I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. Here is my final thriller opening. I hope you enjoy watching it!
Friday, 17 December 2010
Monday, 13 December 2010
Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
These nine frames show screenshots I took from our final thriller opening. They are key in the parts that make our thriller opening so unique as well as fitting into the normal conventions of a normal title sequence.
The first shot shows the first thing that appears in our opening which shows our production companys name.We made sure that it turned as it entered so it ironically relates to our production companys name. We created it to appear differently to the rest of our titles as it shows the difference between a credit and our production company's name.
The second shot shows the main victim within our film. She is the first character to be introduced to the audience so the audience can compare her to the next character and become sympathetic towards her. We used the night vision setting as this makes it clear that we are seeing the victim asleep without the shot becoming too dark. It also begins the story as we can see that the girl is having a bad dream or is confused as to why she is seen in this way giving the audience various enigmas on the storyline.
The third shot introduces our stalker to the film. We can straight away see the contrast in characters from the innocent looking girl sleeping in a distressed way to a male stalker in a busy place and standing out from the croud.Like real thriller films we had to consider the costumes for both characters, the white hoodie on the male stalker to stand out as different and the female victim wearing everyday clothes to fit in with normal teenage life and relate to our target audience more effeciently. We chose the busy park in contrast to the peaceful bedroom as the juxta position can help the audience understand our storyline better. At this point the film is fast forwarded so that we can see that time has gone by and creates a fast paced thrlling effect to our shot.
The fourth shot continues to follow the stalkers actions. The audience now identifies the stalker with following the victim as we see him looking at a picture of her online. This is a key part of our opening as before this shot the characters had not been seen together or as a part of each others lives. The opening conforms to the general conventions of a title sequence as it creates many questions for the audience like Why is he looking at pictures of her? Do they know each other? etc.
The fifth shot shows the stalker continuing to look at pictures of the girl again emphasising the fact that he is following her. We can see the pink background is not the stalkers house and this makes the audience question where he is. Through the music the opening suggests its a thriller as it is faced paced and thrilling and through this character hiding their eyes as if they don't want to be identified and without a smile it is clear that the film is not a comedy/romantic/family film.
The sixth shot shows the continuity of the storyline. It shows the female victim walking after previously seeing this character wake up we can see that she is on a journey. When filming we made sure that we took a variety of shots to show the continuity of her walking without following her the whole way there to keep the audience on edge and interested.
The seventh shot continues to show the girl walking and the stalker watching her from a distance again bringing the two characters together so we know the rest of the film will include both characters in some way relating to each other. We can now see the girl in the park where the stalker was previously shown waiting earlier. As the female victim is not walking towards the other character we get the sense that she doesn't know she is being followed relating back to our title 'The Unknown'.
The eigth shot shows the girl's phone whilst she is sitting on a bench in the park. We recorded this shot several times as we found that even with the tripod and focus on the camera it became slightly blurly. The audience knows that the stalker we have been introduced to has sent this message as this is the only other character that's been shown in our opening.
The ninth shot shows the title of our film shown at the end of our opening the way that the title enters is similar to the title of the film 'Se7en' and so creates the thriller effect that as a group were looking for. Through using after effects we were able to create it in this way enticing the audience to watch the rest of our film and wanting to find out what happens to both of the characters that have just been introduced.
These are all clips from various thriller films in which I found inspiring. They are all examples of films from the thriller genre that have an effective storyline as well as an excellent title sequence.
The first shot shows the film 'Se7en' and its opening title. Our credits were produced with a smiliar typography, however we made sure that our production company logo was slightly different to our credits to show that our film company wasn't necessarily only focussed on thriller films. It would be shown on every film that our production company made so we wanted to create it suitable for all genres of films. Even though this title doesn't show the production title we still found it inspiring and only decided to change our production logo from a similar one in post production.
The second shot is from a clip in 'Paranormal Activity' which is a psychological thriller. We found this inspiring and it is very similar to our own films second shot. We also found that the night vision setting often used in paranormal activity very inspiring and used this when our female character was sleeping creating an almost psychological thrilling twist to our opening. The green colour of this night vision is also quite different to a lot of thrillers giving the audience a new unique opening.
The third shot is from the teenage thriller 'Kidulthood'. It shows a stalker like the one we created of a younger age wearing a hoodie and with a baseball bat connoting that he is violent. As a group we found this very inspiring as it shows the character we were hoping to portray through our thriller opening also representing the issue of gang culture which is a topic heavily raised by our target audience. This shot is very similar to the third shot in the main clips I took from my film opening.
The fourth shot is from the thriller 'The Ring' I chose this not only because this film was very inspiring but the shot type is very similar to the fourth shot shown in mine. We can see what appears to be the victim a young female with long straight hair which is often seen as the stereotypical victim in most thriller films, this is very similar to ours. This shot creates various enigmas about the character in the background that we can't see as clearly and I found it very effective when watching this film as well as my own.
The fifth shot is from the thriller 'Mimic' it shows many innocent victim on the wall. The way that the camera blurs and then becomes clear creates a scary effect. The way the pictures of victims are shown and then exploited inspired us to show pictures of happy memories from the victim's life to be taken away and ruined almost reflecting what the stalker wants to do to our victims life in reality. We decided not to put this in black and white in post production as the rest of our opening is in colour apart from the shots with a green night vision effect and this would make it lack consistency.
The sixth shot is also from the film 'The Ring' which portrays a girl walking away in the same way we made our character walk to show a journey which also gave us a chance to show the character in another setting.Although this is not typical of all thriller openings to show a journey we thought it would add a better storyline to our opening as it isn't in just one place making our opening seem less repetitive.
The seventh shot shows a man following another man, in the same way our character is watching the other. This creates tension and mystery as you feel sympathetic and helpless for the person being followed. Whilst filming we had to make sure that the camera went slightly out of focus when the character was walking in the background so that we can focus on the stalker and that characters intentions and ambitions involving the victim.
The eighth shot is from the film 'The Caller' which shows a phone showing an unknown number has called. We found the whole idea of new technology being used to stalk people with the computer and the phone inspiring as it shows that our film is very relevant and our target audience can again relate more to it. We also decided to take an extreme close up of this as it emphasises this an important part of our film opening.
The ninth shot is also from the film 'Se7en' showing the way the credit appears. Ours also flash and blur on a blank background as through watching this opening the titles really stuck out to me. When making the music I found that the titles came in very effectively with it.
Friday, 10 December 2010
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Updated Treatment
Our film opening is based around an unknown stalker, the changing of our plot to this instead of a group of girls being stalked changed our title to 'The Unknown'. Even though this plot may seem cliché our opening will be edited together in a unique way through not only the stalker following our main character but looking at pictures of her and single shots of the stalker by themselves.
The aim of our opening is to entice the audience into watching the rest of the film. It will raise various issues of possible revenge, fear and confinement. It should make the audience feel scared and keep them sympathetic to the victim throughout the opening.
The opening is set in different time slots and is edited using different parts particularly in the first half of the opening. It cuts between the character sleeping and the camera focussing on the stalker creating a juxta position as well as tension. The second half shows the present and would be continued in the present after the main title appears at the end of the opening. Instead of a continous sequence we decided on using the technique of cross cutting as this is less likely to lose our audience's attention. As a group we have decided not to include dialogue as we found this was hard to record clearly whilst filming and may become unclear. Through researching various thriller openings like Seven, Mimic etc we thought that having a non diegetic self created music clip over our footage would create more tension and would be easier to make it seem more thriller like.
Our original idea was to have four characters and one stalker, however we reconsidered after deciding that too many characters were in our opening. We found that it seems more thriller like to have more focus on two characters, a victim and a stalker. They are both acted by females, however the stalker appears to be male as from our questionnaire we found that male stalkers were more scary. We often stereotype males to be more aggressive, violent, scary and generally bigger in size than women which I think is the main reason males are generally stalkers as opposed to women. This picture is from the film 'Silence of the Lambs' in which this shot shows a male stalking/ watching the woman.
We chose to set our opening in two different locations. As we don't have a budget of where we can film, we couldn't hire out a hall, corridor or anywhere else as this would've cost too much. So we decided to film in a group members house. This includes the scene where the victim is sleeping, where the stalker is taking down pictures and when the girl walks out of the house. We also decided to film in the local park as this was easily accessible, free and even made our thriller film more captivating as the fact it's set in a public place makes our opening seem more realistic and part of every day life with a twist.
The aim of our opening is to entice the audience into watching the rest of the film. It will raise various issues of possible revenge, fear and confinement. It should make the audience feel scared and keep them sympathetic to the victim throughout the opening.
The opening is set in different time slots and is edited using different parts particularly in the first half of the opening. It cuts between the character sleeping and the camera focussing on the stalker creating a juxta position as well as tension. The second half shows the present and would be continued in the present after the main title appears at the end of the opening. Instead of a continous sequence we decided on using the technique of cross cutting as this is less likely to lose our audience's attention. As a group we have decided not to include dialogue as we found this was hard to record clearly whilst filming and may become unclear. Through researching various thriller openings like Seven, Mimic etc we thought that having a non diegetic self created music clip over our footage would create more tension and would be easier to make it seem more thriller like.
Our original idea was to have four characters and one stalker, however we reconsidered after deciding that too many characters were in our opening. We found that it seems more thriller like to have more focus on two characters, a victim and a stalker. They are both acted by females, however the stalker appears to be male as from our questionnaire we found that male stalkers were more scary. We often stereotype males to be more aggressive, violent, scary and generally bigger in size than women which I think is the main reason males are generally stalkers as opposed to women. This picture is from the film 'Silence of the Lambs' in which this shot shows a male stalking/ watching the woman. 
We chose to set our opening in two different locations. As we don't have a budget of where we can film, we couldn't hire out a hall, corridor or anywhere else as this would've cost too much. So we decided to film in a group members house. This includes the scene where the victim is sleeping, where the stalker is taking down pictures and when the girl walks out of the house. We also decided to film in the local park as this was easily accessible, free and even made our thriller film more captivating as the fact it's set in a public place makes our opening seem more realistic and part of every day life with a twist.Throughout filming it is vital that the mise en scene is constantly being thought about and altered. We used a white hoodie for the stalker to wear contrasting with the background particularly in the park so that the audience is clear on the key character and focus on the importance of the character. When shooting at first we found a lot of our footage was dark and we had to make sure we constantly kept enough light whilst keeping to the thriller genre. We used one of our group members bedroom as the colour pink is often associated with an innocent girl and this was the character type we want our audience to feel.
Our target audience is still the same as the original treatment. Even though we decided to change the overall plot of the film, we made sure that this was done through sticking to the same target audience as this is who we wanted to appeal to and as a group we feel as if we can relate more to this audience.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Rough Cut
Below is the rough cut of our film opening. After weve recieved feedback from our target audience we will analyse it and make any changes to make it more suitable and engaging for our audience.
Conventions of our title sequence
There are many things our group have to consider before our footage can be edited together in order for it to meet the conventions of the thriller genre as well as the conventions of our title sequence. We've made sure that the titles enter in a spooky way similar to seven as this will fit into the thriller genre that we are aiming for. Through this we can make sure that the details of the cast and crew are given to the audience as well as adding a more thriller like effect to our opening. At the end of our opening we are planning of having the title of our film 'The Unknown' to appear showing our audience that the film has just started and the storyline will continue.
As a whole openings are key to any film as they give the audience their first perceptions to the main character/s, this is key so that the audience can differenciate that character from others after the opening. In our opening we are showing two characters, a stalker and a victim in which the beggining of the storyline is portrayed through the opening introducing them and setting the thriller genre from the start. You will be able to tell straight away that the girl is being stalked through the various scenes for example the stalker watching her from the park, the computer, the girls house etc. The fact that the stalker is wearing a hoody shows that the film is modern as current fashion trends are shown as well as a mobile phone indicating that the film is set in the present and not in the past or future.
Through the face paced music and lots of shorter clips pasted together as well as the titles entering it will be clear that we have produced an opening title sequence because during any film there is not usually music throughout the whole duration and titles don't appear half way through the film. The opening title sequence is important for keeping the audience intrigued and interested in watching the rest of the film. To keep our audience interested our scenes show many enigmas which may make the audience question why is this particular girl being stalked? Who is the stalker? Why are they following her? etc.
When the character recieves a text message at the end of the opening, the mise en scene of some of the film will continue in the park as this is where the stalker will also be. Music may be played in later parts of the film however this would not be constant throughout. The characters will last through the majority of the rest of the film if it were to be made and storyline would be made more complicated and unravelled throughout.
As a whole openings are key to any film as they give the audience their first perceptions to the main character/s, this is key so that the audience can differenciate that character from others after the opening. In our opening we are showing two characters, a stalker and a victim in which the beggining of the storyline is portrayed through the opening introducing them and setting the thriller genre from the start. You will be able to tell straight away that the girl is being stalked through the various scenes for example the stalker watching her from the park, the computer, the girls house etc. The fact that the stalker is wearing a hoody shows that the film is modern as current fashion trends are shown as well as a mobile phone indicating that the film is set in the present and not in the past or future.
Through the face paced music and lots of shorter clips pasted together as well as the titles entering it will be clear that we have produced an opening title sequence because during any film there is not usually music throughout the whole duration and titles don't appear half way through the film. The opening title sequence is important for keeping the audience intrigued and interested in watching the rest of the film. To keep our audience interested our scenes show many enigmas which may make the audience question why is this particular girl being stalked? Who is the stalker? Why are they following her? etc.
When the character recieves a text message at the end of the opening, the mise en scene of some of the film will continue in the park as this is where the stalker will also be. Music may be played in later parts of the film however this would not be constant throughout. The characters will last through the majority of the rest of the film if it were to be made and storyline would be made more complicated and unravelled throughout.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Other student openings
From analysing the strengths and weaknesses I have learnt that I need to critically analyse and evaluate my rough cut in the same way so I can improve it. I will do this through showing some members of the target audience and getting their opinions and suggestions to make it more appealing and of a better quality.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Preliminary Task
I created a short film of around two minutes to show a job interview between two people involving a variety of shots. I made sure I stuck to the 180 degree rule by keeping the camera on the same side of the characters so that the camera never suddenly changed sides without another establishing shot. I took a match on action shot of the character walking into the room and shooting from different angles, we don’t see all the full shots of the character walking in and sitting down but we see a quick long shot from the door cutting to a mid shot of the character sitting down which also shows the continuity of the situation through the shot. I included a shot reverse shot of the two characters during their conversation to show the reactions of both characters in a dramatic way through using a close up.
Continuity editing is when shots are pasted together so that it follows through a sequence/ story and is easy to work out the situation. A montage of shots would be the opposite of this as it usually creates various enigmas through a wide variety of clips within films. Continuity editing is often used to follow characters situations and for the audience to understand or clearly see the storyline.
My preliminary task gave me a chance to get used to the editing software on the Mac’s and work out how to add transitions and other effects. I prefer using final cut pro on the Mac computers as opposed to windows movie maker at home as final cut pro is a lot quicker and you can view a clip in sections or as a whole or both at the same time, it also comes with a wider variety of editing effects to add and it is easier to organise clips and paste them together.
Below is my preliminary task.
Se7en opening title sequence timeline
Above shows the main titles that appear within the opening to Se7en. Below is a timeline of when all the titles enter the screen and in what order, this is useful as it helps our group to plan the most effective way our titles can enter and leave the screen and creating the thriller effect we are hoping to achieve.I labelled each title as T1, T2 etc so that you can see the order clearly and I wrote what happens before and during the sequence of when the titles enter.
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