/RadioOAF/sounds/141995/ (when he tryes to escape)

http://freesound.org/people/ancorapazzo/sounds/181632/ (gas cooker)

Audience Feedback-Miss Georgiou

Audience Feedback
13/02/14
Vasil Nikolov

What is Audience Feedback?
To the film producers and directors, the audience feedback is an important part of production, because this way they can see whether the audience enjoyed the film or whether slight alterations need to be implemented in the film in order to make it more desirable to watch.

How can one gain information from their audience? 
The required Feedback can be received from the audience by organising an online survey, containing the screening and then the questions for them to answer. A second way would be to project a screening of the Rough Cut of the film in front of the requested target audience followed by a discussion. 
From similar Feedback results,the industry and the production can benefit, because the audience can step in the shoes of the directors and decide whether there should be alterations or the continuity of the film is working just fine. Another bennefit would be that from the altered version, the targeted audience can expand or the number of viewers would increase, causing the income from the film to further increase.

I took the liberty to split the results I had recieved in order to order them in two categories:

Positive Comments that the production has received: 

These are the comments that me and my group had recieved from our targeted audience. From them, I can very surely varify that we are covering many of the requested convections in order to create an interesting thriller.

Comment 1: This  thriller was interesting as it gave an entire new perspective to how the audience`s ordinary life can change in the matter of minutes. 

Comment 2: The story flowed really well with no gaps. "It was enjoyable to watch and kept me on my feet". 

Comment 3: "This interested me in the way killers can think and made me scream from some points". "Seeing how close villains can hide next to their victims is something rare and phenomenal".

Improvements required for the production from the audience:

Some issues were   adressed towards our team in order for us to improve. The following comments present the main issues that we needed to improve.

Comment 1: "One issue is that it is hard in the begining of  the opening sequence to see, because it is too dark". ThIn order to improve this key issue, we should brighten the colour of the scenes in order for the audience to appriciate the action that is happening in the motion picture.

Comment 2: "There seems to be too much characters". "It confuses me with what it is happening". The reason why there was too much characters was that in the last evening when we were short of one main character (The Husband). This meant that a second person, had to fill in the scenes where our main character had to be filmed. Therefore, we will need to make sure to retake the opening sequence scenes where the main character will be played by one person.

Comment 3: "The sound effects that were used, seemed to be not scary enough". this means that they should be changed and the synchronising of them as well in order to improve the effect of reality upon the viewer`s feelings.

In conclusion, our thriller followed the aims of creating a two minute opening sequence; we used all the conventions and made it seem as real as possible.

Font Ideas-Miss Georgiou

Font Ideas
10/2/13
Vasil Nikolov

Similarly to "The Shining", I wanted to include all of the cast and their roles in order to show to my audience my grattitude towards the people that aided me for the production. Unlike films such as: "Goodfellas", I would prefer to have my credits over the film in order to not annoy the audience as in "Goodfellas". The font was fine for it, however I personally would choose for the credits to go over the opening sequence in order for the audience to be able to enjoy the opening sequence and forget their problems.

Another point which I would like to make is that I would like the font to be in white as unlike "Goodfellas", most of the opening sequence is happening in the dark so if the colour red would have been used, then the audience would suffer from reading. Therefore it would be more pleasant for them to read a white font. I should also mention that as the main part of the screen is dark, the slight placement of a small white font would represent a fight between the good and evil. 

Similarly to "Se7en", I was thinking of using a blurred font in order to create a sense of unsteadiness and confusion between them. According to George, the way to make the credits unsteady would be to use the font settings in the Final Cut Pro programme. He also shared with me the way in which the titles themselves can be changed and re sized.

When it came to the theme font, I had decided that for the film, it would be appropriate to use a simple font, such as Times New Roman or Courier New, as it would relate to the background of the antagonist and main character. This would give a slight incentive to the mainstream audience what caused the fight between the antagonist and main character.

When adding the actors, the name of the actor that played the killer will not be given in order to intrigue the fans of the film, which would wish to find out more information. Therefore it would cause tension between the groups.