Final Evaluation Prezi Presentation

Hostage Evaluation

Question 1: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

While planning our thriller opening sequence we tried to include generic thriller conventions so the audience can understand our sub genre of a crime thriller. One of the first conventions that we portrayed is the narrative which centres around a theme or crime, which in our case we had a kidnapping. We also included a protagonist and built up many enigmas during the whole opening sequence, to reveal the kidnapper right at the end of the 2 minutes leaving the audience wondering if this may escalate to a murder which is also another frequent convention used. We have researched into professional films such as reservoir dogs where we conducted a 9 shot analysis gaining new ideas of how we can develop or challenge the conventions. From doing this we were able to take advice on how the lighting should be high key at certain points and low key in others to look realistic while still building tension. We then used this in our opening where we were able to colour correct the section while the female is lying docile on the bed. We made the lighting more high key to see the make up features on her face better. We have also looked at Panic room in which we took notes on how the opening credits were displayed. They had a large 3d effect to the writing and were presented at different angles over the top of the images of New York City. From the use of our generic conventions the audience should be able to tell what sub genre our opening sequence is as we have made the conventions very clear and some much more detailed than others to emphasis our thriller sub genre. We also feel by doing this the audience will be able to recognise similar features that are in other movies such as panic room, while investigating panic room we saw how the music built up in sound levels and with tension so we developed this idea in our opening sequence and also built up our sound levels going quiet at certain points to make the audience question what is going to happen.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In terms of representing social groups, we have two characters of opposite genders; the antagonist being male and the protagonist being female.  However, we think this is representing females in a stereotypical way, as the girl is in the footage for the majority of the shots and it is showing what could potentially happen to young females. The female’s clothes were stereotypical for her age as she was wearing hunter wellies and an army style jacket. Also, she is vulnerable, passive and in a very dangerous situation. We are also representing the male gender in a stereotypical way as a middle aged man is more likely to act this way rather than an old man or a young teenager. The representation of gender and age in our opening sequence is portrayed in a stereotypical way, as the kidnapping is done by a middle aged man. If we had decided to use a fragile old man or a young teenager, this may have been unrealistic as they may not have the strength or ability to kidnap a young female. Also, we decided it was best to use a young, female character as women are stereotypically vulnerable and weak. The age and gender of the characters in our opening sequence helps relate to the target audience as it is targeted for people aged 15-45. The antagonist is a middle-aged man and the protagonist is a young female character. We think our opening sequence links well with our target audience as we are using both male and female characters of which our target audience can relate to.

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

Looking into professional crime thriller movies we were able to establish distribution companies that would be likely to distribute our film. We looked at Reservoir Dogs which was distributed by Miramax films which is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent films. We then looked Memento which is another crime thriller the distributors of this were Pathe, which is a French business and soon became the largest film equipment and production company. The third film we looked at was Oceans Twelve which was distributed by Warner Bros Pictures which is one of the biggest American film companies. All these films are similar to ours in the sense of all being crime thrillers, this is why both big and small companies might distribute our product.  Due to our movie being quite main steam we don’t think this would be just an internet release, we think it would be a cinema release, therefore due to it being aimed at a larger audience our movie would be a TV movie. To promote our product we would have a varies of different merchandises one being a T-shirt as this can be for both sexes and all different ages, spreading the word of our film to a wide variety of our target audience, another way we would merchandise our products is by creating small figures of the main character (The protagonist) or even the dog.

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product? 

Our opening sequence target audience is aimed towards 15 to 45 year old, male and female audiences. To find our target audience we thought of the age and gender of our characters. Also, some professional films which are similar to ours are a 15 certificate. This helped us think about who our target audience would be and who would enjoy this genre. This gives an expanded variety of different types of people that can relate to our media product. For example the main female character can be related to the teenage female majority from our target audience, as she is portrayed as a stereotypical teenage girl. She is shown walking the dog in a warm coat and Wellington boots instigating a normal dressed teenage girl taking her dog for a walk. Another main character is the middle aged man which is the antagonist in our media product. He is also stereotypically portrayed as a middle aged man in the woods dressed in boots and tracksuit bottoms. This is characterised as normal because he was in the woods, which matches the environment he was in.  Another film called Taken which is a crime thriller is similar to our media product, as they are both about abduction. The main character in Taken is a teenage girl that gets kidnapped similar to our story of our main character. This would appeal to teenage female majority as the main character is, but also would interest older middle aged men and teenage boys as another main character is the dad who is legitimately clever and on a mission to get his daughter back.

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

In our audience profile we aimed to attract audiences from the ages of 15-45 which were female or male genders. So we firstly researched what sub genre films they liked and done questionnaires to narrow their hobbies and interests down. Our title is called ‘Hostage’ this, just by this name it gives an indication of what is going to happen and this by itself can attract customers because if they like kidnappings they will want to see it. The events that occur in our opening sequence will scare or excite audiences of similar ages, such as the young female character gets kidnapped and this may terrify girls of a relatively similar age as it reflects reality’s of what could happen to them and by doing this will give them a thrill of watching the thriller movie, it may also scare parents or careers that have daughters because it could open their eyes into what the real world is like when young girls are alone.

 In our sequence opening there are certain points that would entice the audience to make them feel anxious or even as if they were in the main female characters position; such as when there is a shot of her point of view turning around. Also there is the antagonist point of view from behind trees which creates an eerie atmosphere for the audience watching. From the audience being able to imagine themselves in the females position of being followed makes them on edge and fulfils the sub genre of ‘thriller’ in the sequence, they are witnessing what is happening and questioning why it is happening which makes them want to carry on watching it. The generic thriller conventions help us to achieve this as the audience feels the female characters sense of danger which then again builds suspense.

6.  What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

When creating our opening sequence, we were all able to figure out how to use the camera pretty fast. Everyone, even the characters in the opening sequence had a chance to interact with the camera. When we went to film part of the first scene in the Great Park, it all worked well until we attempted to upload it and found that it had fuzzy lines across the footage. However, next time during filming we will look after our tape and ensure that our footage will not be ruined. One of the problems we faced during filming was the weather. It was hard to find the right time to film as our location for the first scene was the Great Park and we needed it quite dull so it would give more of an effect on the storyline. A few times we attempted to film there, however it was either raining, hail stoning or too sunny to film our footage. It was difficult trying to find the right time but we eventually got there with a lot of effort put in, we just took every opportunity we could to finally get this done. Final Cut Express was a completely new software to use for all of us, though we caught on to how it worked quite quickly. We found a few effects useful to creating our overall mise en scene such as the black out we used after the young girl got kidnapped, this helped emphasise the crime. As a group we found Garageband useful to produce our opening sequence soundtrack on as it gave us many different sounds to use to create this. To produce our soundtrack we used a variety of suspense sounds. This helped the filming become more exciting and nervous for the audience. However, we found it quite difficult to find the most appropriate sounds for our soundtrack but eventually we discovered some good sounds. Music plays a huge part in films as it helps build up the tension more and more.  Blogger.com was an online technology that we used to gather our certain planning that we used to organise and present our information. We also received blog of the month as a group. We used the still cameras to take pictures of our location, props, make up and costume.

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

When we were given the brief of a two minute opening thriller sequence, we were excited yet anxious as we had never done anything like this before. To get used to the equipment and the techniques of filming, we done a preliminary task which lasted around 30 seconds and we felt this went good considering it was every group members first time using the camera equipment and acting. After we had practised using the equipment, we went straight into researching our topic which was thriller and our sub genre which was crime thriller. We chose crime thriller because we felt that from the clips of professional crime thrillers this option was the most electrifying yet realistic. A few of the crime thrillers we watched were Oceans Twelve, The Watcher, Silence of The Lambs and Memento.

After watching a couple of the clips we started to notice the generic thriller conventions and started realising what our opening sequence must consist of to give off the same feel. The next step was to create a storyboard, we all had great ideas so we finally managed to put them to paper with detailed hand drawn images and notes above to know which scene they would be in and what would briefly be happening. We knew exactly what shots we needed to use and which scenes would need to be edited, it was good to have this planned so we could follow the sheets and not have too much trouble when trying to film it. When creating our animatic, the pictures and scenes matched and flowed well so we handheld recorded the storyboard and uploaded it onto the Mac. We also made a short practise music soundtrack using Garage band, this was also the first time we had used Garage band, so experimenting with the different sounds and effects we could use was exciting. We managed to put together a short 30 second track with eerie sounds to match with our sub genre of thriller, we then uploaded this into our storyboard so it would play and the track would run at the same time. We felt this went really well, as we had only just learnt how to use all these new software’s and our knowledge was growing so next time we used them we would have a better understanding.

We were aware that the more we filmed and got used to the camera, our shot types and angle techniques also improved at the same time. We feel that one of our best shots that had improved from the beginning was match on action as we practised this in our preliminary task, and looking back to that shot from the one we used in our final thriller, we can see that we have improved a great deal. Although we initially found it difficult using the tripod, as we had numerous times of difficulties with it, we persisted and carried on until we eventually got the hang of it and then after this the rest ran smoothly as well. However another one of our main problems was the weather because it’s unpredictable. As we had an outside scene it was hard to keep the continuity precise and we did have to go back and re-film a few scenes.

Looking back at the brief of the task and then our end final product overall the whole process went really well. Yes we had to overcome some obstacles but we tried to do it in the most professional way with the mind set to get the best possible opening sequence grade that we could. As a group on a whole we got along well, with also receiving blog of the month once. If we were given this brief again, the things we would change is the outside location to indoors, as we now have a good understanding that weather is very unpredictable. Finally we have enjoyed the overall experience from planning the research to filming and editing our final opening sequence.

Final Opening Sequence 'Hostage'

Researching and Creating Credits

When it came to the end of editing our 2 minute opening sequence we knew that would would have to add credits in introducing a variety of characters and rolls.
By researching into these credits we found out that credits are now usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. Some including music over the top, natural sounds or complete silence. All using different fonts, sizes and colours.
In our case we chose to use to have the credits fade in from the bottom right hand corner, stay for roughly 2.5 seconds and fade out again over the top of our action, with simple music over the top which fits our action, we got the idea of doing this from the professional film Reservoir Dogs as we both have the same sub genre.We had to choose i font that would refect the genre of our thriller, we choose to use Comic Sans in capitals as this fits our mysterious plot and makes our opening sequence look profession, to add to the professionalism we kept the font. 

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Editing Stage

Throughout the development of our opening sequence, we as a group had strengths and weakenesses during our editing and filming. i will be discussing the strenghts and weaknesses of our editing stage.

Strengths-
-One of the main strengths we had of using the editing software final cut express is that we were able to practise on this before hand when creating our prelimiary task.
-We firstly reseach which transitions were commonly used in thrillers to give us a better understanding.
-We were able to generate and decide the best ideas through discussing and trialling the best ones, we perticulalry liked fade in and fade out, ass this took the sharpness effects of changing shots.


Weaknesses
- Due to where the location of the first scene was set, we have had issues with the weather. Our attempts to film have not gone to plan a few times as it was either hailstoning, raining too heaving or had thunder and lighting. So we had to rearange and go at a different late.
-Baucause we had to go back and film, we had already created half the soundtrack so it was hard to make the music fit the appropriate shots. We had to change the Garage Band track and this did take a while.
- As our computer was not working for around 3 days this held us back quite a lot and we had to catch up after school and in our free lessons.

Opening Sequence Title



The title of our opening thriller sequence is 'Hostage' as this relates back to the main story line of our sequence. By making it realte back to the sequence follows the generic thriller conventions, we thought this was a good titile because the main female charector does get held hostage so it all fits in well. We edited this font on photo shop to get the rough distinctive fuzzy feel when you look at it. As this will be shown through out the middle of our opening sequence just before the second scene it will be against a black background to give the mysterious, creeping feeling. As the Title appears the music will also be fading out so it will make the audience question what is going to happen next.

Rough Cut

Feedback from Group 2:

How well have the technical areas been produced?
- Good establishing shot
- Good use of eye line matches
- Slow down reaction to twig sound, make more of a reaction
- When Chloe runs towards the camera it is very shaky
- Try and have less shaking of camera

How well has genre characteristics been used? Can you identify the sub genre?
- The eye line matches make it more mysterious, portraying it's a thriller, but from what we've seen we struggled to identify the sub genre.

What do you like about the rough cut?
- The different shot types
- The ambient sound
- The suspense and location

How can they improve the rough cut and what constructive criticism can you give the group?
- Positioning and more control over the camera
- More emotion/reaction from Chloe

Feedback from Group 3:

How well have the technical areas been produced?
- Good variation of shots.
 -Consistent lighting.
-Used long shot and short shot duration. Not consistant shot.
-Should have heard breathing in Chloe's point of view shot.
 Natural make up and costume makes character more normal, adds realism - audience can relate to her.

How well has genre characteristics been used? Can you identify the sub genre?
- The shot types make it appear to be a thriller (the hidden ones), however long shot duration is used to much which contradicts the thriller conventions.

What do you like about the rough cut?
- The various shot types engage the audience.
-Good location.
-Costume makes character relatable.
-Enigmas created towards the end of the clip.
-Easy shot creates tension and urgency.

How can they improve the rough cut and what constructive criticism can you give the group?
- Continuity. Chloe lets dog off lead, the dog is ahead, then the next shot of dog it's running from behind her when it should be in front.
-Chloe smiles at the camera after letting the dog off the lead.

Feedback from Group 4:

How well have the technical areas been produced?
-Good camera angles and a good variety of shots
-No music but ambient sounds like the birds tweeting add to the realism
-Could be smoother and flow better
-Great costume, well behaved dog, good weather typically gloomy
How well has genre characteristics been used? Can you identify the sub genre?
-Cannot identify sub-genre as yet, maybe music would perhaps make this more obvious

What do you like about the rough cut?
-We like the different angles like when she turns around and the camera goes with her.

How can they improve the rough cut and what constructive criticism can you give the group?
-Make editing transitions smoother
-Add sound
-Cut when she first lets go of the dog as it looks to rehearsed

Feedback from Group 5:

How well have the technical areas been produced?
-The slow pan creates tension
-Straight cuts keep the continuity
-Costume of Chloe is realistic and suitable
-High key lighting does not scare the audience or make them feel on edge
-Ambient sound of birds sets the scene

How well has genre characteristics been used? Can you identify the sub genre?
-I can't identify the sub genre as no characteristics stand out at the moment which could be a good thing as it builds suspense.

What do you like about the rough cut?
-I like the prop of the dog as it allows realism
-Point of view shot engages the audience and is a feature of a psychological genre.

How can they improve the rough cut and what constructive criticism can you give the group?
-The actor looks at camera and waits a few seconds before bending down to take the dog of the lead which makes me feel she has been directed to do this.

Final Logo

Here we have made our final logo on Photoshop. We decided to use this software as we could manipulate and change images to suit our ideas. Firstly we searched on google images and then we found the megaphone which looked unique from the rest. Next we saved it and then opened it up on photoshop and dragged the background into the bin icon. We then used the burn tool with an exposure of 25% to shade areas of the picture darker to give it a more vintage look. After we went onto filter gallery and chose the drop down selection of 'Artistic' and chose the design poster edges which gave the image a fuzzy background effect. Following this, we then clicked on the horizontal type tool where we selected the font 'sprint SF' where we typed our text. Later, we selected the free transform option which then enabled us to tilt the writing to make it in line with the way the megaphone is facing, we also used this tool to shrink down the writing 'productions' as we did not want it as dramatic as the main name of our logo.

Throughout the beginning of this process, we found this task challenging as we had never used this software before but we eventually figured out how to use each tool on this programme, which then aided our ability to create our logo.

Make Up Ideas

The only makeup that is going to be used in our opening sequence will be on the main female character and the antagonist. This gives us a chance to think about the type of makeup we want to use on each character to relate to their situation happening in the opening sequence. The girl will have natural makeup on during scene one in the Great Park. However in scene two, when she is tied to a bed, we will use dramatic makeup to portray her anxious feelings. The antagonist will also have makeup on his hands and underneath his eyes to emphasise that he is a threat towards the girl by protraying his scary makeup to the viewer.



Picture from the thriller film Sinister

 As you can see above this is a picture from the film 'Sinister'. Very gory makeup was used on the young female character, which you would normally see in horror movies, but we are doing a thriller so will have to consider a less amount of gore as we do not want to fall into the horror generic conventions. The red makeup all over the female character's hands portrays that it is blood to the audience which makes the viewer suddenly assume that the girl could be hurt. This is useful when relating the makeup used here to our own opening sequence as we want to portray our female character to be hurt, we will be doing this by giving her false cuts over her body.

Picture from the thriller film Safe Haven

This second picture is a shot from the film 'Safe Haven'. The makeup that has been used is very natural and inoccent looking. This portrays a normal looking young lady to the audience. During the first scene of our opening sequence, the main female character will be walking her dog minding her own business, so normal natural looking makeup will be used. This does not suggest any apparent events occuring to the audience but there will be a twist as there will be a kidnapping event.

Camera Work and Editing In Thriller Movies

Looking at professional crime thriller movies, we have noticed the different editing and camera techniques they have used within their opening sequences. The crime thriller we have chosen to analyse is 'Panic Room'.
The first editing technique they have used is a fade from black transition, which fades into a high angle of a city revealing the production names. As we see this appear on the screen, it then beings to zoom in. This matches the soundtrack being used in this opening sequence. It then cuts straight to the next shot of another production name at again; a high angle in a city. These production names continue in the same location and style until the majority of the cast and crew have been shown. This also includes the title of the opening sequence, which appears in this way too. On each of these titles/names which appear, there are a range of different transitions used such as zoom in, pan, tilt, low angle and high angle. All of these names and titles are shown in 3D as if they are big letters across very tall buildings in a busy city. This opening sequence tells us the location of where the film is set.

Make Up Trial

Here is a trail run of Chloe's make up who is the protagonist whithin our openeing sequence. We decided to test this out before the bedroom scene to make sure that everything looked realistic yet effective which would then overall make the mise en scene pristene. In the first trial run the eye make up looked too exaggerated and dark, so in our real filming we added a lighter tone of cream eye shadow as well as the dark tones in order to balance it out and look realistic as possible. We thought the cut on the side of the cheek worked really well as we added layers of vaseline to make it 3 dimensional.



This was the eye shadow pallet that we used, there were a variety of colours as you can see in the picture so we were able to mix and blend colours for a better effect. As we wanted to exaggerate the female character's eyes we used 'Powler' as this is the darkest colour in the pallet, this was smudged gently around the protagonists eyes to show the lack of sleep and empahsis the fact that she has been drugged. We also used a cream white eye shadow which were blended into the highlighted areas such as above the eyes and on the nose, this left a slight shimmer and gives a sign to that audience that she may have been sweating, this is a sign of shock.

Moodboard of Thriller Films

Here we have collected a range of thriller movies and created a moodboard. Many of these films we have previously evaluated or looked in detail at these films in terms of sound, mise en scene, editing and camera work. They have all influenced our ideas in different ways, one being that in silence of the lambs there was a forest openeing scene which we thought worked really well. We have used this idea which led us to choose our location. In the majority of the collection of films they use the generic thriller convetions which ensured us that we will need to include these when filming our sequence. Overall we believed that looking at these films has helped us out in the longrun.

Photoshop Logo Production Practice

We have created a practice production logo using photoshop. Firstly we decided to use an old tv as the main focus of the logo and this reflects our subject of Media, to enebale us to get this photo on Photoshop we found the picture we wanted, saved it into our own documents and then opened it up in Photoshop to minipulate it using certain tools. Secondly we had to come up with a name for our Production company we came up with M.B.C.C as this is the initials of all of our names and sounds professional. As our Production company makes films only for thrillers we had to find an appropraite font that will fit all genres, to add text over the picture we used a tool on the left hand side of the page called the horrizontal type tool, we used the font 'Algerian' for our M.B.C.C and a more simple font for the 'productions' here we used 'Calbri.' For our actual logo we also plan to use photoshop in order to minipulate the image in a creative way to make it original to our company.  

Location Report Scene 1

This is our main location where the first scene of our two minute openeing sequence will happen. It is in the Windsor Great Park and our female character will be walking along this track while she is walking her dog.

This is another shot from the top of the track looking down at where the antagonist will be hiding looking up at the protagonist. We thought it would be good to test this as we don't want the female character to be able to see him. This will be made possible by the branches and trees to hide him and also the time of day when we are filming as it will be getting dark.

This is a low angle shot from the antagonist's point of view. We thought we should test this shot to show how the antagonist is looking at the protagonist from behind the tree's. This shot creates suspense for the audience as he's watching every step the girl takes.

Logo Research Ideas

Here are four examples of four film production logos, we looked at these for inspiration ideas for our very own logo. We noticed that the most popular and creative logos have clear bold stated titles of the name of the production companies. There is also normally an object above or around the title that relates back to filiming such as the camera next to the title 'Creature Productions inc' and the filming tape roll above 'Wilson Film Productions inc' This gives us ideas to relate an object around the theme of filming, such as a tv, camera or even filming tape like the logos above. The logos are also very limitted in what they display there isnt normally a background of a picture of something but just a plan background. However the 'Dream Works' logo does have a background picture, famously known for the cloud background which is still very limited and simple, which is something we will bear in mind when creating our logo.

 The first logo we looked at was the 'Hand Made Films' this logo looks slightly different to the other three logos. This logo has a bold black background of what looks like the universe, where you can see all the stars around the black. The title of the film and object above the title is also outlined with a bold white line. This is not used in the other logos which we have looked at which makes it look very unique and clear. The logo also is only displayed in black and white with no other colours, this makes the logo look very professional.The font also has a curved style which gives the look of authentisity, which relates to old films.

The second logo we looked at is 'Creature Productions inc' this is different to the first logo we looked at. The logo does not have a background and is just plain white, which makes the logo and object very eye catching. Furthermore compared to the first logo 'Hand Made Films' does not have an outline around the title and object which makes the logo look more simple. However the object used of the camera on a tripod is also used in the first logo we used which makes the two logos look very simular beacuse of the matching objects. Aswell as the logo before they both are in black and white. The font looks very light and not in bold like the other logos. The word 'Creatures' is seperated with each letter in the roll of film. this makes the logo look very playful which relates to films as they are know to be creative and spontaneous.

The third logo we looked at was 'Wilson Film Productions' is displayed in big clear font, with the main name in bold and the word 'productions' in light font. The font also looks very modern and clear because of the way they have laid it out. There is a camera roll above the title. This relates back to filming as the roll is known to be used for filming. There is no background to the logo and it is just plain white, this makes the logo stand out more to people. Another technique that is used is the shading on the filming roll, this also makes it look modern as it is very smooth and professional looking.

The last logo we looked at was by 'Dream Works' it is very different to the rest of the logos displayed above as all of it is in colour. Each of the letters of the title are mostly different colours. This displays it as being very colourful which is different to the others as they are just in black and white.

Risk Assesment

Animatic

Practice Shots

We decided to do some test shots in the location that we will be filming, which is the Windsor Great Park. We done a tracking shot, an establishing shot, a close up to zoom out and lastly a handheld tracking shot. We felt that it would be best to test these as we will be using all four of them in our opening sequence. From testing these the zoom out and handheld tracking work the best in our opinion, but when doing an establishing shot in our real sequence we will need to use a tripod to keep a steady balanced camera without the unstable feel. Also we have found out that the wind in the background was a problem as it creates a shaky camera and doesn't give off the effect that we intended. However we believe that the location was appropriate and we feel that the scenery will work really well when filming our sequence.
By practising the test shots we have been able to decide a day which wont be windy and therefore will stop the problems we had when filming these shots. We can see by practising first really helps us to figure out the best possible outcome to make our sequence the best that we can.

Video Shoot Shot List

Production Logo Analysis

We have chosen three production logos which have produced films within the same genre as ours - Crime thriller. As a group we have decided on 'Dream Street Pictures', 'Pardiman Productions' and the well known 'Universal'.

Dream Street Pictures - Dream Street logo is very plain and simple, using minimal colours such as black, white and royal blue. It is simply just a black background with a road in a circular shape. The words 'Dream Street Pictures' has been added underneath the image of the road, they have used two different colours and also two different fonts. The iconography goes well with the name of the company on the logo.

Pardiman Productions - There also isn't very much to this logo as it is again a plain black background with a single film strip placed on the left hand side with the letter 'P' in the middle. They have also used the colours black, white and a variety of blue. The writing 'Pardiman Productions' is placed on the right hand side written in two different fonts but all in white. Although this picture is very simple, that is the reason it stands out and catches people's attention.

Universal - This logo has a lot more to it as they have used a range of colours such as yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, black and white, taking up the majority of the space provided. They have done this as they produce films under every genre. This is eye catching as they have used space as the background with an image of the earth placed in the middle. The company's name 'Universal' is written over the earth directly in the middle of the logo. They have simply just used one font as it is only one word and have used a mix of yellow and orange for the colour of the font. The images they have used are appropriate and match the name of the company.

In comparing all three logos we have noticed that there are both similarities and differences which are established within the production. Dream Street Pictures and Pardiman Productions have both used a black background and the same colours: black, white and blue. They have both also used minimal colours as they have kept it very straight forward. Where as, Universal have used more of a variety of colours in their logo and also more detail in iconography and the background. Though Universal have done this, it doesn't mean that this logo catches people's eye any more than Dream Street Pictures and Pardiman Productions logos.

Soundtrack Practice - Garageband

We have used Garageband to create a practice soundtrack for our thriller clip. We have used various tools to complete this soundtrack. To begin with we chose two longer sounds to ensure that our soundtrack has continuity, however, we added shorter sounds at points throughout the clip to add suspense to match the actions, this also emphasises the actions and adds meaning.

The soundtrack we have created has a mysterious feel which again reflects our clip and helps to add to the enigma.We started our soundtrack off with a thunder roll, this comes in when the logo appears on screen. The calm, but dark and eery music begins with our establishing shot just showing our location. When we've got an ordinary action of the girl walking with her dog, the music is parallel to the action but is also mysterious. When the shot changes to the kidnapper's point of view from in the tree's, the speed and tone increases which creates tension for the audience.

Towards the end of this soundtrack we have added a 'mysterious accent' to play at the same time as one of the longer sounds. This gives suspense and blends well together, we changed the volume of the shorter sound to over power the longer sound. At the end of this sound, a thunder clap is added to the soundtrack which leaves the audience curious.

Mise en Scene Practice

To make sure that our mise en scene was on point and we could create the best atmosphere to match our scene as possible, in the second scene of our opening sequence our protagonist is tied to a bed, having been drugged and is very delusional as to what has happened. We came up with the idea to use a smoke machine to create this effect. We decided to use revealing clothing in this scene as it gives away a small clue as to what our antagonist is doing. The clothing, atmosphere and location gives the audience the impression that the protagonist is very weak and vulnerable.

Target Audience Research and Profile

This collage above is a collection of pictures that we associate with our target audience of 15+. This was created after both primary and secondary reaserch was completed.

In order to gain a detailed insite into who our target audience is going to be we conducted both praimary and secondary research. Our primary research consists of a variety of question produced in a questionaire, and as for our secondary research we looked into Pearl and Dean audience profile website. Using this website we had a look at three films which were Shutter Island, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Transporter 3.
From both our primary and secondary research above we have come to the conclusion that our target audience will be ranging from the ages of 15-45. We selected random people to complete our questionnaire, where we asked our target audience what their hobbies were, what their favourite genre of film is, what their favourite film was, their age range, occupation and class.We recognised that females are more interested in thrillers than males, whereas on our secondary research where we compared Shutter Island, The Woman With The Dragon Tattoo, and Transporter 3 through Pearl and Dean, this showed us the variety of ages, the class and the ratio of genre, we saw that more males watch thrillers than females, but the ratio difference was not extreme. For example, when you have a look at the statistics for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo you can see that the percentage between male and female is 56% male and 44% female. From this it is apparent that the gender ratio for our target audience would be both men and women.
The majority of our target audience liked to socialise, do some sort of sport which they done to get keep fit and enjoyment, a very few liked reading. As we didn't have long to find out about our target audiences we asked people in a 5 mile radius, coming from places such as Windsor, Slough, Datchet, Bracknell, Eton and Old Windsor. From our questionnaire we can see we questioned people will all different types of occupation such as managers, sales assistance, teachers and students. All of our target audience were Middle class earning either a low wage of between £0-200 a week which were students with part time jobs, or £600-800 depending on the occupation.
From establishing our target audience we are now aware of what elements from our video would attract them. Our clip will attract our target audience by using generic thriller crime conventions such as enigma, the audience are old enough to work out and question what is going on without giving away too much. It will also contain scenes of violence and drugs and influence of sexual abuse which will also keep them engaged throughout. We have included both a antagonist and a protagonist which are commonly used in thrillers, this will help the audience to have a clearer view on the storyline, resulting in them wanting to watch more.

Sound and Music in Thriller Films Analysis 2

For the sound and music research we have chosen to analyse the first two minutes of Black Swan and Oceans Twelve.

The first thriller we will be analysing is Black Swan. We are introduced to the Black Swan by a sound effect of a train chugging, this effect continues for around ten seconds. Another sound effect is used shortly after of what sounds like a pack of cards flickering, this happens when the film company name appears. This then switches to 5 seconds of silence, this builds tension and makes the audience question what is about to happen. As the producers and directors are introduced, music is also introduced we hear a quiet violin, this again continues for another ten seconds. The volume of the violin increases as the title "Black Swan" appears on the screen, we then hear a short diegetic laughter of a female character, this builds enigma as we wonder why or what she is laughing at. The music of the violin carrys on before we hear a collaboration of all different stringed instruments, as soon as we see an element of the main character which is her feet, this is when all the the stringed instruments come together in a slow pace. After almost 7 seconds of this music playing the volume increases. As the main character slows the pace of her ballet dance down, her face is revealed and the volume decreases again to almost silence. After we see the full body of the character the stringed instruments all come together again, however they also add a crash symbol, this creates suspense and is parallel to the visuals.

Secondly, we will be analysing Oceans Twelve which is a Crime Thriller and may influence and help us when we come to make our own opening sequence as we have the same sub genre. The first sound we are introduced to is a church bell, when the Time Warner company appears on the screen. The church bell changes pitch from low to high conveying the sound of wedding bells. Shortly after, a stormy sound is used as the Village Roadshow Pictures approaches the screen. The sound effects of all the ambient sounds such as the door opening, the keys jingling and the footsteps, this adds realism to the first scene. As the main character is walking round his house we hear the sound of water running, whilst this is happening we continue to hear ambient sounds such as the glass touching the table. As we are welcomed to the second character, we hear the first bit of dialogue which is spoken by the main male character to a female character, roughly one minute into the clip. While they are speaking, the sound of water is still continuing slightly in the background. The dialogue continues of the two characters having a conversation about their day.

As Black Swan and Oceans Twelve are both different genres of thrillers, they are obviously going to be different sound effects and music to ensure that they fulfil their conventions accurately. The Black Swan conveys their conventions successfully because the audience are always questioning what is happening and why, on the other hand Oceans Twelve didn't have any conventions of a crime thriller in the first two minutes of the clip. Also, The Black Swan used a wide variety of instruments such as a violin and other stringed instruments, whereas the opening sequence of Oceans Twelve did not include any instruments. The first two minutes of The Black Swan didn't include any dialogue which may of helped with the enigma, though Oceans Twelve included dialogue throughout half of the opening sequence.

Sound and Music in Thriller Films Analysis 1

Our first film that we analysed is called 'The Watcher', this is a crime thriller. We have analysed the different sound effects, the music, any dialogue used or even just silence.
From the first five seconds of the clip we can immediately hear a loud bong noise which is then followed by a tapping sound effect. They are both continued and repeated around every five seconds, which is also when actors and producers names simultaneously appear on screen in time with the thumping effects. After a while of hearing the repetitive sounds there are two taps of a chime on the triangle proceeding to the noise of a squeaky door opening. As the 40 seconds of the clip arrives the title appears with the music becoming louder, more intense and engaging the audience. The frequent tapping stops and is replaced with a CD scratching sound effect.
Throughout the middle of the opening sequence, the high pitched sounds start to appear and a violin slowly approaches the soundtrack becoming more noticeable as it proceeds. Around about 1:15, dialogue of a female voice singing gradually begins to get louder and then fades away quietly so we can just about hear it over the soundtrack. Towards the ending of the clip, all the sounds that have come together previously speeds up and increasingly becomes louder to create suspense for the audience.

Our second choice of film which we analysed is called 'The Sixth Sense' which is a psychological thriller. We have again analysed the different sound effects, the music, any dialogue used or even just silence.
The beginning of this two minute opening sequence starts off with a wind sound effect. A violin sound which fades in and out every few seconds, is added during this wind sound effect. Both of these sounds being played together creates tension as the film starts. This violin sound is heard every time a name appeared on screen. As the title 'The Sixth Sense' approaches the screen, the violin comes back in but a lot more louder and faster, followed by the sound of a crash symbol.
As we become further into the opening sequence, the violin carries on but this time with a piano being played in the background while names are showing on screen. Suddenly, a drum comes in which gives the effect that it is building up to the opening of the film. This is followed by increasing levels of violin, however, as we see the cast and crew names on the screen, the levels of violin is sustained at an average pace. The violin then begins to fade in and out and the piano is changing from low key to high key in a repetitive pattern as more of the cast and crew names appear.

As for the comparison between the sound and music of these two thriller films we can notice that there are both similarities and differences. In terms of similarities we can recognise that both soundtracks have a high level of tempo when the title sequence appears on screen. Yet, the pace of the soundtrack for both films are different. For example, they both run on different paces which then portrays different meanings. Both of these films include the same instrument at some point - a violin. However, The Watcher includes a female singing/humming a tune, where as The Sixth Sense does not have any dialogue in the opening sequence. On the other hand, The Sixth Sense includes a lot more instruments than The Watcher does,  for example, a violin, a drum and a piano. We may think that because The Watcher only includes very few instruments that it will be less effective but in actual fact it has a lot more sound effects which make up for the lack of instruments used. We feel that based on the sound of the opening sequence The Sixth Sense is a lot more engaging as it builds up tension in a more detailed way than The Watcher where it starts off with a loud bang. The Sixth Sense also has a more thriller feel to it where as, if you only listened to The Watcher, you could mistake it for an action thriller soundtrack, due to the fast pace and vibrant sound effects.

Initial Ideas Mind Map

Pitch Presentation Of Ideas

 

As a group we created a power point presentation of our initial ideas for our thriller opening sequence. Our presentation included the narrative of our opening sequence, the location where it will be set, the props, costume and make up we would need, who will be taking each individual job role, who the main characters will be, and our title. We thought about each micro area carefully in order to create a opening sequence to the best of our ability fulfilling our specification. To improve our thriller further and to discover what we done well our piers and teacher gave us feedback.

From this feedback we got asked whether it would be better to film our external scene in the dark, from this we have to ensure we investigate into what time the sun sets, and specifically how dark or light we want the scene to be, our teacher suggested that we test shot the scene at different times.

One of our piers found it positive that we included a protagonist and an antagonist as this fits in with our crime thriller conventions. By having a clear protagonist and antagonist it help the audience to understand the meaning of the sequence.

Another pier said that our title matches up with the narrative very well, we supported this statement by giving a definition as to what "Hostage" means and it matched up with our story line. This is also a advantage as it follows the generic thriller conventions.

We got advised to think about the mise en scene in the bedroom, which is the second location in our sequence, to ensure that there are no obvious mistakes we will empty the bedroom for any unwanted props or objects that could be displayed in our focus.

Our teacher pointed out that we included the majority of the crime thriller conventions and we done them well. When it comes to our final ideas we will guarantee that all these conventions continue throughout all ideas.

Another piece of feedback that we received from our teacher was about our location, keeping basic will help to keep the audience focused and aware of what is going on, also by using location that are local will confirm that is is available at any time and if mistakes are used whilst filming we can re do our work to improve.

A piece of important advice we received from our teacher was to carefully think about who is going to play the male character (the antagonist) as he will always need to be available in case we need to re film any scenes.

We have been told by our teacher that we need to think about specific sounds we want to use in our opening sequence, to confirm that this happens and makes our clip clean, it may benefit us to record the sounds after we have filmed as we can get the microphone on the camera closer to the sounds, we would then add these in during post production.

From our constructive comments we can see what we have done well, which we will  then continue through to our final ideas. However, we can also see what we need to do to improve our opening sequence, for example add test shots.

Past Student Work Analysis 2

We analysed a two minute opening sequence created by a student from Windsor Boys' School, this clip was a psychological thriller called 'Alone'. This student used all four micro areas very well to portray the psychological thriller conventions.

The first micro area we will be looking at is camera work. This student used a variety of different camera techniques to create tension for the audience. Throughout the extract, there are many close ups and also extreme close ups to show us his emotions through his facial expressions. A handheld tracking was used twice: once when the character was walking through the hallway and another towards the end of the extract on the antagonists knife. This makes the audience curious as to why the murderer was doing this and if he will do it without the protagonist turning around. Depth of field was also used when  the character appears to be watched by the antagonist. A variety of camera techniques have been used for the enjoyment of the target audience.

Secondly, the next micro area we will be looking at is Mise en scene. One of the props he used was a cigarette which the character was smoking at the beginning of the extract. This portrays an understanding of the setting which gives nothing to suggest that the events that occurred were going to happen, this entices the audience. However, the close up of the tip of the cigarette wasn't very clear, which was followed by a plain cream background shot which also was not very understanding. Another prop used during this opening sequence was the knife, this is shown as he approaches the protagonist from behind, and although we do not see him stabbing him, we can tell from the movement of his arm that he is dead. This clearly shows that it is a thriller not a horror, as stereotypically there would be blood and gore involved. Although this scene was very good, it would of brought more realism to the extract if the antagonist's weapon was more than just a bread knife.

The third micro area is sound. Throughout this whole extract there is non-diegetic sound which keeps the audience curious during the whole opening sequence. There is also diegetic sounds on top of this non-diegetic music. At the beginning of this clip, we can hear the TV for a few seconds, we then hear the lighter when the protagonist lights his cigarette. These small diegetic ambient sounds adds to the realism in the room. This opening sequence was aimed to be a psychological thriller, however it does not portray many explicit psychological thriller conventions, more so we can recognise there are crime thriller conventions used.

Lastly, we will be looking at editing. The whole opening sequence is continuity editing which means the following shot flows well with the previous shot. Short shot duration is also used throughout the opening sequence. A lot of emphasis has been created around what the main character is doing during an ordinary evening. There are transitions such as cuts to the main character smoking a cigarette to an extreme close up of the tip of the cigarette. Editing techniques such as eye line match and match on action has been used when the character answers the front door. He used a match on action shot when he opened the door to see who had knocked. As he walked out and left the door open, he filmed the latch on the door straight after. This shows that the door had not shut properly, which also creates suspense for the audience.

This student used the four micro areas near enough to the best of his ability. The flow of continuity throughout the whole extract flowed well, and the acting and filming techniques were very good. If I were to grade this student on his two minute opening sequence he would receive an A grade.

Past Student Work Analysis 1

I analysed "A Stranger Knocks" created by students from Windsor Boys School which was a Psychological thriller. They used all 4 Micro areas in order to create the sequence which was 2 minutes long.

The first area i will be looking at is Mise en scene, they used a PlayStation as one of their props to give the audience a normality feel to the scene where a few boys are spending time together. They have also used very casual clothing to emphasis the stereotypical teenage look. With this representation we can also relate the setting of the sequence as a stereotypical teenage boys bedroom. Some props they have used to portray this look would be weights, speakers and colour scheme of the room. The high key lighting in the bedroom is again used to create the casual feel, but also so we can see the facial expressions, as the sequence continues and the boys walk down stairs the low key lighting becomes darker to create suspense.

Secondly we analysed Camera work, the boys used a variety of camera techniques to create meaning to their sequence. The tracking shot used both times that the character/characters walked down the stairs to the knock created suspense, and as the audience we feel slightly scared as to who the stranger is that knocks. They used a zoom effectively once they were at the bottom of the stairs as they zoom in onto the small transparent window at the top of the door, this again makes the audience question whether we are going to find out who the "Stranger" is. A match on action is used when the character opens the door too see who knocked on the door, which created enigma again as to who the stranger is.

The boys used different sounds and music for different scenes of the clip. Again, the sound of the mobile phone going off gave that normality feel to the sequence, stereotyping teenage boys. The sound they used for the knock was very clear, emphasised and used at the right time. The music they created and incorporated into their sequence was parallel at all the right times therefore helped to created tension and thrill.

Like most opening sequences they stuck to very few different settings keeping the clip simple and continuity of the clip clear. During the process of editing within their clip they used a technique to blur the vision of the character as he walked down the stairs, this increases the suspicion added to the conventions of a sub genre.

The Mise en scene didn't create enough suspense and didn't emphasis the sub genre of their thriller.They didn't use any type of costume or make up to portray any phsychogical thriller convention traits, and the setting they decided to use didn't have me sitting on the edge of my seat.

To develop this sequence more they could have improved the quality of their filimg, for example when they zoomed in on the small window at the top of the door, they didn keep the camera focused on the window they let a dark wall come into focus which was innapropriate. Secondly they could have increased the variety of their camera teckniques.

From the sequence we can clearly see that the group tried to use high key lighting in the bedroom scene and low key lighting in the scene down the stairs, however when trying to use the low key lighting they didn't handle it professionally and made it so dark that we couldn't see the faceial expresions.

I don't think they used their four micro areas to the best of their ability, and didn't put much thought and effort into the costume, make up, location and lighting to overcome this. Due to this if i was to grade this group they would recieve a D.

BBFC 'British Board of Film Classification'

BBFC is the 'British Board of Film Classification'. This stops children from watching inappropriate scenes within films or videos. Before a film or video is released BBFC check to the content and rate it by what is in movie. They decide this by looking into issues such as sex, horror, language, nudity, drugs etc.

U stands for Universal. U films are suitable for audiences aged 4 years and above. U films should not include scenes such as drugs, violence, sex, horror, nudity, bad language etc. The only language that would be heard in a U film would be "hell" or "damn" it would be very mild language not very often. Kissing and cuddling would be the only sexual content seen in a U film. There may also be very brief fighting scenes or situations where characters are put in danger. However, this would not last long as it would be quickly resolved and the outcome will be reassuring.

PG stands for parental guidance.This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Smoking and drinking should not be promoted but if it is, it should be recognisable that it is bad and harmful. Mild language may be heard. No detailed sex scenes or violent scenes is appropriate for a PG.

The 12A and 12 symbols mean that anyone aged 12 or over can see the film unaccompanied. However, if you are under the age of 12 you must be accompanied by an adult. The 'A' stand for accompanied. The difference between a 12A and 12 is that 12A is for cinemas only and 12 is for videos and DVDs at home. Bad language may be used in a 12A certificate film, but it must be infrequent. Violence may be seen in some scenes but it must not be detailed. Some horror films are passed at 12A. 

The 15 symbol means that the film is not suitable for any children under the age of 15. No theme is prohibited, provided it is appropriate for 15 year olds. A 15 certificate may include strong violence, nudity, sex scenes, drug taking, frequent bad/strong language.

Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under the age of 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or rent a video/DVD. An 18 is not suitable for children. No theme is prohibited at all. Very obvious sex scenes and violence scenes can be shown frequent throughout the film.

Opening Sequence 9 Shot Analysis 2

We are introduced to the character type with 6 male characters sitting around a table, and in another scene of them walking in a group. We are then introuduced to the theme tune after 8 seconds of the opening sequence, along with the directors name. We recognise the location and place by a wide shot of the cafe, which fades to black this is when the theme tune is introduced, the next scene we see is a long shot of the street containing the 6 main male charcaters. In our 9 shot sequence we priorities the main characters, but we also see the directors name, the title of the film and some on the characters names. The enigma that is created in this opening sequence is the guy who we dont regonise covered in blood towards the end of the clip.

The costumes shows the audience a lot about the characters, they are smartly dressed in suits which indicates that they are part of a police force or part of the gang culture, the costume and props such as guns, money, blacked out suits and glasses are all used to portray this, this is stereotypical for a Crime Triller as we associate all these elements with crime.

The close up of each individual male characters shows the facial expresions and body language of each of them, in this close up we see the blacked out glasses and the serious face expressions, the long shot of the characters walking down in a group again indicates the culture of these characters, and are associated with gangs.

Short shot duration is used during the clip when introducing each of the characters, this helps the audience to recognise these as the main characters, and what their role is, other that that one occasion the rest of the clip uses long shot duration to establish the scenes, and the action that is going on. A fade to black is used to show the audience that there is a change in scene or location, within Reserveoir Dogs this occurs when it switches from the cafe scene, to the scene where the characters are walking down the street.

At the beginning of the clip we hear dialougue from the main character talking about money, this adds realism and we begin to imagine what their job role is. The next sound we recognise is fast pace music which is parallel to the action within the clip, which helps us to further identify their job role.

Finally, the last area which establishes the genre of this clip is the typography used within the text. crime thrillers are tend to work around font types which would be classified as masculine and bold. from Reservoir Dogs we can clearly see that this is also the case. The text showing the characters name is placed more towards the left of the page, the black background with the orange bold writing again is stereotypical for this type of Thriller, as it stands out and aims itself more towards the male gender, the oher text we see is the directors, names etc these are placed in the centre of the screen, using the same colours black and orange. "Reservoir Dogs" is again placed in the centre of the screen, using the background of the main characters.

Opening Sequence 9 Shot 'The Silence of the Lambs'

We are first introduced into location of place which is in a dark eery forest, this is also one of the opening sequence conventions which are to be expected in opening sequences of thrillers. The main characters name is soon followed with the same background establishing shot. After, the Title appears in a large black text through the middle of the screen, it's called 'Silence Of The Lambs' which is a crime thriller movie.

 We are first introduced to the main character from a high angle looking down on the girl, this makes her seem like she doesn't have a lot of power, there is also tracking following her running through the forest which is quite mysterious and follows the generic opening sequence conventions as it makes the audience ask questions about what she is doing. We later establish that she is in fact doing some kind of assault course which is counter typical for a young blonde female character. She is dressed in a baggy jumper with running trousers and trainers and whilst in the assault course has to climb and overcome a large obstacle which then portrays her as a young, strong character.

When the second character comes into the scene the 180º rule is used when they are having a conversation. Soon after there is a long shot of the large army camp. When the female character enters the camp we can see guns and weapons to confirm that its something to do with the military, there is a pan of her walking through a busy work place followed by a medium shot of her in the middle of a lift surrounded by men. This leaves the audience questioning why she is the only girl and the rest are men...is she different? What's so special about her?

From the beginning of the clip there was dull mysterious music engaging the audience which then turned lighter and started to fade out. There was diegetic noises such as crunching wood when the female character was running and also diegetic sounds from within the busy building. When there was dialogue between the female character and the male character we could see that he was in charge and had power over her from the tone in his voice.

From the previous elements mentioned they were all to be expected from opening sequence thriller conventions which we will be using when creating our opening sequence.