Evaluation Question 7

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

Our Preliminary Task


The clip above was our very first attempt to make a thriller opening, as you can see its not very good at all in my opinion, but this was right at the start of the course and so I was not expecting an amazing outcome, at this point I was not fully aware of how to edit and how to film correctly. And in the clip below I have the final edited of my film opening, and I am going to compare them.




The first comparison I have stated is the title of the film, as you can see the names are very different and the presentation of them are also very different, the first one is very simple and bland with only 2 color, but then the final edit title, is a lot more in depth, and has more colors which stand out more to the audience.

As you can see there is a big differences between the 2, the top one was made on Live-type, and the bottom one was made in after effects. The similarity between the two is that it has a black background and shows how important the title is.

The shot to the left is the frame from the first attempt and the bottom one is from the final edit, as you can see the left image is further away and you can see that its in a school, and so looses most of its genre, but the bottom shot is closer up and so you cant see the surroundings as much which is better because the viewer wont be able to see and so will be curious where the location may be.

In the shot from the old edit, it is more of a mid shot from behind, but the final edit shot is more of a close up and so the camera work is slightly different.





When we did our preliminary task we found an effect called bad TV, and i found this effect to be very useful, as you can see in both pictures  I have implemented bad TV into them, this is because both of them are CCTV footage being recorded, and so the effect goes with our theme of crime thriller and that the government is always watching your every move.










During this process I have learnt so much, and all of this information I have learnt can really help impact the rest of my life. Because I have a real passion for editing and I would like to do this for a job this gives me a head start on learning how to use different types of software in certain situations, and so I am very pleased that I took media and had this opportunity to show and enhance my skills in editing and film work. Also while going through this process I have picked up on filming techniques, such as shots (Long shot, Mid shot etc.) and now when I watch adverts or movies on the TV I notice how the shot was constructed and I analyse the clip myself, which is great because in this day and age, everything has got something to do with media such as filming and editing. While improving from our prelim task to our final edit, I have learnt valuable things to keep in mind when making a thriller, for example tension and enigma are huge must haves while doing this, this is because without suspense and tension, its not a thriller anymore and that's why you must have these key aspects. I have also learnt key terms throughout this process, words such as enigma, match on action, 180 degree rule, empathy and the continuity, which in my opinion is one of the most important things to have In any film.

Shot Types I Have Learnt:
Long Shot/Establishing Shot
Medium Shot
Close Up Shot
Extreme Close Up Shot
Cut In ( Which was used a lot through our final edit)
Over the Shoulder Shot
P.O.V (Point Of View Shot)

Evaluation Question 6

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

During this process of making and designing our opening film, I have come across some pieces of technology that I have never used before, I have never used a Apple Mac before this process started, and now i know how it functions and hoe to operate it correctly. Plus new software which I have never used before, such as Final cut, I have used editing software before on a Windows PC but never on a Mac so it took time to getting used to, but after a while I managed to get the hang of it.

Final Cut:
The main bulk of editing was done on Final cut express, and at the start of this process I had no idea how to edit on this particular software. I used to use Windows Movie Maker before, and there was a massive transition between the 2 software's. I managed to learn how to use this software effectively after one lesson, The only things I did on Final Cut was cut and move clips around, the main bulk of effects came from another software which I will move onto now.



























After Effects CS4/CS6:
After effects is a very powerful effects editor, which is where most of my effects and titles were created. I have an in depth knowledge of this software before the process began, this is because I used to have a YouTube channel were I showed tutorials of how to edit and show how to design effects. So by me knowing this software before the process I would say that it gave me an advantage, because everyone else was not to familiar with the effects software. When designing out titles for our film opening I was told to use Live-type, which is text effect generator, but I found using after effects a lot easier to use due to my past experience with the software. And the picture on the right is the user interface for the after effects software. Another good part of using after effects was that I have it on my home PC and so I could work on the film opening from my home.



Operating System and Interface Used:
The systems I used during this process was an Apple Mac computer at sixth form which I was very new to and had to learn all of the new keys and shortcut keys on it. At home when i was editing I used a Windows PC with the needed editing software's on it. When at sixth form using the Mac I found that i worked slower than at home, this is because it took me a while to get used to the new system, But when I was at home editing I was working a lot quicker and more productive.






Garage Band:
Garage band was the software I used to construct my soundtrack from scratch with, I was new to this software as well, and I was taught by the technician on our sixth form and after knowing what to do with the software I created the soundtrack, and managed to export it correctly into Final Cut and as you can see from my final edit it worked perfectly.






Blogger: 
Blogger was a vital part of my media product, because this is where all of my research planing editing came together and in my opinion was a very good decision to allow us to use this service to present all of our data that we have collected. I was new to blogger and took me 2 weeks to full understand how the service works. On my blog my movie is always at the top of the blog this is so it is easy for someone to see the film instantly, instead of filtering through all of the other information.

The only pieces of equipment we need was a tripod and our Cannon camera, these worked well when we were out in London, the only issue we had was the Camera's battery life, near the end we had to pick up the pace because the battery was going to run out. But other than that minor issue i was pleased with the equipment we were given.

Evaluation Question 5

5) How did you attract/address your audience?




As you can see I have annotated the film opening with annotations so that it can help the examiner understand why I have implemented some aspects of the film opening.

As you can see on my Facebook page I put the link to my thriller opening, and i did get some positive feedback from peers, As you can see I have 2 women and a man that have commented, so this must meant that they were attracted/interested, which is what I wanted, a wider audience, which is what most movies want a large market, because the larger market, the more customers you have and so more revenue created from that. The age range of the comments are 16,17 and 49 which again shows a wide audience who are interested in my film.

Evaluation Question 4

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


As you can see for my 4th evaluation question I decided to vary the way I present data and used a Prezi presentation instead of just writing it. Please enjoy. If some parts appear to small enlarge the image so it may be readable.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Evaluation Question 2

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups
What is a social group: A social group is a segment of the population that has similar characteristics as one another, and has the same interests as one another.
In our film opening we decided to have a crime thriller, which was inspired by many films such as the Bourne series films, and Salt was a massive influence on how i wanted the movie to look like. And i have implemented a key feature that not many crime thriller films have these days, and that is having a woman as the main actress, and that's why i liked Salt so much its because it's gone against thriller conventions and used a woman, which is exactly what we did in my film opening.

As you can see by the image on the right you have our actress Leena and she is dressed black, and has her hair down and natural. And Salt has her hair down and natural and is dressed in all black as well as Leena, and so we tried to recreate her image as well as we could so, but not so much that its not an original idea anymore. 

Our social groups we are aiming for are teenagers aged between 13 and upwards and some families and viewers who enjoy thriller movies. This will attract young people to watch the movie this is because we have a young attractive lady who is not just a pretty face but does mean business in this film opening because when she sees the 2 men she does not run away but walks away quickly showing that she is not very intimidated by the 2 male figures but is clever enough not to face them head on, and decides to make a silent and swift escape out of the area. If you look at the Bourne films they have been very successful with there movies and have appealed to a wide range of audiences, yes we don't have the great film budget and outstanding special effects but we can try and make up for those using our skills we have learnt in school and out of school and try and use them the best we can so that we produce the best looking crime thriller possible.




When selecting out actors we needed to make sure that it would appeal to a wide range of audience but still would fit the role of each character. So for the main character we had Leena, she fits the part rather well as seen in the image above, we have tried to make her look like famous actress Angelina Jolie in the movie Salt, which in my opinion worked out well as she looks the part, and in many films these days you have good looking actors and actresses, and she looks good looking throughout the film and this could be a benefit because the male audience may find her attractive and my watch the film because she is starring in the film. This goes for the male character in the film he has to look professional, and has to dress the part and in the movie he wears black trousers and wears a black coat, he plays the part well, because he shows no emotion towards the camera when seen and, as Leena the female audience  may watch the film because the male actor may appeal to the young female audience and this could be a reason why some females may choose to watch this crime thriller film. The 2 male figures needed to fit the part, so i got 2 of my mates to play them, one of them is tall and the other is shorter and so we have made them wear black clothing so that they look professional, but we asked them to wear jumpers with hoods on so that they could put there hood up and obscure there face, and many teenagers wear these types of clothing, because its classed as fashionable, and we wanted our actors to look sophisticated yet still connect with the audience, because the younger audience all want the latest fashion clothing and if we showed that we thought about the younger market people might want to watch the film more because of this. 
                                                                       

Evaluation Question 1

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

Our film opening is based on a criminal thriller, and we have a women on the run from the corrupt government, so instead of a man on the run film, we have broken conventions and decided to use a woman on the run. I found that this would be a good move because there are not many criminal thrillers out there on the market, and so this gives are film a uniqueness about it.
The title of the film is called Angelus, we chose this name, because it means transporter in Greek  and we thought this would be a fitting name for our film, because our movie opening revolves round a mysterious case, with a contents that is unknown throughout the movie opening, and because we have kept with a criminal thriller I chose to have a modern theme, such as technological crime thriller, this is because in this day and age, nearly everything is run by computer systems, and so I tried to implement this in the title, with a shaky effect, as if it was a computer malfunction, and in the background there is smoke, which shows a mysterious mise-en-scene and causes people to ponder why there is smoke and why have the colors have been chosen and why the name has been chosen, and this is what i wanted because then it keeps the viewer engaged with the film opening and has a narrative hook due to the enigma of the story-line. Because of the modern and technological age the crimes are done via the internet and so when the text moves its like someone is hacking the system and causing a malfunction to the text and i thought that this would be a nice effect to be using. Also the color of the text has hints of red in it and red represents danger and also the movement of the font represent the chase in the film opening.

This shot is my favorite shot out of my movie opening, this is because of the depth and field of the shot, you have the watch perfectly in focus and is really detailed and then in the background you have the persons legs and the wall which is out of focus on purpose so that it blurs the background, and gives this really good effect. The watch is a very valuable prop in the movie opening, this is because this watch and the other actors watch have a relationship between them, and this introduces the other character into the movie, this is down by going from the mans watch to the women's, and by this transition you can see that there is a direct relation between the male actor and the female actor. But what the viewer does not know is that if they are friend or foe. As you can see by these 2 frames there are 2 watched, ones the mans watch and the other one is the woman's watch, and during the film opening the black watch fades to the silver woman's watch, which means that there is a connection between the 2 people in the film opening.


In this shot you can see someone walking out of a building in London, and the shot is a long shot and I have used the effect of a CCTV camera and that he is being watched throughout the film opening. This shot produces enigma, because we don't know why he is being watched and, this also introduces the characters face and so you can see what he really looks like which could be interpreted in many different ways, some viewers may think that he is a good person, some may have a different perspective and he could be bad, but this makes the viewer think and makes then engaged in the film opening. In London there are thousands of cameras, and people think that big brother is watching us and the government is watching our every move, and this shot helps prove the fact that this man and the other characters are being watched constantly by someone.


This shot is a mid shot of the next character, she is the main character of the film opening, I have cut of her head on purpose, this is because i wanted her to be introduced later on in the film opening, this is because it causes enigma and makes the audience engaged because they want to find out who the new character is and why she is part of the film opening. As this is a crime thriller film opening, you usually see men in these films, and on the run films, but here we have gone against conventions, and used a women on the run, and in this frame you can see easily that it is a women walking. And because we have introduced 2 new characters, the viewer will wounder who both of them are and if there is a connection between the 2 of the characters

In this frame we see the man holding the brief case, and as seen in the beginning of the film opening, the male actor places a confidential envelope inside that brief case and then he is transporting the case to someone, and as the title of the film means transporter in Greek and so this prop fits with the story line rather well. In most crime thriller movies there is always a significant prop or object that gathers the attention of the audience, and in this case the brief case is the prop and with this prop it brings enigma into the film opening because no one knows why there is a case or where its meant to be transported to, and this engages the viewer. And I have kept to the convention of a mysterious prop and i think that it will help strengthen the enigma of the film opening.


In this shot you can see that the male actor and the female actor finally meet and as you can see by this shot they both pass each other, and i froze the frame so that you can see what really happened, and as you can see the male actor exchanges the brief case with the female actor. As you can see I have used a saturation effect on the frame and i have frozen the frame at this point so you can see what happened during the the exchange, this might give the audience an insight to actually what happened when the 2 actors met. Going back to the color of the frame i used this effect because it is a very vital event of the film opening, and so i used this effect and a sound effect of thunder rolling to project that this point of the film is very important and sets the mood for the rest of the film opening.


As you can see i have used another saturated shot, i have done this so that it points out a valuable shot in the movie. In the shot there are 2 men walking towards the female actor and as you can see they have the head down and are wearing black clothing in the shot, all of the characters where wearing black clothing to show that they were part of the same agency and show a vital connection between them, may it be good or bad. And there are 2 of them, and only one women, which means that she is outnumbered and she is more vulnerable, this is a media convention which we have included in our film opening. In the shot you can just see the 2 male characters on there own and this produces dominance and that these 2 figures are strong and powerful.

This is the final shot of the film opening, and this is where you fully see the women's face and her body, and as in the watch shot there is a field and depth, which looks nice and when she finally comes into shot she is focused in and you can see her fully. Its like she has come from her vulnerable self at the start of the film and has come out of her shell and become the rouge agent that she is. If you watch the shot she comes out from the darkness into the light. And the music playing throughout starts fading out near the end of the film and when she finally walks out of the shot the music cuts and there is silence, just like her there was all of the action during the start and near the end she escapes with no one following her and she leaves in silence and the no audio reflects this.

Why Do People Watch Thrillers

Why do people watch thriller movies? There are many reasons why people watch thriller movies, some people watch it for the "thrill" of it, some people like to understand the story-line and try and de-code the meaning of the movie and find out what is going on. Most people watch thriller movies because they like to be scared or excited, the main reason for this is the tension that is used in the movie, the tension is the major part of any thriller movie, because without the tension it is not a thriller movie. An example of a good thriller is Se7evn, this movie i found very exciting to watch, just because of the tension aspect of it and the good shots used such as close ups and extreme close ups. Straight away in the opening of the movie, we have a little look at how well the movie has been designed and thought out, the shots used at the beginning are very well done, the shots are all close ups or extreme close ups this is good because it causes enigma, which causes tension because you don't know who the person is or what he/she is doing. That is one reason why people might watch thriller movies.

Another reason might be for social interaction, such as after watching the movie, that people have been talking about at school or at work, and by you watching the movie you can be part of social interaction with your workers and peers, and then you will be part of a social group an you can have conversations about the movie you have been watching. So in an overall aspect of media people watch media or listen to media or read media to be part of social groups and to gain relationships with friends and even family.

Another reason could be why people watch thriller movies is for role models maybe, and a sense of someone to look up to so in a thriller movie the

Shot List

This is the shot list that me and Leena constructed together, while planing the shots for our film opening.

Our Angelus Pitch

Nearly Finished Movie

Users and Gratifications Theory

Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what do media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do people do with media?"

This Communication theory is positivistic in its approach, based in the socio-psychological communication tradition, and focuses on communication at the mass media scale. The driving question of UGT is: Why do people use media and what do they use them for? UGT discusses how users deliberately choose media that will satisfy given needs and allow one to enhance knowledge, relaxation, social interactions/companionship, diversion, or escape.

It assumes that audience members are not passive consumers of media. Rather, the audience has power over their media consumption and assumes an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. Unlike other theoretical perspectives, UGT holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their desires and needs to achieve gratification. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.

UGT has a heuristic value today because it gives communication scholars a "perspective through which a number of ideas and theories about media choice, consumption, and even impact can be viewed."

Music Research

My inspiration to my short movie

Our theme is a woman on the run crime thriller, so we have gone against most conventions and decided to use a woman instead of a man, this is a good twist to the general movies you see.

Todorov Theory

My Rough Cut

Genre Research (Crime Thriller)

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.

Common subgenres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers and mystery thrillers. Another common subgenre of thriller is the spy genre which deals with fictional espionage. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Thehorror and action genres often overlap with the thriller genre.

In 2001, the American Film Institute in Los Angeles made its definitive selection of the top 100 greatest American "heart-pounding" and "adrenaline-inducing" films of all time. To be eligible, the 400 nominated films had to be American-made films, whose thrills have "enlivened and enriched America's film heritage". AFI also asked jurors to consider "the total adrenaline-inducing impact of a film's artistry and craft".

Genre Research

Camera Shutter Effect

I have made from scratch a camera shutter effect, so i used still frames as the shutter camera shot, and i got the sound effect of a camera being shot and the sound effect plays straight before the freeze frame so then it gives the effect of camera shot.

Started Editing

I have started editing the start of our short movie opening and this so far is my favorite shot of the movie so far.

Filming

We are filming our movie on saturday or sunday this week!

Sunset Timings

Feb 9th 2013
Sunrise: 7:25
Sunset: 5:05pm

Director Title

This will be the director title for the movie and will be a generic title sequence for each title, this will show continuity for the title sequence and also this will make the movie look much more professional, this is because i am not using outrageous coloring and over the top effects, and then has a subtle look.
Plus i have a slight effect where the writing ghosts into the composition so that it attracts the attention of the viewer.

Vertigo Films is my production company

I researched about my production company and after much research i decided to use Vertigo Films as my production company.

Animatic

Our Title Intro

Designing my title on after effects cs4

I have obtained pre keyed footage, from a free stock footage website and have used smoke to add an effect to my opening title for the movie, I have used different types of inputs such as text and effects and imported footage, and also lighting that i have implemented into the title.

This might be the final result for our movie opening title, as you can see i have added masks to show red on 3 of the letters, the next stage is to introduce audio into the sequence.

Thriller Titles

• Simple yet effective title.
• simple colors black and red
• Simple picture with not many effects used
• Many props used such as guns and clothing
• The mise-en-scene 

• 2 colors used, blue and yellow
• Star actor on the top of the thriller title
• Devil is usually associated with red, but here its used blue
• Shows enigma in the picture because there is someone behind him
• Also someone lying on the floor

BBFC Guidelines

It is important that the BBFC’s classification standards are in line with what the public expects and that its decisions take account of what the public finds acceptable at each age category.

Therefore every 4-5 years, the BBFC carries out a major public consultation exercise to find out what the public thinks about the age rating of films and videos before they are released and whether the BBFC’s classification standards meet public concerns.

The BBFC adjusts its standards and criteria in response to any changes in public attitudes.

These standards are laid out in the BBFC’s Classification Guidelines which can be downloaded below. The Guidelines detail what is acceptable at each age category, from U to R18. They also set out the laws and principles which impact on the BBFC’s work.

There are two key principles which guide us when we apply the Guidelines:

• First, films and videos should be allowed to reach the widest audience appropriate for their theme and treatment.
• Second, adults should be free to choose what they see, provided it remains within the law and is not potentially harmful

BBFC Clasifications

In order to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give consumers information they might need about a particular film or video before deciding whether or not to view it, the BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. This independent scrutiny prior to release ensures the highest possible level of protection and empowerment.

Typically, two examiners view a film for theatrical release. In most cases a Senior Examiner will confirm the examiners’ recommendation. But if the Examiners are in any doubt or fail to agree, or if important policy issues are involved, the work may be seen by other members of the Board up to, and including, the Director and Presidential team. Occasionally we need to take specialist advice about the legal acceptability of film content or its potential for harm.

What Does U Mean?
The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range.

What Does PG Mean?
PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children.

What Does 12A Mean?
12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. Children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult 

What Does The 15 Symbol Mean?
 No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD.  15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

What Does The 18 Symbol Mean?
Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. No 18 rated works are suitable for children.

What Does R18 Mean?
The ‘R18’ category is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. ‘R18’ videos may not be supplied by mail order.