Foundation Production Evaluation By Sonja Moss

Foundation Production Evaluation

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

The conventions of a thriller are the stereotypical elements that make that specific film fall within the thriller genre. The typical elements of mise en scene within a thriller are typically dim and sinister lighting along with settings where people would feel safe such as their home or with relatives also the sound/music is mostly non-diagetic to build the tension with the audience but there is some diagetic sound such as the noise of the surrounding areas e.g. in a woodland setting there would be the rustling sound of leaves and possibly the sound of twigs breaking underfoot this helps to build tension as well due to the type of sound it is edgy and unexpected. We decided on using mainly diagetic sound to further enforce the sense of gritty realism, which was a vital part in the overall look, and has aided in the crescendo of tension and suspense. We used few props within our piece but these were effective in the way we used them e.g. these props were mainly shown in fast paced shots this sparks questions in the audience, what are they for? Why do they have them? This helped to increase the build up of suspense and tension as they went as the audience only got a quick glance at them. The setting of our piece is within enclosed, dark woods this helps to create the thriller genre. The wood was large but seemed enclose and looked never ending, it had a small open space where we filmed but this still seemed small and was surrounded with tall and limp trees with no leaves on them.
In our opening sequence there is iconography show through a few objects such as the lighter. The lighter symbolises fire, danger and ignition e.g. the sparks ignite fires and the fire causes dangerous conditions when not controlled. The petrol canister can create different iconographic qualities such as it can symbolise something starting e.g. petrol/diesel is often associated with motor vehicle starting it can also symbolise danger and fire as the usual contents of a petrol canister is extremely flammable.
When filming we shot each shot from a number of different angles so that we could sit down and look at them properly before editing and also so we could get the best possible effect for our thriller piece. The camera was always handheld within our piece this gave the desired effect during specific sections of the piece although during the running sequences it gave the desire effect I think maybe it would have given an even greater effect if the camera was not as shaky and also followed the same pattern of Joe’s footsteps when following him.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our piece the social groups that I think are represented are 18-21 year old males that have managed to get into a bad crowd from a young age. This is because of the reasons behind the victim getting into the trouble before being kidnapped. This is also a common problem in the modern world so most people can relate to the fact that he has been kidnapped and that his position is fatal because of the bad crowd he had become part of earlier on in life. Dan represents the many young people that fall into the wrong crowd at a young age and start getting into trouble and getting pressured into misled youth culture. Jonty represents the gang leaders of today that take advantage of the weak and needy people that require some form of social stability, but happen to fall into the wrong crowd. These situations create a partial feeling of empathy within the audience although they could not help feeling it is the persons own fault.


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

For our piece I would use ‘Pathe Distribution’ this is because they have a wide range of films that they have distributed and a large quantity of these are thrillers some of which create the same effect and meaning we have created/hoping to achieve with the audience. Some of the thrillers the have distributed include Memento (Christopher Nolan: Oct 2000), ‘Black Christmas’ (Glen Morgan: 2006) and many more. Pathe Distributions have had a large number of very successful thriller releases and this is why I have decided that I would like Pathe Distributors to distribute our film. It is also the UK’s leading independent film distributors.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for this piece would be males aged 18-21 and possibly some females who like the thriller genre but the main target audience would be males aged 18-21. This is because there are a number of different thrillers that are slightly similar to ours and they have indulged in the viewing of these films. Other thrillers such as Memento and The Others have had very high admission levels. Memento gaining 330,468 admissions since 2000 and The Others has gained 2,646,656 admissions since 2001 (http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/search/index.php), these statistics are from Great Britain alone. These statistics show that the thriller genre is very popular within Great Britain.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The target audience would be attracted to our film due to the fact that the storyline is close to the reality of today’s social society issues within the youth culture, also many people can relate to our piece as many people have experience bullying on a personal level and have been pressured into things they are unsure of or have not wanted to do. For example, in our piece Dan (the victim) is taken unwillingly and subjected to violence being made to feel small and insignificant. The camera angles throughout our piece are mainly high angle shots of the victim this adds to the feeling of domination over the victim (strength and power to the antagonist). The victim’s body language is very withdrawn and enclosed this shows his internal monologue of feeling alone and ostracized. The antagonist’s body language is very open and strong, this shows he is in control, confident and knows what he wants. The non-diagetic sound within the piece is very dark, sinister and mysterious, this creates suspense and tension within the audience as sound is very important for creating atmosphere within a film piece. The diagetic sound within the piece is natural sound from the surrounding wood area such as rustling leaves and breaking twigs, this helps to add to the suspense and tension from the non-diagetic sound as it is unexpected.

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

The technologies that we used to create this product were:
The Camera
Light Reflector
Garage Band
After Effects
Final Cut Pro

We did not use much technology to create our piece but I think that our simplicity has created the desired effect that we were hoping for. I found that the software we used was easy to pick up once you set your mind to the task. For example, I found garage band particularly easy to pick up as the layout and commands were simple and it easy to create new project if you were not happy with the outcome of different experimentations of music.

With this piece I thought it was a success but still there are improvements that could be made. For example, I thought that the lighting towards the end of the piece was slightly to dull and grey, it looked de-saturated and I do not feel this looked the best it could. I also feel that a few shots were not the right choice of our selection as they did not look in place to me they seemed like they needed maybe a slight angle or shot size change, for example, there is a shot of Junior timidly putting petrol on Dan and I feel the shot would look better at a higher angle as it would give a more powerful effect on the piece.

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

From the preliminary task I feel I have progressed slightly as I have managed to learn some more skills to aid in my work and the whole groups. At the start of the full product I felt it was not going to be as successful as the preliminary task, this is due to the planning being delayed and re-done during filming but as time progressed so did I and the group and I started to see the product form into the planned final piece. My skills in deciding correct shots and composition have improved since the preliminary task this is due to the previous peer evaluations. However my skills in continuity editing have not improved this, is because I still do not fully understand all the aspects of editing. My construction of character and story has improved with this task as I have really tried my best with this final product, me and the group put a lot of thought into the storyline and the characters for this piece because we wanted the best possible outcome from our work.

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Evaluation of Foundation Portfolio

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

The conventions of a film are similarities that make an audience know what genre of film it is by the film having similarities that stereotype it into the genre. Conventions of a thriller within mise en scene are they usually use dark colours, low key lighting and tends to be contemporary. It is also normally placed in a busy town or quiet area. The victims are mainly at their home; as this is were people tend to go to feel safe or to hide away. There use of positioning within a frame with the victim is to show a close up of the victims face and/or an important item within the room.
The victims make up and costume will change through out the film. From perfect to completely ruined, make up running down their face and dirty, from the antagonists actions through out the film ending up looking exhausted, untidy and emotionally unstable. Their hair will be the same from clean cut and styled to dirty, greasy and a plain mess. This is typically what will happen in both thrillers and horrors. It takes them out of their comfort zone of caring about there appearance and they start caring about surviving no matter what they look like. (As in the example pictures of Will Smith at the beginning and end of ‘The enemy of the state’ 1998, Tony Scott).
We only had a few props but they were very effective. Like the use of the petrol can, the lighter or the cigarette. Just the quick shots of them being used added to the suspense and the pace of the film.
It was set in a deserted, enclosed wood with a slight opening in the middle. It gave a sense of freedom from the open circle but overwhelmed the audience with entrapment as it was surrounded by woods and bushes and nobody was around to help, as it is a typical thriller. The use of trees which had no leaves on gave a sense of death or evil. Making it slightly more chilling. The colour of our film was slightly de-saturated so it added darkness to it or an evil mood. It made the film feel dangerous; it was all natural light as well, as we wanted to make it look realistic. We did have light reflectors but due to bad weather conditions they didn’t really work. However we think this helped add to the feel of the film.
The sound is typically a fast pace into dramatic loud creshendo’s or a thrilling silence. They use silence to build tension and to intensify concentration on a certain sound effect such as a squeak, bangs or odd noises. The music in the background is almost always instrumental and tends to be non-diagetic to create an ambient within the scene and make it feel more dangerous, tense and edgy. It may also cause the audiences to become uncomfortable or have aspects of anxiety. This also creates the suspense within the film and the enigma that intrigues and keeps them ‘on the edge of their seats’. The sound can add to the unease of the audience when shown a dead body or a murder etc.
In thrillers there is always a victim, in our film it is Dan, (the protagonist), a villain, Jonty and Junior, (the antagonists) and a member of authority like police, we didn’t have one as it was only the opening, (neutral character). There may even be more then jus one of each. The victim is almost always an innocent person caught in the middle of something and the villain always tends to be a kind of psycho. You can tell that Jonty is the main antagonist by his body language of being more relaxed about the whole thing, unemotionally throwing Dan around and storming around. He is the first to grab Dan, open the boot of the car, get the petrol can and move Junior out the way so he can put the petrol on Dan as Junior is too hesitant. You can also see this is all there facial expressions, Dan is terrified and is obviously fearing for his life, Jonty doesn’t really care and is determined to finish the ‘job’ through and Junior is extremely hesitant and possibly just doing everything to please Jonty. We close up on each of them at moments when the audience need to see the expressions to be able to empathise with Dan and dislike the antagonists even more. We also do it so the audience can see into the characters characteristics to help them understand what kind of people they are.
However during the main section of the film the antagonist maybe an invisible threat to the victim, but the audience knows who it is ( unrestricted narration) or the audience knows the same as the protagonist or sometimes less (restricted narration).
Iconography, in our film there are only a couple of iconographies. One would be the petrol can. It is recognised for the use of filling up cars/vans/motorbikes with petrol or diesel. However in the context of which the antagonists are referring it to it is symbolic of danger, fire and evil. It also can be used as an iconology for starting something, for example, a car or a fire. Maybe in this case it could be for the start of the film as the title appears just after the fire effects on the screen, we think was caused by the petrol can.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our film it is representing young adult males, involved in a lot of crime and normality in assaulting other young males, which lead a supposedly good life from what you see in the beginning of this film with Dan and Joe’s characters. There is also a quite negative representation of young women involved in obviously dangerous criminals. These are shown in the clothes they wear, although these were not our first choice, we feel they have worked well. The use of tracksuits and dark more formal clothing for the antagonists and the protagonist has just a casual jeans and a top. The women are in short skirts, revealing tops and heels, which suggests highly that they are either prostitutes or jus plain ‘tarty’ or ‘easy’. The use of lighting is very important when Dan is being pulled out of the boot of the car. He can not see anything from the lack of lighting, giving the impression he is ‘left in the dark’ about where he is going and what is going to happen, therefore clearly showing he is the victim. This is enhanced when the boot is opened and the antagonists are silhouetted, so the audience and Dan still can’t see properly where he is. We did this so immediately it shows the 2 new characters being introduced are the antagonists and strengthen the clearness of Dan as the protagonist.
The use of cuts and the pace of the running sequence within the film portrays Joe as obviously panicking, distraught and trying his hardest to catch up or save Dan from the 2 antagonists. If the film is carried on Joe would be the main protagonist. The film represents the ‘war’ between young males age’s between 18-21 years of age and ‘sides against each other’. In this it is 2 antagonists against 2 protagonists. I think our film fits into stereotypes were Jonty is concerned as his look was quite a typical young male’s outfit same with Junior however Junior’s build is a lot smaller then you would stereotypically expect from the antagonists of this type event.

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

I would use Universal as our distributor as they are well known and have successfully distributed lots of popular films such as Bourne Ultimatum, (2007, Paul Greengrass) and The Interpreter (2005, Sydney Pollack). The way I would like to advertise is Viral mainly. This is because the internet is an extremely important feature in today’s society and one of the most beneficial ways of advertising. I would also have lots of posters on buses and billboards. Use magazines, merchandising and press releases. As I think our film will be a big hit, I will organise interviews with the most famous actor in our cast and invite critics to do a write up. I would have several different trailers, some with our most famous actor as the main focus of the trailer and others with more focus on the action. Along with radio adverts to keep it interesting and get the film name into our audiences heads. This will also help show different events within the film so the audience will want to piece it altogether and want to see the action in picture that they’ve heard on the radio. Eventually I will hopefully be using the word of mouth to add to the buzz. I would do all of this a month prior to the film being released but I would have my film advertised with trailers on DVDs other films 6months prior to release. I would also use universal to get our film to home TV screens etc.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience we wanted to target from the whole film is for 18-21 year olds. Possibly males would be more attracted to this. This would fit into the same category as The Bourne Ultimatum (2007 Paul Greengrass). So we have tried to aim for the same audience. However as the film progresses on with the story lines and the violence within added with difficult storylines of drug abuse and assault it possibly would interest over 21’s as well.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Our film attracts the audience as it is so fast paced and such an everyday thing that people can relate to. Drug abuse and young adults falling into the wrong crowd happens everyday. In the worst cases people will fail to fund their needs and end up in more serious situations then they anticipated at the start. The kidnap immediately draws people in as it starts initiating questions like why has he been kidnapped? What has he done? What’s going to happen to him? The introduction to the characters straight of makes the audience have a relationship with them from the start. The sound is very attention grabbing as it is sharp, intensifying and interesting.

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

I have learnt a lot from the beginning of the preliminary task. I have learnt how to use a camera from the start, like setting the white balance, handling the camera, use of shots on zoom. The use of lighting to help create the effect you want. Time manipulation through editing, use of shots and lighting. Making cuts so the audience don’t see them and seeing what works and doesn’t work. Match on action was an interesting, but stressful part of the editing, for example, getting Dan out of the boot of the car had to be just right when they grabbed him, pulled and dragged him away. The women’s positioning when this was happening was crucial as if we weren’t in the same place it would have ruined that part of the film. I learnt a lot about the process of shot reverse shot to show a conversation which is much more interesting than a 2 shot of the whole conversation. Also how continuity affects the audience. If the continuity isn’t very good then the audience can’t watch it and it doesn’t make sense. The audience will start to question why its jus happened and it would be a bit uncomfortable to watch. In our film we lacked continuity when Junior took the tape off of Dan’s mouth as the next shot had the taped back on Dan and the next shot it didn’t again. We had to do this as it was the only shots that would make it flow and not show the editing. It doesn’t really show unless you are looking for it but was still something we hadn’t picked up when editing. The use of garage band was new to me when we started on the foundation task, the use of Foleys and parallel sound. I quickly picked this up and how in the process of editing make sure it is a match on action to what is happening making it flow and provides continuity.

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

I have learnt a lot not just from mistakes but building up my knowledge of camera work, editing, using garage band and Foleys. Also this time round we didn’t break the 180 degree line. We learnt from our mistake in the preliminary task were we broke it several times, we were more organised on the storyline point of view and got all the filming done within 2 days. Compared to my preliminary task, my use of all the correct terms of filming such as all the editing and sound terms is much greater and has expanded noticeably. I am now able to spot things in real TV dramas that are wrong whether it be match on action or continuity. I am able to introduce characters well and show if they are an antagonist or protagonist by dialogue, editing and shot angles and types. I enjoyed making this task more as there was more to do and the filming was more interesting then last time. Also there was more to think about when it came to editing and sound effects.

Luke Graham Evaluation

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

To create our thriller we used conventions which are common to the thriller genre and developed a few of these conventions to increase effect and to make the piece more original; which would ensure our target audience yet remain interesting and unique in its own way.
Upon researching thrillers (seen throughout the blog) we noticed the enigma code to be one of the most common and most important conventions used by filmmakers to heighten suspense and mystery within the narrative; so we decided to construct the sequence as if it were ultimately the final scene of the feature length film. Beginning the sequence with the opening titles intercut with a character hurriedly running through the woods instantly conjures up ideas and questionings amongst the audience; who is he? What is the purpose of his running? Where is he running to? Which is similarly achieved in The Bourne Identity (2002, Doug Liman); not much is known about the characters and their purpose. Using restricted narration we were able to evoke feelings of sympathy and mystery (again increasing this sense of enigma); the audience witnesses the characters realisation of his brothers dead body for the first time at the same time as the character acquires this knowledge of his brothers death, no knowledge of the brothers fate is given to the audience up until that point, this shocks the audience and makes them empathise with the protagonist. Our use and development of this convention seemed successful, evidenced through peer feedback, and aided greatly in the excitement and suspense of our piece.
The mood and atmosphere of our sequence was achieved by our use of mise en scene; elements similarly constructed in successful thriller films. The majority of the scenes were shot in low key using natural lighting and reflected the look of such films as Se7en and The Usual Suspects; however our attempts at using light reflectors were repeatedly halted due to poor weather conditions and a lack of spotlights, this was picked up by our peers as they mentioned a few of the shots seemed too dark and lacked visibility, a correction that would be made if given the task again. Costume, make-up and hair remained natural as we decided on making the characters seem as realistic and as believable as possible; attempting to heighten our desired sense of gritty realism (reported in our blog). In pre-production the setting seemed to be a vital part of our sequence; setting most of the action in the middle of the woods would have created a sense of loneliness and isolation, which puts the character of the brother in an even deeper state of danger as there is no one nearby to help him, which we achieved successfully and focused the audiences attention directly onto the characters on screen and their relationship with one another (which seemed very important as this was the opening of the film). I believe that the kidnappers sense of power and control over the brother, and their importance of their role in the overall narrative, was easily distinguishable throughout our opening; their body language, facial expressions and posture gave off feelings of aggression within the kidnappers, clearly the antagonists because of our use of this convention, and feelings of despair and a want of escape within the captured brother. The majority of thrillers have a soundtrack or ambient sound playing throughout the majority of the film that reflects the mood of the scenes; however we challenged this convention by including a few scenes which the sound was solely diagetic, to further the gritty realism in which we were trying to achieve and to greaten suspense (similarly done in the opening scene of Mission Impossible 3), and resulted in sequences which kept the audience on the edge of their seats.



How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening we wanted to represent the characters relationships with each other and to define the roles of protagonist and antagonist very clearly to simplify it for the audience and to set up the rest of the films narrative (if it were made into a feature). To represent the struggle between the characters of the captured brother and the two kidnappers we chose to include shaky hand-held camerawork and a faster pace of cuts to reflect the pace of the action and reflect the aggression felt amongst the kidnappers. Also, incorporating a crescendo of ambient sound near the final moments of the sequence heightened this tension.
The character types we have used are common stereotypes of antagonists and protagonists present in thrillers; the kidnappers are shown to be of an aggressive nature and clearly have more power than the brother whereas the brother is portrayed as weaker yet strong willed and has the sympathy from the target audience because of this. During the scene where the brother is soaked in petrol we decided to incorporate a few moments of hesitation in the character of Junior (the kidnapper who rips the tape off of the brother’s mouth) so as to add more diversity to the characters and to make the lead kidnapper seem more dislikeable in comparison (backed up by the birds-eye-view shot of him aggressively pouring petrol over the captured brother).
The leading characters are from a working class background (as our film revolves around ‘postcode’ gang warfare) and their body language, cursing, and accents portray this; although, to add a touch of irony and to grab the audiences attention we decided that the end of the scene would consist of the two opposing characters reciting the ‘Lords Prayer’. This allowed for the final word spoken by the lead kidnapper to be ‘Amen’ which finished the opening effectively and originally.

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

We would use Pathe Films (www.pathe.co.uk) to distribute our film as they are a well know film distributor and they are based in the UK; they produce a lot of low-budget British films, in many cases thrillers, such as Big Nothing, Crash and Memento. They would be the ideal company to distribute our film successfully and aim the advertisement at our target audience.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience we aimed our product at were 16-24 year old males; most likely to have enjoyed films such as Snatch and Memento (both of which made up to £30,000,000; www.boxofficemojo.com). We believe we would make the majority of our profit from that age group as they own the ‘leisure pound’ (disposable income) and are responsible for the majority of box office sales.

How did you attract/address your audience?

As mentioned throughout the blog we used a variety of conventions that would attract our target audience; the ‘MTV-style’ of camerawork is appealing to the younger audiences, clearly shown by the recent success of Danny Boyles Slumdog Millionaire, as it keeps the interest and attention of the audience. The issues of kidnap and revenge and the themes of brotherhood and loss are of common interest to the target audience and will be able to connect and empathise with the characters; resulting in a more emotive and engaging cinematic experience.

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

During the post production we used Final Cut Pro and GarageBand to edit image and sound together successfully and effectively; using parallel editing and fading audio into one another we were able to create continuity and improve the flow of the sequence. Also, after talking as a group I used Adobe After Effects to create the titles. I think we worked effectively as a group during the editing process although certain individuals put more of an input in than the others. I’ve learnt a lot during the editing process and how to construct moving image and sound to evoke feelings and ideas.

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

Through the development of the preliminary task and improving into the foundation portfolio I’ve learnt how to construct thriller conventions successfully and aim them at my target audience; I believed that as a group we were very successful in our preliminary sequence and already had a great deal of knowledge about moving image and thrillers, my groups construction and development of the foundation portfolio improved our skills and increased our filmmaking knowledge, and has given us more of a respect for the thriller genre.

Dan Shambrook Evaluation

Evaluation

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

One of the major aspects of thrillers is suspense. Without the audience this feeling a thriller cannot work. One of the techniques used to raise this is the enigma code. The enigma code is a word given to the way in a film raises questions in the audiences mind. We took used our story line to create this, in our opening we see two characters build up to the same event. The questions we want to raise are, why is Joe’s character running? Who is he and what relationship does he have with Dan’s character? What has Dan’s character done? Who is Dan’s character? And who are the men that kill him?

Another common convention of thrillers is the use or either restricted or unrestricted narration. With restricted narration the audience shares the experience with the characters involved, they know as much as the characters within the film. With this technique directors can create shock. We didn’t want that. We wanted our audience to fell suspense and therefore went with unrestricted. Conventionally this would mean the audience know more than the characters and this is how the suspense is achieved. We went against this idea. From our piece the audience knows less than the characters, the suspense is created and makes the audience want to know what’s happening.

Again part of the enigma with our piece we wanted to make it unclear who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. The protagonist is the character that the story is told through, this person could be good or bad, and the antagonist is the character that opposes them. This creates a binary opposition, when the two characters collide. Within our piece there is a clear binary opposition. We want the audience to become attached to Dan’s character, this is achieved with his contact with Joe, the only character seen to be not associated with the murder. With this bond between the audience and Dan; Junior and Jonty become the characters the audience go against. This will create surprise further in the film when it becomes clear Dan is not a particularly nice character himself.

In most thrillers low key lighting is used to create a harsh tone and deeper shadows, this breaks the smoothness within characters faces and gives a dark feel to the piece. I wanted to do this with our piece to enhance the viewing experience however the equipment we needed was not available to us through college given the location we were shooting in. To get the lighting effect I wanted we would have needed a studio set or battery powered light. After looking at the first set or rushes it became clear that our piece was equally as effective with natural lighting as it gave the piece an essence of realism making it even more thrilling. We did have the issue on the reshoot that lighting was slightly different but we overcame this with a homemade reflector made with tin foil, this wasn’t used much but did assist when it came to shooting some of the close ups.

The setting of the film itself was key, we needed access to a place with a car park, and that could look desolated to create the thriller effect, the location we used had enough open space to not interfere with the camera work and still provide the look we needed. Shooting in the woods can be difficult as positioning of the sun coming through the trees has a massive effect of how shadows fall and the light available to us. In order to get around this we shot in order of events, contrast in light then become deliberate and the broken narrative can become obvious.


We wanted all the costumes and props to be as real as possible, after research we decided on a costume to suit character and assist in the development process. We wanted the audience to understand what their seeing is real and therefore used everyday clothing. The props we needed, car was provided with the casting, we cast a driver therefore we could use his car. And the petrol can was bought. In our first day of shooting we showed the three male characters walking of, however in the next shot of them we needed a petrol can, to avoid a severe continuity disruption we added a scene in which dialogue explains they forgot it and go back. Costume and props simple and effective.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The characters we wished to represent are the youth gang culture. In particular late teen white British males the ages of our actors ranged from 17-18 to achieve this. The three main characters in our piece represent the struggle to break free from bad circles. Most of the victim is shot from a high angle, this assists in showing he is the weak and frail of the three and to some extent the innocent. His innocence is also achieved through dialogue, a strained, desperate voice whilst reciting the Lord’s Prayer gives the audience the idea he is a victim of unprovoked abuse. Later in the film we would find this not to be the case.

The second character is shown to be cocky and a bit of a suck up to the other antagonist, most of his dialogue is directed at him showing no real attachment to the victim, we also see him to be hesitant towards what he is doing, this is shown best through a powerful shot in which a fade to white leaves the shape of him with his arms behind his head in regret.

The third, the antagonist of the sequence is very in your face, achieved with a few close ups and a very personal and aggressive relationship with the protagonist. Sound also assists this as some of his lines are distorted to make him seem inhumane, adding the thriller genre.

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

The distribution company we would use would be one of British base. A major distribution company such a Lionsgate could be ideal as it is known to have success with films of a horror/thriller genre. Some examples of this would be the Saw series. Lionsgates marketing device with use of giant billboards with just the film title really worked to raise awareness and anxiety for the films release. Another advantage of our film is that is has representation of British culture this would assist us in getting funding from companies like the BFC (British film council) who have set rules as to who and why they fund films. With there backing it would become easier to get distributors and then the funding to produce more marketing techniques. A major advantage of Lionsgate is that it is a UK based American distributor, therefore we would be able to have international release furthering our audience worldwide.

In an ideal situation we would be a 1st party production company, this means we would produce the film then seeks for distribution. This is because we want to have full rights to our own film, no distributers having any input on the creative process of the piece. A good example of this way of production working is Newline cinema and their co-operation with snakes on a plane, everything about this film was built on fandom and without institution interference gained a huge fan base. We would seek marketing advice from the distributers producing billboards, and taking advantage of the internet. We would hope that through word of mouth, fandom would rise releasing podcasts, blogs, fan film and trailers. We could take this and put out invites to meet the cast and come to premiers to the fans that raise the most awareness for our film.

Who would be the audience for your media product and how do you attract them?
I feel if we were to produce the rest of the film we may have scenes of a sexual nature and severe violence therefore the BBFC would most likely class our film as an 18. This would have a massive effect on our audience’s age pushing it to around 18-24.


I feel we would attract audiences from different social classes, the working class may see our film and have a closer relationship with the characters. The film may touch on events they have come across in their lives and so they would see it in a more personal way. The middle class I think would also watch it, their enjoyment would come from prejudice as they would become enjoy watching someone in a lower state of class and become fascinated by the difference in life style.

Other themes dealt with in our film would appeal to a female audience with romance and family being major themes in our film. The film would have many sub genres and hybrids similar to ‘bullet boy’ Women may be attracted to the issues raised on family and love and therefore also be attracted to it.

To summaries our audience would be dominantly 18-24 British males of lower and lower middle class.

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

On a personal level I have always felt comfortable with lighting and cinematography. My knowledge of editing has improved as I have always had great difficulty when it comes to creating atmosphere and narrative through more than just simple cuts.

The knowledge I feel I have had from previous productions and courses surrounding film production have given me a great advantage coming into this production and I feel I have applied my skills to the best of my ability. The thing that I have discovered to be most helpful in the process is Luke’s way of directing. Whereas in the past I, myself have done a shot, moved on. Luke went back, and shot each scene over and over again from lots of angles and shot sizes giving us great opportunities when it came to the editing process.

The one piece of technology I hadn’t visited before this production was Garage Band. I found this piece of software brilliant as it allowed us to do more with sound than new ever have before. I gave the change to incorporate Foley work and great our own sounds. It really enhanced the piece and gave us the opportunity to make every element our own.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Time management and organisation. The preliminary was easy to organise and nothing really could go wrong. Shooting in college meant that we could always reshoot in frees if we didn’t like the look of something. It also meant we didn’t have to rely too much on bringing things in or travel, whereas shooting on a location took weeks to organise and we still got it wrong. The first day we went to shoot we forgot the petrol can, and due to lack of light we could afford to take time out to get it. Actors had to be home by certain times so we had to shoot fast. We had to organise a second shoot day. Having done it before the second day went better.

The most important thing I learnt during the progression is the amount of time and planning it takes just to produce a small 3 minute piece, taking this knowledge into further projects I feel I will be able o produce at an even higher standard.

Another thing I have learnt is that our group works well together, I was glad I didn’t change who I worked with as we all got on and decided on roles together.

words: 1976

Make-up and setting improvements

When watching our sequence back i noticed an improvement that could be made for it. In the shot where the victims brother finds him dead there is no sign as to how he has died and this could create confusion when watching as people other than us do not know our aims from this. the victim is against a tree looking lifeless and u cannot tell how he has died but when you find out he has been burnt it creates confusion as the shot you see does not show this at all his skin is clean and looks normal. We should have partially created the effect of burnt skin even though there is a distance between the camera and the actors, this should have been done to give a more effective and realistic view on the piece. Also the ground around him is settled and looks undisturbed this should have been cleared of leaves and maybe had some sort of burnt residue around the victim to also add to the realistic view of the piece as not having this looks unrealistic once you have discovered what has happened.

Posted By Sonja Moss

Camerawork and Editing Style

We decided on quick cuts and mainly hand-held camerawork to increase the pace of the sequence and to further enforce the sense of tension and panic; this style is similar to that of films such as City of God and Slumdog Millionare. This style also grabs the audiences attention, which targets our target audience of 16-24 yr olds successfully, and works well with the thriller genre.

Location survey

Location Survey

Location
Blunts Wood

Location address:
Blunts wood Crescent, Haywards Heath, West sussex, RH17

Travel
Nearest train station:
Haywards Heath Station
Commercial Square
Haywards Heath, Mid Sussex, RH16
0845 127 2920

Nearest Bus service:
Metrobus
81 Haywards Heath - Lindfield -Sharpthorne - Ardingly - Haywards Heath
82 Crawley - Copthorne -Crawley Down - Ardingly - Haywards Heath
86 Horsham - Southwater -Bolney - Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
89 Horsham - Warninglid -Bolney - Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
270 Haywards Heath -Horsted Keynes - Forest Row - East Grinstead
271 Crawley - Handcross -Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
272 Crawley - Pound Hill - Balcombe - Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
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Local Taxi’s:
Station taxis Ltd www.410410.co.uk - 01444 410 410
Abbey air - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 450 505
Hello taxis - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 414 840
T'n T - www.taxinumber.com - 07748 683 522
Gatwick Airport chauffeurs - www.gatwickairporttaxiservice.co.uk - 0845 675 0690
Gatwick Airport taxi Service - www.gatwickairporttaxiservice.co.uk - 0845 675 0690
Cs taxi Services - maps.google.co.uk - 01444 441 616
Andy's taxis - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 461 266
Roadrunners (eg) Ltd - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 443 300
A1 travel - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 459 341

Health and safety
Nearest doctor surgery:
The Dolphins Heath Road, Haywards Heath Tel: 414767
Newtons Surgery Heath Road, Haywards Heath Tel: 412280
Northlands Wood Surgery, 7 Walnut Park, Haywards Heath Tel: 458022

Nearest Hospital:
Princess Royal Hospital
Hurstwood Lane
Haywards Heath
West sussex
RH17

The Locations facilities
The woods offer trees and shrubs in different densities. In terms of lighting parts are open enough to enable natural light through. The tree where the last scene will be shot is open allowing possibility to shot from multiple angles and depths for a large variety of shot possibilities. There is a car park available for the car scene that again offers the same possibilities as the tree.

Continuity Issue

During the editing process we came across an issue bridging two shots together. The issue was if two of our shots were put together it would cause a jump in the frame too big to be classed as a jump cut. To get round this we placed in a shot of Dan looking up at Jonty and Junior, the problem being in this shot Dan is wearing the tape over his mouth whereas in the shot before and after it he is not. This is a minor laps in continuity that is less notable than the frame jump. We will make sure to mention this in our evaluation.

Anamatic With Sound

photographic evidence

we have a little problem in this department, we intended on taking photo's during the process however when it came to shooting we didnt have enough time or people, at no point was anyone not busy either working with the reflector to get the continuety or replotting markers in between shots. the limitations on light meant that everything had to be done quickly and effectively leaving no time to set up for photo's.

Video-Audio Comentry

We are planning on creating a comentry over our opening footage. we are going to make the fottage black and white and cut out the sound files from it, we are then going to create an audio comentry to go with the footage saying what we hoped to achieve with each shot and our initial ideas and what had to be changed and why. We are also going to explain why we chose the particular shot size, angle and postioning withing the frames. we are doing this to give a clearer explination as to why we have chosen different ideas for our piece and why we ended up changing some things during filming.

Animatic

We are planning on putting an audio clip and sound effects over the storyboard images to show our original planning of what we are trying to achieve from the sequence. This will hopefully help us with the creation of our piece and the editing as we will then have planned out what we want to happen in every section of the opening sequence.