Evaluation Q7 - Jason Burksfield

Evaluation Q6 - Jason Burksfield

Evaluation Q5 (Group) - Jason Burksfield

Evaluation Q4 - Jason Burksfield

Our Target Audience Member would be:

1) Between the ages of 15 and 24.
From our research, we found that the majority of thrillers are rated 15. This led us to make sure that our thriller could fit the BBFC 15 rating, and not become an 18 rated film, as we would restrict the audience who are the usual target market for thriller films.

As the film is about a murderer, there will be strong violence, but this is allowed in a 15 rated film, so the BBFC would feel our thriller would be suitable for 15 year olds.

2) Of either gender

We found out in our questionnaire that 80% of Males and Females watch Thriller films. Therefore, we have not made the film only suitable for one gender.  The film will not be too masculine that is off putting to most of the female audience, and it is not too feminine, that would not appeal to the Male audience.

3) Often go to multiplex cinemas.

This is vital, as we want our film to be distributed by a hollywood company to multiplex cinemas around the country, and possibly the world. These people tend to watch more mainstream films and television, and keep up with what is in fashion at the time.

We are not trying to appeal to independent cinema goers, as they tend to have more alternative tastes, as are not usually within the ages of 15-24.

How have we targeted these aspects?

1) Between the ages of 16 and 24 - Our main character is in the age range, making the character relatable.

2) Either Gender - The storyline centres around a male, but there are female characters involved in the storyline too, making it interesting and relatable for people of both genders.

3) Go to multiplex cinemas - mainstream marketing techniques would be used, such as posters and billboards. Also, the main character wears trendy clothes, so the audience who keep up with the latest fashions will be able to connect with the main character.

Evaluation Q3 (Group) - Jason Burksfield

Evaluation Q2 - Jason Burksfield

Evaluation Q1 - Jason Burksfield

Evaluation Q7 - Joe Tiongson

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

• Looking back on our preliminary task I feel that I've definitely made progress in terms of my knowledge and understanding on the filming world such as location planning, different filming techniques, the importance of lighting and the importance of how audience research is crucial to have before even generating ideas on the concept of our opening.

Pre-production

• Pre-production consists of planning all the necessities before we pick up a camera and start to film. Pre-production consists of the location on where to film, creating a script and plot and gathering equipment. When doing our preliminary task we found that this is a significant stage in filming and takes time and effort to plan out efficiently which we didn't have so when it came to the pre-production of our actual opening, we made sure to spend the appropriate amount of time into planning the factors that would influence how our production stage would run. 
• Through planning we were able to be more efficient with our time as we feel we didn't 'jump head first into the shallow end' meaning we didn't go into the production stage blindly and without a rough idea of what we're doing.

Production

• When we started filming our preliminary task, we were able to experiment with a variety of different camera shots and angles and found out which ones were more suited to our film opening in a way that generated a certain atmosphere or make the audience feel a certain way. An example of a shot we found acceptable was the close-up shot and we evidently used this a lot in our opening because we felt that this shot allowed us to portray the actor in a way that illustrated his emotions clear and unsettling.

• Between the preliminary task and the final product we were able to demonstrate more types of shots that suited the thriller genre. One type of shot we kept in both was the close up of the feet however it generated two completely different attitudes towards the way it was used; in the preliminary task we used the close up to portray where the character was going and no other purpose whereas in the final product we've used this technique to establish a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere for the audience to fit into conventions of a thriller.

Preliminary Task

Final Product

Post-production

• Post production consisted mainly of editing because we didn't have to re-shoot any scenes due to our efficient planning. Unlike the preliminary task, we knew what scenes we needed through the storyboard so there was no need for improvisation.

Preliminary Task

• One technique technique of post-production which we all felt confident and familiar in both is the concept of continuity. This was our strongest point as a group as we all got our head around this technique easily, its also a great technique to demonstrate because it makes the scene transitions from one to another smoothly and doesn't confuse the audience making the shots more realistic and easily interpreted.

Final Product

At the end of the day...

From looking back to our preliminary task and at our opening there is a clear development between the two. I'm extremely proud of how our opening turned out in the end as it matched the storyboard I generated and portrayed our development and understanding of the devices and filming techniques from not knowing what we were doing to the adequate A level media students we are. In our final product we've incorporated the conventions needed to produce a well planned and effective thriller opening.



Our knowledge and understanding has developed from the preliminary to the final product because of how much research and planning we conducted in relation to conventions of a thriller opening. We got a good idea of the kind of shots are used in thriller openings and adapted them to make our successful thriller opening.

Evaluation Q6 - Joe Tiongson

Evaluation Q5 - (Group) Joe Tiongson

Evaluation Q4 - Joe Tiongson

Evaluation Q3 - Joe Tiongson (group)

Evaluation Question 3 (group)

Evaluation Q2 - Joe Tiongson

Evaluation Q1 - Joe Tiongson

Evaluation Q7 - David Brady

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

•   Looking back at my Preliminary task I feel that I've progressed in terms of my confidence with the equipment, research, planning. That I now understand the importance of lighting and filters and that the research and planning before production starts is as important as the filming is.  

Pre-Production

          Unlike in preliminary we learnt to storyboard what we are going to film, before we film, we created a shot list of the shots we wanted to use. This meant that we were more prepared to film. 

          

One part of our storyboard

          Due to this planning before we filmed we were able to create a better opening, as we knew that on both days of shooting what we needed to get done, what shots we were going to use and how we waned it to look.

        Comparing this to our preliminary where we didn’t do any intensive planning, we had to find a location to film, where as we had different location spots for our opening already planned. This meant that we were wasting time looking for a spot to film instead of filming the whole time given to us. 

          An example of finding the location, we took photos of the locations we were considering and then decided which one was better. 

          

       

          I feel that I’ve progressed in terms of planning as in the opening we were more prepared, and spent more time on the storyboard getting ideas onto paper so that there was no need to improvise when filming.                                                                           

        I also learnt the importance of lighting from planning and research as we learnt about 3 point lighting, which we could have used in the preliminary to improve the shot, but we used effectively in the opening.

Preliminary task

          For example in the preliminary the character was hard to see when he came through the door. If we had access to lights we could have improved it.

          Unlike in the preliminary in the opening we had lights that allowed us to create different shadows on the face of the character, this is an example of how the planning has helped me improve as I now understand how useful lighting is. 

Opening

    

We conducted research into thrillers where as we didn’t do any research for the preliminary. I've improved in my understanding in the genre, as I’ve learnt from the research that a thriller is anything that creates tension and isn't a horror. This research into the thrillers in cinemas now, conducting questionnaires and interviews is important as it means that in our opening we are creating a thriller and not a horror.

This helped produce our thriller as we had an understanding of the types of film that we wanted ours to be like and drew comparisons from them. This meant that when filming we had a clear aim of what we wanted our film to be.

Production

I feel I have progressed in terms of production through the shot types I used. In the preliminary we used very basic shots, no high or low angle shots, no close ups and there was lots of long drawn out shots that we could have broken up with different shots.

PP

Preliminary

However in the opening I used more advance shots, such as a high angle shot, looking down from above the antagonist. This is a better use of the camera and it makes the clip more interesting as we are seeing what the antagonist are seeing. 

Opening

          

We also used a tracking shot in our opening which is more advanced than just having a long shot as the character walks away. Shown Below are the two comparisons. 

          As you can see the in the opening we used the tracking shot, compared to just the long shot that is long and is quite boring to view. This shows how I improved in the shot types and movements that we used in the opening.

Production - match on action

          In our preliminary we didn’t have great match on action, for example, he drops the bag but doesn’t pick it back up. Although this has allowed us to understand where we messed up and how to avoid this in our opening. For example we keep the knife in the same hand the whole time. 

          The match on action wasn't good here as he arrives and puts his bag down. However when he leaves he doesn't pick it back up. This shows that in our preliminary we didn't fully understand or due to the lack of experience or understanding that we didn't notice that he left without picking the bag back up.


       

          Whereas in our opening we made sure that we kept the match on action by making sure that he kept the knife in his left hand for the whole time from when he came into the room until he stopped using it. 

          Another mistake in our preliminary is that there was no control over the setting, that there was no people in one shot and loads of people in the next. This meant that the match on action was bad.

First theres no people

Then there is loads of people

          Whereas in our opening we had control over the setting and we made sure that everything on the desk stayed in the same place throughout filming so that it looked the same.

         We especially made sure that the photo frame remained in the same spot as it was an important part of the filming, and if it moved then the match on action will be ruined.

Production - 180 degree rule

       

          We were successful in following the 180 degree rule in both our preliminary and our opening. This is important that we do this as otherwise the character will jump from one side of the screen to the other.

        This is the example from the preliminary where we used the 180 degree rule effectively. We made sure that we didn't cross over the line as otherwise it wouldn't make sense. 

         Although we did break the rule once in the opening, however we did it on purpose as it takes the audience out of their comfort zone and it illiterates the idea that our character has done a bad thing and it lets the audience know that. 

By us crossing over the line for the 180 degree rule we have broken the comfort of the audience making them feel on edge. This is important because we wanted to get the message across to the audience that he killed the person in the photo and the best way to show that was by breaking the 180 degree rule.

Post-production 

          I feel I've progressed in post production, especially in editing as Ive developed the idea of continuity editing. In our preliminary we had good continuity throughout, when he opens the door, its at the same place on the other side, so the door doesn’t jump back in the second shot. 

          In our opening we kept the continuity throughout as when he slams the door open and starts walking we cut to a tracking shot, which is edited so that he starts walking on the same foot to keep the continuity.

          I felt that I have progressed in using the editing software as the cuts we make In our opening are much better and look more than profesional those in the preliminary.

As you can see the fast cuts make the editing look better and adding the white flash helped create tension, however in the preliminary i didn't know how to do this.

I now feel more confident with the equipment than I did doing the preliminary. I now have a better understanding of the camera, knowing how to use its technical features such as ISO and white balancing to make sure that our shots look the right color. 

          I feel that our end product has been very successful at completing the task of creating an opening of a thriller. This is because we used both conventions of a normal opening such as, titles, credits and music. As well as the conventions from thrillers such as, lighting, the use of close ups and breaking the rule of thrids for tension.

          I feel that the opening we created is a successful thriller opening as it creates tension and more importantly it makes the audience ask questions which is important as we want them to stay on edge for the whole film and not be bored by repetitive overused cliches such as running away. 

          Finally, I feel that the opening has been successful at setting up a plot for the rest of the film, as it doesn’t give too much away yet tells the audience enough so that they have to ask questions that wont be answered to later in the film.

Evaluation Q6 - David Brady

Equipment used:

Canon DSLR 650 EOS

Omit tripod

Camera lens’

LED Spotlight and filter

Flip-cam 

Final cut pro 

IMovie 

Strengths:

• ·  Lots of tools to make editing easy on Final cut pro
  ·      Used the tripod to get steady shots, not shaky, give us the chance to pan easily
  ·      The flip cams were very good to use for filming interviews as they were small and easy to use good for us moving around finding people to interview
  ·      IMovie was good to record focus groups and audience feed back as it records them watching while they can view the opening. 

Weaknesses:

• We couldn’t tilt smoothly; we wanted to take a shot that with the tripod was impossible to  do.
• ·      The flip cam is very shaky and can look unprofessional. 

 What we used the equipment for: 

      DLSR- used for filming the main opening, learnt how to use the focus to create the illusion of what the character is looking at.  We used this in the scene with the group photo, also we learnt how to white balance the camera, which we did for the scenes inside the house as we didn't have to do it with the natural lighting. 

      Tripod was used to create steady shots that didn’t shake, this made the opening look more professional, for example: 

      The tripod allowed us to take this opening shot without the camera shaking which in turn set the opening up. it was important that we used the tripod as we wanted to create an unnerving, still feeling that wouldn't have been possible without a tripod. 

      However it did limit us in some of the shots we could take, this meant that I had to hold the camera and film by hand trying to create a tripod with my arms kept close to my body to try and limit the shaking. 

   

      

      LED Spotlight and filter  was used in all the shots in the house to create tension, in the door shot the light is used as a back light to make the audience only see his silhouette. 

      Also the light was used to create side lighting that we used to make the character look more demented and psychotic.  We learnt how to use this in our 3 point lighting, and we got a chance to implement them in our media product. The use of the orange filter was to break up the artificial light, we believed that this would create more tension and suspense. 

      

       Final cut pro was used to edit the production,  I learnt how to speed the time up of the shots, as we thought the indoor shot was too long and we wanted to shorten it but we couldn’t cut it at any point. We also learnt that we could use fast cuts to cause confusion at the end of the opening using cuts between shot and a blank white image to create “flashes”.

Using editing tools to cut the footage and create "flashes" 

       We also used different tools to edit the music to make it sound old and vintage at first and then distorted and reversed during the “flashes” I learnt that I can use different transition and filters also help create atmosphere.