7) What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

Whats does a production Company do?
A Production company is reponsible for all the processes from pre production to post production. They take care of processes such as: Creating ideas for films, storyboarding, script, filming, editing etc... It also provides the finished product for distribution through film, television etc..

What is your idea of a Film Distributor?
A film distributor is a company/person who buys the copyrights to a film and then sells it to other companies/ cinema companies so they can then release the film for public viewing. This then allows the producers and the film distributors to make a profit.

Who might be the Distributor for your film and why?
I would use Entertainment films to distribute my film as they are a well known independent films company whos most famous films to date are the lord of the rings trilogys. This means that with a well reconised films company, people may feel more inclined to see my film. I would also use unofficial distributors such as Facebook and youtube. This is because it is free so it would keep the price down, also because these websites have a large amount of users so we would get more views and more noticed.

Where would the money come from for a film such as yours?
The money for my film would come from the producers and Entertainment films as they are an independent films company. We would also get money from any investors that were intrested in our independent film. 


Why have the various people been named in your titles? 
 In our opening sequence, we only introduced the producers and the main actors name. This we felt would keep to the thriller genre as we dont know what other characters/actors would be in the play, leaves a bit of a mystery for the audience. We decided we would introduce them as their characters appear later on in the film. They were named as they were important for the audience to know during the opening sequence, as the name of the main actor might grab their attention more.

Evaluation Activity: Your Progression

Match On Action

Shot - Reverse Shot

From my preliminary task, i feel like my skills at different technologies have been improved and my knowledge of different genres conventions and the film industry had improved significantly. Now i can use this knowledge to successfully create different effects on the audience. I also feel like my skills on a mac has improved, i am now able add various overlaying sounds and can create different types of transitions. I can also create a title sequence on Live type. 

I also feel that my analysis skills have been improved, now when i am watching a film, i can pick up on certain aspects of the film that may suggest who the main character is and what the genre is etc.. Lastly I feel that my camera work skills have improved as I now realise how different shots and angles can alter the effect produced on the audience. From the preliminary task, i learnt; the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot, we decided to use the Shot-Reverse shot and match on action. 

Evaluation Activity: Conventions

1) Titles -  Our title appears at the end of the opening sequence. It is large and in red, which stands out clearly in the black background. This was to suggest to the audience that the film is quite dark, which fits with the thriller genre. The title doesnt give much away in terms of plot, it only reveals the location in which the film is set.

2) Location - This is a shot of the location in which our opening sequence is set before the main character runs out from the corner. The shot also reveals the location to the audience as 'Sawston Court'. This location, along with the title, suggests that it is the main setting for the film and where most of the action will take place.

3) Costumes and Props - This is a shot of the main character after he has been shot, he's torso is covered in blood. We used this costume as it is casual, he appears to be just an average man. The blood makes the shot look more realistic to the audience, due to no sound other than music being used, we had to find a way for the audience to know that he had been shot. When a character is shot, Thrillers tend to keep it silent and focus just on the visual, this is what we did so we are keeping to the triller convention.

4) Camerawork and Editing - This is a tracking shot of the main character running to where he saw the figure.  This showed the audience he's urgency as he runs, the audience begin to share his feelings and want to know why he is running to the figure. We also used close ups to create different emotions, for example, we used a close up shot of the blood to shock the audience, we had also done another close up of a picture of the main character with a mysterious woman, this created more mystery for the audience as to who she is.

5) Title, Font and Style - We decided to use a digital type font for our title. The use of the digital font here forshadows a dark atmosphere within my opening sequence because digital can be associated with time, a ticking bomb, which is used within the film later on. The title of my film is also in red to connotate the possibility blood, which is seen during the opening sequence.

6) Story and how the opening sets it up - The story revolves around the life of a middle aged man, the events in the film lead up to what happens in the opening sequence. The shot shows the main character once he has been shot. This sets up the story as it begins with a murder, the audience don't know why he has been killed, who he is, who he's killer is. The shot alone creates many mysteries for the audience that they want answered. We also used shots of a picture of the main character with a woman to create a mystery. This fits with the thriller genre as the opening doesnt reveal much and creates many mysteries that are answered during the course of the film.

7) Genre and how the opening suggests it - The main thing that suggests the genre is the shooting of the  main character. There was much tension building and suspense during the opening sequence that helped make the shooting so effective and dramatic. The mysteries created in the opening sequence such as the death help to show it is a Thriller movie.

8) How characters are introduced - The main character of the film is introduced straight away with an establishing shot of him looking out the window. This was to show to the audience that he is the main character of the film. Because he is acting out an average activity within the flat, people will be able to associate with him. Another character introduced is a woman in a frame, this was to create a mystery for the audience as to who she is, she becomes to enigma to the audience.

MCF SFD
PISDOAPF

9) Special effects - We didnt add any special effects as we thought it wouldnt be effective. The most we did was to pan out of the shot where we see the blood. 

Evaluation Activity: Representation

5) Directors Commentary notes

We had our production company name at the beginning to immediately show the audience who created this film.
The text was red with a black background to make it stand out and also to fit our thriller genre. Because of the death in the opening sequence, we used red to represent blood and the black represented death.

We started with an establishing shot of the main character looking out the window, the audience begins to question why he is doing this.
Music used to create to an emotional atmosphere, foreshadows something will happen soon e.g. death.
No dialogue used to create tension, we felt dialogue would destroy any tension created. Fits with the thriller genre.

POV shot to show his perspective, figure seen creates a mystery for the audience as to who he is.

Continuity from looking through the window and running out the room.
Close up of picture to create more mystery, audience questions as to who the woman is.
Continuity continues throughout as he runs from the flat to where he saw the figure.

Filming in daylight challenges the conventions of thriller, as most thrillers movies are set at night.

Tracking shot of the main character running, shows the audience his desperation in finding the figure he had seen.

The panning camera builds on the sense of urgency for the audience.

Cutting to who produced it teases the audience and builds tension, they want to find out whats happening with the main character.

Camera pans to hooded figure to shock the audience
The audience questions whats happened to the main character, as they have seen no gun or gun noise.

Introduces actor to the audience, helps build tension as we have cut away from the scene again.

Zooming out from the blood in slow motion helps to shock the audience again.

Close up of gun to suggest to the audience it has some significance.
Hooded figure remains an enigma as we never see his face as he runs.

Title appears at the end after the death, makes the audience want to continue watching the film.

5) How did we attract/address our audience?

- Understanding which film conventions you used to attract your audience?

- What choices did you make to address the audience? E.g. Lighting, music, text, colours, shot types.

Create either a directors commentary or annotated video to address the question.

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

The Apple Mac

We used this mac to research our chosen genre and was used it to store and edit our opening sequence once we had recorded it. 

The Camera and Tripod

We used the camera to record our opening sequence. The tripod was used to keep the camera steady and to reduce jolt.

Live Type

I used this to create our title sequences within our opening sequence. We experimented with a range of different fonts and styles for our title sequence. Eventually we found one that we liked so we simply transported in from one mac to the other with a memory stick, and uploaded it to the opening sequence.  

Youtube

Youtube was used as part of our research so we could look at other thriller openings to get a general idea for the thriller genre. It was also used to upload our final project when it was finished. 

Blogger

Blogger was used to record our progress during the whole project. I uploaded various texts and videos from youtube to show my progress. I also recorded all the information from the questionaire in order to work out our target audience.

Youtube MP3

Youtube MP3 was used to download the music we needed. We was not sure whether to use 'mad world' or 'life on mars'. In the end, we decided to download 'life on mars' by david bowie as we felt it was the most suitable for our opening sequence.

PhotoBooth

I used photobooth to take pictures as evidence of my progress.  I also used it to upload my hand drawn interpretation of my typical target audience member.

Final Cut

Final Cut is the main software that we used to create and edit our opening sequence. We had no previous experience with final cut as we used Imovie for our preliminary task. We imported the clip that we filmed from the camera, and began trying to organise it into the sequence that we wanted. Once we had our rough cut, we began cutting it to fit our 2 minute limit and try and make it look as professional as possible. Some shots we had to remove due to continuity error and in one shot we had left the tripod in. After we had our sequence we added our title sequences and music and it was complete. 

Google

We used Google as our main search engine to research our genre. I also used my google mail account to sign up for blogger to archive my work and also youtube so i could do my directors commentary and post my footage online and onto my blog.

I have learnt that there is a wide range of technological products to help make a piece of footage look more professional. It is important to use a wide range of technologies as it keeps our opening sequence from looking amateur. With these technologies i was able to carry out successful research into my target audience and chosen genre and was able to produce a professional looking opening sequence. 

4) Who would be the audience for your media product

We were able to identify a target audience based on our survey findings we did a few months ago. Our typical audience member would be of an age range of 21-40, although females were the majority that answered our survey, based on what we created, we feel that both males and females would enjoy that it due to the dark elements of the film but also the romantic element of the film would draw a large female audience. They would be employed, so they are able to afford cinema tickets and DVDs. Although thriller didn’t come out as overall favourite, it did come out in top three, comedy coming first with 42.1%, romance and then thriller. People liked thrillers because they liked the suspense and tension given by it, and they like the sense of mystery, as they like to keep guessing the outcome and they consider it generally entertaining. 

Audience profile example.

Jim Bob

He likes to shop in JD sport and Topman as he can afford decent looking clothes, he is usually casually dressed but dresses to impress when he goes out to parties with his friends.

He is well educated and has a well paid job so he is able to go to the cinema every now and then to watch films.
Jim generally likes all types of music, but his favourite genre of music is rock.
Jim would usually go to the cinema to watch films, because he enjoys watching good films on big screens and also its a social event he does with his friends every few weeks. He is more likely to see a thriller film in the cinema as it creates a more dark and scary atmosphere and the audiences reactions throughout the film makes him more scared. When he does see a thriller film he likes to bring his wife/ girlfriend so he can comfort her when she's scared, it usually encourages her to go see the film if there is elements of romance in it, as she enjoys a bit of romance. Jim usually watch's crime documentaries and has always enjoyed watching thrillers as a child.

Final cut and Uploaded

Sawston Court

Here is our opening sequence, titled Sawston Court. Me and my partner are happy with what we created, we believe it suits our chosen genre of thriller and our target audience will enjoy it.

Mistakes we made

For a shot we planned to use, we discovered that we had left the tripod in the shot. Unfortunately we had no other shots of this, and after trying to edit the tripod out, we decided it was best to leave the shot out. We could still use the shot as no one noticed the tripod when shown the clip, however we believe it will be best to just leave the shot out.

Tuesday 7th Febuary

Me and Jamie have begun putting our footage together and have got the majority of it done. We are currently in favour of having our opening sequence as normal, i.e. not having it reverse. We still plan to get a few people from our original focus group to look at our finished opening sequence and will ask their opinion, if they want it in reverse or as normal. We will also ask a few of our peers and ask for their opinion.

What we did today

Today, me and jamie started experimenting with our film footage. We decided that we was going to create two opening sequences, one forward and one backwards. This is because we are undecided on which would be the most effective, so we will create two and bring in a few members of our original focus group so they can pick which one interests them the most.  Jamie has been working on the title sequence and has successfully made it, we have decided that we are calling our film, 'Sawston Court' due to the primary location it is set in. 

Next lesson we will continue editing our opening sequence. 

Thursday 26th January

Today, me and Jamie will edit the footage we filmed yesterday as much as possible. Whilst editing, Jamie will be working on the title sequence for our opening sequence and at some point today we will upload the pictures of our filming yesterday.

Effects for our Opening Sequence

We plan to use something like this for our opening sequence, we wanted a CCTV type effect in the opening to our film. However since we are using final cut, i will need to find something similar to the image above.

Tuesday 24th January

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to film at the weekend as planned. Instead, we will travel to purfleet tomorrow and film everything. Today, we planned every detail for what we are doing tomorrow, so that we are able to start filming and finish filming as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Soundtrack ideas (2)

Above is another soundtrack we found that will deliver the same desired effect in our opening sequence. The song is entitled mad world and is a very slow paced soundtrack, which will suit with our opening sequence as it will be in slow motion. It also creates the same sense of mystery and sadness as the soundtrack in the previous post.

Soundtrack Ideas

Above is a soundtrack which i think would work well with our opening sequence. The soundtrack is life on mars by david bowie. I think this will suit our opening sequence as it is quite a slow paced soundtrack  and will create strong emotions, it creates a sense of mystery for the audience that makes them want to watch more.

Production Schedule

Locations:

Purfleet

Props: 

Gun

Costume:

Man: Shirt, jeans, shoes (Casual wear)

Woman: Casual wear

Actors/ Actresses:

Stuart (The bald man)

Sharon (The women)

Equipment:

 Camera

Tripod

Apple Mac for editing

Time frame for filming:

Saturday 21st January: Film as much of the opening sequence as possible (shot 1 - 20)

Sunday 22nd January:  Film any remaining shot that wasn't done on saturday or any extra shots

Time frame for editing:

Tuesday 24th January: Edit as much as possible

Thursday 26th January: Finish editing

Inspiration to opening sequence

This video was the inspiration to our opening sequence. Although it is a trailer, and we are creating an opening sequence to a film, we still think aspects of the trailer would make a great opening sequence. We plan to reverse our opening sequence like the trailer does, as it challenges conventions of the thriller genre, well pretty much any genre. It also creates that sense of mystery, and although our opening sequence is the end to our film, it still makes the audience ask lots of question and will make them want to watch the rest of the film

Thursday 19th January

Today, it was decided for our group to split and do our own separate project. While researching for our opening sequence, it was decided that we do our own separate idea and we will come together and choose which idea will best suit our target audience. We all worked very hard, and quickly on our ideas. Me and jamie worked on one idea and daniel worked on another idea. When we came together to choose our idea, we were all very passionate about doing our idea for the opening sequence. After discussion, we agreed to work on our own separate projects, me and Jamie will continue with our idea while daniel continues with his. We also agreed to help each other with filming and anything else we may need help with.
By doing this we we will be able to work quicker and more effective.

Tuesday 17th January

Today, me and my group will come together and choose which screenplay we want to go ahead with. Once we are happy with our choice, we will begin storyboarding and deciding on what stuff we need before we start filming. After today, we hope to be ready to film and then begin editing out opening sequence by tuesday next week.

Sceenplay (2)

No Dialogue Throughout

Establishing shot of a man in a flat, he is looking out of a window. The camera slowly zooms in until we have a side view of the man looking out the window. Shot flips to a POV shot of the man, who see's a woman walking up the street and he recognises her immediately. He turns and runs out of the door, going down a flight of stairs and then out of the flats. He frantically looks around for the women he just saw as the camera pans around him. Shot changes to a waist/hip shot of a mysterious figure, and a gun is visible in their hand. As the man begins calling, we watch the mysterious figure raise his arm with the gun and pull the trigger. Everything is motionless for a second and we see the figure drop the gun to the floor. The man drops to his knees clutching his chest and then falls face first to the floor, he rolls over and the camera begins zooming on his face, where he's eyes then close.

Using editing, we plan to have the entire opening sequence in reverse. So it starts with our main character (the man) already dead, from there, we will reverse the opening sequence so by the end of it, he would be back in the flat looking out at the window. This type of opening sequence will allow us to create a big impact on our auidence from the very beginning and creates many question for the auidence. Once he is back in his flat, a black screen will appear with the words "6 months earlier".

I like this idea as i believe it is effective, gives a very unique spin to the thriller genre and keeps with what out focus group wanted.

Focus Group points:

- Routine of the main character has become too iconic - Because of this point i have decided to remove any sort of routine from the film
- Like the idea of juxtaposition, showing two scenes, a slow paced and fast paced scene - For now i have kept with a slow paced scene to stir p some emotion within the opening sequence, while filming if my group feels the juxtaposition idea will be effective we will add it to our opening sequence
- Target audience is film literate so don't need to entertain them in first 30 seconds, our plot is very sophisticated so pace is very important, can afford to have a slower pace - With this point, i thought it was necessary to create a unique slow paced opening sequence so we are able to create a sense of mystery, fast paced music might ruin the desired effect on our audience

Thursday 12th January

Today, i plan to come up with a movie idea for our opening sequence idea. I will do this by looking at other movie titles for inspiration and try and come up with a title that will suit our opening sequence idea. I will also try and finalise the opening sequence script so we are ready to start filming next week.

What i did Today

Today, i drafted up a screenplay which will be put into consideration by our group. We have all written one and will each vote on which one we think is the best. Since i had spare time, i also completed a production schedule and a shots list. Now me and my group will decide which of our screenplays will be storyboarded for thursdays lessons.

Shot Types

For our opening sequence, we plan on using a number of various shot types to create an effective opening sequence. We decided to just use basic shot types, as if we use to many, our end product may look unprofessional. 

The first shot type we are hoping to achieve is establishing shot, this should be fairly simple as we only need to stand on the other side of the road to the house and do the shot there, since it is a public area we will need to ensure we don't film members of the public as they may not want to be filmed. 

Another shot is an over the shoulder shot of the man running through the street, again this shouldn't be a problem but will just need to make sure we film the public as less as possible. Other than that, we will only be needing shots such as close up and mid shots, these shots will be done in houses or on the car which we can do successfully without any problems. 

Production Schedule

Locations:

Jamie's house (Outside and living room)

Gale street

Props: 

Car

Clothes

Picture

Wedding ring

Costume:

Man: Shirt, trousers shoes (work clothes)

Wife and Woman: Casual wear

Actors/ Actresses:

Undecided

Equipment:

 Camera

Tripod

Apple Mac for editing

Time frame for filming:

2 weeks (maximum)

Time frame for editing:

2 weeks (maximum)

What i am going to do today.

Today, i will be:


- Creating a Final Screenplay draft 
- Production Schedule (We will only have 2 weeks to film, so we must plan what we are going to do each lesson and if necessary, plan some filming time during our study time or even after school. We will decide the role of each member in our group and where will we film the opening sequence
- Shot list (What shots we plan to use)

If i am unable to complete any of the work above i will carry on completing this after scholl and tomorrow ready for storyboarding during Thursday's lesson. 

Focus Group Footage

This is the footage of our focus group, because of the length of the video, we decided to cut it down to the points that we felt would be useful to us in creating our opening sequence. The points made were very useful as along with their answers plus the questionnaire results, my group would be able to successfully produce a suitable thriller opening that would entertain our target audience.

Screenplay idea

(No Dialogue throughout)

(Establishing shot showing a house with a man sitting in a car outside, switches to mid-shot of him through the windscreen)

(Man is sitting in the car, staring out onto the street)

(Soundtrack 1 playing over the top)

(Starts with a slow, calm mood)

(Edit shot to flip to a street, Black and White shot)

(Soundtrack 2 is playing over the top) 

(Over the shoulder shot of the man running frantically from an unseen figure)

(Shot flips back to man in car)

(Different shot, looking at through the drivers window, he continues to stare out)

(Shot flips to a living room, black and white shot, POV shot of the man, he is looking at his wife and she paces up and down, yelling at him)

(Shot goes back to the man in his car, close up of his face as he closes his eyes)

(Another black and white POV shot of the man outside the house, looking up at his wife as she yells from the window and starts throwing clothes out)

(Shot goes back to the man in his car, he searches his car and finds a wedding ring, which he stares at before putting on, he closes his eyes again)

(Black and white shot of a different woman, POV shot of the man, he watches as she also yells and starts to become a little violent and throws stuff at him)

(All the various black and white shots begin to get faster and faster, soundtrack 2 getting louder and louder)

(Loud bang and the man opens his eyes, he looks and sees his wife at the car window, who beckons him to come inside. The man switches the engine off and watches his wife through the rear view mirror as she goes inside, he then looks down at a picture of the other woman, and then gets out the car)