Evaluation Question 7

We feel like throughout the steps of making the opening to our thriller we have progressed incredibly throughout. We have gained many skills that we did not have when starting. We have learnt and experimented with different shots which were used in our film and showed how different shots and lighting can create different moods and atmospheres. Also we have also gained group skills as working in a group constantly to make a big project is not something we have particularly had to do much before. We learnt that each section of making a film takes a lot of thinking even the things we thought would be easy and straight forward like costumes and props. As we progressed we learnt the importance of them and how simple things like different props can show a persons character and personality, but also helps explain the story more to the audience. Overall as a group we now understand much more the steps and how to make a film.

Our skills as a group in film making increased greatly. We had to learn from scratch how to use the software needed as none of us from the group had any experience with it before. We now know we must leave a lot of time when editing the film as it takes a lot of time to complete. We have realised how important sound is for a film as it completely sets the mood and genre. The added effect of putting a foley soundtrack over our thriller opening completes the whole thing by giving it the realistic values it has to withhold to look professional. When finding our main soundtracks for the opening we had trouble finding one that suited our film whilst also keeping the mood intact that we set out to achieve. Therefore we found that layering different soundtracks together worked better to create the eery intense mood we finally successfully did achieve. With the dialogue, we only had 3/4 lines in the whole opening and the way we filmed this meant that the character was not in shot so this made it easier for us to make the volume and pitch of the doctors voice high enough that you could clearly hear the dialogue that was intended at a reasonable level. 

After getting our idea for the film we then had to develop our skills in camerawork and the actual filming of it. We have learnt a lot about filmmaking and gained a lot more knowledge increasing our skills from doing our preliminary to final film. Although when coming to added our final edit to our production blog we had an unfortunate incident involving our clip being deleted by one of our team members losing the device. Although by then we had already gained the skills needed to be able to continue and produce our final opening as well as being able to edit some of the frames to work better in our opening to ensure that within the two minutes it made 100% sense. The skills developed in filming and practicing our editing techniques especially involved realising the different strengths that each member in our team withheld so this making the editing process faster knowing we could split the task accordingly. In our final edit each frame is heavily edited in either brightness, contrast, exposure, saturation etc to add to the mood that we set out the create.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
 The technology we used to create our film was a camera and lighting. We also used software such as final cut and after affects to edit and put our thriller opening together. We also used internet sites such as youtube to get sound effects and the soundtrack but also to learn how to edit certain things a certain way.





Our whole group when originally starting did not have a clue how to use any of the above equipment as we had never used it before. We realised how important the lights are when filming as they create the effect for the mood you are trying to create. They created a weary serious mood for our film and allowed our actors to be seen in the dark lighting we decided to use. We had some problems with our camera as to begin with it did not work, we then charged it and played around with it and managed to make it work. We learnt the basic things like learning how to record steadily and stop the filming but also how to upload a tape to the computer to edit. We had never used Final Cut Pro or after effects before but now know how to use in in quite a bit of detail as it was an essential software when creating our film. Although rendering was quite time comsuming after learning how to add effects, slow down, crop or fasten sections of videos and lighting changes it was soon pretty simple and quite quick to use.

This is what the final cut looked like when we was half way throuh editing our thriller opening. It did take a long amount of time to edit our film and leaving it till late to finish it up was not a good idea as the ending of the editing was maybe more rushed than it could have been as we needed to ensure that we left more time to do it as the rendering did really take up a lot of our time after each little thing changed.

This is the software and internet sites used:

Evaluation Question 5

The ways we captured the viewers interest In the opening is we decided to use dislodge so the audience had something to listen to other than just the soundtrack music but also using the end piece of the story then going back in time to explain how they got there. This attracts the audience as it makes them want to find out more about why he is in their, what he has done and why the clip keeps referring back to a train. The song is loud and catchy drawing the viewer to see what is on the screen making them want to watch more. The opening does not give too much away but just enough to make the audience want to watch on to see what happens. There is an unnamed person in the opening and the viewers will most likely want to find out who it is as we made him as well as the main actor as mysterious as possible so the audience will want to know more about them.

As our thriller films target audience is of the male gender aged 16-30 we decided to have all male characters in the opening that the viewers can relate to. The main character looks like an everyday male person but with a twist making the audience want to find out more. The music is fast paced and creates suspense something the men love. The characters are in normal clothing that most men watching would be wearing and are of the similar age of the target audience. The film genre is a thriller which is more associated with a man compared to a girl which would be associated with romcoms. The thriller opening is very anticipated and action packed and that is something we found most men to look for when watching a film, so we ensured to include that.

We appealed to the age group aimed at for our thriller by using young actors who also suited the role. The soundtrack chosen is quite a modern soundtrack as we were targeting the younger generation of 16-30 year olds. We created a lot of suspense in our opening through the dark lighting gaining tension and the mysterious expression in the actors faces. We used quick transitions from setting to setting to make the opening fast paced and action packed something the younger generation look for and using fashionable clothing makes them see it as in trend and cool.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience we decided to aim our media product towards was men aged 16-30. We made it a typical thriller film that most stereotypical men enjoy watching as it has a lot of suspense and action involved. The thriller opening is aimed towards a working class man. To get our target audience we did some research into thriller films like our own such as limitless and found out the target audience of them. The films had a more adult story line and plot something that not necessarily a child will understand and as ours had a similar storyline we thought 16 would be a good age to start at. The violence suspense and action of the chase make our thriller film a film aimed more towards the male gender.

This is a typical person who would watch our thriller a normal, regular male:


Our target audience is likely to shop in a wide variety of shops but dress smart when needed as they are most likely a working business man. Shops such as River Island, Topman, House Of Fraiser, Gant, Zara or online shops such as Asos and Size. These shops are the new in fashion clothes and sell casual but also smart clothing and tend to go along with the current trends. The characters in our film dress also smart casual so it shows some similarities towards our target audience to make them feel more realistic and natural. This makes the characters seem more believable.

These are some of the types of clothing you would find in the above stores, RIver Island and Topman both providing smart and casual clothing which our target audience would be wearing.

The music taste of my target audience is typically whatever is popular and in the charts at the time. Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, Rap, but then also music like dance, house, electro and maybe even rock. Being young men they typically just follow the trends of music and like a variety of music not just one genre. If a song is in the charts that they like or is popular at the time they are more than likely to like it as well. The rap music is more of a manly type music with most rap artists being male such as Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Jay Z. This is why we decided to use Kanye West's song as our soundtrack to appeal to the male audience.

The favourite Tv shows for our target audience would be programmes like The Walking Dead, Top Gear and Two and a Half Men. All of these programs have adult humour, violence and suspense or fast cars something that typically men of the age group enjoy and is it a masculine program. Films our target audience are likely to watch are Thrillers which typically have the fast cars, suspense and violence. Films like James Bond, Inception, Batman and Fight Club. We have a lot of aspects throughout our film that our target audience would be interested and enjoy watching. Although they might watch the popular films with good reviews they also would watch the films they actually enjoy, which is typical to be the thriller genre, like our own one.

Although mainstream films will be watched by our target audience because they will be the films promoted at the time, they will also watch independent films that they are interested in, that keep the suspense and actually enjoy watching.

Evaluation Question 3

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

About our Production Company:
Our production company makes openings for films in the genre of thrillers. We decided to call it Intensity Productions because the films we make are intense so we thought that it would be a suitable but also professional name for out company. The logo we designed for our film has lines in the background to represent the tracks on the train.We then added a train and the name of the film and this was to promote the film.

What your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)
A production company helps to create the film. It looks over the film from when its just an idea to completion. They are responsible if anything were to go wrong on the film. A film distributor is a company/ individual responsible for marketing of the film. They set the release date and and the method of which the film is available for viewing and also make sure that the film becomes appealing to the target audience and therefor sells. The money for our film intellectual would have come from the production company Intensity Productions, if it would have been a real company. We made it look as professional as we could because of this.

 Although our company would not be a major and have loads of money to produce the film there would be enough to make a good film and hopefully gain a great profit from it, to then produce new better higher quality films. Our title sequence worked in a specific order, people that done the major work for the thriller opening get more screen time of their names and are shown first. The actors are also shown as they are inoled in the film and we wanted the audience to know if they liked the actors or not for future films, but also for their own recognition. We then put the name of other people who helped make the film possible as there are many different roles all important to make the final piece. 

Evaluation Question 2

The actor we decided to use from our thriller opening Intellectual was Dan Hughes who played Doug. We then decided to pick the actor from Limitless, Bradley Cooper as that is the thriller we got inspiration from when deciding our plot. Although the actors do not necessarily look alike, they both just have dark long hair. The actor Bradley Cooper has facial hair that makes him look a lot older but ours does not. The costume is very similar with plain white/ black clothing which is quite casual, everyday clothing. Although the actor in limitless is much older than ours we wanted to make our actor look older than he is so decided to pick mature clothing like the suit and shirts. They both had a vital role within the films they was in, Both being the main characters, without them there would be no film. They both develop as a person throughout the films, going from being run down and not much going for them to actually getting motivated to do something, although it is not a good thing our actor is aiming towards. Our thriller is more aimed towards the male audience with only having male actors in, it would attract them more.

The costume of both the actors shows the power and superiority they have within their films being dressed smartly in suits and shirts. Our thriller is an action thriller and the personality of our character shows this through being suspicious and mysterious not really giving a lot to the audience about himself which is the same this Bradley Cooper from Limitless. The actors are very similar with similar locations in built up areas, costume and personality and i think the way they are gains a great deal of suspense towards the audience. Throughout they both have serious facial expressions, our actor doesn't smile at all during the opening and are stereotypical characters for an action thriller with similar story lines.

Evaluation Question 1

Final Edit

Evidence of Editing

Intensity Productions Call Sheet

Reeces

For the section of our title sequence where Doug waits for/gets on the train we have decided to film at New Eltham train station due to the fact it is close by and so is easily accessible by all the whole production company.

                                      

New Eltham Railway Station

Footscray Road
Eltham

London SE9 2EH

For the part in this section that Doug actually gets on the train and sits down we are also going to be filming at New Eltham Station due to the incoming of trains constantly this will then enable us to film this section over and over to ensure we have got all the footage we need when editing.

For the beginning of the title sequence it opens in a mental hospital and so we needed a plain white room with possible lighting to be able to create the full affects to ensure we get the shots we need to, this is why we have chosen to film in the studio next to our media room at school as this enables us to use the lighting equipment, be in a plain white room and have the added benefit of the white backing screen.

For the section when Doug begins his flashbacks we have chosen to film in Jen's house in New Barn as we can all access it and there is an appropriate room in her house that we can use to rough it up and make it look like Doug's run down apartment.

                                      

                                                

Casting & Auditions

The actor we as a production company have  chosen to play the role of Doug is Dan Hughes.Dan understands the task we have been set to do and is willing to put great effort into his performance. Even though Dan is only 18 we feel he is of the appropriate age that we need for the role as he is a diverse character that we can easily change the look of to make him seem 'rough'. In this photo to the right he is wearing a suit he may be wearing when filming our title sequence.

The actor we as a production company have chosen to play the role of Winston is Rhys Gennery, although only a young age of 17 we feel with the right team we can make him seem older than he is, he also possesses a lot of facial hair when it is grown which we feel is very appropriate for the role of a detective. Rhys knows the storyline well due to being apart of Intensity Productions himself which is very useful as it saves time when filming is put into place. He too is wearing a possible suit option for his scenes in Intellectual.

We filmed Rhys walking down a hallway as part of  his audition, this may seem like a very simple task but considering this is Rhys' main task in the film along with just having to sit quietly on a train we felt this was satisfactory enough to see if he was appropriate for the part. 

Asset List - Equipment

• Camera 1
• Camera 2
• Camera Bag
• Tape
• Tripod
• Extra Tape
• Charger/Batteries

Asset List - Props

• Red pill that Doug will take whilst sitting at home on his sofa
• Rubix cube to show he's become smart 
• Bag that man holds when leaving house to train station
• Old Coffee Table
• Plain chair for hospital
• Plain table for hospital
• Sofa
• Empty beer cans to mess up room
• Cigarette butts to mess up room
• Rubbish to mess up room
• Old looking blanket
• Phone
• Ashtray

Scene Walk Through - Including camera shots

Key:
Present
Flashbacks
Both

0.00 - 0.04

Close up of Doug's face (Deep breathing)

0.05 - 0.09

Slowly pan down Doug's right arm to reveal a medium close shot of Doug sitting in a plain room at a table

0.10 - 0.22

The frame is left in a medium close up with Doug in the centre of the frame Doug with his head down with the nurse's voice being used as non-diegetic sound, camera focuses on him as a woman's voice from behind the camera asks questions/views progress, Doug does not respond (as she's talking the camera pans closer to Doug up his front to reveal an extreme close up)

0.23 - 0.24

Doug lifts his head and goes into flashback (close up)
0.25 - 0.29
Camera opens out on a medium close up of Doug in a room looking very scruffy, the room is filled with empty beer cans, fag butts and just generally looks dirty
0.30 - 0.34
Camera close up and focused on the glass of water and pill next to it on the table and zooms out as Doug takes the water
0.35 - 0.38
Fast focused zoom onto Dougs face as he takes a sip of water and zooms out again as he slowly grabs the pill whilst shaking he puts the pill in his mouth and swallows
0.39 - 0.40
Doug passes out onto sofa with glass in his hand and water spilled
0.41 - 0.43
Slow motion shot of glass smashing
0.44 - 0.45
Shot opens onto Doug's face extreme close up as he wakes
0.46 - 0.48
Doug stands and paces the room
0.49 - 0.53
Grabs rubix cube and does it very fast showing the dramatic change that the pill has taken on his intelligence levels
0.54 - 0.56
Goes back to mental hospital and shoes the nurse asking "what did you do after you realised what the pill had done to you Doug?"
0.57 - 1.00
Medium long shot of Doug packing a bag and walking out the door
1.01 - 1.06
Doug nervously and suspiciously standing at the train station with the bag, this shown from various angles
1.07 -1.10
Train arrives
1.11 - 1.17
Doug gets on train
1.18 - 1.20
Doug looks around and takes a seat, medium close up (Shot from Doug's point of view)
1.21 - 1.24
Extreme close up shot of Doug's face looking extremely nervous
1.25 - 1.30
Camera pans around train showing everyone going about there day to day business showing a high contrast in the atmosphere in Doug's mind than in theirs (From Doug's point of view)
1.31 - 1.36
As Doug is looking around the train he spots a mysterious man looking over at him 
1.39 -1.42
Doug gets up and walks through the carriage but leaves his bag under his seat so the camera is left looking at the bag
1.43 - 1.47
Doug walks away (shot from all different angles)
1.48 - 1.52
Show the mysterious man (detective) get up and follows him as he leaves
1.53 - 2.00
Doug's voice voices over as the shot is just left looking down the train and then pans back to the bag (hear a beating noise) Doug says "and Boom"

Edit of Colour and Rain

To be able to make our thriller title sequence the best we can we decided it would be a good idea to play around on after effects and see what impact some of the effects have on building suspense. We just took a basic clip from youtube and added the effect of rain and we also attempted to change the colouring of the image as well as the contrast and saturation. Of course this was just a first attempt but after we have practiced using after effects we feel using these effects of on our final title sequence will add to the atmosphere we are going to try to create.

Different Frame Shots in Parity

 

I have captured every different frame in the Parity clip, from this me Rhys and Jen are going to remake this Parity to enhance our skills in using the camera to use different camera angles effectively to create an effect that will benefit our own title sequence.