As a group we all agreed to try and create the best film introduction that we could and in order to do this we have done a lot of research into the typical conventions that one might find in a 2 minute introduction sequence. After scanning several popular, modern films on “YouTube” we could identify and transfer some of the conventions to our film; such as how the producers, the cast list and the title are made obvious in the first few moments as the scene is set. We were careful to look at films that were particularly relevant to our chosen genre which is thriller/horror. We noticed that many of the beginnings to these films were punchy and made an impact and this influenced us greatly in that our opening sequence is a fast and slightly chaotic chase scene.
It was not only in the visual aspect that we kept with generic conventions; the soundtrack is also very efficient in setting that sinister atmosphere that we all hoped for. To gain the maximum effect of tension we chose to keep the dialogue to a minimum to begin with so that the audience has to discover what has been, and is, going on.
The film itself is set in a school and therefore the characters are all representative of young school pupils, both male and female. In keeping the age of our characters as young adults we agreed that it would create more of a connection with the viewers as our target audience is in fact the 15 to 25/30year olds bracket. In our group we discussed what we felt would be the best way to promote our film whilst still attracting the correct audience. The most suitable methods of advertising would be on the television after 6 o’clock as most people are home from work and school at this time. Also appropriate would be advertising in men’s magazines as we could easily pick out the magazines bought by the majority of our target audience.
The kind of media institution that would most likely distribute my media product would be a small cinematic company or even more accessible would simply be a well known website such as YouTube. However, if the film were a success then it could be possible that more reputable, larger companies would be willing to associate themselves with the production.
My peers and I had were given a tripod and a camera to capture all of our footage, with this we then transferred everything onto the apple computers where we had to cut and re-manage every clip in order to make it play continuously well. In order to produce the soundtrack I had to use a programme called “garage band” which I did not have any previous experience of but I found it extremely useful and actually quite simple to use. In this application we could use ready made sounds and put them together to create a whole track and from here we could synchronise the track with the film introduction perfectly.
During the filming of our prelim we found that there was a slight mishap with the video camera in that it had a white fade in and out on all of the clips that we filmed so we had to adapt our filming slightly as we were aware of this for the filming of the actual film introduction. Also in the preliminary task we were keen to experiment with many different camera angles and shots to give us more footage to work from. This really did make the editing and the general creating of the film sequence a lot easier. I think that the idea of having multiple shots to work with was possibly the most important lesson that we took with us through to the progression onto the filming of the introduction.
I also had my peers assess my work and they were really helpful in giving constructive feedback such as making specific scenes longer/shorter in order to achieve the maximum desired effect.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
Chris's Evaluation
Evaluation.
I personally feel that our two minute film introduction we produced was very successful and met both out standards and our target audiences standards two. we know this as we presented our film to our peers. They were quite complimentary, they agreed that our beginning chase scene built tension and had some quite good camrea shots involved, such as the birds eye view shot of the characters running. My group and I did a lot of research and established that to make our introductory sequence great we would need to develop forms and conventions of a typical media product we would need to mimic as many generic conventions of typical Horror/Thriller genre film. Our film was heavily influenced by real media products and so to make ours just as good we used their techniques, such as multiple shots that you would expect to see in a typical media product, for example we used many shots from a higher point of view or a 'birds eye view' shot. We used this shot as it makes the victim seem more vulnerable and builds tension as we are waiting for something bad to happen. We also used a point of view shot, this helped the audience really connect with the clip. These shots also make the victim seem more vulnerable and open to attack. These shots combined with our soundtrack help build a dramatic opening sequence.
The soundtrack we used was a very basic very daunting acoustic piece of music, this combined with some modern techno and faster tempo during the flashback put a modern twist on the soundtrack which helped raise the tension extremely well, where it hit its climax as the victim was murdered. We used some more unique shots, for example one shot was looking into a closed window at the victims running, this helped us show the victims where enclosed and in danger, many media products use techniques and shots similar to help create atmosphere and effect. We also challenged some idea that typical media products used, for example for a short clip, we filled our introductory sequence with a lot of plot, for example we used a fast beginning of a chase scene, followed by the informative and action packed flash back to end on a calmer but still chilling end when the death is announced. This quick changing plot help us keep the audience hooked. I personally believe that by putting a lot of different plots into our film should be imitated by real film producers and directors.
Our film was designed to make the audience ask questions, for example by starting our film with a intense chase scene and ending it on a cliff hanger by finding a dead body, the audience would be left asking questions like 'what happened?' who has done this?' and 'why is this happening?' that would make them want to watch the entire film. The audience where given the chance to make there own assumptions about the characters backgrounds and why they were being chased. They should later find this out in the rest of the film if we had the chance to make it. We capture the target audience by proving how young adults can be mature and clever enough to escape but still have their extreme childish emotions that will make the atmosphere of the film more intense and extreme.
Our Film is a combination of both horror and thriller genres, as our film portrays typical conventions of these types of film. Because of this we will be aiming for a wide audience, our target audience would be ranging from 15 (as this would be the certificate we would be aiming for) to 30. We feel this age band would be most desirable as like our target audience our cast also fit right in this category. Furthermore our film is going to be based on students, this social group fit perfectly and take up a huge portion of our target audience. Our audience will be able to relate to some of the characters and can get more involved in the film as they are represented by the young student based characters who all attend school/college.
I feel that with Modern technology and our film being aimed at students the prime media institution would be television, as statistics show that television's biggest market is teenagers and the middle aged, as our film is based on and aimed at teenagers young adults our media product would fit perfect into this category. Also The internet would be a terrific media institution, as students will have to do a lot of work for their chosen career courses the internet and computers would be vital, so advertising on the internet would be a very efficient way to publicise our product. As almost every house in the country has a television or computer then these would be perfect. Also billboards and other live media would be useful as well as millions of people use their cars everyday. A billboard would be perfect to advertise. I also believe that small time media companies may be quite interested with our production and online video hosting may welcome our product.
My group and I have used a range methods to attract our audience, for example our audience can relate as it is aimed at students and school pupils. Our target audience age band will also be able to relate as they are the same age as the cast in the show. Our opening portrays many generic conventions that, horror/thriller Film lovers would be attracted to. We presented a pitch to our target audience of students at Dover Grammar School for Boys. During the planning of our production, we received alot of feedback about how to manipulate our film to their standards. For example, our proposed font for our tittles did not suit the film in their opinion so we changed them. They also informed us about the many good points of our film such as the point of view shot we proposed we used, taking this advise into consideration we decided to keep this shot and make it longer.
The group and I have learnt many things about technologies since we have started constructing our product, for example we have learned how to use the digital video recorders in such a way that we can now produce very effective, efficient and dynamic shots. We have learned to manipulate the iMacs in a way that has enabled us to edit multiple clips to such an extent we can make a free flowing film out of very rough shots used, we even learned how to overlap music onto our product using microphones and computer software to convert music into our digital footage. We have also used digital cameras to help enable us to understand the dynamics of shots and what makes then work best and what doesn't. I have also learnt how to appreciate how much effort and time needs to go into a film for it to be developed and how complex these ideas can be.
Looking back on my preliminary it is here were we practised and perfected our techniques used in our main. We have learnt a lot much that needed changing for our main for example, there is a quick break of the 180 degree rule in our preliminary. We were aware of it but we feel that this breaking of the rule helps add confusion and drama to our short film. However the clip is in a CCTV manner. We saw this mistake and did not carry it on in our main. We did however carry across some shots that we feel are unique and very complimentary, such as our running over the camera shot, or the point of view shots, both of which helps keep the audience on edge and get them involved. Some things could have been different on reflection however, if they were then the film would not have the same effect it has now. I learnt how to make clips flow smoother without drowning them in transitions. Also while filming our preliminary our camera had a fade in and fade out mode on. We got rid of this when filming our main.
I personally feel that our two minute film introduction we produced was very successful and met both out standards and our target audiences standards two. we know this as we presented our film to our peers. They were quite complimentary, they agreed that our beginning chase scene built tension and had some quite good camrea shots involved, such as the birds eye view shot of the characters running. My group and I did a lot of research and established that to make our introductory sequence great we would need to develop forms and conventions of a typical media product we would need to mimic as many generic conventions of typical Horror/Thriller genre film. Our film was heavily influenced by real media products and so to make ours just as good we used their techniques, such as multiple shots that you would expect to see in a typical media product, for example we used many shots from a higher point of view or a 'birds eye view' shot. We used this shot as it makes the victim seem more vulnerable and builds tension as we are waiting for something bad to happen. We also used a point of view shot, this helped the audience really connect with the clip. These shots also make the victim seem more vulnerable and open to attack. These shots combined with our soundtrack help build a dramatic opening sequence.
The soundtrack we used was a very basic very daunting acoustic piece of music, this combined with some modern techno and faster tempo during the flashback put a modern twist on the soundtrack which helped raise the tension extremely well, where it hit its climax as the victim was murdered. We used some more unique shots, for example one shot was looking into a closed window at the victims running, this helped us show the victims where enclosed and in danger, many media products use techniques and shots similar to help create atmosphere and effect. We also challenged some idea that typical media products used, for example for a short clip, we filled our introductory sequence with a lot of plot, for example we used a fast beginning of a chase scene, followed by the informative and action packed flash back to end on a calmer but still chilling end when the death is announced. This quick changing plot help us keep the audience hooked. I personally believe that by putting a lot of different plots into our film should be imitated by real film producers and directors.
Our film was designed to make the audience ask questions, for example by starting our film with a intense chase scene and ending it on a cliff hanger by finding a dead body, the audience would be left asking questions like 'what happened?' who has done this?' and 'why is this happening?' that would make them want to watch the entire film. The audience where given the chance to make there own assumptions about the characters backgrounds and why they were being chased. They should later find this out in the rest of the film if we had the chance to make it. We capture the target audience by proving how young adults can be mature and clever enough to escape but still have their extreme childish emotions that will make the atmosphere of the film more intense and extreme.
Our Film is a combination of both horror and thriller genres, as our film portrays typical conventions of these types of film. Because of this we will be aiming for a wide audience, our target audience would be ranging from 15 (as this would be the certificate we would be aiming for) to 30. We feel this age band would be most desirable as like our target audience our cast also fit right in this category. Furthermore our film is going to be based on students, this social group fit perfectly and take up a huge portion of our target audience. Our audience will be able to relate to some of the characters and can get more involved in the film as they are represented by the young student based characters who all attend school/college.
I feel that with Modern technology and our film being aimed at students the prime media institution would be television, as statistics show that television's biggest market is teenagers and the middle aged, as our film is based on and aimed at teenagers young adults our media product would fit perfect into this category. Also The internet would be a terrific media institution, as students will have to do a lot of work for their chosen career courses the internet and computers would be vital, so advertising on the internet would be a very efficient way to publicise our product. As almost every house in the country has a television or computer then these would be perfect. Also billboards and other live media would be useful as well as millions of people use their cars everyday. A billboard would be perfect to advertise. I also believe that small time media companies may be quite interested with our production and online video hosting may welcome our product.
My group and I have used a range methods to attract our audience, for example our audience can relate as it is aimed at students and school pupils. Our target audience age band will also be able to relate as they are the same age as the cast in the show. Our opening portrays many generic conventions that, horror/thriller Film lovers would be attracted to. We presented a pitch to our target audience of students at Dover Grammar School for Boys. During the planning of our production, we received alot of feedback about how to manipulate our film to their standards. For example, our proposed font for our tittles did not suit the film in their opinion so we changed them. They also informed us about the many good points of our film such as the point of view shot we proposed we used, taking this advise into consideration we decided to keep this shot and make it longer.
The group and I have learnt many things about technologies since we have started constructing our product, for example we have learned how to use the digital video recorders in such a way that we can now produce very effective, efficient and dynamic shots. We have learned to manipulate the iMacs in a way that has enabled us to edit multiple clips to such an extent we can make a free flowing film out of very rough shots used, we even learned how to overlap music onto our product using microphones and computer software to convert music into our digital footage. We have also used digital cameras to help enable us to understand the dynamics of shots and what makes then work best and what doesn't. I have also learnt how to appreciate how much effort and time needs to go into a film for it to be developed and how complex these ideas can be.
Looking back on my preliminary it is here were we practised and perfected our techniques used in our main. We have learnt a lot much that needed changing for our main for example, there is a quick break of the 180 degree rule in our preliminary. We were aware of it but we feel that this breaking of the rule helps add confusion and drama to our short film. However the clip is in a CCTV manner. We saw this mistake and did not carry it on in our main. We did however carry across some shots that we feel are unique and very complimentary, such as our running over the camera shot, or the point of view shots, both of which helps keep the audience on edge and get them involved. Some things could have been different on reflection however, if they were then the film would not have the same effect it has now. I learnt how to make clips flow smoother without drowning them in transitions. Also while filming our preliminary our camera had a fade in and fade out mode on. We got rid of this when filming our main.
Kris' Evaluation
In our main media project, our group had aimed to create a conventional film with unique attributes to really entice our target audience, and leave them amazed. After spending a long period of time with a pen and a notebook, we formed a mutual agreement that in order to do this, we would have to come up with an idea and a story that could perform brilliantly within an incredibly short space of time. After brainstorming ideas we had decided that the best way to go about this would be with the incorporation of a quickly climatic genre – horror. However, we could not simply use any idea that we could muster, we had to make it special, and really stick-out from the rest, as well as including all the technical fragments that would wholly bring our product together.
Conventionally horror films are aimed at young adults, between the ages of 18 and 30 and our choice was to conserve this. Typically people of younger ages offer their excitement much easier than more matured adults and as we only had about two minutes to attain their arousal we would need all the help we could get from little things such as this.
To instantly capture our audience’s attention we would start the film with a chase scene which would address the audience in such a way that would provide watchers with a keen sense to ringing thoughts of “What’s going on?” “What’s going to happen next?” This would compel the audience to offer their full attention to our product and allow my group their success. Though we must keep this up throughout the full production to discard feeling of disappointment, and we thought we knew a way to do so.
We would give our watchers the chance to connect with the featured characters by giving an almost transparent social background upon them; allowing the audience a chance to interpret for themselves, therefore, as an unexpected bonus, leaving us without the need to explain some situations within the product itself. As the film sequence follows youthful characters, it serves this social group well as a guideline. We express the maturity that youths do potentially have, but also their unlearned instincts and childlike emotions. Personally I like the way in which we express how mature and self sufficient we younger generation are, contrary to popular belief. In the production we attempt to show this by the survival of our characters, and I believe adults could learn from this. To maximise desired effects, we treat the audience as if they are stereotypically viewed, opinionated adults, and try to constantly remind them that youths are too underrated and address them in this way.
During our project my group’s production has been influenced by real media products and we have learned a great deal from them, and also discovered their flaws and challenged them. We incorporate ideas which would probably seem stupid concerning the genre we have selected, and in so small a space of time, such as a flashback, and the constantly slowed down and sped up release of the plot. Personally I believe using and developing these ideas create an incredible final effect that film producers should really consider in different, or the same, forms.
With all respect I am aware of the un-cinematic quality of our production and therefore can say whole heartedly that film companies will not want to distribute it, but small, online video hosting communities may be more than happy to take it on board, and maybe film companies could learn from some of the ideas that we present within it, and eventually we could see our film sequence in the theatres, maybe not as it is, but certainly bits of it, and I for one am proud of that.
As I say above, our product is not of cinematic quality, not only because it is only two minutes long, but because we are merely media students studying at AS level, and have never before attempted anything like this. From participating in this project I have learnt much about new technologies, Apple Macs, Video editing software (and capturing) and so forth, and I will definitely remember some of what I have learnt for future use. Never have I tried capturing and editing footage in this way, I didn’t even know how to work the camera, but by the end I was referred to as the ‘technical genius’ of our group which just goes to show quite how much I had taken on board from this experience.
It’s not just my technological skills that have advanced during the making of our two film sequences; I have learnt so much about media in general. I can now fully appreciate movies out there on the real screens and the work that goes in behind them, and the acting that characters must do. I never knew how much planning went into a film, and how many small, subliminal effects are hidden from the audience and the way in which people can be so easily manipulated through a piece of media.
I am aware that throughout this evaluation I have spoken mostly about our main task, but I am also very pleased with our ‘preliminary’ task’s outcome, and just as much thought and planning went into that too, but an evaluation is usually only short and I’ve probably written more than enough already, but I would like to say that throughout making the preliminary production I learnt the most. We completed the prelim, as the name would suggest, before the main, so that we really knew what we would be doing, and therefore that is where most of my acceleration took place. The one thing that I have learnt in this and consider most valuable to me for the future would be what I have already highlighted – I can now appreciate the work of other people much more and learn a lot more easily from them, and I recommend this experience to most people, and hopefully the media and drama aspects of my life are now changed forever for the better.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Construction
With our initial photography we decided that it would be best to shoot as much footage as possible so that way when it comes to editing we would have enough film to play around with to make our film the best it could be, so the first thing we did was to film every shot that we had planned in our storyboard animations. Once we had our shots we then filmed all our new ideas that we realized would work better with a video camera and new ones that had come to us, we also filmed sequences many times so we could see what angle worked best, we also did this so that we could put smoother cuts in our films and this enabled to us to us 'match on action' on some vital parts of our film. We had one week to produce our initial footage.
We then uploaded our films onto the iMacs and we analyzed out footage. We organized them in the correct order and put rough cuts and transitions in to give us a rough idea of how the film would look. After doing all this we found the clips that were not filmed correctly and which ones could be improved. We also looked for any improvements on our shots, such as what angles work better and what ones would make the clip roll smoother and if any shots could be perfected at all. Once we had determined which clips needed redoing we went out and re-filmed many of our shots. This first shoot gave us experience and let us record a lot more better shots the second time as we could now put our practice and experience into effect to create a better shot.
Once we had our Initial Footage, Initial Editing and Re-Shoots we then decided it was time for our crucial re-edits, in this part we put all the transitions in where needed (we only used a few as we did not want to 'drown' our film in transitions and make it look tacky and poorly filmed). We also had to put the exact cuts in to milli-second perfection to make sure our clip rolled smoothly. For example with our chase scene we filmed many different shots at different times, however with good times cuts we made it look like one clip. We also used this re-edit time to put our tittles and credits in. once our footage had all the right cuts, transitions, tittles, effects and was in the correct order we then moved on to sound.
Our rough cut was ready, it consisted of our one and a half minute clip, the first half was a chase scene of many clips, some from birds eye view to produce a vulnerability about it, some following the chase and some stationary shots. After this chase scene the characters take sanctuary in a big room. They then go to check if the coast is clear through a point of view shot, only to find a dead body on the ground, we then go on a flashback journey to see how the person died. The character goes back to the room to tell his partner... ''she's dead''. This opens many doors and sparks many questions. Although it lacked something that could complete it. We needed the sound to make the introduction sequence complete.
We now had to produce our own soundtrack, we had to make sure it fitted with our introduction sequence both fitting with the events taking place and with the right atmosphere, as I said we went for a chilling acoustic sound. It was very basic with little detail, that is until the flashback where the music picks up a bit of tempo and techno music is added. This tempo and techno is removed as the film returns to real life. We also lowered the volume of the music when there was dialogue between characters. The soundtrack gave the right daunting and creepy effect while still built tension.
Once the soundtrack was put together with our final edited introduction sequence we had our final cut. The clip was complete and the quick cuts, the unique camera shot as well as a creepy soundtrack had produced a very daunting and tension filled opening sequence, just like we'd hoped for.
We then uploaded our films onto the iMacs and we analyzed out footage. We organized them in the correct order and put rough cuts and transitions in to give us a rough idea of how the film would look. After doing all this we found the clips that were not filmed correctly and which ones could be improved. We also looked for any improvements on our shots, such as what angles work better and what ones would make the clip roll smoother and if any shots could be perfected at all. Once we had determined which clips needed redoing we went out and re-filmed many of our shots. This first shoot gave us experience and let us record a lot more better shots the second time as we could now put our practice and experience into effect to create a better shot.
Once we had our Initial Footage, Initial Editing and Re-Shoots we then decided it was time for our crucial re-edits, in this part we put all the transitions in where needed (we only used a few as we did not want to 'drown' our film in transitions and make it look tacky and poorly filmed). We also had to put the exact cuts in to milli-second perfection to make sure our clip rolled smoothly. For example with our chase scene we filmed many different shots at different times, however with good times cuts we made it look like one clip. We also used this re-edit time to put our tittles and credits in. once our footage had all the right cuts, transitions, tittles, effects and was in the correct order we then moved on to sound.
Our rough cut was ready, it consisted of our one and a half minute clip, the first half was a chase scene of many clips, some from birds eye view to produce a vulnerability about it, some following the chase and some stationary shots. After this chase scene the characters take sanctuary in a big room. They then go to check if the coast is clear through a point of view shot, only to find a dead body on the ground, we then go on a flashback journey to see how the person died. The character goes back to the room to tell his partner... ''she's dead''. This opens many doors and sparks many questions. Although it lacked something that could complete it. We needed the sound to make the introduction sequence complete.
We now had to produce our own soundtrack, we had to make sure it fitted with our introduction sequence both fitting with the events taking place and with the right atmosphere, as I said we went for a chilling acoustic sound. It was very basic with little detail, that is until the flashback where the music picks up a bit of tempo and techno music is added. This tempo and techno is removed as the film returns to real life. We also lowered the volume of the music when there was dialogue between characters. The soundtrack gave the right daunting and creepy effect while still built tension.
Once the soundtrack was put together with our final edited introduction sequence we had our final cut. The clip was complete and the quick cuts, the unique camera shot as well as a creepy soundtrack had produced a very daunting and tension filled opening sequence, just like we'd hoped for.
Planning
-In this post I will demonstrate our step-by-step method of preparation, covering our whole project, starting from our earliest date, and shall edit with any updates that may occur.
To start, we were assigned our current groups, and briefed on the project. We were not told deadlines, but only that we did not have a lot of time to complete all the tasks required. Being the smart, professional students that we are, we stuck our heads straight in, and looked around on the web to find a genre that would really poke out from all the other students' (little did we know that practically everyone in our class would choose the same genre, we thought we were being unique).
After finding our perfect lead with a genre, we had to come up with a plot. This took us quite a while because we all had our own ideas, and deciding on a way to combine them proved difficult. However, we managed, wrote down our plot outline, and on to the next hurdle we went.
Next up was illustrating our stories (literally) in the form of a storyboard. Here we did two drafts - one rough, and one neat. We did this because we knew in advance that we would have to transform these pictures into a full-length animation on the iMacs, so we did not want these to look scruffy and unprofessional. Each exercise took a lesson to complete both drafts, and the storyboards were both composed of about twenty-six individual pictures.
Planning
Our Introduction sequence took a lot of planning and organization. We first had to decided on a genre and idea. Like I said before we chose a Horror/Thriller genre combination as it enabled us to demonstrate many camera techniques. After deciding on our genre we had to think of an idea that will make the audience engaged and start asking questions. We couldn't think of anything better than a chase scene and a body discovery. After deciding on our idea we then created hand drawn storyboards for both our main and our preliminary. These hand drawn pictures enable us to determine what camera angles would be best to use and which ones would be possible and viable and how long a shot should last.
After planning our opening sequence with a hand drawn story board. we then decided to create a photographic storyboard to really see if these shots could work. It also let us make some adjustments on shots that just were not possible. After making sure our shots where possible and appropriate we decided that before we start filming we create a storyboard animation with both our hand drawn sketches and our real shots to see how the shots looked in a film like manner, see whether once they are put in order to makes a decent and easy to understand film. Once we had produced the right shots that could work in a film we added a rough soundtrack to our clip to make sure it has the right effect. We know had to story board animations, one of a hand drawn sketch and one of camera shots. After making sure our storyboards and animations where complete we decided to replace the still clips with real footage.
To start, we were assigned our current groups, and briefed on the project. We were not told deadlines, but only that we did not have a lot of time to complete all the tasks required. Being the smart, professional students that we are, we stuck our heads straight in, and looked around on the web to find a genre that would really poke out from all the other students' (little did we know that practically everyone in our class would choose the same genre, we thought we were being unique).
After finding our perfect lead with a genre, we had to come up with a plot. This took us quite a while because we all had our own ideas, and deciding on a way to combine them proved difficult. However, we managed, wrote down our plot outline, and on to the next hurdle we went.
Next up was illustrating our stories (literally) in the form of a storyboard. Here we did two drafts - one rough, and one neat. We did this because we knew in advance that we would have to transform these pictures into a full-length animation on the iMacs, so we did not want these to look scruffy and unprofessional. Each exercise took a lesson to complete both drafts, and the storyboards were both composed of about twenty-six individual pictures.
Planning
Our Introduction sequence took a lot of planning and organization. We first had to decided on a genre and idea. Like I said before we chose a Horror/Thriller genre combination as it enabled us to demonstrate many camera techniques. After deciding on our genre we had to think of an idea that will make the audience engaged and start asking questions. We couldn't think of anything better than a chase scene and a body discovery. After deciding on our idea we then created hand drawn storyboards for both our main and our preliminary. These hand drawn pictures enable us to determine what camera angles would be best to use and which ones would be possible and viable and how long a shot should last.
After planning our opening sequence with a hand drawn story board. we then decided to create a photographic storyboard to really see if these shots could work. It also let us make some adjustments on shots that just were not possible. After making sure our shots where possible and appropriate we decided that before we start filming we create a storyboard animation with both our hand drawn sketches and our real shots to see how the shots looked in a film like manner, see whether once they are put in order to makes a decent and easy to understand film. Once we had produced the right shots that could work in a film we added a rough soundtrack to our clip to make sure it has the right effect. We know had to story board animations, one of a hand drawn sketch and one of camera shots. After making sure our storyboards and animations where complete we decided to replace the still clips with real footage.
The Pitch
Our Film starts off with a chase scene and a discovery of a dead body. This will build tension and already make the audience start asking questions about the film. The equilibrium to our film has not been introduced yet ans the film starts with such a unique and changing plot. However, later in the film the equilibrium could be established as the students running away from their murderer until this equilibrium is broken when a fight scene develops and then a new equilibrium will be determined as the cast live happily ever after...
we used many technical shots in our film, for example we used many shots from a higher point of view or a 'birds eye view' shot. We used this shot as it makes the victim seem more vulnerable and builds tension as we are waiting for something bad to happen. We also used a point of view shot, this helped the audience really connect with the clip. These shots also make the victim seem more vulnerable and open to attack. These shots combined with our soundtrack help build a dramatic opening sequence. We also had to maintain the 180 degree rule and the 4th wall rule as well. This made sure that our film ran smoothly with no unnecessary complications that could completely ruin any tension the clip has built up.
we used many technical shots in our film, for example we used many shots from a higher point of view or a 'birds eye view' shot. We used this shot as it makes the victim seem more vulnerable and builds tension as we are waiting for something bad to happen. We also used a point of view shot, this helped the audience really connect with the clip. These shots also make the victim seem more vulnerable and open to attack. These shots combined with our soundtrack help build a dramatic opening sequence. We also had to maintain the 180 degree rule and the 4th wall rule as well. This made sure that our film ran smoothly with no unnecessary complications that could completely ruin any tension the clip has built up.
Target Audience
Our target audience would have to be 18-30 year olds. I believe that this age bracket is the most easily excitable stage of life, not including childhood. Our product would be most effective on this audience because they can relate to and mentally improvise on our characters, and this would really improve our film sequence for them. We will meet their expectations by presenting ideas that they may never have seen in the film industry before and incorporating them into a decent final production worthy of their appreciation.
Our Film is a combination of both horror and thriller genres, as our film portrays typical conventions of these types of film. Because of this we will be aiming for a wide audience, our target audience would be ranging from 15 (as this would be the certificate we would be aiming for) to 30. We feel this age band would be most desirable as like our target audience our cast also fit right in this category. Furthermore our film is going to be based on students, this social group fit perfectly and take up a huge portion of our target audience. Our audience will be able to relate to some of the characters and can get more involved in the film.
Our Film is a combination of both horror and thriller genres, as our film portrays typical conventions of these types of film. Because of this we will be aiming for a wide audience, our target audience would be ranging from 15 (as this would be the certificate we would be aiming for) to 30. We feel this age band would be most desirable as like our target audience our cast also fit right in this category. Furthermore our film is going to be based on students, this social group fit perfectly and take up a huge portion of our target audience. Our audience will be able to relate to some of the characters and can get more involved in the film.
The Brief
With both our main and preliminary exercises planned to be incredibly first-rate, we had to decide on a genre that would work with this and help really bring the content of the videos up to their full potentials. After scouring *www.YouTube.com* (we do not own this site) for dramatic and gripping opening scenes, we quickly realised that the horror/thriller scenes had the fastest climatic build-up, and that if we were in for a chance of really maximizing the output during a time period as short as two minutes, we would have to embrace this genre. We went back to the notebook to try and come up with as many conventions typical of this style as we possibly could, and then went forth to try and invent situations and ways in which we could indulge these into our short films.
In our group we decided that the best way to show our media skills would be in a horror/thriller film as horror/thrillers use a wide range of camera techniques, we decided that our opening sequence should build tension and put the viewer on edge. We also decided that a school would be well suited as everyone in our group goes to school and could pull off the student act well.
In our group we decided that the best way to show our media skills would be in a horror/thriller film as horror/thrillers use a wide range of camera techniques, we decided that our opening sequence should build tension and put the viewer on edge. We also decided that a school would be well suited as everyone in our group goes to school and could pull off the student act well.
Research.
In our group we decided to analyse many films and film opening with similar genres to ours, we looked at horror/thrillers with a chase scene. Here are a few examples of chase scenes we watched:
- The Da Vinci Code http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IX0NOO_NOY- In this scene, while the chase has not necessarily been edited as a fast moving and chaotic, it still creates tension through the varying camera angles and shots. For example, we has close up shots of the victims worried, sweating face and birds eye veiw shots to make him seem even more vulnerable which in itself creates even more tension.
- A chase scene in District B13, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GpOroM0g80- In this film the cuts linking each shot are extremely fast and the footage itself is fast moving, really emphasising the intense atmosphere surrounding the chase.
- And a chase scene in Texas chainsaw massacre- within this chase scene there are varying camera shots from quick still frame shots to longer traveling shots that move with the characters. There are close ups and wide shots in appropriate places to emphasise the frantic chase.
We decided that the best way to build tension in our film opening would be to start with a high impact chase scene, so this is what we did. We saw how these films built tension with their chases and tried to repeat some of their techniques used.
We also learnt about what our set should be like after watching these film clips. After watching our openings we established that we should look for an old creepy building that school children would not look out of place in.
After analysing the clips we realized that there are many generic conventions that a typical horror/thriller opening should use, for example, we decided that our opening titles need to support our chosen genre in that they should have a creepy and daunting effect on the viewers. Also we researched what other films have used and we came to the conclusion that italic fonts with thin letters would be best; we decided to use red font to represent the blood shed that could follow, on black background as some of the clips we researched proved that this could be very effective in emphasising that eeriness. We also realised that the film itself needed to have a darker lighting. This combined with quick cuts between shots also seemed to build tension very quickly and effectively.
Furthermore, we observed that in order to fully make our film opening daunting, we need a soundtrack that will fully create a real sense of suspension. We noticed that the acoustic songs used in many of the films we watched fitted perfectly with what we wanted to do.
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