Evaluation- Question 7

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

Evaluation- Question 6

Evaluation- Question 5

How did our product attract and address our audience?

Evaluation- Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

Evaluation- Question 3

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

Evaluation- Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation- Question 1

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

Title: Our indent and titles conforms to genre due to the stereotypical use of black and white. We changed the saturation to produce a white sky and black tree which also fits well with the text colour. Also, the ident creates confusion similarly to a thriller genre. The fast pan of the trees and the use of the vignette mask effect (black surrounding) creates a feeling of disorientation. 

Location: The location does conform to genre as it suggests isolation. However, we have mainly developed on the conventions of genre as the majority of thriller locations can be busy, yet the character is shown to be alone and ignored by the rest of society. 

Costume and props: The costume we decided to use does conform to genre as it follows the black and white theme (with her dark hair and white dress). But, we used anti-stereotypes to portray the daughter as an young innocent girl even though the opening sequence shows she is not as innocent as represented. 

Camerawork and editing: We used several editing techniques such as changing the opacity and overlapping shots. This technique conforms to genre as it creates distortion and confusion which is often the tone created in a thriller genre. Changing the opacity created an illusion of shadows which is a thriller conventions we developed upon. The use of a tracking shot mimics the idea of someone chasing/following a character, again this is often used in thrillers. 

Title, font and style: The title 'Attachment' conforms to genre via the use of a black and white colour scheme. Also, in thrillers plain, bold text is often used, from the image on the left you can see we conformed to genre in this sense. However, we have challenged the convention of abstract titles by using situational titles as they created more impact in our product.

Story/opening: The smashed photo frame of the baby with the mother holding the frame briefly sums up our opening, showing the broken relationship. The shot of the mother holding onto the photograph and not her daughter emphasizes how the mother is clinging onto what her daughter used to be and what the mother wanted her to behave like rather than how she did turn out. We have conformed to genre by making subtle hints to the plot but like all thrillers we have not revealed everything leaving the audience asking questions. 

Genre and how opening suggests it: We used several techniques in the opening sequence which conform to the thriller genre. The shot on the right represents the genre as it creates the feeling of mystery and so does the use of sound in this shot. This is the type of atmosphere created in thriller genres. Also, the use of an extreme close-up on the girls face/eye creates suspense as the audience wonder what is going to happen and where the character is.

How characters are introduced:

In our product this shot best shows the introduction of the two characters, it highlights how even though they are mother and daughter they are very distant. The shot has the presence of the mother in her comfort zone and shows the daughter in hers, showing how they don't show affection to each other and it emphasises their physical and emotional distance.

Special effects: We used editing to create effects such as flashes, which conform to genre by creating confusion in the audience. Also, in the shot on the left we conformed to genre by changing the opacity making appear the girl wonders into the stream creating a sense of disarray.

Final product- Thriller opening sequence

Burning onto a disk

This week we have been editing in our lessons, frees, lunch hour and after school to make sure the final product is fully complete. 
And in today's lesson we completed the psychological thriller opening sequence and burnt it to a disk. 

Final feedback

We got positive and negative feedback from our class. I have produced a animation on 'GoAnimate' showing some of the comments we got from our audience. 

From the comments we made several improvements: 

     Some of which we intended on doing anyway such as adding a soundtrack. But both our feedback from the A2 and AS level students recommend that we should use a childlike soundtrack. We took this advice and it has helped us narrow down our search for an audio clip. However, even though we agree with this suggestion we do not want the childlike soundtrack to create a sinister horror theme.  

We are also going to add audio in on the end shot make a connection between the mother and daughter showing how the relationship has been broken.

We also made small changes to the colour, transitions and duration. 

There were some other feedback suggested by our audience, however we didn't make all the changes as we thought it didn't connote the meaning we were trying to suggest and these comments had been stated/supported by several people. 

Development of editing- audio

Today we focused on the audio:
We uploaded the voiceover and placed it over the video footage. We used the trim and blade tool to ensure the audio and video work together and create meaning.

We also added non-copyright 'Steel and Seething' music from incompetech
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=medusa to create a tense atmosphere in the scene of the child alone in the wood/stream location.

We also added a gentle childlike soundtrack and diegetic sounds to play quietly underneath the starting scene with the voiceover. This then followed onto the scene of the child playing in the garden. The copyright free 'Promises to Keep' music contrasted well with the 'Steel and Seething' soundtrack showing the difference in time. 

We added non-diegetic sound of a cymbal to the ident and then faded the sound of the cymbal out and faded in the diegetic sounds of the woods. We then reversed the audio clip of the cymbal, faded the sound back into the video, so as the ident appeared so did the audio of the cymbal. 

Filming audio

On Saturday 23rd November: we filmed the audio (voiceover) for our thriller extract. We planned to use the sound recorder equipment but it appeared to be unclear so we decided to use my iPhone which was a success, and the quality was much better. 
The voiceover stated:
"Poppy Jones.
For nine months I dreamed of buying her pretty dresses, taking her to be first ballet class, reading her bed times stories whilst she cuddled up with her teddies, kissing her goodnight...
But that's not my Poppy Jones.
This is-"

Feedback from A2 media students

To help us improve our thriller opening sequence we got feedback from A2 media students. This was helpful as they know the terminology and software and most of all did the same task last year in their preliminary task. Also, if they recommended any improvement that we didn't know how to do, they could show us helping us to develop our editing skills. 
In today's lesson we watched the Year 13's AS level work, especially emphasising how they produced their idents. They gave us advice on what they found useful when they produced their work.

We had positive feedback stating:

• "Changing the opacity on the three teddy bears was effective." 
• "The ident creates disorientation and links well to a thriller genre."

We also had feedback suggesting improvements:

• "You could change the lighting, and make it darker to show the change in location and narrative."
• "Needs music. You could add a childlike soundtrack to create a sinister mood but be careful not to turn it into a horror." " You could add a tense 'thriller' soundtrack when in the different location to keep it away from a horror genre and again to show the change in narrative."
• "Include a mother and daughter shot to show the connection between the two and show the broken relationship."

     We have now gone on to make these alterations and improvements. We had previously changed the lighting in the scene of the mother in her bedroom and the girl playing in the garden. We changed the saturation and exposure, making the shot brighter/whiter creating a positive atmosphere in these scenes. The narrative starts at the equilibrium with the mother comfortably in her bedroom, then it moves on to show the disequilibrium via the child's strange behaviour.
     Since the feedback we have recorded the voiceover, and found the other sound clips we want to use in the opening sequence. We intend to edit the audio in the week of the 25th-29th. I will upload a audio post discussing the things we intend to do or have done.
     Also, we took into consideration the comment about showing the connection/relationship between the mother and daughter via a two shot. But, we did not want to go back and film again as the mise en scene would be different and this was the only thing we would have to re-film. So, we have decided to merge the two shots of the child picking up her necklace and the mother holding her necklace, to show how the child has taken something away from her mother and has broken the relationship.

Representations- ident

To track our understanding and progress in class, I was given the question:
'Explain the representations that you have created in your ident and how you have made them.'
So my teachers could check to see if I was keeping on track with my work.

     Firstly, in the creation of our product we had to produce an ident which must suit the thriller genre. Therefore, we have researched other ident productions to see the different film genres different idents target. The majority of thriller ident used dark colours (mainly black and white) to emphasise the mystery and secrecy of a thriller. When editing we used this technique of draining the colour from the footage to connote mystery and to create a negative atmosphere. Also, we used a range of camera movements to make the audience feel disorientated and vulnerable. We started the extract with a tilt, moving from the base of the trees to the top making the audience feel small/intimidated. Another camera movement we used was the use of the pan of the tree leaves looking directly up at from the ground. When editing we sped up the pan to make the audience feel confused/disorientated mimicking the confusion of the plot often used in a thriller genre. In addition we used a tilt travelling back down the trunk of the tree to the roots where the 'HW' productions name appears. The movement up, around and down the tree imitates Todorov's structure which is generally used in thriller extracts. It mimics the stage of this structure with the base of the tree being the equilibrium, the movement up the tree being the disequilibrium, the pan of the branches and leaves being the recognition of disruption, and the movement back down the tree as the attempt to repair. The last shot finishes back down at the base of the tree representing the return to equilibrium. We have not yet completed the editing of the ident, we need to include sound to create meaning and a negative mood for the rest of the film. 

Development of editing- video

During editing we had to develop our basic skills with the simple tools like blade, trim and zoom. We had used these previously when editing our AS prelim task and I have used the Final Cut Pro when editing last year in GCSE Media. 
There are several other editing techniques we have became more advanced on when editing the video. Some of the editing we did was: 

Changed lighting Saturation and exposure.
In some shots we did this to make the footage clearer and others we did it to create a purpose effect. For example we wanted the white/high key lighting in the scene of the mother as it shows how she is blind to reality and lives in her own 'perfect' world and shuts any problems out. Hence how her daughter is always shown outside, emphasising the problems within their relationship. We decided to use high key lighting in the main scene of the mother and low key lighting in the main scene of the daughter to show the divide between the two characters.

Added transitions.
In the screen shot on the left we decided to added transitions such as the 'cross fade' to create a link between the two locations. Using transitions also makes the extract more interesting and allows us to develop our editing skills.

Changed speed.

Changing the speed is useful to make the extracts quality better and to create meaning. It helps reduce the sequence if it is too long/boring but doesn't break the continuity of the footage like it would if you used the blade or trim tool to cut it out. We also used the speed tool to make the camera movement smoother, to minimise any unsteadiness in the footage.
During the ident we decided to speed up the clip to create meaning, by making the clip below faster we could create disorientation in the audience supporting the thriller genre and how they often portray mystery and confusion.

Added effects and filters.
This changed the mood of the thriller opening sequence and again allowed us to develop upon our editing skills. In the shot on the left we used lighting effects such as 'Numerik' to create a negative tone and to show the difference in time and location. Other effect's such as the use of flashes created confusion in audience which is a stereotypical feature used in thriller genres.



Changed opacity levels.
We changed the opacity to make the shot of the teddy bear more dramatic, it highlights the child repetitive and strange behaviour as she walk around the garden dragging the teddy behind her. We have used opacity levels in other areas of the opening sequence to help integrate shots to link meaning- for example we show a shot with the mothers necklace in her hand integrated with a shot of the daughter unhooking her necklace from the tree. In editing we changed the opacity levels so the two shots were overlapping each other making it appear that the child took the necklace out of the mothers hand showing emphasising their broken and distant relationship. 


Added titles.
It is important to have titles in a opening sequence as all opening/title sequences include the name of the extract, names of the producers and they are often used in an ident. In our extract we used titles for our names, the extract name and for extra information such as the date to clearly show the difference in time. There are several different type of font and colours you can use, to get the effect that you want to represent in your extract.

Changed the scale.
This can be used for several reasons: For example if the shot is wrong. If you had a close-up and wanted an extreme close-up you could change the scale and zoom into the shot. 
If there was something unwanted in the shot e.g. a piece of filming equipment. Using the scale or crop tool you could remove some of the shot.

Many of the techniques and alterations you make in editing should be correct when filming the footage for example the shot type. But, editing ensures the footage can be perfected and you don't have to film it again.
Editing also allows you to add effects that would be possible in filming.
From editing the footage my skills on Final Cut Pro and the Mackintosh computers have developed and I am much more confident with the software.  

Upload footage

We completed all of our filming over the half term, so when we returned to Westwood we could upload all our footage and start the editing process. 

Development of filming

We continued filming on Wednesday 30th October

We used our shooting script throughout filming to ensure we followed our plan. However, when at the location the shot doesn't sometimes work due to the natural lighting or the layout of the location being different than expected. 

The shot below shows us filming: you can tell from this shot natural lighting caused problems. But, these issues could be altered in the editing process.

Photographic storyboard

Drawn storyboard

Development of filming ident

We started filming the ident on Friday 25th October
We recorded footage for our ident 'HW Productions'
The images below show us filming today- 

In these photographs you can see me (Molly Painter) and my peer Lucy Malkin using the equipment- Video recorder and Tripod. You can also see photos of our ident carved into a tree.

Risk assessment

Before we start filming we have had to create a risk assessment to ensure there will be no major dangers when filming our extract. And that both our teachers and parents are aware of the minor risks, and how we plan to deal with them if a problem does occur.

Ident research (WB)

I have done some research into film ident's to help me see how they suits specific genres and what I need to include in my own ident so it suits a thriller genre. 

The Warner Brothers ident generally suits the entertainment genre. You can tell this by it's use of bright colours creating positive atmosphere. The background image of white fluffy clouds and the upbeat soundtrack also connotes a positive meaning, unlike a horror genre which would build tension.  

The Warner Brothers ident below has been changed to fit a different genre. The background image is still the same with the use of clouds but the change of colour (grey-scale) has created a completely different meaning. Dark clouds create a negative atmosphere automatically 

changing the tone of the extract, building tension and suspense. Also, the music has become much more sincere! 

The ident below was designed to fit 'Batman Begins [2005]', this fits well with their mixed genre including hybrids and sub-genres: Batman is a mix between action-adventure/thriller, crime and drama. 

Warner Brothers have co-productions with Village Roadshow Pictures, they have formed several versions of their idents to suite specific genres of films. 
Some more examples are shown below:

Idents

Below is the link to my 'Prezie' showing the basic information of an ident

Shooting script

Shooting script- first draft

We collected feedback from our first draft shooting script:

The comments wrote on sticky notes helped us develop our shooting script further. From the feedback we have made improvements-

• A column including the shot numbers
• Details on the scene e.g interior, daytime, bedroom
• We have removed any mistakes
• We have added extra shots to connote a stronger meaning
• Added the name of the film extract 'Attachment' 

Scenes

Breaking sequence into scenes
1. Ident- 'HillsWood Productions' (HW carved into a tree)
2. Titles- Molly Painter, Lucy Malkin, Chelsea Fearn
Date- 12.09.2012
[Situational titles transition into abstract titles- Black screen to mother in bedroom]
3. Scene1- Mother sitting at dressing table un bedroom, putting on make-up, looks up at photograph, shot of jewellery hanger focus on matching pendant necklace.
4. Scene2- child playing in garden, holding worms, digging in soil, brutal interaction with teddy bear, ignoring of blanket and snacks mother laid out.
5. Scene5- child escapes from garden, teddy bear being dragged by string, empty shot, no character to show escape.
6. Titles- name of extract shown via situational titles 'attachment', 'regard' and 'supplement
Date- 11-11-2013
7. Scene4- Strange behaviour of child- child running through field, child hiding behind trees, child 'hunting'

List of props (mise en scene)

There are several props we will need to create mise en scene in our thriller opening scene. 
Props:

• Red lipstick: to show mothers fiery character with a passion for her appearance and shows her desire for her daughter to be the same 'girly girl'. 
• Love-heart necklaces: the two necklaces- one owned by the mother and one owned by the daughter shows the connection between the two characters, their blood relation is the only thing they have in common.
• Smashed photo frame of baby: Shows the broken relationship of the mother and daughter. The crack over the baby wearing  a pink dress shows the pretty/innocent stereotype her mother reared her to be, that no longer exists.
• Dirty teddy and string: shows the child's lack of love and affection, shows her cold uncaring relationship towards people/things. 
• Bugs/worms: highlight the little girls unusual interests. 
• Stone, stick, leaves: to emphasizes the nature aspect and the freedom and isolation of the little girl. 
• Blood/red dye: to create mystery in the extract and show the girls strange situation and environment. 

Costume: 

Red blouse (clean)
Shows mothers smart appearance and feminine, judgmental character.

White dress (later becomes dirty and ripped)     Shows child innocence. As the dress becomes more damaged shows loss of child's purity and the distance between the two characters.

  

Location:

We plan to use a range of locations: with some scenes set in the mothers bedroom to connote security and love, some set in the garden again mimicking the security of a home but with increased freedom. And, the majority of the footage will be recorded in a deserted field showing the isolation of the little girl and the distance in the mother-daughter relationship.

 

Pitch- feedback

After presenting my pitch, I got feedback from my audience:

It suggested improvements I could make for my final task. 
Someone suggested we should create a clearer understanding of our own narrative. Although we purposely wanted the narrative to be unclear to create mystery, we had not fully decided how much of the narrative we wanted to show in our thriller extract. Since this feedback my group have discussed the narrative and that will be in clear in my next post showing our final idea. The whole story-line wont be clear in our opening sequence: we will use a premonition to move to the future to show the difference in time. However, the premonition will contain lots of close-up's to prevent a order of events forming and allowing a focus on the editing similarly to a title sequence like 'Se7en'.
Another improvement suggested by someone in our audience was to consider what sound we want to include in our extract. In my 'initial thoughts on task' post I stated that sound would be a feature I would find most difficult. Me and my peer will discuss the use of sound to ensure this doesn't result in the downfall of our thriller extract.   





Pitch

We presented our pitch to the class using 'Prezi'. The content of the presentation included the analysis of our basic ideas, we then developed upon these when presenting to our audience.
The link below takes you too our 'Prezi'


Several people in the audience stated our pitch was good due to the discussion of other extracts that helped give us inspiration when creating a idea. However, I think one improvement of our pitch would have been to include more evidence from the audience feedback questionnaires which supported our choices. Also, I think the 'Prezi' made the pitch visually interesting, but we could have included the audience more by asking them questions, this would help us get feedback on points we needed more inspiration on.

Title sequence- textual analysis of Strange Days

The opening title sequence of Strange Days shows the extract all filmed from one of the criminals perspective. It starts off with situational titles showing four basic pieces of information to which it transitions to a extreme close -up to the characters eye, and then to a Steadicam showing that characters point of view. It helps convey the thoughts, feeling and emotions of the character in the extract to the audience, similarly to Se7en giving an incite into the criminals mind.  
Here is a nine frame analysis of Strange Days title sequence

Follow this link to watch the title sequence {Strange Days (1995) — Art of the Title}

In the title sequence there are several techniques which conform to genre:

1.  It conforms to genre via the us of disorientation, the use of the Steadicam makes the audience feel confused and lost making it difficult to follow the plot and understand the location. Thrillers often try to confuse the audience to intrigue them so they watch the whole film.
2. Dialogue is used in the extract to create a atmosphere and help provide information to the audience to build an understanding of the plot. Stereotypically, thrillers have a deep plot with a confused narrative in which the audience are guided to use key pieces of information to piece together and create a understanding.  
3. Similarly to the other two opening sequences I have analysed- Strange Days has low key lighting with little contrast in colours which hides the identity and surrounding of the characters creating further disarray. The low key lighting represents the protagonists and mimics their hidden identity.

I dislike this as an title sequence the most as it didn't focus much on the titles and the plot was too confusing although the use of a Steadicam was unique to the other title sequences i have seen/analysed. 

Title sequence- textual analysis of Rubicon

I think the title opening sequence of Rubicon is effective in the way it conforms to genre and through analyzing this I can see similarities to tiles like for that of Se7en. The titles are shown via fluid camera movements tracking chalk yellow lines from one piece of data to another. The footage showed bank notes and maps highlighting the theme of crime and fraud suggesting there is quest for something. The extract had a continuous soundtrack with the use of sound effects of a computer/search engine representing the idea of checking for any evidence.    

In the title sequence there are several techniques which conform to the thriller genre: Again, the techniques are very similar to seven 

1. The use of a black and white theme in the thriller titles extract is a stereotypical technique used in thriller genres, it represents the ideas of antagonist and victims as the two contrasting colours are often worn to portray meaning about that character type. Antagonists are dressed in black to suggest mystery/secrecy and death, whereas victims (possibly of crime in Rubicon) are dressed in white to connote innocence/purity and vulnerability. The use of these colours foreshadows the confused plot often shown in thriller genres.
2. The use of the continuous movement from each piece of information (in Rubicon) creates disorientation in the audience. Thrillers often have a confused narrative with use of flashbacks and premonitions to create disarray of both the plot and audience. The title sequence sometimes mimics this via the use of camera movements and camera angles- an example of this is Chasseurs De Dragon which I briefly analysed previously.   
3. Close-ups and extreme close-ups are genre specific as they don't emphasize the general idea of a thriller plot but focus on the micro elements creating confusion about the plot. Not only does Rubicon use the camera shots with focusing on data (number and letters) but so does Se7en via integrated shots with fast pace editing to create tension and make the audience feel disorientated.

I like this as a title sequence as I think its an interesting way of showing the titles and it indicated a clear suggestion of the plot for the rest of the film.

Title sequence- textual analysis of Se7en

The title opening sequence consists of several overlapping shots portraying the removal of identity/evidence in the 'Se7en' extract. Repeated, sketchy shots are shown with the removal of a fingerprint and extraction of information from old documents. The extract uses saturated colours to create a sinister mood in the opening, this mood is also created by the repetitive sequence including occasional use of harrowing high pitch voice. Theses techniques used in the Se7en opening sequence gives us an incite to the world/mind of a serial killer.

In the title sequence there are several techniques which conform to the thriller genre:

1. The use of saturated colours fits with the stereotypical thriller genre creating a menacing tone and foreshadowing the bitter plot of the extract. In Se7en's titles sequence the lack of colour could emphasize the life drained from the murders victims. 
2. Us of gore is genre specific, Se7en uses several close-up shots showing the peeling of finger prints and brutal images (e.g. of the item lodged in a mans head). Thrillers often use gore/violence in their extract as it creates anxiety and terror in the audience. 
3. The increasing pace of the soundtrack and sound effects suits the genre as it helps build tension and mystery. Thriller genres aim to create suspense and cause the audience to ask questions, the use of sound helps do this!

Opening sequence- textual analysis of The Prestige

As part of my genre research, I had to textually analyse three opening sequences to help me create a clear idea of what conforms to thriller genres. The analysis of the openings will make me more knowledgeable on what techniques are used in thrillers and how this creates an effect upon the audience. 
This research will help me and my group when creating the pitch for our own thriller opening sequence.

The Prestige
The thriller genre created a tense, bitter tone portraying the plot- competition between two magician brothers. Also, the use of cross-cutting creates a sense of mystery emphasising the confusion between the relationship/competition of the magicians and with a deeper meaning highlighting the confusion of magic. Unusually, The Prestige has no use of an ident but does have the opening titles. The titles used in the extract changed from situational to abstract with the use of the footage in the extract. This is a technique we may decide to use in our own thriller extract as I think it helps integrate the meaning of the titles and the extract together. Another idea I have started to like that was used in Limitless is the use of a voiceover. In this extract it was shown via the voice of the wise old man telling a story about the competition between the two brothers and their increasingly dangerous shows involving the secret of magic. The voiceover establishes one of the main characters and the content of his dialogue helps the audience identify the other characters and understand the plot with the two magicians both who are (similarly to Limitless) not clearly represented as the protagonist or antagonist.  In the plot there is a mixed narrative between the two locations of the old man talking and the magician shows. This creates confusion and imitates the illusion of magic. Some of Todorov's structure is used: the use of the disequilibrium as the tension increases between the two competitors and recognition of disruption when the magic tricks goes disastrously wrong! Media language is used in the extract to connote meaning, the use of low key lighting represents the secrecy and the obscure nature of magic.