Evaluation

During the time in which we were given to create out piece, I felt that we came together as a group well and managed to create a good finished product. I believe the planning we did as a group aided us immensely in our production and allowed us to work freely and in a controlled and worriless environment.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our piece conforms to many of the stereotypical features of a thriller. It does this by building suspense and enigma via the use of long takes and high angle shots. We also tampered with the colour saturation and speed of the piece to really help build a feeling of tension. Similar to many of thrillers it’s focused around some form of crime. We decided that a kidnapped would be not only menacing, but it today’s society, highly believable. The sense of enigma was built through having this dark clothed figure standing around the park whilst a child plays innocently. The music also adds to the whole effect we were trying to achieve. From this I believe personally that it gives it a very professional feel and would easily be categorised as a thriller.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film primarily would’ve been aimed at a slightly older audience, possibly in the region of 15+. This allows the film to be a lot more versatile and less restrictive about the content of this dark and disturbing thriller. As for the question of how our media represent particular social groups; I feel that it emphasizes the vulnerability of children in general and enforces caution amongst many parents to be wary of strangers around their children. The antagonist is portrayed to be very evil and sinister. We can observe this by the camera angles used to capture him. Often they are of him looking directly into the camera in a challenging or menacing way or by a low camera angle. The child however is shot using high angles to portray his vulnerability in this situation.
I think in today’s world were child disappearances are all over the news, it is a sensitive yet popular topic. I think by choosing a sub-genre such as this, it allowed us to really grab the attention of the audience. Right from the start, the feeling of tension and enigma is present which leaves the audience eager to know about the child and what will happen.


What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I believe that someone like Dimension Films would distribute my piece. They have been known to distribute and produce a range of films but in recent years i have seen a few thrillers distributed by them, one of these being Sin City (Frank Miller 2005). Similarly to Sin City uses a change of colour to set the mood. Ours in particular uses a cross between sepia and a black and white effect, this could be compared to that of Sin City ( Frank Miller 2005). Both mine and Sin City (Frank Miller 2005) have a sinister feel which is why i think Dimension Films would consider to distribute a film such as this.


Who would be the audience for your media product?
From the questionarre I carried out I concluded that the main audience would be primarily male at around 35+. Steriotypicaly males watch more thrillers than women and along with the storyline, I believe it would be more appealing to them rather than women. I think the audience that watch my film would be the intelectual sort that crave a twist and like to be mentally stimulated throughout. Seeing as my piece is a psychological thriller it would conform to those expectations very well.


What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Prior to working with Carl and Jade, I had done some work experience in a digital editing studio which allowed me to take a more direct and prominent part during the editing process. However my learning curve was huge and through a combination of teacher guidance and “fiddling around” I felt I managed to acquire sufficient skills that I hope will help me in the future in a possible journalist career. I learnt how to control and to work the camera to its best effect. I also learnt how to get some fantastic effects and transitions by using the editing program. All this experience I hope allowed me to create a good and professional looking and sounding piece.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back on my preliminary, there is no comparison to what I had then and to what I have now. The preliminary task was sketchy and shoddy, whilst with time to learn about the correct editing processes and different camera techniques it allowed me to create a piece that my team and I all feel very proud of. I realise now that is is one thing to know the theory about media, however, it is a completely different thing to put them into practice and create a well rounded piece. The skills which I learnt on the theory side became very useful. it only took a small ammount of time in order to adjust from theory to practical. Once that transition was complete it allowed me to realise my full potencial and incorperate some proffesional techniques into our piece. These techniques ranged from edditing to camera control. I know feel I could competantly plan and construct a piece on my own.

Choosing Our Music

As with any film production, music is pivital in setting the scene and allowing an atmosphere to be created. We needed to find a non-copyrighted source and search for music that would compliment our production.

We found one on http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/index2.php. The track is called Numbers Station and is copyright free. It's eerie sounding tone went really well with our piece.

"Contained on this page is a selection of royalty free / semi-copyright free music."
http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/index2.php

Production Schedule

DATE - What We Will Be Doing

12th Feb: Begin Planning (Brainstorming ideas)
17th Feb: Continue Planning (include a Storyboard)
24th Feb: Completed a detailed storyboard
26th Feb: Complete all Planning (including props, costume ect)
3rd Mar: Went to visted locations
5th Mar: Anamatic Storyboard
10th Mar: Start Filiming
12th Mar: Research Audio Sounds
16th Mar: More Filming
17th Mar: Final Filming
18th Mar: Editing
19th Mar: Editing (hand in first draft)
24th Mar: Get feedback and update blog

Production Diary 18/3/09

Seeing as I had some free time, I took it upon myself to come and work on the editting. I worked on some of the timings and made the filming fit in the with music which I believe gives the piece a proffesional feel. Aswel as this, i rendered it which allowed me to view the filming in it's best state so far.

Production Diary 17/3/09

With the return of Jade to the group we decided to use her younger brother, Jamie to film as our victim in the piece. Using the story board again as a rough guide, we incorporated many different shots of Jamie and I together, ready put into the piece.

We used numerous shots of Jamie, some of them from a high angle to represent his vunerabilty and low angle or mid angle shots to represent my charachter's power and dominance.

After a productive and effective filming session we headed back to college to capture the filming we had done earlier. We began to edit the shots and add the colour effects onto the clips to maintain the "eerie" effect throughout.

As we had finished filming we began to work on an order to the shots which gave the storyline more of an order and helped to create more tension in the piece, thanks to the order we placed the clips in.

Production Diary 16/3/09

On the Friday, the team and I decided that some of our previous filming could be done better. So as a group we decided to go filming on the Sunday. Unfortuantly Carl and I were not able to make contact with Jade, and seeing as she had the camera and other filming equipment, we had to prospone it.

It was then decided that we would go ahead with filming today. Unfortunatly Jade was again not able to attend, due to reasons unknown to us. So Carl and I decided that we couldn't waste more time waiting for Jade, and went off to go and film our shots.

The filming went very well. We used our storyboard to aid us in our organisation of shots. But when we arrived at the location Carl and I had many more ideas for the piece. These came in the form of a different opening, and the occasional shot: like the one used in the van mirror.

When we came back from filming we captured our filming onto the editting programme and began to play around with different effects to gain the right feel. We decided that changing the colour balance would give the piece a more creepy and eerie feel that we desired.

My Production Diary 13/3/09

Today I came in to complete the title sequence from yesterday. I added in a few more transitions and editted some of the timings to help it fit in with the music. Over all it was a success and I feel this will be a good addition to our filming.

Production Diary 12/3/09

Today was particuarly difficult for me, as Jade and Carl were both abcent in an exam. I decided that i could use this lesson to the group's advantage and went about making a title sequence for our piece. I also picked the music to compliement the film and to go along side the title sequence, im glad to say that it worked well. I nearly completed the title sequence but promised myself that I would come in the next day to complete it. I believe the title sequence gives it the harsh and thrilling atmosphere it craves.

Shot Evaluation For Animatic

Jade Ashmore- Candidate Number- 3006
Carl Squires- Candidate Number 3188
Alex Papadopoulos- Candidate Number 3150

Shot One*
This is our opening camera shot, we are using a Point of View shot to reflect what our main character can see . It portrays our opening scene and creates narrative enigma. It makes theaudience question who is looking at the children and why they are doing this.The shot in its self appears to be normal although the choice of music will inform the audience that there is something more sinister about this apparent innocent shot.

Shot Two*
This shot introduces the antagonist (played by Alex), this shot reveals what the main character looks like, however we are not going to reveal his face. This adds to the sense of mystery and confusion surrounding the antagonist. We believe that it is important throughout our thriller (Reprisal), to maintain a sense of creative enigma.

Shot Three*
This shot shows the children leaving the school gate.This shot portrays the vulnerability of the children as they leave the safety of the school premisis and move closer to the ever watchful eye of the voyeur.We are going to edit together both long shots and close ups of the children to represent that they are having a good time... However this about to change!

Shot Four*
This shot reflects the character moving towards the school, it creates suspense as the audience are unaware of what is happening. The main character is following the school children, this shot creates continuity in the sequence. It reminds the audience that danger is not too far away.

Shot Five*
This shot follows the story, it shows the children living their everyday life unaware that danger is lurking behind them. This makes the audience feel on edge as they sympathise for the children but they too, are waiting for something terrible to occur.

Shot Six*
This over the shoulder shot puts the two shots previously shown together to link up our idea of the man following the children. The over the shoulder shot portrays the sense of voyuerism. It reflects that the children are being followed and suggests that the chidlren are being threatened. It also creates enigma as the audience are unsure of who the mysterious man is.

Shot Seven & Shot Eight
This shot creates danger within the story line as the children split up leaving one child alone. This gives the man oppurtunity to attack but the audience do not know this however they fear this is going to take place. The man is constantly following the children and waiting for them where the children can not see. When the children stop so does the man. This creates a tense atmosphere.

Shot Nine*
This shot reflects the vulnerability of the child. He is alone and the audience are scared for the child as it has become obvious that something bad is about to take place.

Shot Ten*
This shot is going to be blurred, the effect of this is to leave the grabbing of the boy a mystery and leave it to the audience's imagination. If we had better quality cameras this could look really clever and effective but due to college equipment this is not possible. Furthermore, we will not focus in on the boy and man and it will be a very quick process.

Shot Eleven*
This scene creates confusion, as we do not know where the boy is and what the man wants from the boy. The collage of pictures on the wall creates an uneasy sense of mystery. This scene will have very dark lighting and only lit candles will provide light to make the scene feel eerie.

Shot Twelve*
This is the title sequence, we are going to use spooky font to create a thriller sense opening. Music will be played over the top to create a sense of mystery and timing will be significant to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Production Diary 5/3/09

After completing the storyboard, creating an animatic seemed an ideal idea. It would show our shots in a digital and easy format, as well as allowing the group to explain our choices for certain shots and angles, but also the effect we wished to establish.

Production Diary 3/3/09

Today we went to the locations and took photos. I hadn’t seen any of the locations before, but Carl and Jade assured me that it was fine. After visiting them I felt a lot more confident that these locations, coupled with the filming shots, would give our desired effect of a “creepy, backstreet stalker”.

Production Diary 26/2/09

Today we jotted down a rough filming and editing schedule. This was used to keep us organised and put ourselves under pressure to conform to the schedule and keep us on track. Further group planning was also done and the question of actors was raised, at present there isn’t a set second actor although we have a possible two that we could use.

Production Diary 17/2/09

Today we concluded our planning for our final piece. The story board was completed and annotations were completed on a separate sheet to aid us during filming. We believed it would focus us to keep the shots as close to the story board as possible and leave more time for us to edit rather than spend time focussing on our shots.

Production Diary 12/2/09

In our first meeting as a group we decided that storyboarding our piece would be a sensible decision to get our production onto a good start. As a group we assigned Jade to do the drawing of the story board because of her background in graphics, and we felt that with her drawing skills, we could portray exactly what we wanted to through our storyboard. We came to the conclusion that we would plan certain shots and when it came to the editing stage, we would then decide the order they would go it. As well as doing this, we tried to come up with a name for our piece, and through extensive mind mapping we concluded that the name "Reprisal" gave the image that we felt the film needed. We felt the word reprisal summed up the general feel and storyline of our piece (themes of revenge and voyeurism). Throughout this meeting I felt I contributed well and vocalised many of my creative ideas to better the group and keep it moving in the right direction.

Story Board Animation

Here are some sketches used to show our planning of our shots and to what effect we believe they will give. As a group we decided upon the shots and dictated them to Jade to draw.

Risk Assesment For Filming

Due to the equipement being borrowed from school and taken off premise, we concluded that a risk assesment would be a sound way of securing that all the equipment, and actors remained safe/intact whilst filming.

RISK PROBABILITY SOLUTION

Droping Camera 30% Keep in bag when not filming

Trouble whilst filming
outside school 40% Gain permission from school first

Actors injuring themselves
on the road 20% Check roads carefully before
crossing

Equipment getting lost
or stolen 10% To be careful who we film around
and to do an equipment check
every 30mins

Actors

We decided as a group that I should play the role of the antagonist. Being the height of most fully grown men, it would seem appropriate to use myself as the actor. The other actor will be Jade's younger brother who will be the one being stalked by myself. He is of around the age of 9 and is significantly shorter than myself which makes it seem more realistic.

Actors:
Alex Papadopoulos
Jamie Ashmore

Conventions of a Thriller

A crime at the core of the narative (often a murder).

Complex narrative structure with false clue and resolutions.

A narrative pattern of establishing or setting up enigmas which the viewer expects to
be resolves.

A protagonist who is systematicaly disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.

Extra ordinary events happening in ordinary situations.

Locations and Costumes

The opening scene is shot outside William Lilly Primary school as the children are coming out of the school. The school and the school uniform help to give a sense of innocence. The music will help to create a feeling the the children are leaving this safe haven and are walking ever closer to the preying eyes of the antagonist.

Further down the road from the school, there is a corner shop. The children will stop off here. This just helps to add a bit of continuity to the piece and help it flow better.

The rest of the piece will continue to be shot along this road, as it is very vercitile and hosts a number of different streets and parks which can be used to give our film the realistic suburban look it needs.

The last part is shot in doors and needs to be dark and candle lit. Seeing as this isn't shot outside it can be filmed in anyone one of our groups houses'.


School Children - The school children will be dressed in their school uniform, this reflects their innocence and also helps to show the audience the role of the actors.

Paedophile - Wolly hat, dark long coat with the coller turned up. Dark colours reflects lonely and depressed life.

Pyschological Thriller Research

Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. However, this genre often incorporates elements from the mystery genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre.

Generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot.

The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_thriller)

This is an extract from a wikipedia defining what a pyschological thiller is. This helped greatly when desiding upon our shots and the effect which we wanted them to have on the audience.

Questionnaire

This is an example of the questionnaire I used to gain some background knowledge and ideas for creating our piece. This gave us clear picture of our target audience and the things which they would like to look for within it.
I sent my questionnaire to everyone in my contact list. The majority suggested that they prefer a psychological thriller, with a sense of mystery at the start. I believe that we have managed to incorporate this into our piece thanks to the extensive feedback we gathered from our questionnaires.

What kind of thriller do you enjoy the most?

Psychological
Adventure
Sci-fi
Crime

How often do you watch thrillers?

Once a week
More than once a week
Not very often
Not at all

What was the last thriller you watched?



How old are you?
14-20
21-35
36-50
50+


What do you like to see in the opening of a thriller?
Immediate Action
Complex beginning
Mystery
Interesting Dialogue

Q1)From my questionnaire I established that most people liked psychological thrillers more than the other sub genres. It gave us a clear indication of the kind of film we needed to make. We researched into the features of psychological thrillers and tried our best to incorporate them into the piece.

Q2)Most of the people that completed the survey said that they watch thrillers once a week or not very frequently. This told us that we had to create a piece which would stick in the minds of the people who watched it instead of being a "once a week viewing."

Q3)I sent my questionnaire to my whole contact list. I received replies from about forty people. Twenty of those people were in the age group 21-35, the rest was aged between 14-20 and 36-50. This gave us a clear indication that the film needed to be portrayed in such a way that it would appeal to an older audience.

Q4)The last question was probably the most important as it showed us what kind of mood we could set. The results came back and most people said they preffered to see a sense of mystery in the beggining of a thriller.

The Matrix

The opening to the matrix shows a screen with computer scripts running across it (stereotypical of the matrix), it straight away gives us an idea of a sci-fi genre but as the film starts to run we a shown a close up of a torch which then zooms out to reveal a dark room filled with police officers. The police are then attacked by Trinity in true action thriller style. Using a great number of techniques, they are able to create the illusion that time stands still for a moment. Although still the audience is unsure as to the plot, location or the reasons for this initial fight scene. As with all thrillers, the audience is left asking questions.

The Godfather

The opening to the Godfather starts with a dark screen with the theme music playing in the background. Already this builds up slight tension and is very effective for putting questions in the audience’s mind, which becomes more eminent further through the clip. As the black screen slowly moves into a dimly lit room the audience are presented with an Italian man speaking about a crime which has gone on (the film from the start shows it’s major theme to be related to crime and violence) with his daughter. The camera zooms out slowly and begins to reveal another man behind a desk; this is done to increase the audience’s interest. The slow movement of the camera can be used to symbolize the sinister plot which is to come.

Preliminary Piece Planning

These are the planning sheets i used to plan the preliminary task. It included the story board sheets and dialogue sheets, both of which were essencial in making this an easy and stress free task.

Thriller Conventions

As a group we discussed what we believed would create the best kind of thriller. We decided that media techniques such as close ups, long takes or fast editing (and many more) could be used in a way which would give the peice the desired appearance. We concluded that music plays a large role in deffining the mood of a piece and therefore is pivital in the making of this short film. Although we have already decided upon a setting, we believe we can exploit lighting in such a way to create a very eerie and "creepy" setting.

• We as a group feel that making the story line clear to the audience is paramount, although keeping some mystery could work to our advantage when making the film.
• Good/bad charachter structure is sometimes ambiguous, so we feel that making this clear in ours is a necessity.
• We believe creating mystery surrounding the charachter and the storyline is very important in making this as close to a real thriller as possible.
• Music can play an essential part in establishing the mood of a piece, so utilising this to the best of our ability is very important if we wish to succeed.
• Having short titles, relevant to the story line or plot to increase suspence.
• Main identity of charachter to be questioned throughout the piece, creating a sense of mystery.

Final Idea

· We merged two ideas together to form out final idea, these two ideas covered issues of Paedophilia and Child Abuse.
· Flash backs to paedophile being abused as a child.
· Main Focus – Collage of photos of children in a candle lit room, in the middle, a bigger picture of one particular child
· Character sat watching

Character Summery
A psychologically disjointed character, who was abused and neglected as a child, thus leaving him in a mentally instable state, who now; as an adult, pursues the life style of an obsessive, compulsive paedophile.
Costume
Paedophile – Dark clothing, long coat, black trousers.
Children in photos – Clothes to emphasize age and innocence.
Possible Camera Angles To Use
· Panning – Slow paced camera movement, slightly lethargic.
· Low Angle Shots – Make the paedophile look domineering and powerful.
· High Angle Shots – On flashback to reflect portray the vulnerability and helplessness of the paedophile when he was abused as a child.
· Pauses/Slow Movement – To show where particular attention is needed.