Final Product - Thriller Opening

Pahirthana Anusriskumar- Question 7, Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progession from it to the full product?

Looking back at the preliminary task, we improved significantly by improving on the storyboard and the detail of the storyboards. We realised from the preliminary to how important the storyboards are and to what extent of detail we should achieve whilst making them.

Due to the experience we had from the preliminary, we knew how time consuming filming would be and timetabled our filming days out. This enhanced on our teamwork and communication skills which made the group feel more comfortable at making the thriller opening.

Editing was the most difficult process of the project, as we had to make sure all of the footage was intact, as this project was longer than the preliminary, it was far more time consuming than the preliminary.

However, compared to the preliminary, our strategies and teamwork improved significantly and gave us a great outcome of the final project being how we expected it to be.

Pahirthana Anusriskumar- Question 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Pahirthana Anursriskumar- Question 5, How did you attract/ address your audience?

We attracted our audience in many ways which were most easy for us. From the audience research we found out that majority of the young audience preferred a thriller convention movie which can be related to the students daily lives.

The key areas in the media we used to attract our audience was setting, storyline, mise-en-scene and character.

SETTING

Our setting for the movie is based in a school, this would attract our young audience as they preferred a setting they could relate to and they thought it would be more interesting for them.

STORYLINE

The storyline revolved around a young school girl who gets bullied in school, then gets imprisoned by her school janitor. We thought this would attract our young audience as every school has young students and every school has janitors, this would be story the audience could watch with particular interest.

MISE -EN-SCENE

The costumes were only a school uniform and a janitor's suit. This really influenced the storyline as it bought the storyline to life. This attracted the audience as it really gave them a sense of belonging as the main protagonist was a young school girl herself.

CHARACTERS

The young school girl really would attract a young audience as they can relate themselves to her, also the fact that she is young and vulnerable would enhance the audience to empathise the protagonist.

Pahirthana Anusriskumar- Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Pahirthana Anusriskumar- Question 3, What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 As preferred, we wanted our media product to be mainstream production, as we felt the audience we aimed at would prefer to watch a movie which was distributed by a distributer who is well known.
 If we were to use independent institutions, our audience we aimed for wouldn't know who the distributers are and our movie may even be aimed at a niche audience.
I think our movie would be more successful and well known if it was distributed by a mainstream audience other than an independent institution as the movie would be well know to every age group.
The stereotypes and media conventions within the film would work best in a mainstream production as it can be related to everyone and is a wider preferred choice.

Pahirthana Anusriskumar- Question 2, How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Pahirthana Anusriskumar-Question 1, In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the product research, there was a frequent pattern in how thriller movies were shown, for example the use of extreme close ups, jump shots, quick transitions between scenes. Throughout our opening sequence we used various media conventional shots and camera angles as our product was mainstream.
Example of a thriller conventional opening sequence:

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Camera angles:



The use of this shot was to show the environment the protagonist is based in, to create an obscure feeling for the audience.
the low key lighting was very useful as we were able to create a dull and lifeless feeling to the opening.

This mid shot was introduding the main protagonist to the scene, the dirty mirror created confusion and you can't see her face properly, this is to imply she is hidden and lost within her emotions.
Her hair loose is to imply her sense of insecurity, this shows her loneliness and gives the audience an idea of what her problem may be.

The flashbacks



We distorted the lighting for the falshbacks to differentiate between the past and the present. The distortion of lighting in the flashbacks made it easier for the audience to tell the difference between the shots.

Location - chosen to suit the characters of the storyline, also the storyline was mainly aimed towards students, therefore it was taken in school in the toilets to show the main protagonist recollecting on her event of the bullying. The drama room with the low key lighting was used to show where the protagonist was kept in.

This particular location became very useful for us as we wanted the protagonist to be isolated in a room with her being the centre of attention on the screen. The low key lighting and shodows created eerie atmosphere for the audience. Also the effect of the protagonist enhanced upon the eerie feeling.

The toliets was the other location we mainly filmed in, this was to isolated feeling for the protagonist. The midshot was used to show how the protagonist is presenting herself to the audience, from her facial expressions you could imply how she is feeling.









Props - the props used were to combine with a school girl and a janitor, therefore the school girl had to wear her uniform and the janitor was made to wear the full suit, and push a red trolley.

 The full suit for the antagonist was mainly used for the audience to know who he is. Also his duty in the school. This camera angle of the janitor, we used a low angle shot, this was to show how in this particular situation he is superior to the protagonist. This shot makes him look like a threat compared to a mid shot.

The protagonist's uniform is to imply her innocence, as she is a young school girl. This then automatically created a link between the antagonist and the protagonist as they were both in the same school. This mid shot makes the protagonist look more vulnerable. Also the dirty mirror foreshadows the protagonist's emotions.

Font of Titles - the font of the titles were done so it would suit the storyline. We used the colour red to bring out the affection that the antagonist has for the protagonist, vice versa.

Sound - An increasing and decreasing drone throughout the whole opening sequence  Except for the title, the sound used was metallic and sudden. This was to create suspicion and tension whilst watching the opening.

Using the props and location, we tried challenging the thriller convention as it was based in a school of a student being bullied by the older students. This then made opening have a sense of innocence to it until the last minute to the opening where we see the protagonist tied up and the antagonist walking through the door, you then understand there is a twist to the story. I think the outcomes were quite positive as we were able to bring our thoughts and ideas onto screen, the only thing that I would say could've challenged the thriller convention a bit more would be the lighting in the toilets, as we wanted it to be a normal school day.

Gracious R Tapa- Question 7 : Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product

 Looking back at the preliminary task we did at the beginning of our course, our group made various developments from being amateurs to understanding media concepts and the process of production.

In our task we had to film a conversation between characters, i felt as if it was alot harder to film the prelim task than the opening because :
- in the prelim task we had dialogue and the actors used kept changing their words everytime we re-shot the scene
-we had not yet experienced the strict timing frame in which we had to plan, film and post produce it
- the equipment was still new to us
- not much planning had gone into the shot composition, length of shots or even the mise en scene
- We had not used the editing applications yet so everything was new to us

The prelim task  prepared our group for what was to come and made us plan everything in complete detail to avoid any issues.

- we were able to manage our time effecively due to our schedule. For the preliminary task we did not have a schedule which is what might have caused us to be care-free about sticking to the tight time frame.
- Team work was one thing that deffinitely improved as we took the initiaive and helped each other out when we were struggling.
- The storyboards for our final product were more detailed and included the angles and the time frame, this really helped us for editing.




<---   In this shot, the door was supposed to automatically open, as there were only three of us at that time and we all had different roles, we had to get a student to open the door for us but you can clearly see her in the shot, this showed complete lack of attention to mise en scene.

However in our opening we made surewe had someone standing outside at all times and cleared the toilets, aswell as the hall way to avoid anyone walking into the scene. If we had not gone through the issue of mise en scene in our Prelim task, we would not have put that much thought into the mise en scene of our opening.      --->

 From the Preliminary task we loved the idea of having a low angle shot to represent the power and authority that the character might have over another thus inflicting fear into them.

 we decided to replicate the low angle shot in our opening to portray the same symbolism. However we did make a few adjustmens, we focused more on the lighting to also portray the power, we used low key and ambiguous lighting around him and also chose to light his hands and face red.

Gracious R Tapa- Question 6 : What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Gracious R Tapa- Question 5 : How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our teenage audience in many ways as the setting, storyline, mise en scene , characters etc.. , are those that the target audience can relate to.

The storyline specifally :
- the bullying issues raised
- the vulnerable girl school girl
-the universal theme of revenge
attracts a mass audience, as results show the subject of bullying still is a very important and sensitive issue that can others can empathise and sympathise with. Many people regardless of age can connect the theme of revenge because revenge is a natural emotion that people either need to act upon or deal with

How Setting/Location attracts audience
We used setting in order to attract the audience as it was important for our target audience to see a familiar location in which they can relate to and feel at ease with.
 - By using our school as the setting, it appealed to our audience immediately as they would  still be in education or just recently left, meaning they could easily empathise with the situation

How Characters attract/address our audience

-As our main character is the small girl, it also meant that the audience could emathise with her as they once were at that particular age too and might have gone through some situations presented in the opening for example the bullying. Thus immediately attracting our audience. By using stereotypes we were successfully able to attract our audience well because it would be something they're familiar with.

How mainstream institutions attract our audience
-As our Audience research showed, our target audience are more likely to consume mainstream media products , therefore by turning our product into a mainstream production it immediately attracted them. Thus building our Media production company 'Galp Pictures' as a mainstream institution and also getting institutions such as universal to distribute our product.

How Mise en scene attracts our audience
-Mise en scene and costumes were a very big aspect in order for us to attract our target audience. Currently in the media, there are many school-based dramas e.g Waterloo road and they have high ratings due to the number of students able to relate to it. The sartorial school uniform code unifies many students and brings them together regardless of whether they wear different uniforms. The fact that they all go through the same situations creates a society and community within students which will automatically appeal to our target audience.

Gracious R Tapa- Question 4 : Who would be the audience for your media product?

Press Play

Gracious R Tapa- Question 3 : What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

                                              

Through our audience research we found out that our target's audience's favorite movies such as ;

- The unborn - Universal

- Death Sentence - 20th Century Fox

and also our personal preference were more mainstream rather than independant and they are more likely to watch movies made by institutions they knew. As our film is mainstream in order to appeal to a wider audience and it explores universal issues, i feel that film institutions such as the ones above are more likely to distribute our film rather than independant institutions. Although our film could work as an independant i feel as the stereotypes and thriller conventions used are more likely to fit mainstream. Our thriller has a conventional narrative/plot rather than being character driven and also an accessible subject matter which makes our film successful in appearing as a mainstream product.  

Gracious R Tapa- Question 2 : How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Gracious R Tapa- Evaluation Question 1 : In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

The Title of the film :

 

- For our Title 'Bound To-get-her'  , we chose to conform to the media thriller title conventions as we are appealing to a more mainstream audience. After conducting our product research, we discovered that red and black are colours mostly used in thrillers as they contain strong symbolism behind them.We chose to have a black background as it is a powerful colour which evokes strong emotions and a feel of emptiness. Black is the colour most commonly associated with secrets, power, violence, evil and the end,which is why we thought it would work well within our thiller opening. We then used red as although red is commonly used to represent blood and death, we figured we could use it for the other meaning behind it which is passion,infatuation and fire.

 

Setting /Location

 

- Our opening was shot in 2 main locations, those being the toilets and a drama room. We overall wanted to create a feel of emptiness and isolation, and those 2 locations enabled us to achieve that ambience. We were able to manipulate the lighting in both locations to create the conventional dark lighting seen in thrillers. The gory suspenseful thriller 'Saw' had quite alot of dark lighting and is normaly set in 1 claustrophobic location which we thought we could echoe. We managed to  achieve the dark lighting by using black cloths and the built in lighting in the drama room. 

 

Props

 

 - As directors we chose to keep the props/mise en scene and the use of dialogue to a minimum in order to avoid complications and also focus of the acting and camera work. As our opening  is set in a school, we had to make sure that the constumes and the mise en scen communicated that. We had the female protagonist in her school uniform indicating her role and age, we also then had the janitor in a janitor's costume to correspond with his role as well as a trolly. The most important prop we used in the opening was the set of keys, which are also used in thrillers such as 'The Skeleton Key' . Keys represent power and allow you freedom but can also be used to lock and unlock secrets that you want to keep hidden, and we incoorperated them to portray that the female protagonist might be the Janitor's secret he wants to keep away from the world around him until he's ready to give her the keys for her to be able to unlock her future and fulfil her purpose.

 

Camera work and editing

 -The conventional camera shots and movement used in thrillers are
              
               
- Close ups for example in Hitchcock's psycho







- Pov shots for example in kill bill


 

- By using our Storyboards to plan a variation of shots, we were able to use camera movements and angles such as tilts, pans, close ups and canted angles to keep the movement in our opening constant to ensure that it didnt become too repetitive and kept the audience engaged.

-Inspired by thrillers such as Shutter Island, Psycho and Seven we realised that we should not use too many long shots but instead to vary our shots and correspond them with the pace of the action. In post Production we found we had many long shots so we had to chose the best parts and cut them down, aswell as incude smooth transitions such as dissolve to make it more fluid.

 

Title Font and Style

 

- After doing some title research on the fonts and style for titles we decided to use a shattered and distorted font to represent the relationship between the characters. The font idea was similar to 'The Grudge' font which we altered and made our own. we did alot of research on the type of font and style we wanted and tried to insert complex and higly appealing animations to the font however we ran out of time and we still had not managed to perfect our skills on after effects. Therefore we went for a much more simpler font, style and animation.

 

Story and how the opening sets it up

 

our storyline is about a girl who gets bullied and a janitor kidnaps her in order to mentor her to get revenge on those who hurt her but at the end you can see the stockholm syndrome taking place. Our opening sets it up by :

- establishing the characters

- introducing us to the set and location the movie is going to be shot in

- and giving the audience an insight into the storyline through symbolism, and signs but in an ambiguous way therefore the audience can piece the pieces together.

 

Genre and how the opening suggests it

 

Our opening suggests the thriller Genre as elements such as these resemble those of a thriller :

- The dark, distorted music suggests that of a thriller as it foreshadows the trouble ahead. This is seen in thrillers such as Seven

- The dark and contrasting lighting, creating mystery and creating a dark atmosphere, suggesting the dark path ahead

- and the isolated , confined locations which represent abandonment and loss of hope aswell as help

 

How Characters are introduced

 

- in the beginning of the opening, the camera pans and finds a distraught small girl looking in the mirror. This hints to the audience that the story will centre around her, the flashbacks are then used so the audience get an insight on what she's been through and the abuse she's suffered. We then see a tracking shot of a man walking away from the camera but his face is not revealed until he looks in on the little girl in the bathroom. The fact that this man looks into a little girl suggests his psychologically disturbed nature and tells the audience that a relationship between these two characters is going to be formed.

 

 

Media Evaluation VII - Anissa Daud

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

I feel that since the beginning up until now, I have managed to learn quite a lot.

For one thing, I have most definitely learnt the importance of teamwork and how it is crucial that all members of the group are not only focussed, but also that they are able to co-ordinate well with each other. I feel that, on the whole, we've managed to work well and co-operate with each other.

From the technological point of view, I feel that I have learnt a variety of invaluable new skills regarding software such as iMovie, Adobe After Effects, etc. and that these will help me in future endeavours.

One of the most important things that I feel we have managed to grasp as a group is time management - we learnt the importance of prioritising different aspects of the project and, although we ran out of time for some things, we feel that overall we've done a good job.

Another thing is that we have learnt how there are a lot of things that need to be almost-perfect in order to make a scene look the best that it can - mise-en-scene was thankfully not too big a problem, however, we did find slight troubles with framing things as accurately as possible. Additionally, we learnt how to properly utilise all of the filming equipment, which had previously been an issue during the Preliminary Task.

Overall, I am satisfied with the output and I feel that there have been a lot of lessons and skills learnt between the initial Preliminary Task and the Final Piece.

Media Evaluation VI - Anissa Daud

Media Evaluation V - Anissa Daud

Question V: How did you attract/address your Audience?

The fact that the protagonist is a teenager already helped to attract the audience, due to the fact that the target audience is also around the same age range as Sophie. Additionally, we've tried to tackle issues that would undoubtedly allow our audience to relate - although the kidnapping element of the film is one that is slightly unrealistic, the theme of bullying is an issue which is quite prominent within our clip and this helps our Target Audience relate considering the fact that they will have come across this issue during some point of their teenage years.

To further attract our audience, we have carefully selected the location to be on school grounds - this again ensures that our audience is able relate to the Opening.

Media Evaluation IV - Anissa Daud

Question IV: Who Would be the Audience?

We had two methods of carrying out our Audience Research:

• A Vox Pop
• Questionnaires 

Through both of these methods, we were given an outline of who we wanted to target the Opening at and also, it gave us a bit of an inkling as to what sort of issues and topics should be addressed within the Opening. 

Results from the Audience Research showed that the majority age range was that between 16-25. This then meant that we were addressing young, mature adults and so there could be slightly more explicit content shown and more violent/mature themes that we were able to address within the Opening. 

There are quite a few points within the Opening where we have tried to incorporate some of the Audience Responses. For example, most of the respondents had stated that what attracted them most to a Thriller film was the dark, mysterious lighting. We therefore ensured that we had some scenes which had been filmed in dark lighting, such as the scene where the protagonist has been kidnapped and locked away.

Media Evaluation Question 3 - Anissa Daud

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

The feedback from our Audience Research showed that our target audience was a lot more familiar with more mainstream Directors and films. Consequently, we decided that our film would be best suited for Mainstream audiences, due to the fact that we include a lot of stereotypes that the more mainstream film industry also include within their films.

An independent film, such as David Lynch's Eraserhead, breaks the regular 'mould' of traditional stereotypes and although we subvert some representations, we do not think that our film would be suitable for a more niche audience.

In terms of the company that may distribute our film, we feel that a company such as 20th Century Fox or Universal would be good options as they are some of the leading mainstream distributors, on a global scale.