The dictionary defines the term 'thriller' as "an exciting, suspenseful play or story, esp. a mystery story" and during the production of our thriller influenced opening sequence we made sure that we kept to that definition by using a number of techniques with the aid of the equipment and editing capabilities available. One example of this technique was how we deliberately withheld the facial identity of the character in the suit (known to our group as the 'Mystery Man'). We purposely withheld the Mystery Man's facial identity throughout the whole sequence by using the camera and the objects around us. With the camera we filmed parts (such as his shoes - [we used a high angle shot for this] and chest) of the Mystery Man's body but we were careful to reveal his face. Using this technique allowed us to introduce the character to the sequence but it also allowed us not to show his full identity which meant that we kept in line with the definition of the thriller genre as it was suspenseful and exciting since the audience would be trying to figure out as to who that character was. Also, the Mystery Man appears in the first 1o seconds of the sequence beginning, meaning that the character's secrecy would attract the audience's attention. Another thing we did to develop the character's secrecy was to add footsteps as he made his way to the interrogation room. As the Mystery Man was advancing (we presented his journey through a series of short clips as there was more than one narrative - this was parallel editing) to the interrogation room, we added dramatic, loud and urgent non-diegetic footsteps to show that he was in a hurry to get to the interrogation room - this would have made the audience question his urgency thus stimulating their curiosity.
Through our editing we were able to deliver the conventions of the thriller genre by using an effect called 'blur'. Blur is an effect that causes scenes to become blurred. With blur we used it to blur out two pivotal scenes of our sequence. In the first scene (which was a point of view shot) blur was used to convey the character's disorientated feelings and as well as to disguise the character's location (to add a sense of mystery). However, in the second scene (a two shot) we used blur for the sole purpose of concealing the identities and actions of the two characters. The mise en scene created by the effect of blur was needed for our sequence because in order to keep in line with the conventions of the thriller genre we had to develop a few layers of mystery throughout to keep provoking and increasing the audience's interest.
As mentioned before we used parallel editing in the sequence. The main reason we introduced more than one narrative to our sequence was so that the audience wouldn't express discontent towards to the sequence. If we had not used parallel editing (e.g. in the sequence there's more than one narrative occurring) then it's likely that our audience would have lost interest due to the lack of narrative action i.e. having just one story would have made the sequence stale. The way we implemented parallel editing was through: the scenes in the interrogation room, the suspicious-looking character waiting by the woodlands, flashbacks/references to the victim-character's situation and the Mystery Man making his way to the interrogation room. The use of parallel editing was how we addressed our target audience of 15-25 yr olds (15-25 yr olds like complicated/active narratives and are able to keep up with them whereas older and younger audiences may have trouble keeping up with the events in the sequence).
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Who would be the audience for your media project?
This poster of Bullet Boy features actors who are black while one of them is seen holding a gun which illustrates the niche elements of the film's target audience of teenage black males.
What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?
The kind of media institution which would distribute our product is likely to be a British institution such as Metrodome Distribution. The reason why we believe a British institution rather than the distribution arm of Transnational Corporation (such as NBC Universal) is most likely to pick our product is influenced by 2 factors. The first factor is that our product has been independently produced by a small British production company. Global distribution companies such as Warner Bros. tend to stay away from independent British productions because if they are to invest money into the distribution of a British film then it's unlikely that they may not be able to get a full return on their investment (or it may not be financially worthwhile) due to the overwhelming popularity of Hollywood blockbusters (they are able to get bigger revenues from the global distribution/release of Hollywood films compared to the revenues of limited distribution/release of most British films).
Metrodome Distribution is a British distribution company that might be interested in picking up our product and distributing it. We chose Metrodome Distribution because it is a distribution company that is willing to distribute British productions (it also distributes foreign language films into the UK). For example, Metrodome Distribution has distributed a number of British productions (with the same genre as our media product) such as The Last Seven (featuring Danny Dyer) and Fifty Dead Men Walking (featuring Ben Kingsley). After researching Metrodome Distribution we felt that it might be one of the few British distribution institutions that might offer to distribute our product. We think Metrodome Distribution would offer to do so because it's one of the few media institutions that is able and willing to distribute independent British productions seeing as it has done so in the past e.g. they released the film Shifty featuring Nitin Ganatra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsDPRfDROk - Film trailer for 'The Last Seven'
A poster for 'The Last Seven' from the official website of the film
Metrodome Distribution is a British distribution company that might be interested in picking up our product and distributing it. We chose Metrodome Distribution because it is a distribution company that is willing to distribute British productions (it also distributes foreign language films into the UK). For example, Metrodome Distribution has distributed a number of British productions (with the same genre as our media product) such as The Last Seven (featuring Danny Dyer) and Fifty Dead Men Walking (featuring Ben Kingsley). After researching Metrodome Distribution we felt that it might be one of the few British distribution institutions that might offer to distribute our product. We think Metrodome Distribution would offer to do so because it's one of the few media institutions that is able and willing to distribute independent British productions seeing as it has done so in the past e.g. they released the film Shifty featuring Nitin Ganatra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsDPRfDROk - Film trailer for 'The Last Seven'
A poster for 'The Last Seven' from the official website of the film
Friday, 7 May 2010
Screen Grabs Analysis
THAT WEDNESDAY
We used an over the shoulder shot for this scene, this is to show the interaction between the interrogator and the character, you can see the facial expression the character gives to the interrogator.
Straight flash back :it is a previous video of an unknown individual standing beside the unknown female victim while she‘s laying on the ground.
There is a blur effect applied to this scene, this is the idea of hidden identity, this is to give it a dramatic feeling and it adds a direct interaction from the audience to the scene.
This scene you can see the interrogator is angry of the character denying anything to do with the whole situation. An overhead shot and an eye line match has been used in this scene, this is from the third character who is experiencing the interrogation of this character.
As the scene goes on a clip is show with a shot including the character (anatagonist/protagonist) and the victim, this raises doubts, whether the character is lying or trying to protect someone else who knows about the crime. The frame shot that includes mise-en-scene of the black fence and the character on the right suggests the danger that is closing in on the victim- character.
As the scenario goes on the character makes an approach to attack the interrogator, we can now see he is starting to take the situation serious as of that moment he notices there is a lot of consequences. The framing shot distinguishes him from the other character as he can see his anger through his actions.
We used an over the shoulder shot for this scene, this is to show the interaction between the interrogator and the character, you can see the facial expression the character gives to the interrogator.
Straight flash back :it is a previous video of an unknown individual standing beside the unknown female victim while she‘s laying on the ground.
There is a blur effect applied to this scene, this is the idea of hidden identity, this is to give it a dramatic feeling and it adds a direct interaction from the audience to the scene.
This scene you can see the interrogator is angry of the character denying anything to do with the whole situation. An overhead shot and an eye line match has been used in this scene, this is from the third character who is experiencing the interrogation of this character.
As the scene goes on a clip is show with a shot including the character (anatagonist/protagonist) and the victim, this raises doubts, whether the character is lying or trying to protect someone else who knows about the crime. The frame shot that includes mise-en-scene of the black fence and the character on the right suggests the danger that is closing in on the victim- character.
As the scenario goes on the character makes an approach to attack the interrogator, we can now see he is starting to take the situation serious as of that moment he notices there is a lot of consequences. The framing shot distinguishes him from the other character as he can see his anger through his actions.
This medium shot of this character raises questions of who he is and why has he been placed the scenario, could the character be lying for him? If not then there must be a link between him and the characters.
This character keeps appearing in the sequence, this is to make people wonder why he keeps interrupting the sequence, and the close-up shot of the feet has hidden his identity, another element to make the audience doubt the characters.
This scene also has the same emotion of frustration, the only difference is the type of shot use to express it which is a medium shot. The character put his hands on his face to show his frustration.
In this scene there is a character waiting at the door, this scene is done with a framing shot with an eye line match of the other characters looking at the door.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our sequence made representations of certain social groups through ethnicity and gender. One of the most evident representations in the sequence is how black people are mainly portrayed in unfortunate circumstances. For example, our main character (Carter) is a black male who is shown as a thug and an individual who is linked to trouble. The is representative of real life because the media sometimes represents black males (particularly teenagers) as troublemakers and we have portrayed this element of social realism in our sequence as Carter is seen as a troublemaker. In the sequence the only person who displays the most dominance is a white male - the interrogator (an authoritative figure who is tall and has a deep voice). We felt that it was appropriate to portray a white male character with power because in society the majority of those with dominant roles are usually white while the majority of ethnic minorities have less dominant roles. Although, it's true that the most dominant character is white, there is another character who is an ethnic minority and displays some form of dominance - this character is the individual who restraints Carter as he lashes out at the interrogator. This individual displays his form of dominance through his ability (e.g. he is able to push Carter straight back down to his seat with relative ease) to prevent Carter attacking the interrogator.
As for the gender aspect of the representation we decided to use the female gender. Our reason for this decision was that it was stereotypically easier to do so. In society females are often seen as weak and inferior to men. We portrayed this element of society through the victim character of our sequence. This character is shown as battered and almost lifeless. Although the audience is never able to get a good look at her, her weakness and injuries are shown through her actions. For example, we see her staggering and we also see her reaching out her hand for help.
As for the gender aspect of the representation we decided to use the female gender. Our reason for this decision was that it was stereotypically easier to do so. In society females are often seen as weak and inferior to men. We portrayed this element of society through the victim character of our sequence. This character is shown as battered and almost lifeless. Although the audience is never able to get a good look at her, her weakness and injuries are shown through her actions. For example, we see her staggering and we also see her reaching out her hand for help.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The genre for our film sequence was the Thriller genre. When it comes to comparing our work to other films of this genre, in terms of....
Camerawork: Our sequence utilises close ups on the characters in tense situations to portray the emotion(s) of those character(s). For example, in the sequence there's a particular close up on a character who is agitated - this was done to emphasise the individual's anger and anxiety on the situation they had found themselves in. We were right in doing this because the conventions of the thriller genre includes putting an emphasis on certain characters or items (e.g. an inset shot of a murder weapon).
Sound: As for the sound (unlike 'The Usual Suspects') we decided to use a slightly overwhelming mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. One example of the diegetic sounds we used was the dialogue. We thought that the dialogue was needed because in certain scenes (e.g. the character being interrogated shouts at the interrogator) we wanted to bring out vocal emotion such as in the previously mentioned scene. An example of a non-diegetic sound we used was the 'footsteps' effect when the mystery man was walking. The reason for this was that we were not able to produce the sound of footsteps during the actual filming so we had to use a sound effect (from Garageband).
Mise En Scene: For our mise en scene, a third of it was dominated by the interrogation scenes and in those interrogation scenes we used a small room with one chair and a table. This was because a typical interrogation is usually a small room with minimal furniture (as in 'The Usual Suspects') - to emphasise the 'on-their-own' element of the individual being interrogated. So we decided to use a small room to portray this element in our own sequence. In the sequence there was also some scenes where woodland was featured. The intention for this was because woodlands often have connotations of mystery and an aspect of danger and this was appropriate for our sequence as those connotations are linked to the thriller genre.
Editing: In some of the thriller genre films we researched (such as 'Munich') they used some effects such as 'slow motion' on some of their scenes. In our sequence we used the same effect on certain scenes. For example, there was one scene in which a character was approaching an injured victim, the slow motion effect we used on this scene made the actions in the scene seem more dramatic daunting as the audience isn't sure of what the approaching character is going to do to the victim. It also gave the approaching character power. In this scene we also added another effect - blur. The reason for this effect was to convey mystery and deliberately withhold information. The withdrawal of this information was to tease the audience and draw in their attention further.
Structure: For the structure, our sequence mainly had a linear plot. During the planning stage of the sequence we considered the idea of making the plot non-linear instead of a linear plot. In the end we disregarded this idea because our plot was becoming too complicated for us to make sense of so we made the plot linear.
Camerawork: Our sequence utilises close ups on the characters in tense situations to portray the emotion(s) of those character(s). For example, in the sequence there's a particular close up on a character who is agitated - this was done to emphasise the individual's anger and anxiety on the situation they had found themselves in. We were right in doing this because the conventions of the thriller genre includes putting an emphasis on certain characters or items (e.g. an inset shot of a murder weapon).
Sound: As for the sound (unlike 'The Usual Suspects') we decided to use a slightly overwhelming mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. One example of the diegetic sounds we used was the dialogue. We thought that the dialogue was needed because in certain scenes (e.g. the character being interrogated shouts at the interrogator) we wanted to bring out vocal emotion such as in the previously mentioned scene. An example of a non-diegetic sound we used was the 'footsteps' effect when the mystery man was walking. The reason for this was that we were not able to produce the sound of footsteps during the actual filming so we had to use a sound effect (from Garageband).
Mise En Scene: For our mise en scene, a third of it was dominated by the interrogation scenes and in those interrogation scenes we used a small room with one chair and a table. This was because a typical interrogation is usually a small room with minimal furniture (as in 'The Usual Suspects') - to emphasise the 'on-their-own' element of the individual being interrogated. So we decided to use a small room to portray this element in our own sequence. In the sequence there was also some scenes where woodland was featured. The intention for this was because woodlands often have connotations of mystery and an aspect of danger and this was appropriate for our sequence as those connotations are linked to the thriller genre.
Editing: In some of the thriller genre films we researched (such as 'Munich') they used some effects such as 'slow motion' on some of their scenes. In our sequence we used the same effect on certain scenes. For example, there was one scene in which a character was approaching an injured victim, the slow motion effect we used on this scene made the actions in the scene seem more dramatic daunting as the audience isn't sure of what the approaching character is going to do to the victim. It also gave the approaching character power. In this scene we also added another effect - blur. The reason for this effect was to convey mystery and deliberately withhold information. The withdrawal of this information was to tease the audience and draw in their attention further.
Structure: For the structure, our sequence mainly had a linear plot. During the planning stage of the sequence we considered the idea of making the plot non-linear instead of a linear plot. In the end we disregarded this idea because our plot was becoming too complicated for us to make sense of so we made the plot linear.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Production Name and Logo
For our film sequence we decided to make our own fictional production company and a logo for it. The reason for this decision was that we wanted to be original rather than use another existing company's logo and name in our sequence. The name for our fictional production company is 'A GERC Productions'. The 'GERC' part of the name is a mnemonic for: Gabriel, Eugene, Rita and Constantine - the people in our group.
We decided to make our own logo for our fictional film production company. At first the logo was going to be stationery but we then decided to give it a kinetic element to make it seem more professional and frankly because it looked better. The logo was then introduced to the film sequence at the beginning along with the film credits.
Below is the stationary image of the logo. We would have uploaded the final result of the logo (the one with movement) but the blog isn't capable of showing the image due to format issues.
Below is the stationary image of the logo. We would have uploaded the final result of the logo (the one with movement) but the blog isn't capable of showing the image due to format issues.
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