This Is Me - Genre

In the first shots of ‘This Is Me’ the semantic codes suggest to the audience that this short film's genre would be of something more serious than what is to come i.e. a documentary. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film) 

The semantic codes in 'This Is Me' suggest perhaps a documentation or drama. From Rick Altmans theory, we can say that we associate paricular objects with a meaning. And these meanings can portray the genre.
(http://www.slideshare.net/robertclackmedia/genre-theory-7086744) 

The setting of 'This Is Me' shows a hospital room:

• the opening shot is a close up of some sort of pump to assist the patient - from this we associate that somebody is seriously ill and in hospital and therefore we would be expecting to see a film with action or drama. 
• With some sort of 'incident' that has occured, 'This Is Me' is a hybrid film; it contains more than one particular genre.
• Along with the diegetic sound of heavy breathing, the audience are lead to be sure of the genre being portrayed. 

The titles then change our view on the genre. This element almost 'softens' the environment as the text is white (connoting purity) and is rounded and not so bold and alert, which means the viewer may start to question the genre. 

Syntactic codes are conventions that fit into narrative and genre. For any genre these include:

• Themes
• Character relations
• Binary oppositions 
• Narrative endings
• Narrative disruptions

Along with the colloquial voice over, the women's body language acts as a semantic code to let us know that the film is comical:

• Her facial expression is unimpressed and the close up of her setting a timer shows that being there isn't much of a priority. 
• Her nails indicate that she likes to look after her appearance. 
• The focus pull of the two shot shows the two characters binary opposition which in this case can be seen as amusing as they appear so different; the women being quite slim, wearing a lot of make up and sparkling jewelry - and the male character appearing to have quite a large physique. The binary opposition are a syntactic code that portrays comedy.
• The close ups of his feet and stomach at the beginning show the contrasting characters (binary opposition) as he looks less groomed. This is a syntactic code as it works with the semantic codes to help decide on a genre.

Steve Neale's theory of repetition and variation can also be applied to 'This Is Me':

He proposed that each genre film repeats conventions of the genre formula whilst also making new variations. The conventions of this film that make it a comedy are:

• the binary opposition between characters
• sarcastic narration/voice over
• the atypical accident that occurs

Mix Tape - Audience

For the short film 'Mix Tape' I think that the target audience would be British women and men aged between 30-35 within the social grade of B-C2:

The reason for me believing this film is for a British audience is the name 'Morrissey' printed on the newspaper -  he was an English singer and song writer and later a member of the English band, The Smiths.This therefore means that it will reach a greater audience within the UK as his name is more widely known.

This is also reinforced by the song played (non diegetic/diegetic) as it is by British band, The Kinks. This band were known between the years of 1983 - 1996 so helps to chose the age category for 'Mix Tape'.

Due to the focal point of this short film being the 'mix tape' that the character has created, I think the audience would be in the age category of between 30-45. The reasoning for this is because I think the audience trying to be reached is one which are familiar with the concept i.e they grew up in the same time period as the characters shown in the film, and therefore would be familiar with what a mix-tape actually is.

I have chosen the social class to be B-C2 because the platform of which this short film would be watched is mostly likely to be online, which they would then have access to so that they can view it. 

The location of the film would also be more relatable to somebody of this class as the houses are terraced/duplexes, which would be suitable for somebody of B-C2 to live in as they are not extremely private or fancy, but also not too low class, for example, council flats. 

The relationship between the two characters is shown through the music; they both have similar taste in music, making this film suitable for both men and women as it focuses on the relationship between two people which can be relatable for both sides. 

Lovefield - Narrative

Restricted narration is used throughout the short film 'Lovefield' to try and mislead the audience on what is happening in the story. (Plot & Story)

The are several action and enigma codes. These are (as proposed by Roland Barthes) are things that cause active engagement for he audience and make them question and answer a queerie. Or something that allows us to try and predict the plot by something telling us action will take place.

The first enigma code that we see is the black bird; they are symbolically associated with mystery and the unknown and also darkness. 

The knife stabbing into the ground is an example of an action code as it can help to predict the plot - it could connote violence to come ahead. The bloody material mislead somebody to think that rape has occured.

Todorov's theory of classic narrative can be applied to 'Lovefield' as a linear structure (with closure) has been used.

The first stage of Todorov's theory is Equilibrium:

A flow diagram of Todorov's Theory.

From 'Lovefield' I would identify stage one (the equilibrium) as being the first few opening shots, i.e. the pan of the cornfield, the bird perched on the signpost. As of this point, nothing has occurred to cause any sort of disruption. 

Stage two of this short film is when the disruption has occured; I believe this is when the props of the bloody material, the mobile phone with the constant tone, and the knife become present. This is because the audience now know that something has happened as these objects all convey a tense atmosphere. 

Stage three of Todorov's theory is confrontation. In 'Lovefield' it is not necessarily a recognition of the disruption, as so far in the film, the audience do not know that this man is actually trying to help, and is the story's protagonist. The male character becomes flustered and runs to his car rummaging for something to aid the women, which would be the recognition of the event, however the viewer does not yet know this, making this not an omniscience film for the viewer. 

Stage four is resolution (disruption and problems are solved):
The man eventually finds a towel and runs back over to the women left in the field. The audience then realise that he is actually the protagonist in the film, and by handing the women the towel the situation has been resolved. 

This therefore creates stage five, the new equilibrium. The new normality is that this women has now given birth to a new character and our views on the plot of the film have been changed from the beginning stages. The tracking movement of the camera shows an extreme long shot and the music changes to softer tones which creates a more relaxed feel and shows closure. 

Criticism of our thriller film - Stephens post

AWhen looking back on the final product of the finished thriller film opening, I have made a fair few criticisms about the film which could have been improved. If i had to select one main criticism it would be attention to mise en scene when relating to character clothing. As you can see in the finished product,  the clothing of the protagonist and antagonist is very basic and not thought through as thoroughly as is could have. The antagonist was wearing a black coat with black jeans on. This way meant to convey that he was in fact,  a mentally ill being who has escaped from a psychological prison and is unsafe to be in the eye of the public. However, the clothing in which we selected was not thought through anywhere near as well as it could have. In agreement with the rest of the group, we decided that the costume of the antagonist, is not suitable for the character that he was meant to be playing. Attention to detail on this kind of character is something we must get absolutely right. 

When we look back on this error, we have re-thought of what the antagonist should have been wearing. The conclusion that we had come to is that he should have been wearing an orange/blue jumpsuit, something that you would stereotypically find in prison. This would have been far more suitable as it would have given a far greater understanding to the viewers of what was happening in this film, to a more precise degree.

Silent Things - Representation

A two shot shows who we assume to be the two man protagonists standing on the beach flying a kite. Both characters remain still and quiet whilst watching it fly, suggesting that perhaps they do not know what to say to each other.
People with a disability can stereotypically be seen to have difficulties with social interaction and this is implied with a close up shot of the girl. She is shown fiddling with her hair connoting that she is shy and perhaps closed off or disconnected - representing her disability. 

The focus pulls used whilst the two are preparing the kite allows us to see their facial expressions which with both of them appear to be very vacant suggesting that they are in their own little bubble or their thoughts are drifting which perhaps connotes that this social group like to keep themselves to themselves or are even just lonely.

The feeling of being alone is reinforced by the location. The beach appears to be quite isolated as not many people are to be seen which could represent how the two protagonists feel and why they enjoy going there - they like to be alone.  

When the next female character appears, a binary opposition is created with the difference in ability and disability:

She isn't phased by what others think - she is confident.

• she casually walks over with no hesitation, conveying her confidence.
• her clothes have colour and print to them contrasting to the male wearing darker, more simple clothes, creating a representation of him to be a less expressive and closed person. 
• The absence of dialogue as the second female character approaches the male, further suggests his quiet persona and how this is an unusual situation for him. 

The shot reverse shot and eyeline match when the first female character begins walking over to the others allows us to see her concern over what is happening as the medium close up and close up enable us to see her facial expressions; which appear to be concerned and worried. 

A 3 shot then shows the three characters together on the beach; the girl asks: "who is this?" and "how can she be your friend already?". Her speech is slightly stuttered (suggesting her disability), and she closes her eyes implying that she is uncomfortable with the situation which puts the audience in the situation to sympathise with her.  Throughout that small small part of dialogue, her body language shows her to look insecure i.e. constantly looking at the ground and trying to avoid eye contact with the other girl, also suggesting she may feel intimidated by her, further showing the binary opposition. 

During dialogue between the two characters, we learn that the man has a lot of knowledge about ferries to which the girl asks if he wants to join her. He appears hesitant as he uses the word 'maybe' suggesting it is something out of his comfort zone, but is also however quite naive and quickly agrees to go along with her which reinforces his disability as he hasn't fully thought about what he is about to do.  

A cut is the used to show the other female character from a close up side profile showing her to be stroking her neck and also talking under her breath to herself which demonstrates her disability - she is feeling alone and only has herself to be with.

Once aboard the ferry, we can see that the man begins to feel uncomfortable. This is through the use of close ups to see his facial expressions.

The contrast between the man and other passengers on the ferry is shown by cut transitions showing other people to be doing normal things. Ambient noise is present to begin with but then we begin to hear a non-diegetic voice which echoes and is whispered to suggest he is hearing things inside his head which portrays his vulnerability and that he's uncomfortable.

The audience may feel sympathy for the male character as the girl who appeared to be friendly and interested now says: "I met him today on the beach, and he wanted me to get on the ferry with him" which is a lie. She could have been using him and are made to feel sorry for him. 

The over the shoulder shots and two shots with the police alongside the music further enforce sympathy - his body language make us believe that he is in either mental or physical pain.

Black Hole - Media Language

The opening titles of 'Black Hole' uses imagery to imply the forthcoming events and builds enigma.

The tracking camera movement allows us to see the setting of the film which appears to be an office. The props connote that the time that it is set in is quite modern:

• The characters clothes are formal, i.e. white shirt, tie, and black trousers suggesting his job is high end. However his top button is not done up and his sleeves are rolled up, suggesting that he is tired and fed up of working. 

The office setting is shown to be lit with low key lighting. This creates a dull environment suggesting that the man is working late in the evening. I think that the lighting used also reflects the mans feelings of tiredness and not wanting to be there working.

The body language of the character also demonstrates his attitude; the medium close up shows his shoulders to be relaxed and slouched to which he then gives a big sigh (diegetic sound) reinforcing his exhaustion.

The next few shots after this are all joined by cut transitions; which helps to show how the character is on his own in the environment which constructs a curious atmosphere (and enigma) as the audience are caused to think why he is there alone and what is going to happen.

Cut transitions:

• close ups to extreme long shots allow the viewer to see that he is alone
• the close up of him repetitively pushing the photocopier buttons conveys his frustration
• his restlessness is further shown through the close up of him kicking the photocopier

• The character also seems to look confused by what is printed on the paper shown by the eyeline match and medium shots so that we can see his facial expression. 

• A supernatural/eerie sound effect is used alongside a low angle shot to build suspense, that this 'black hole' is alive as such and the low angle could suggest that it is waiting for him - as some sort of victim. 

After finding out what the piece of paper does, an eyeline match is used to show that he is thinking of doing something else. He then proceeds to take food from the vending machine. 

Once he begins walking away, close ups are used to show his facial expressions:

• the character looks very smug. 
• the shallow depth of field leaves only the character in focus which could connote his feeling of power/achievement. 

Another eyeline match is then used to show him looking toward a door. The door is central to the frame with the window being blacked out by the low key lighting, which both suggest that whatever is behind this door is of importance and secretive. 

The slow zooming camera movement connotes that it's leading 

towards something..

The low key lighting within this shot creates a silhouette which appears dramatic as it is the unknown. Further, once he has entered the room, he switches the light which flickers before being fully on which creates shadows on the characters face that builds a more dark and abnormal atmosphere. 

• Once the man has discovered the safe, he is constantly looking around which suggests he is wary of his actions and is trying to reassure himself as he knows he is doing wrong. However when he finds the money he can't help himself. The quick cuts that follow demonstrate the rush and build tension, but also show how excitable he is over what he's doing.
• As he becomes more confident, the diegetic sound of the black hole becomes louder (a crescendo) suggesting that something dramatic is about to happen. 
• A profile angle shows the mans body going into the safe which is followed by a close up of the tape wobbling which is foreboding and makes the viewer worry for what is about to happen.
• The moment that his feet are taken into the safe, the sound effect is immediately cut which demonstrates that it's no longer 'working' and we know that he is stuck there. 

A foley may have been used to enhance the sound of the paper dropping to floor to emphasise the situation he has been caught in. The sound is important at the end of this film as it shows closure. The diegetic sound of him banging on the safe shows his struggle and what he has done wrong and the ambient noises of the photocopier still going shows the contrast between reality and the abnormal situation.
The final cut to black and the titles shows how it is all over for him.

.

About a Girl, analysis of age and class

Title text is imitating texting - suggesting its a modern film (technology and teenagers can be associated with this showing her age category)
After the titles, we see a shot of a girl dancing and singing to pop music which suggests this girl is young as this is the type of activity we would expect a young teenager to do. At this point, we see her through an extreme long shot and we are unable to see detail of her costume as the ambient lighting has created her to be slightly silhouetted. However the dialogue of the lyrics: "I'm not that innocent" is quite foreshadowing...

• The setting (shown by several shot sizes) we see her walking through shows blocks of flats which demonstrates low working class. Outskirts of the urban city, places aren't so expensive.
• The parallel editing used throughout shows various settings from her past which all help to suggest she comes from a low working class background.

In some of the scenes we hear diegetic sound  of dogs barking, kids screaming which could suggest a hectic area or low class. 

Dialogue of the main character - "bastard" its very colloquial, conveying her upbringing and a working class background. The girl also refers to her mum saying: "do I look like a fucking bank?" implying their family has low income and therefore working class. 

Costume - girl wears hoop earrings, stereotypically conveyed as being 'chavvy' which allows the viewer to associate her with a working class background and her hair is very casual.

• The props of coke and crisps are very basic suggesting her dads working class as that's what he can afford. 
• Facial expression when smelling the perfume; the main character screws her face up suggesting she isn't used to it, (the perfume being expensive and something older women wear) showing her immaturity and again her working class background. The ot
  her women within the two shot is shown higher in the composition and wears a black shirt showing her higher class and more authority. 

Another scene from the past is her traveling on the bus with her friends; public transport indicates the wealth of her family (working class).
The camera is kept at eye level throughout the present side of the film which allows the audience to feel sympathy with her as we feel as though she is talking to us direct, like a friend. 

The girls youth is shown by her talking of her future aspirations; to be "drinking Bacardi Breezers". This unrealistic lifestyle shows how she desires to grow up quickly. This highlights her low class background as there is a big contrast between the two situations/ideas. 

• The cut to an aerial shot shows the girl to look very small in the composition and therefore appears vulnerable.
• As it cuts to and from the aerial shot we are able to see her just walk away from it easily showing that she doesn't have a lot of responsibility and therefore implying she is young.
  
  
  
  
  

The shots from beneath the water suggest that she may not have been brought up well and in an area of low class, as she has already managed to have a baby at such a young age and simply thrown it into a canal. We hear only muffled diegetic sound of the movement of the water which allows the focus to be on the baby and adds emphasis to the situation. 

The sound bridge of the girl singing over the shot of the bag floating down the canal shows how she is young and irresponsible and she carries on with life despite the occurring event.

 

 

Representation of gender, age and class - Never Forget

Close up of the an unknown person opening a suit. Dry clean cover indicates the wealth of this person and the name printed on it conveys that it is of high quality. It is also in gold which connotes high class.

Cut transition then shows us the second character; a tracking shot (which could suggest that she is going somewhere for romance purposes and it connotes sexuality) allows us to see a women's heeled shoes and long black coat which both show sophistication on the women and her class. The background is of blurred city lights suggesting an upper class.

Parallel cutting takes us back to the male character. This type of cutting allows the viewer to presume that the two characters have a connection/relationship. The props used in this shot demonstrate the mans wealth and class as he is shown by a close up of him adjusting his gold cufflinks. The shallow depth of field puts extra emphasis on the costume and demonstrates the characters attention and care over his appearance. 

The male character is shown using an IPhone which connotes his upper class as they an expensive brand. The sound of the locking of the phone (which could've been created using a Foley) further reinforces that these two characters have a link. 

Throughout the shots of the women hurriedly walking, diegetic sound of background noise is used to show a more rushed and chaotic character than in contrast with the man in which diegetic, contrapuntal music of pianos is played to show a calmer male character and he is planning something romantic.  

Both the male and female characters appear to show traditional representations of femininity and masculinity. The use of the heart shaped mirror, shown through a close up, the women uses demonstrates her feminine traits. 

Another big close up on the female characters face allows us to see her facial expressions which connote guilt and nervousness due to the previous night. The fact that she was out could perhaps demonstrate her younger age as opposed to the male character, who we assume is her husband.

Also as she speaks on the phone to her supposed husband (we assume they're married due to her taking her ring off when out the previous night) a slight tilt movement creates a low angle which implies how at this point she may feel she has more power as she thinks that she has gotten away with cheating on her partner and lying. 

A cut takes us to a medium long shot of the man. His facial expression contrasts the female character; he is the one asking all of the questions through his dialogue which indicates his domineering masculinity as he appears to be in control. 

• At the end of this short film, the man jumps from the building; before this he says over the phone that "this is all your fault". The man was obviously devastated about what she had done due to the severity of what he does next, which shows how much he valued and loved her as apposed to being angry as you may expect a man to do. The diegetic music is cut out whilst he speaks which emphasises this point even more and makes it more dramatic.
• Finally, as the man hits the ground, we hear a loud thud from the man hitting the ground. The absence of the music allows us to sympathise more as the situation appears more dramatic. The women also lets out a stereotypical woman scream: high pitched and loud. This shows her femininity. 

Criticism of thriller opening - Titles, (Rosie)

When our group had finished editing all of our footage on Final Cut, we thought that the piece may be too long so therefore I think that we rushed putting our titles together and they could have been a lot better. To make them look more professional we could've:

• Used a different font  From looking at existing thrillers, many use very plain text as the back drop is already quite busy. For example 'The Silence of The Lambs' uses very plain capital font on top of the opening scene. We used a style that was curved and not so bright so it didn't really fit well with the genre.
• We should have also changed the placement of our opening titles. They took up only a small piece of space in the composition of the frame. We should've made them larger as they are what informs the audience of what they are about to see and can help to portray information about the film. I think they would've looked better more central as well as this looks better and informs the viewers quickly. 

• The titles could have even had their own screen/frame. Had we spent more time with our titling, we could've made them look more professional. I think we needed to allow ourselves more time to experiment with the ways that the text appeared and exited the screen. 

These are examples of what we could've done with our titles.

The text in both is bolder and more central to the frame.

Evaluation of foundation portfolio thriller opening - Rosie

Title openings

Thriller opening

Evaluation - James Garbis

QUESTION 1- In what was does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our thriller opening includes multiple techniques and themes as some proper hollywood high end thriller moves. It follows the conventional way of a thriller in ways such as...

• From feedback from people who watched the clip they said that it was edgy and exciting which left them wanting more -  this shows it worked and came out exactly how we wanted it to. In mainstream thrillers you always find yourself wanting to quickly know more and find out whats going to happen next creating an enigma.

• Our thriller storyline isn't too typical because we give quite a big portion of information to the audience straight away with things like the box that includes photos of multiple people which the antagonist had murdered and so could suggest what else could happen in the rest of the film. However the theme of 'stalking' is used in many thrillers as it sets such a good bench mark and allows you to experiment with so many different types of camera angles such as canting as well as different types of lighting to portray the antagonist and protagonist.

For example from this screenshot above we can see that the area for the very first shot of the sequence is in an unusual location, lots of machinery and blunt hard objects which could be used as weapons, a place you wouldn't like to be by yourself.. especially during the night. We chose this location to bring across the spooky odd presence we wanted which you'd see in other thrillers.

 Other thrillers such as The Cabin In The Woods illustrated here above, is taken from the opening scene where we can see it is kind of similar to the shot we have of the surroundings, all though i find ours looks a bit more sinister because of the low lighting and effects we used such as desaturation.

 This medium shot where we panned around the location also gives another perspective. Again it gives a weird vibe to it due to the nature of the surroundings, more blunt objects and machinery. Also we edited  in the name of our company which is Take 2 productions, the animation faded in and zoomed in towards the screen as it became bigger which could simulate something suddenly, scarily coming at you.

 We can see from the screenshot above which is also from The Cabin In The Woods, that they have also done a shot of the surroundings, yes it is an extreme long shot from a very high angle but it gives the same affect as what we tried to achieve, giving you a feeling that theres nothing else around, no where to go for safety.

In this shot above we can see the protagonist at a long shot from an above eye level. We decided to give her normal clothing because she is meant to be portrayed as just a normal girl who is simply taking her doing for a walk, she is unaware that she would be followed, obviously is that was the case she would try and blend in with the surroundings as much as possible. 

From the screenshot above from the same thriller as discussed previously we can see that they have also given the characters normal clothing because similar to are story, they are thinking they are just going for a friendly camping trip and are unaware of the circumstances that unfold. 

From this screenshot above from  our piece we went for a very low angle and focused just on the antagonists feet, we used a foley recording of him walking through the mud. This is conventional in a thriller because it helps us get the point across that there is obviously something wrong with the character and helps theaudience feel spooked out and unease.

From the screenshot above of Cabin In The Woods we can see they have also done the same thing where they have focused in on the protagonists legs and feet, we did not however get the idea from this film it is by coincidence i found this image and thought we obviously did something right if the same was used in a big movie.

This screenshot above from our film is taken at an odd angle behind a tree to give the sense that someone is watching her, (the audience from that person's point of view' and the pathetic fallacy of the audience knowing and the antagonist not, it keeps the audience on edge to see what happens next. We filmed this not on a tripod to give the sense it was direct POV and not still.



This other screenshot above shows sort of the same thing but this time from a canted angle like the antagonist was ducking behind a tree in and out to make sure he wasn't seen, again its a POV angle. The editing for this part is fast paced ad we have a zoom on the antagonist as she walks over the bridge.



From the screenshot above from Cabin In The Woods we have a worms eye view of the cabin itself which gives an odd feeling that possibly it could be being watched by a person lying down trying to see something inside, just like our shot from somewhere where the protagonist would not see anyone and be unaware of the antagonist looking at them.

QUESTION 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

•  We decided to look at the Pearl and Dean website in guidance to pick the social class, we decided to go with B - C2. 
• When deciding on getting actors, we decided to go for teenagers and younger people, this is because for a start we knew that when we had finished the product, we could easily find feedback from our friends who are of the same age.
• Also we knew it would be easier to find actors our age.
• We decided to make the protagonist an innocent female, choosing females for these kinds of roles are good because stereo typically women\girls play this role and usually are seen as venerable and weaker then men. 
• Because of the fact above, we decided to make the protagonist a man.
• We did not have any other ethnicity's besides British white people .
• Sexual orientation did not matter for our piece because it has nothing to do with the opening and is irrelevant to any audience member. 

How are the 2 main characters being represented? 

Harry -  The Antagonist - Pictured to the right, seemed an ideal antagonist due to the fact that he is larger than the average man and dressed in all black clothing would look menacing and intimidating to the regular person and to the audience (plus he said he didn't mind walking bare foot in the mud). 




Louise - The Protagonist - Pictured to the right, is the sibling of Rosie who is in the group. This first off, meant it was easy to complete the cast as there were only two people needed and both nearby and offering to act for free. She was an ideal person because she is quite petite and looks vulnerable especially walking round in a big wooded area. Once meeting her it confirmed the remaining members of the groups thoughts about having her included in the film. The bonus was that she had a dog which we used in the film to give the protagonist a reason to be walking through the wood alone.. walking the dog. 

From this picture on the left which was taken during a break from filming, we can see the costumes that they were wearing

We dressed the protagonist in such a way that she would look like the average girl taking her dog for a walk, nothing unusual as thats how we wanted it to come across. Her hair and makeup were kept to a minimum due to the fact that we wanted to keep realism and if she had all her makeup and hair done like she was about to go to a party this wouldn't be realistic

Also I told her that during some parts of the filming to convey certain facial expressions, and body language when doing things such as running away. The props that were used were just the dog. 


The antagonist was dressed all in black to give the stereotypical 'bad guy' presence all though we decided against having his hood up. No makeup was used, for example we could have put fake blood on his hands or face but we didn't do this.

When filming this part on the right, I deliberately did it in a long shot perspective to show she's all alone and looks so small compared to her surroundings which makes her look vary vulnerable. We used a foley of a stick breaking during this particular part which made her turn around and look worried. We see her as a normal teenager.

Continuing to the antagonist from this screenshot we can tell he obviously has something wrong with him if he is walking bare foot through a wet muddy wood, to enhance this we put more mud on his clothing to make him look even worse. To make the ground we we actually used a bottle we repeatedly filled up from a small stream within the wood and poured it onto the path he was treading. He comes across as being unstable and odd because of this. We have chosen to represent him in this way because it instantly comes across to the audience something weird is happening and gives off those thriller vibes which make you think. 

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

This was a low budget british independent film, there were very few costs involved, this is because the clothing we already had, we did not have to rent out anywhere to film. Props again we used things we already had. The only two things that required any money for the film was the renting of the college camera and tripod which is a deposit which you get back. The other being petrol from my car, all four of us went to separate locations for filming and prepping around 10 times which adds up but isn't that much of a substantial cost. 

As you can see from this image on the left, one of the final small bits of filming which needed to be done had to be done without a tripod as the one we had been given was broken. 

This is one of the only issues we had whilst filming besides losing some footage which had to be reshot.



There are three parts to producing a film, these are... 

FILM PRODUCTION - Making the film, shooting it and editing.

We made the storyboard in good time so we knew exactly what to do once we started filming.

We filmed on about 10 separate occasions and i ensured we got lots of waste footage so we had more time to play around with spare clips and get it just right. 


Once all the prepping, filming and editing had been done which you can see in the surrounding photos we then move on to 
film distribution



FILM DISTRIBUTION - Securing the placement of the film on an exhibitions screen and for home viewing.

It would be extremely hard getting any big exposure for example on television as much more money would be needed to make that work.

In order for our film to grow to different audiences there are some things we could do, for example 

1. I could put the film on Youtube which is the 3rd most visited website in the world and many people could find it and it could unexpectedly blow up and have a huge number of hits 
2. Send the video out on an email blast which would reach around 1000 people depending on how many peoples emails you have
3. Facebook is brilliant for things like this, everyone uses it and things like the opening to our film could easily get a lot of exposure and people talking about it, word of mouth also spreads rapidly.

The good thing about Youtube is that there are like and dislike bars as well as comments sections to get good feedback, Facebook is similar but not as useful.

FILM EXHIBITION - The place the audience watch the film, traditionally cinema.

If we really wanted to get people to know about our film we could hold an event round a friends house who could accommodate a large amount of people and who has a projector and film down screen, i know someone with this and wouldn't be hard to organise it. However one issue which could let us down was the cameras were not in full resolution of 720p instead of 1080p.

QUESTION 4 + 5 - Who would be the audience for your media product and How did we attract/address our audience?

Our selected age range is 18-30 years old, we chose this for the following reasons... 

• The actors involved are in that age range
• The elder generation wouldn't like it
• The younger generation wouldn't understand it 
• The younger generation could get scared
• The younger generation could mimic scenes within it 
• We didn't think it would appeal to anybody else

Obviously we knew this age range from the start, we used the website pearlanddean for guidance. 

There are many different age categories but we felt like 18-30 would just be the most appropriate. The available ones were 11017, 18-25, 18-45 and 35-55.

I did some research about what other thriller films my peers watched and what they thought of them, some of the results i got were films such as

1. The Cabin In The Woods
2. Fast And Furious
3. Transformers
4. The Hunger Games
5. James Bond 
6. White House Down
7. Now You See Me
8. The Gathering
9. Black Rock
10. Vantage Point

This helped me because some of them for example Cabin In The Woods has some of the same themes as our film and would mean they hopefully liked it.

We designed this questionnaire and went round the college asking some students what they  thought, taking my iPad and showing them the opening of the film.

1.  Do you think that this opening targets both genders in the age group of 15 - 30?
2. From watching the opening of this thriller, would you continue to watch it?
3. Which aspects of the opening do you like? and why?
4. Do you feel like the opening needs any improvements?
5. Which age certificate would you apply to this film?
6. Do you feel that using a girl works best for the victim? And why?
7. Were you able to empathise with any characters? How?
8. Do you think that the soundtrack and music chosen suits the opening?

In addition to this i asked a few members of my extended family what they thought of the piece and got some surprisingly good feedback. 

Why would our audience enjoy our film?

• Because we included scenes of suspense and danger 
• Scenes that make people want to see more and find out what happens
• If we liked it then surely people with similar interests would 
• A range of editing techniques that they would find impressive such as

1. Multiple match on actions
2. Shot reverse shots
3. Sound bridges
4. Parallel cuts
5. Jump cuts
6. Cross cuts
7. Clever titles
8. Fast paced action

• Clever camera work including many different angles, distances and movements, these can be seen in the images below.

1. We included crabbing round the tree at the end 
2. Overlaying
3. Close ups
4. Medium close ups
5. Long shots
6. Pans
7. Canting
8. Extreme long shots
9. Over head shots 
10. Intense, suspenseful music

Over the shoulder shot

Close up

Over head angle

Very low angle

Stalking perspective

Worms eye view

Our characters helped to target this audience because of their ages so the audience can relate to them. They fit with regular stereotypes of films like this typical girl in trouble and a scary murderer is chasing her in all black clothing and acting mysterious with odd boxes with picture of people in them. We know this because we heard it from peoples feedback as well as knowing it ourselves when deciding the storyboard.

QUESTION 6 and 7 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product and what do you feel you have learnt in profession from it to the full product?

Conclusion - I feel there were some big ups and downs with the project but I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, if i could change anything I would definitely have done my time management better and we all needed better communication within the group as one or two small issues raised but have all been sorted out now. 

You are able to tell some progression has definitely been made since the first piece we created for example simple things like match on actions seemed to go down a lot smoother since the first task, for example in the first piece where i get out the car and it flicks to a shot of my feet as i step out the car which you can see pictured below one of the match on actions in the new piece which went a lot easier would be when the antagonist walks through the mud to and then it switches to a rear perspective angle as you can see below.

Match on action from this view to the view below