The Elites Blog

AS Media Evaluation - Shane Adu

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

Our opening sequence is a horror thriller. We used various conventions of a thriller genre in our media products opening sequence. We shot our film at night time because we wanted to create a more powerful and intense atmosphere than what could be accomplished with just normal lighting. This is common in thriller and horror films as dark lighting and general darkness can encourage fear. This can encourage fear because it represents the unknown and character coming back form the dead to haunt and kill. A thriller like the Grudge is a perfect example of this.

The road we chose to film the parts of the opening sequence at appeared as dark and terrifying we intended the film to be. This proved the location choice to be successful and film conventions helpful when it came to creating a powerful and intense atmosphere.

We used film conventions in terms of our camera shots. We showed a reasonable amount of close ups so the audience could observe and understand what kind of emotions the character were feeling during the opening sequence.

The main character of our film was certainly the most important aspect of each frame. They were never positioned to the left or right of the frame; we always positioned them in the centre of the frame. We believe this was the easiest and helpful way to show just how important the main character was, to an audience than knew very little or nothing at all about the film or its upcoming storyline.

We have also developed and challenged conventions through the presentation of our main character and other characters, using clothing and props.

In conclusion in our opening sequence we managed to use, develop and challenge film conventions. Using them easily added quality and atmosphere to our project. Whilst developing them using our creativity and added uniqueness and originality to it. Challenging the films conventions made the opening sequence more persuasive and unlike any other.

How does your production represent particular social groups?

A good way for our film to be presented to a social group is through age (character representation) props, clothing (mise en scene). As our target audience is teenagers all the characters in the film are teenagers. We chose to do this because we believe that the target audience would be able to relate to the character of our film. We also chose to portrayed violence in our film. This is because many people in society stereotype teenagers as being trouble makers and violent. Also our research has shown that teenagers enjoy watching films which consist of violence.

This is incredibly different to many horror/thriller films. We believe our film will draw the attention of many different types of people because it features ethnic cast.

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

Normally a major film companies such as; Lions Gate Entertainment, New Line Cinema and Screen Gems would distribute a film with a good storyline like ours. But the only thing that would keep a major film company from distributing our film is that the budget we had to make it was in fact very low. So because the budget of the film is very low, the quality is not good enough for a cinema distribution. So we decide that another way we could distribute our film is through social networking site like Facebook and Youtube.

Who knows our film might get many views on these social and may even create a buzz with could also catch the attention of a major film company that would want to invest in our film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our film is aimed at young people aged 15-24. This is because our research shows that young people aged 15- 24 label Horror/ thriller as their ‘favourite’ genre. Horror thriller films are more entirely enjoyed by a younger audience between the ages of 15 and 24. This is possibly because young people like to place themselves in the situation that the in the film characters are in.

Also young people find horror/thrillers much more interesting to watch than other age groups due to their apparent requirement for healthy doses of excitement and thrills in the form of adrenaline.

Furthermore they are fond of let their imagination run wild and begin to think about the possibility that something like this could happen to them someday.

Horror/thriller films tend to provide the audience a sense of adrenaline rush. The adrenaline rush at times leads to favourable experience for the young person like screaming and hiding behind the seats

How did you attract your audience?

We attracted our audience through character representation, mise en scene, and by making the cast between the ages of our target audience. This allows the audience to be able to relate to the characters.

Also we attracted the audience by portraying violence in our film. Research shows that violence is one of the reasons why young people enjoy watching horror/thrillers.

Furthermore another way our film could have attracted our audience is because of its uniqueness and how the ethnic cast make the film very different it is to other horror/thrillers.

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

I have gained great knowledge on the Adobe Premiere video editing software and filming equipment during the process of making our film. I successfully work a video camera and make use of its many features. I can also confidently the video camera on a tripod.

At the beginning of our preliminary task Apple Mac’s were completely alien to me due to the fact that we have been a firm Windows user for practically all our life. Getting to grips with the mouse was a challenge. But the more we used the Mac, the more we found the mouse and the different keys and icons easier to use.

When we were editing our opening sequence we found Adobe premiere, the editing software very challenging to use. As we were new to Mac’s in general, this made the whole task even more nerve-racking. After experimenting on the video editing we eventually we got used to the editing software and were able use a variety of tools for trimming, splicing, cutting and positioning clips across the timeline. Once completing this product I would say I find a Mac and its different software programs much easier to use and navigate, than I did before we started our preliminary task.

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

I have gained a lot of knowledge and understanding from the time we were completing of our preliminary task till now. I have learnt how to operate a video camera, become aware of the different camera shots and angles used in filming, as well as the Adobe Premiere editing software application, and Apple Mac’s more confidently and efficiently.

While we were completing the preliminary task I came to understand the importance of filming and planning very quickly. Also when we started the preliminary task we were so excited to be doing something practical we began filming straight away and we got most of our shots in one session. This was to our advantage when it came to editing as we had nearly all of the shots needed to put our film together.

Since we were able to film most of our shots in one session there was not a lot of film time required for the rest of our shots which would make our opening sequence complete. Because we were able to get the filming done very quickly, we were able to edit everything before the half term holiday.

In conclusion I have learnt a remarkable amount between the completion of our preliminary task about; planning, filming and media in general. It has been a pleasure completing my coursework alongside the members of my group. I believe I have made huge progress practical wise, and I also believe I have gained good knowledge and understanding of the different theories, camera shot and angles, and character representation

AS Media Evaluation - Byran Ferrol

After creating the opening scene to our Thriller movie, there were still a number of aspects that could be improved and changed to enhance the overall product. Some suggestions for these improvements were made through peer assessment or our own group looking at factors we could improve.

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

Firstly, we wanted to know whether our opening scene was like that of real thriller movies. In most thriller movies there is a main protagonist and a main antagonist. This was followed in our movie and could clearly be seen in the opening scene. From our research we found out that in most horror thrillers like ours the main protagonist is generally a female. We went against this tradition and selected a male, mainly to correspond with the storyline. I feel as though the music that was used in the opening scene is what you would expect to hear in horror thrillers as this type of music evokes emotions. We had to main pieces of music. One evoking sorrow and another evoking suspense and horror. I think we developed the idea of horror movies by creating the opening scene to be a dream, something that is seen as generic and boring but I feel as though our opening scene utilises this to create shock in the audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We also wanted to present social groups through character representation. In our movie we presented teenagers the most. We portrayed the drug use there is in modern day society in our film which is a key element in the story point. We also showed violence among teenagers as it is something that happens among teenagers in every day to day life. We decided to portray teenagers as they are our target audience and they will be more inclined to watch something about their own social group. From our opening scene we didn’t really touch at other social groups as we wanted to enforce the idea that the movie was mainly about teenagers so it will appear to the target audience more.

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

Another evaluation point to make is the media institute that will distribute our media product. Our movie is too amateur to be released in cinema because of the low budget and lack of production team, therefore the internet will be a better option. If the movie is placed on the internet it will be seen by our target audience as teenagers are known to use the internet a lot. If the movie then gets enough hits, there could be a remake as a production company may want to develop the movie and put it in an independent theatre. This will let us know if the movie has the potential to be released in many cinemas.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product are teenagers as the movie deals with issues that teenagers face in today’s society, such as drugs and violence. This will then make the target audience feel connected to the movie because it is something they can relate to and eventually more teenagers would want to watch it. Also the film could be aimed at adults as they have children and to watch a movie about teenagers informs them of the problems they face. We also decided to aim our product at teenagers as research showed that teenagers make up a big percentage of the social group that watched thriller movies the most. Teenagers like to go to the cinema and use the internet so the movie will have direct access to the target audience.

How did you attract your audience?

We attracted our target audience by creating a concept art for our movie. This can then be advertised in areas where teenagers populate so they know about the movie and get a general feel of what it is about. We also attracted audiences by putting our opening scene on youtube. Youtube attracts millions of teenagers so they are able to come across our movie and hopefully watch it.

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

I have learnt a lot from constructing our projects. Technologies I have learnt about include the use of editing software. I am now able to edit simple scenes so they fit together and flow nicely. I have also learnt how to use a video camera and different functions it has such as night vision. Night vision came in handy when filming scenes in the dark. We also made use of the zoom tool on the camera so objects that were far away could clearly be seen. On the editing software I used a range of tools to make the opening scene more interesting to watch. First I made use of the black & white tool, this can in handy when editing the flash backs used in our film. I also made use of the “reverse speed” tool so filming appeared to be reversed. This was popular among peers in my class. I also made use and learnt about different audio and video transitions that can be used in editing such as “exponential fade” and “dip to white” this help ease the change in shots and different pieces of music.

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

Looking back at my preliminary coursework I feel that I am a much better film make now as in our movie I was able to use a lot more editing techniques. The preliminary also helped to film the actual opening scene so with that knowledge we were able to expand and try new techniques. I feel that I have learnt how to put different shots together to make one long scene as at the beginning of the course I was not particularly sure of this. The preliminary also gave as a view on the different camera shots and angles that are available in film making. We used a range of camera shots and angles in our preliminary, including a full shot, close up, and medium close up. In our real product we were able to use a lot more camera shots and angles as these helped to tell the story of the opening scene.

Overall I feel that our product has a lot of potential but due to our resources we were limited when making our film. Our film is no where near perfect but I feel that we have met all the requirements of a horror thriller and that we addressed our target audience well.

AS Media Evaluation - Michael Ikeji

During the start of the year, we found out that we would take part in a media project, which involved creating a thriller film. Once the opening scene was completed, there were still a number of aspects that had to be changed whether it was music or editing in order to make the film better. We were able to complete our media product through our research and data we obtained.

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

Before the production of our film, we organised interviews to find out what our peers, being teenagers would like to see in a thriller, but also we had to find out what type of thrillers our target group liked so we were able to incorporate that genre in our film. We found out that the majority of the people we asked liked horror films and liked films to have a lot of suspense so we decided those ideas would be suitable to excite our target audience. Also it came to our attention that our interviewees liked to see death so we knew we had to add that to our storyline.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our group wanted to show particular social groups through character representation. This is the process by which characters are analysed beyond what is merely presented on the screen. Characters are analysed through dress, language, location, location in shot and their interaction with other people. We decided to show teenagers through character representation. We researched that teens are shown as alcoholics addicted to drugs so we decided to incorporate that in our film, as the storyline would involve teenagers.

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

As we do not have the funds to distribute our films in the cinema, we will have to show our film through youtube and facebook. Fortunately millions of people visit these sites everyday so it would be a perfect opportunity to promote our film.

Who would be the audience of your media product?

During our research stage, we found that 15-24 year olds enjoy watching thriller films so we decided that we should focus our film being made for teenagers.

How did you attract your audience?

The group attracted the audience by listening to their opinion on what makes a good thriller film so during production, we decided to film the opening scene during the night to add more suspense to the film and leave the audience wandering what’s happening next.

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

During the production of our media project, I learnt how to use the video editing software adobe premiere. Through this software, I learnt to cut clips and slot them in the right place in order to make the film flow. Also I learnt how to input text and music into a film project in order to make it look better.

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

Compared to the start of the year I have learnt a lot of media theories that I would not have known before taking the course. I learnt camera angles, character representation, and key terms and most importantly I learnt how to use adobe premiere.

AS Media Evaluation - Jeremiah Kalukembi

GCE MEDIA STUDIES EVALUATION

At the beginning of the course we were asked to create an opening scene for a film. The film had to be at least 2 minutes long and had to be a thriller. In order to complete this correctly we had to ensure that we attracted our target audience, which in this case we decided to be teenagers, by using media techniques.

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

Once we were given the task, we figured out it would be easier and more effective if we chose for our film to attract the attention of teenagers, from this decision the first thing we decided to do is interview fellow students in our class on what they expect to see in a thriller and what will encourage and interest them, but most importantly, given that it is a opening scene, would want them to continue watching the film. From the interviews we were capable of choosing what thriller sub-genre we would like to complete once we found out that the most popular thriller sub-genre to teenagers are Horror Thrillers and the best way to hearten teenagers to the film is through the use of suspense. The plot has a very common approach to most horror thriller film this way people understand from watching the opening scene what genre it is. The storyline itself correlates to the popular 2004 horror film The Grudge. However our opening scene challenged expectations because we have included an all black cast, the reason why we done this to avoid the general use of a white casts, also to refrain from the 'black guy dies first' stereotype seen in films such as 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'Scream 2' . This also allowed us to expand our target audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The best way for our film to illustrate a social group is through character representation, which we can embrace through use of mise en scene. The way characters are represented is a big part of attracting audiences the way we incorporated this is through the way the characters interact with one another and the way they dress throughout the opening scene, knowing that our research showed that films represent teenagers to be heavily involved in drugs, sex and violence so included this as much as we could in the opening scene. Knowing that we included an all black cast we tactically dodged a common stereotype of what race dies first seeing that no matter who dies there is still a remaining character representing the race allowing us to steer away from any negative criticism or unexpectedly offending the audience.

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

One way we chose to publicise our film is through social networking site Facebook, the reason to why we chose Facebook is because it is popular with teenagers and both genders therefore we can get a variety of feedback from our targeted audience which has proven beneficial.

The distribution of our production is based on the Internet due to the fact that it is noticeable that we do not have the sufficient funds to market it on a global status and in a cinema as such.

Another reason why we uploaded it onto social networking sites and YouTube is so that we can create a buzz/fanbase that would attract a media distribution company to invest in improving the film so it could potentially be to the desirable standards of a cinema film.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The range of the target audience for the product was 15-24 year olds but primarily we wanted to attract young teengers, seeing as from our research we identified that it is 15-24 year olds that are mostly interested in watching horror thrillers. The film rating for the film is 15 this way anyone from 15 years old onwards can be allowed to watch this film maximising and reaching our target audience in the best way possible.

How did you attract/address your audience?

One way that we attracted the target audience is by making all the characters involved in the film based on the target audience age, this way the audience can have more chance of relating to the story and the characters. All the while we were inputting the opinions we received from the research on what teenagers like to see in a horro thriller, such as suspence, violence, and drugs. Which we tried our best to include. Another way we targeted our target audience is to publish the film onto the social networking site Facebook which really common with people from the age of 15-24. Also Facebook can be easily accessed seeing as many people now have internet access in their household making the opening scene easily accessible. The film was then uploaded onto YouTube which is also used by a wider range of teenagers and adults. All these techniques we used proved successful seeing as we now have a view count of over 100 in a couple days and a lot of feedback and comments on Facebook. I also created a film cover thats goes well with the film using Adobe Photoshop CS4 to use for advertising and by giving the film a source of branding and recognition therefore when people see this particular cover they can immediately link it to the film that we created.

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

The filming allowed us to learn how to use the media production software Adobe Premiere, which we used to edit and alter clips so that they were in good standards to complete a finished product. The knowledge gained from the project was used to complete all the preliminary coursework and finish our media project. Another program that I learnt to use during the creation of the opening scene is Celtx, this program allowed us as a group to make storyboards, plans, and create a calendar which enabled us to know what we needed to, when to do it, and how we will work together to complete the particular to the best of standards.

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

The media course allowed me to learn a lot about the many aspects of Media, especially when entering the course I had no clue that media production had so many theories and techniques such angle shots and character representation. All of this has to be involved appropriately in order for the product to comply to the quality of the industry. It was after the preliminary that we started to actually use the Celtx application this allowed us to stay organised, which is one thing I learnt is really important in media production because there is so much to take into consideration such as the editing, filming and planning and if it is not organised appropriately the final product would not of been as successful as it is at this date, and fortunately the program allowed us to do all of this at once.

Jeremiah Kalukembi

The Review

Facebook Reactions

These are some of the reactions we received on Facebook. We posted our video on Facebook because it addresses our target audience directly as our target audience are teenagers and many teenagers use Facebook. We received a good amount of feedback from people on Facebook and some constructive criticism that can be used for our evaluation and how we can make the film better.

Responses to our film

The Following

4th Day of Editing

The 4^th day of editing was our last day of editing. This is where we imported the last pieces of footage and changed anything that we wanted. We eventually cut down our movie to 1:56, which was perfect to fit in the allowed 2:00.

Firstly we imported the new footage we had. Most of the new footage was mainly to replace the clips we already had. Some clips that we films were not better than the original so we did not import them and kept the old ones. This was mainly due to lighting problems as were filming at night. We fixed this problem with some pieces of footage by changing the lighting.

Next we thought about what clips to cut as our opening scene was still too long. We found a clip that was 15 seconds long that did not advance the plot so we decided to cut it out all together. Also we found out that there was too much walking involved so we sped up one of the walking scenes to cut off a few seconds.

Lastly we touched up a few other aspects of the movie, one of them being the two pieces of music at the start of the opening scene. We did not feel that alternating between two pieces of music flowed well so we deleted them and found a new piece of music. We decided to only have one piece of music playing throughout the flashbacks and the present day and after doing so we were happy.

3rd Day of Editing

The 3^rd day of editing was generally short, as we had no new footage to import. Instead on the 3^rd day we downloaded appropriate music and sounds for our film.

First of all we looked for an appropriate website that had uncopyrighted music free for us to use. After finding the website we looked for music that we thought suited our film. Firstly we wanted music that had a soft feel and slow tempo to represent the flashbacks. We then chose to have two pieces of music which alternates when the flashbacks are being shown and when it is in the present day. We had slow tempo soft music for when the flash backs were being shown and upbeat music for when in the present day. After doing this we then wanted to have a significant horror type music to play until the end of the scene so the audience feels scared. We found a piece of music that we saw appropriate.

We then wanted to add sound effects to our movie. We mainly imported sound effects from imovie as it had a range of sound effects that we could use. Selecting the sound effects was a long process as once we found a sound effects we thought would be great for our movie we then found an even better one. We eventually found all the sound effects we wanted to use and then imported them into our movie.

Day 3 of Filming

After getting feedback, we knew what we had to re-film to change our film. Firstly we had to decide ways to make our chase shorter as one of the first problems pointed out was that the chase was too long; it lasted over a minute by itself. Also another problem was that part of the chase was difficult to see. Putting all of these into consideration, we had decided to film certain parts of the chase at an earlier time, and also we needed to record a flashback that corresponded with the storyline.

In this flashback we decided to use fake blood to make the particular scene more effective and also we had included some character representation aspects which we had not done in previous film dates. Once the flashbacks were completed, we were in a dilemma; it was again too dark to re-film the chase. Although we had an option to film in night-vision, after consulting with one another we decided to try and contrast the chase scene in adobe premiere or focus one day on filming the chase scene in an attempt to make it easier to see.

2nd Day of Editing

On our second day of editing we already had a substantial amount of footage so the editing was a very easy process. The second day of editing was mainly importing clips that we had to refilm.

We hit a few problems on our second day of editing. Firstly we found out that our opening scene was too long, so it needed to be cut. We ended making our opening scene from 2:54 to 2:20 but this still proved too long.

To cut it down to 2:20 we shortened clips and cut out scenes that we didn’t think was needed.

The second day of editing also consisted of adding titles to our film. The titles included the name of our production company and the name of the film. We placed the name of our production company at the beginning of the film and had the name of the film at the end of the opening scene choosing appropriate fonts and colours. We also added extra titles for who was acting in the opening scene who directed it and who wrote so we gave credit to who in our group did what.

After the second day of filming we still thought that there were things that needed to be changed and refilmed through peer assessment. We had all the aspects for our film that we wanted but some still needed to be refilmed as new ideas arrived in the group.

Day 2 of Filming

The second time we chose to film, it was inconvenient for Shane Adu, one of our group members, to be at the set because he had already managed to film his role in the first day of filming and had a hospital appointment. However, although we did not need him as he had already fulfilled his role it was apparent it would have benefited us if he was there to give us his perception on camera angles and to help Jeremiah direct the film while Michael and Byran were acting.

On this day of filming we set out to get as much filming as possible if not getting the rest of the film done. Our main focus we wanted to fulfil was completing all the flashbacks, like we discovered on the first day of filming about the camera’s focus we made sure that the first thing we done is set the camera to auto focus.

Day 2 was fairly short as we had just filmed two flashbacks and finished the uncompleted chase scene. After editing we are going to show our media teacher our film so far and if we need to make changes, we would have another day of filming.

First Day of Editing

After filming our footage we were then faced with the task of editing it. Editing includes adding sounds, cutting footage and special effects.

Before we could even start editing our movie we first had to change all our footage to “Mpeg” files so that they were compatible with Adobe premiere, the software we’re using to edit our film. This was a very time consuming task as there were many different files we had to convert.

When all the converting was done the files were then ready to be imported into Adobe Premiere. Importing the files was very simple and we didn’t encounter any problems doing so.

Once all the files were imported into Adobe Premiere we then had to delete all the unnecessary footage. This includes any bloopers we might have had and scenes that we felt didn’t look right. This was also a time consuming task as we had to look at each file individually and delete the unnecessary footage.

We were now ready to edit the footage we have and make the appropriate changes and start creating our opening scene. We sought through the imported files to check what file we wanted to be first in our opening scene. After finding the correct file we dragged it into our timeline and made the changes. This involved cutting certain parts of the footage. Parts that needed to be cut were generally at the beginning and end as at the beginning there was no action as well as the end. Also cuts were made to fit into our 2 minute time slot and if we thought a piece of footage went on for two long. We followed this line of action with all the footage we inserted into our film. The main problem that occurred was pieces of footage not running smoothly into the next. This is a typically a cutting problem and means that either too much or two little has been cut. Another problem we encountered was the lighting in our film. This was easily overcome as we were able to lighten and darken certain images; also we were able to change the contrast so images were clearer. This was a big problem as we were filming at night which means there were a lot of light issues. Sound was another setback that we had to overcome. The main issue with sounds was with not being able to hear dialogue or the odd car driving along the road. We were able to conquer this problem by increasing the volume and decreasing it at certain points. When there was a car we decreased it and in dialogue scenes we increased the volumes.

As we film more footage we are bound to hit more problems. The overall editing process only needed two people, Myself and Michael as Jeremiah and Shane took care of the actual filming. The first day of filming was a long process overall but we quickly got the hang of it and I think we will make great progress in the future.

Written by Byran Ferrol

First Day of Filming

Our first day of filming was very successful, because we were able to complete a vast amount of footage. Our film is set in the night, so we had to make sure we started shooting at a reasonable time, which for us was roughly around 5:45. We chose to shoot the film in Dagenham, on Michael’s road. The reason for this is because it is a quiet and isolated neighbourhood meaning that we wouldn’t be interrupted that often during recording. This was proven as an advantage for the group seeing as we got more work done than we expected.

During filming we tried our best to incorporate as much camera shots and angles as possible, however the quality of most of the footage was quite poor. This was due to the quality the camera and the time we decided to start shooting. This led to a lack of light, causing the camera to go blurry when directed to a light source. We were not aware that the cause of this problem was because the camera was on manual focus the solution to this is to set the camera on auto focus, in future we will need to ensure we do this for the next time we plan to film.

We organised what every individual in the group was to do in order to lower chance of complications. Everyone had a part to play whilst we were shooting; Byron is the main character so therefore he done most of the acting, Shane was involved in the acting but mostly helped with the directing, Michael also had a big role in the film so acted alongside Byron, and Jeremiah was the main director.

Whilst we were filming we were reading the script and it did not sound right. Due to this we decided to edit and improvise the script while we went along so that it went well with the film and was original. We also had done this with the storyboard. Although we stuck with it as a guideline there were things that we didn’t include in the drawings that fit into the way the film was set, so had to make changes to ensure that the film made sense and the scenes ran fluently.

In preparation of shooting the film there were some aspects of mise en scene we never discussed, although we already planned out where we were to film we never discussed what each character would wear and what props we would include in the scenes. This is an important part of the film so that the characters are easy to identify, but because we had not gone through it as a group we had to devise even match to what the character would wear in relevance to the characters they are representing.

Written by Jeremiah Kalukembi & Shane Adu.

Master Catalog - The Following

The Following calendar

Calendar of days where filming and editing will be done

The Following StoryBoard - Sequence of events that will happen in the film in order

The Following Script

ext.OPening scene.night

Jermaine King walks slowly down a street with his head tilted slightly down. The road is bare and quiet.

As Jermaine walks down the road the shot cuts back to memories Jermaine has of his brother. Various scenes of them show in black and white each one a bit more violent and tense than the last.

Jermaine then senses something behind him so stops and turns around

Jermaine King

(Nervously)

Who's there?

Jermaine then carries on walking down the road but quicker and more cautiously.

Jermaine notices a figure lurking in the shadow and stops immediately

JERMAINE KING

(Shouting)

What do you want from me?

The figure then comes out and starts walking towards Jermaine. This walk gradually becomes a run and a chase commences.

They both sprint in the opposite direction down the road but the figure is obviously catching up with Jermaine.

Jermaine turns down a different road thinking he has successfully evaded the stalker. He turns and the figures face is right in his and falls over.

Jermaine tries crawling away while the figure walks along side him

Jermaine king?

Who are you?

The figure looks directly at Jermaine for a few seconds.

The figures hand directly covers the camera

End of scene

Brainstorm

Two Brothers > Continuous Arguments > Oldest kills youngest

Oldest walks down road > Has Flashbacks

Flashbacks get worse

Takes short cut home > Flashbacks halted by a glass smash

Person in hood > main character runs away > nowhere to run

Character falls > stalker gets closer and grabs hand over camera

main character wakes up > it was only a dream

Title of film

Programs used for coursework

There were many programs used in this coursework and I am going to explain what program we used for what part of our coursework.

Pod cast

The pod cast was used to introduce the members of our group and what we will be doing in our coursework. We did not need to use a camera for the pod cast as our Mac computer already had a camera so we used photo booth to record ourselves.

Interview

Firstly we recorded the interviews and then we used adobe premiere in order to edit our film so there would be no mistakes and then we converted it to a film.

Write-ups, calendar, script

Word Mac was used to write up our coursework and celtx was used to create a script, storyboard and calendar for our film. Also we created a gmail account to tell people what we have done in our coursework while we are in the process of making it.

Lighting

Lighting key is a of way describing the kinds of choices filmmakers have make for light a film. Filmmakers use different lighting keys to suggest certain meanings to the target audiences. The lighting key a filmmaker chooses to use in a film will its determine theme or mood.

Low-key lighting is a form of lighting key. It uses shadows and directed pools of light to create atmosphere and suspense. It is often seen in crime or gangster movies. Low-key lighting suggests mystery. Horror movies often use this style of lighting to emphasis the mood of the film. They do this by placing a light above the face or under the face of actors to create a dramatic or distorted effect.

Different styles of lighting can be used effectively in the same movie to convey different moods and events. For example, the filmmaker may introduce low-key lighting to indicate that the hero is in danger.

High contrast lighting can also be used in horror movies. Harsh lines of light combined with dramatic streaks of blackness dominate it. This lighting style tends to use shadows and can look haunting and when it is used well. High contrast lighting suggests a sense of anxiety or confusion. It can also be used to suggest a corrupt world, which haunts and threatens the characters on screen.

Genuine Thriller

A genuine thriller is a film that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when a character is placed in a threatening situation, a mystery, or escaping from a place which escaping seems impossible. Life can usually be threatened if the main character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.

Thrillers mostly take place in ordinary suburbs/cities. Though sometimes, they may take place completely or to a certain extent in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, Polar Regions, or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citizens unfamiliar to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" used to to danger, like police officers and detectives. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become more and more common.

Podcast 2

Flashbacks

Flashbacks are very powerful ways to improve a screenplay’s storyline

Using flashbacks generally has one major advantage this is that it allows past incidents to be dramatized in all their impact instead of just recounted verbally

It helps if the audience really wants to know the information contained in the flashbacks

In some films after an opening scene, an entire story is told in flashbacks; the first scene poses a very clear question and hooks us into the story immediately.

A potential downside of a flashback could be that the ending of the story is already known to the audience.

This risk is balanced, however, if the difference between the end situation

and the development of the flashback story creates a strong sense of dramatic sarcasm.

Also, a clever writer can create the illusion that the story might as yet end differently. In Carlito’s Way, for instance, we know from the outset that Carlito is doomed. Yet, near the end of the story, he triumphs over his enemies, and we start to hope that the opening scene was some kind of dream or fantasy. When tragedy strikes, it does so from an unexpected, yet logical, direction maximizing the impact on the audience

One of the main rules of a flashback is that if we close in on the face of one character as the flashback begins, it will represent his or her memories.

Editing

Editing is the integration of multiple shots, camera angles, close ups etc, into a mastershot to give the scene depth and fluidity. It is also during editing that the graphics, music, voice over and special effects are added.

There are many editing techniques that can be used in thrillers such as:

Cut – a simple break where two shots are joined.

Dissolve – a transition between two scenes where one scene fades in while the other fades out simultaneously.

Wipe – the picture wipes from one side of the screen to the other and allows a new shot to enter.

Voice over – a pre recording of someone talking to be placed within a piece of a film, this can be as narration or a re-record of an actor’s voice.

Sound – there are two types of sound that can be found in thriller movies; digetic or non-digetic sound. Digetic sound is sound visible on the screen such as the character’s voice or sounds made by the object.

Non-digetic sound is sound not visible on the screen such as narration or sound effects.

Different types of editing can have a different effect on a thriller; it can cause suspense, fear, joy etc.

Description of Various Types of Thrillers Studied

Horror Thriller – The main characters are mental, emotional and physical. The protagonist is normally up against a larger than life antagonist.

Erotic Thriller – This type of thriller consists of thriller and erotica. It has been popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration.

Crime Thriller – A type of thriller that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These type of thrillers generally emphasize action over psychological aspects.

Action Thriller – Features a race against time situation. Generally contains lots of violence and an obvious antagonist. Contains large amounts of weapons and large elaborate sets for the action to take place.

Torture Porn – Depicts nudity, torture, mutilation and sadism. These films are the only type of thriller which has been highly criticized and even banned.

Techno Thriller – These type of thrillers usually focus upon military action in which technology is described in detail.

Psychological Thriller – Conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical

Findings from interview

We wanted to find out what type of thrillers teenagers like, as that is our target audience. We also wanted to find out what they like to see in their favourite genre of thriller and what their favourite thriller film is. From the 3 students we interviewed, we found out in general that teenagers like horror and they like to see gore and a good storyline n the film. Their favourite horror films were; the grudge, saw and the ring. From our interview, we discovered that are film will need to be along the lines of the 3 films that the teens liked so that our film can draw in the target audience.

Interviews

interviews about film genres

Demographic data describing the target audience

Thrillers are watched by people of all ages. According to this set of demographic data people that are over 50 years old mostly watch the genre.

The data also shows that Women favour the genre more then men. Studying this allows us to acknowledge a better understanding of people’s perspectives of this film type.

This type of Thriller we are creating is a ‘Horror Thriller’ this data shows that people aged between 18-24, and mostly enjoyed by women.

This will lead our thriller to be directed at this age group and gender. We will take this demographic data into account while creating our thriller so we hit the biggest target market.

Our Preliminary Coursework

Description of the coursework

Our coursework consists of us making a two-minute opening scene, which has to relate the selected genre, Horror-Thriller. At the end of the production we will evaluate the techniques used to complete the film and our target audience’s overall opinion on the film through interviews, questionnaires, surveys etc. We will also research other aspects of the Thriller genres, such as Erotic Thriller, Crime Thriller, Action Thriller, etc to find out why the general public enjoy watching these types of films.

Podcast 1 - Introduction to The Elites

From left to right (Byran, Shane, Jeremiah, Michael)