Thursday 5 March 2009

Did we achieve our target and what we set out to do? & audience feedback/peer assesment

We think we did achieve our target and what we set out to do; we believe we did very well at achieving as much as we possibly could with our film. I personally would only change one or two things about our film, given more time. An example would be better shot transitions within our film, as we think some of them could have been better. I also think that the age of some of our actors could definitely have been better, but after filming this there was not much else we could do. Also the quality of the acting in our film could of course been better, but as we are only students ourselves it is hard finding professional or experienced actors. I also think we could have had more diegetic sound in our film. Various props could have been more realistic, and costumes could have been more suited to our film. Despite this, comments and feedback have been very positive, especially with our audience feedback sheets. Our class filled out the sheets and gave us marks out of ten and comments for each category. These were: holding a shot steady, framing shots and choosing what to include and leave out in the shots, using a variety of shot distances, shooting material that is appropriate to the opening of a thriller film, selecting Mise-en-scene to create particular effects, editing so there is a readable narrative, using varied shot transitions and other effects appropriately, using sound with images and editing sound effectively, and lastly, using titles effectively. Here are the average grades we received from our class mates:

- Holding a shot steady = 9

- Framing of shots = 9

- Using a variety of shot distances = 9

- Shooting material that is appropriate to the opening of a thriller = 9

- Selecting Mise-en-scene to create particular effects = 10

- Editing so there is a readable narrative = 9

- Using varied shot transitions and other effects appropriately = 9

- Using sound with images and editing sound effectively = 9

- Using titles effectively = for this category we could not collect any feedback as we had not finished our titles by then, so it would be unfair to have tried to mark them.

Our marks are very pleasing, Mise-en-scene was our highest scoring mark, and I also think this was the best aspect in our film. We searched very hard to find the right settings for what we wanted to create within our film. All of the other marks are also very positive and I agree with all of the marks we have received. Some negative feedback we had from our classmates was that the narrative is not readable, but they also added this was good because it adds mystery and makes to want to watch more to find out what is happening, this is exactly what we intended anyway.

What went well and what did not go well in the process of making my thriller

What do we feel went well?

I feel our entire thriller went really well, and we are all very pleased with the end result. In particular, we felt pleased with our character casting; this is because I think our actor Leon, set the scene with the dead body and the car really well. He looks mysterious and mean. As he is in a leather jacket and there could be perceived as looking bad. I also think that our character Patrick Callaghan at the desk is a particularly good find. As he looks like he is the boss, and he is dressed for the part well. Our locations were pleasing because they were shot in the evening. So especially the road looks sinister and dangerous, and there is no one nearby and it is in a very quiet area. The building shot connotes an importance because the low angle shots show the stature and height of the building. I am pleased with our music choice, because someone had said our music is very thought evoking. I think it is quite edgy, and creates tension in our film. I am very pleased with the lighting aspects of our film as it has a lot of chiaroscuro lighting, and slated blinds with a bright light shining through them. I like this use of lighting as it is a good thriller signifier. I like the use of our shots, an example of this would be a close up on the man at the desks eyes, this makes the audience feel like uncomfortable, as if he is staring at you. Another shot we are really pleased with, is where the men reappear from dumping the body, it looks good because of the chiaroscuro lighting which makes the road look really bright. As the men are taking the body out of the boot, I particularly like the lighting from the lights on the back of the car in that shot. Regarding editing, we are pleased with the effect of flashing transitions in time with the music to create a stylistic effect. It also swaps between, the building and the road, and then the man in the road. I also like how the shots contrasts have been changed to make the shot look darker in places and lighter in others to help create the chiaroscuro lighting effect The film leaves you wondering whether the man behind the desk is linked with what is going on with the dead body. With our props, we are pleased with the choice of car. As it is not obvious and does not attract attention to itself, which is what we were hoping for. We also liked out body-bag, as although it could be more realistic, we think it was a good as it good be. The use of a cigarette was effective as it connotes that the man is unappealing and could be seen as bad. We think the use of the word Vendetta in our title is good because it gives you an idea of what is going on in the film (a war/feud and revenge between people/families/gangs) but you don’t know what kind of vendetta is taking place, or why so it also leaves an element of mystery. I also like the way our titles are placed, with our names appearing on the road, and the final title “Bloody Vendetta” in capitals, and white writing a black background so it show ups, and looks bold and maybe threatening. The directing in the film was good in our opinion because we think that where everything in set in the shot looks good and fits the style we are aiming for. The last aspect I was pleased with was the synopsis. I think our film leaves you wondering many things, such as “who murdered the person”, “who is the dead person” and “why are they dead” etc. It makes you want to watch on in to the rest of the film. The use of a cliff hanger and mystery in this way is a common thriller signifier.

What difficulties/problems did we encounter?

The biggest problem that we had whilst planning our thriller film was finding our cast. This is because of two members in our original cast having to pull out because of school regulations. We then only had a short amount of time to find new actors to play the parts. Therefore the actors did not fit the preferred age group we would have liked them to be in. Although this was a problem we do not think it affected our film too much, and it still turned out as well as we wanted it to. Another problem with planning our thriller was naming it. We originally came up with a list of names we liked, and settled with “Bad Blood”, but at a later date in the editing process we decided it did not fit as well as it could do with our film and that it could be better; therefore we decided to change it. Trying to think of a new name proved to be a difficult task, but in the end we came up with “Bloody Vendetta” and preferred it to “Bad Blood” because it fit in with the family feuds/war in our synopsis and when you are watching the film it gives to an idea that a war/revenge is taking place, but you do not know why, or who is taking revenge. To make sure the title was good for our film we asked some class mates whether they thought it fit in and sounded right. All of which agreed which finally decided that we would use it. Whilst trying to find props and costumes for our actors to use an wear, we had difficulty trying to create a dead-body look-a-like, and although we know in the film that a dead body would be a lot heavier and more flimsy, we tried our best and used a punch bag and some sleeping bag to make it look as realistic as possible. A problem we encountered whilst filming out thriller was lighting. When we originally went to film our building shots we found that it was too dark and it was not clear what we were filming, we then had to go back a redo this at a later date. This problem also occurred when we tried to film our dead body being dropped into a ditch. We solved this problem by showing a different part of our filming to make it look like they had dumped the body by re-appearing from the woods without the body in their hands. We also had problems with keeping our camera steady while trying to film the road sequences, as we knew we had to do this by hand it took several attempts to make it look like it was panning smoothly (or as smooth as we could make it) rather than unsteady. Problems that occurred during the editing process was a soundtrack that we all liked, we thought went well with the film and was not copyright (as our original piece was copyright). After much searching for the right track we finally agreed on a song we all liked and that we got positive feedback with. Flashing shot transitions and keeping our film in time with the music proved to be challenging as we had to edit the film so the climatic music came in at the right point in the film. This was very time consuming. The last and probably most difficult to resolve problem we encountered whilst trying to edit our film and fitting it into less than two minutes long. We had a lot of footage that we wanted to add in our film, but this ended up being at about 2 minutes 30 seconds. We then had to go back, and cut out everything we thought did not need to be there, or did not need to be held for as long as it was being. We spent a lot of time trying to work out exactly what was relevant and what had to stay, and what was not necessarily as important.

Sunday 22 February 2009

Thriller Evaluation

What did we set out to do?

We originally set out to create an opening sequence to a film that stylistically is much like a film noir. We wanted to do this because we all agreed that we thought the Mise-en-scene and style of these films were brilliant, this is why we wanted our film to include the themes and styles of a film noir. A particular film noir aspect we wanted to focus on was Mise-en-scene.

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

We used several genre conventions in our thriller opening as an audience feedback form showed giving us a 9 out of 10 for shooting material that is appropriate to the opening of a thriller. Most of these relate to conventions of the film noir period. Our narrative shows the film is mainly a male dominated cast, apart from one woman who is portrayed as a femme fatale which is a thriller convention. Our narrative contains many twists and plot turns, as well as revenge and a disturbing past. We did not challenge these conventions; we used them to help us make a film noir. For our Mise-en-scene we used shots that were low-angled, we used shadows, slated blinds and chiaroscuro lighting. All of these were to help make our film look like it was from the noir period, for example trying to create the idea of a crime happening, and corruption.
Our film challenges modern conventions of a thriller, as we were trying to make a film noir. We do not show guns, blood, or killing, (for example in the modern thriller Layer Cake (2004) there is plenty of violence/action and killing) we are just showing the consequences of these actions. We focused on the characters being portrayed as unappealing and repulsive. In the film our characters one by one die because they have a need for power and are greedy. It does not give the audience a chance to communicate and relate to the male, lead characters.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Unlike a film such as The Godfather (1972) our film does not show crime in an attractive way. Our male characters are shown to be greedy, morally wrong, and power-wanting. The woman in our film is shown as a typical film noir woman, she is a femme-fatal who is unreliable and not to be trusted. Our narrative shows that a protagonist dies before the audience has time to relate to them. Or before Susie Callaghan has a chance either. This is supposed to created a feeling of distance from the characters, and give them an idea of how corrupt our characters are. We have purposely shown this kind of life as bad, and disgusting.

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

Our thriller opening would be distributed as both an art house and a mainstream product. Our mainstream audience would be attracted to our film as it has many twists and mystery within the film and lots of thriller signifiers to recognise. It also has the action and violence within the film for mainstream audiences to appreciate. The niche audience would also appreciate this film as it has film noir aspects and the film’s stylistic side.


Who would be the target audience for your media product and how would you attract/address your audience?

Our audience is likely to be a mixture of a niche audience and a mainstream audience. A mainstream audience would be attracted to this film for things such as the twists and turns in the narrative of the film and/or any action within the film.
Our niche audience would be film fanatics who understand film noirs and thrillers. This audience would be able to appreciate the more complex aspects of our film. And understand the film noir conventions.
If we were to advertise our film, it would be in film magazines and in small cinemas/art houses; this would attract our target audience.
The certificate for our film would most likely be an 18, because of its complexity, death, and generally thrillers are targeted at young adults. As our film is a film noir, it may be targeted at slightly older because it is not as modern as some.

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

Regarding technologies we learnt how to use the video cameras well, how to use the tripod with the camera and how to put the footage onto our computer and how to capture the moving image. We learnt what we could do with our cameras, such as panning and zooming effectively. When we came to editing we learnt to use the software ‘Adobe Premiere Elements 1.0’. This was the most complex feature we learnt how to use as none of us had ever used the programme. But in our peer assesments we scored 9 for the question: Using sound with images and editing sound effectively, we scored a 9 for the question Using varied shot transitions and other effects appropriately and we scored a 9 for Editing so there is a readable narrative. We reacted well to these marks, as we felt they were good enough to leave our film without having to edit anymore. I now feel like I am confident in using this software.

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

When I think back to the making of our preliminary task, I feel I have learnt many things.
First of all, I have learned how to use the camera effectively on the tripod, and how to pan, zoom, tilt, track the camera etc. as when I first started making the preliminary task I was not very confident in doing this.
I have learned how particular shots can create different connotations. For example, in our film, the low angle shots of the building connote the big stature and height of the building into making you think it is significant and important. I have learned that planning is vital! If we had done minimal planning for our thriller we would have found it very difficult and probably would not have finished in time. As we did not do very much planning for our preliminary task and I felt it could have been a lot better if we did plan more. Organising what you are doing is very important in order to make it exactly how you want it. Managing your time has been a skill I have learned to use. As if we had not put together a shooting schedule, or met up regularly to edit, we would not have finished in the time given to us.

I have learned that audience research can play a big part in the making of the film. As you have to take into consideration what your audience wants, and thinks. Also if you know your target audience you know what sort of things would be appreciated in your film and what would not. Audience research is important as it gives you an idea of what style of thrillers are popular, and what signifiers are recognised, what people think of the thriller genre etc.
I have learned through looking at other thriller films what makes a successful thriller, what type of Mise-en-scene should be included and recognising all the different sub-genres of the thriller genre itself. This had also given us an idea of what kind of transitions, lighting, and characters are successful in a thriller.
I feel I have learned how to edit a film successfully, for example knowing how to slow the shots down, and use transitions successfully. Within our preliminary task we did not really work on any of these things.
During the making of our thriller, I have learned to work as a team. We all had to work together on ideas, (for example – the title of our film), directing what we wanted to happen in the shot, editing and all agreeing on the right transitions, props, storyline, characters, costumes, lighting etc. This was not a difficult thing to do within our group, but we did have to work democratically on some ideas.