Evaluation Question 6

How have your skills developed from the preliminary task?

During this whole process of the production we have all improved in our camera skills, editing skills and planning skills as we have tried to make our film look as professional as possible, as well as trying to improve from our preliminary task. Our final product is much better than our preliminary task as we have had much more time to prepare and we have much more technical knowledge which allowed us to create a film which had some very technical points compared to our first film.

The majority of improvements that we have made have come during the filming and editing stages of our production as we have been able to send more time on them and we also have a better understanding of what to do to make it more professional. One improvement is our range of shots that we used as we only used a few during the preliminary task, yet we used a lot more, such as establishing shots and low angle shots, during our final piece. This wide range that was available helped to prove that we were capable of creating these shots and understanding why we wanted each one, which helped show our organisational skills. Another way that we improved our organisational skills was by using Celtx to create our storyboard which we managed to stick to rather well, with only a few changes due to timing errors. This was a much bigger improvement from the preliminary task as we only managed to create a short script for it without the use of a storyboard which meant that we didn't have anything to go by, which is why our final piece was much more professional due to clear structure from the storyboard.

From the preliminary our location wasn't very suitable as we had to film it within school so the areas available were limited, and wasn't perfect due to background interference, however for our final film we managed to find a suitable location which was able to portray the correct ideas towards the audience that our character was away from home, as well as using a different setting which created a more homely feel towards it which convinces the audience that the setting was someone's home which makes the incidence more touching. By finding such a perfect setting shows that we have progressed much further from the preliminary task as we were able to understand what we wanted to create and then managed to create it.

Our editing of the film has also improved greatly as we have performed many changes to the clips as well as adding extra features which enhanced the film to create it more professional. One piece of editing that we did during the final piece that we didn't do for the preliminary was the changing the colours of the shots to match the mood of the situation and to show a different time phase, as we made the opening shots black and white which distinctly show that they were from the past as they do not fit in with the other shots later on which are present day. Another piece of editing that we performed was inserting music over the shots as well as adding dialogue via a microphone as we were unable to have speaking whilst actually filming due to sound problems. This shows that we have improved as we had not previously put anything over the film for the preliminary task, whereas we managed to successfully find a fitting song and place over correctly as well as dub the film as best as possible with the equipment available.

Evaluation Question 5

What technologies did you use in making your film?

Throughout the whole process of our production we had to use several pieces of software and technology in order to complete all the different tasks that we had to do. The different stages, research, planning, filming and editing of the film, all required different forms of technology as each thing had a certain speciality that allowed specific tasks to be performed.

During the Research phase of our production we used several internet sites, such as IMDB, to research the background information of relevant films within our chosen sub-genre to see if there are any links between them, such as plots, characters, settings, that we could incorporate within our film, as well as production and distribution companies that could be used with our film. We also used Youtube to watch openings of films and their trailers again to see if there are any typical conventions within them that we could use to make our film appear a lot more professional. Another piece of technology that we used was a word-processing software that was used to create a questionnaire that we issued to our audience to get an over all view of what they think about the crime thriller sub-genre. By using this software it allowed us to easily create the questionnaire in a structured format which helped make it well presented and more professional. It also allowed us to create many graphs which helped to present the results from our audience research in a clear and concise way which was used to aid our decisions further on in the planning and production phase. By having to present them in a structured way it helped to improve our presentation skills and organisational skills.

The next phase of production was planning our film which involved planning the synopsis of the whole film and script and story board of the opening of our film. To present our synopsis we used a word-processing  software which was ideal as it can be easily used to present documents in a neat manner which meant that it was easily readable and presentable. We did the same for our script which showed exactly what was going to be said and by who, which made sure that when we filmed we didn't make mistakes and were not improvising. We had the option to produce the script on Celtx, yet instead we decided to only use it for our original storyboard which planned out our whole opening using still shots which were accompanied by text explaining why we wanted to use each shot and how it was going to affect the audience. This software was ideal as it allowed for pictures to be inserted with ease without having to rearrange them around the page, which made it much more time efficient and allowed us to perform other tasks at the same time. Using this piece of software improved our knowledge of technology available because before we used it we had never heard of it. 

The penultimate phase of our production was the actual filming of the film which was done with the use of a hand held camcorder which was also used at times with a tripod which helped to create steady shots which made it look more professional. We used a camcorder as it is light and simple to use as well as allowing us to easily transfer the videos from the camera to the computer using a usb cable. As the camera was light we were able to perform some hand held shots without the use of the tripod which made the situation of the murders appear more realistic which would intrigue the audience. We also actively chose the lighting during the scene with Rick crossing off his targets, which was a single filament tube placed beneath Rick, and was chosen as it helped emphasise the true evilness within the character as it was low key lighting and created shadows across his face which connotes that he has certain parts of him that are hidden.

The final phase of our production was the editing phase which was essential in putting all of our clips together and adding sound and special effects to make it more appealing for the audience. For this stage we used iMovie which is a piece of editing software which allowed us to put all of our clips into one place and choose the pieces we want and put them together so it actually looked like a film. This software was easy to use as it allowed for clips to be cropped, silenced, re-arranged and re-coloured which was needed throughout all parts of the editing phase. Due to sound problems during filming we had to use a microphone to voice over our film during the editing part which was easy to do as the software again allowed us to crop the speech and re-position it to exactly dub the film. The software also allowed us to silence the clips so we could insert both the dialogue and appropriate music which was played throughout the whole opening. We were also able to use iMovie to re-colour shots which made the opening shots look like a different time phase as they were previous murders, therefore it helped to portray it easily. We also used a mp3 internet site called Youtube-mp3 which allowed us to convert our music from youtube to an format which was then easily transfered on to iMovie and placed over our filming.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

During our research stage of our production we had to produce a questionnaire that was given to a sample of 30 different people to get their views about our specific movie genre and sub-genre. By questioning 30 people our sample research was rather broad as we were able to get a large range of different people and there ideas and expectations of a thriller movie. After taking in the results we were able to see that we interviewed 27 people aged between 15-19 and 3 people aged 35+ which meant that this genre of film actually appealed to people of all ages from rather young to those more mature. This was also accompanied by the fact that we interviewed 10 males and 20 females which meant that again our results were mixed, yet Thriller movies still remained popular with each which helped us realise our ideal target audience.

Our target audience was confirmed after the results from the questionnaire were taken in as we realised that this chosen genre appealed to people of most ages and both genders, therefore we decided to make sure that we also made our film appealing to both males and females between the ages of 16 and 40, however this does not mean that people outside this age would not like our film, but they would not be our target audience. 
The way we attempted to make the film acceptable for our target audience was by using mise-en-scene, lighting, camera movements and Propp's idea of the hero and villain. Throughout the filming we made sure that we followed the expectations that were given from our audience research to make sure that it followed the conventions of a typical thriller as well as appealed to the audience as the feedback was from people who were part of our target audience.
From our results, it was noticed that the most popular choice for our antagonist was an escaped convict and the protagonist should be a police officer, therefore we used this to create a good story-line based around these characters. We also took note of the fact that the audience expected shots such as close ups and establishing shots which we were able to incorporate into our filming which helped the audience to understand the characters and surroundings in more detail. On the other hand we didn't follow the audiences preferred idea of using slow motion, yet instead we used some fade to blacks at the beginning which were used to capture the audience in suspense right from the beginning which is typical within a thriller film.

As for characters we attempted to make it as stereotypical as possible for a thriller film as we made sure that our heros and villains were both males which were typical within this genre as males generally have more power and dominance within a film, whereas the females are normally the damsels in distress as they are seen as weak and vulnerable. By using an image of the wife on a piece of paper, and a woman dead in the first scene, it helps to signify their inferiority in contrast to the males who are shown as psychotic murderers or policemen who have much authority within the community, which again follows this convention that males are much more superior.

After screening our film to an audience of 16-17 year olds, we recieved some audience feedback which proved that our decisions to use the audience research how we did was the correct choice as we only had a small amount of negative comments which we took on board. The most common problem was the reflection at the beginning of the film on the 20th Century Fox scene, however this was due to technical reasons as we were unable to download the original so we had to record it manually. Another comment was the idea of the villain wearing a mask to cover their identity, however we chose not to do this as we wanted the audience to see the villain it allows them to see the true evilness within him.

Evaluation Question 3

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

During the Institutional Research stage of our production we looked at various different production and distribution companies and looked through their previous films and people they have been associated with, in order to come to an idea of which would be the best company to film produce our films and then chose a distributor who we believed would be the most capable for supplying our film world wide. After careful decision making we finally chose 20th Century Fox as our production company and Lions Gate  Entertainment to be our distributors.

 

We decided to choose 20th Century Fox as our production company as they have proven to be a major success throughout the years since their founding in 1935. Our main reasoning behind choosing this company is that they have had a great history helping to create many fantastic films such as Prometheus, X-Men and Die Hard which are all part of the Thriller genre we are covering. After producing our film we still believed this is a suitable company as our opening style of leaving it on a rather large cliffhanger links with some other openings from this company such as Die Hard 4.0 opening which I looked at during my research. As this company has had so many hits they cater for many demographics as they have created male action thriller films such as Die Hard, the children sensation Ice Age, and the female based film In Her Shoes. As these may not be thrillers, they have still had major hits with the audience and this may help when it comes to the production as they would know what is needed to help make it successful. With such a wide range of films and audience we know that this company would be capable of producing a film that would attract many people due to their history.

For our distributor company we chose Lions Gate Entertainment for many reasons. To begin with we noticed that this company has again been associated with the distribution of many well known films thriller films including American Psycho, The Expendables and The Punisher. From knowing this we know that if we chose this company we would be able to distribute our film on a much larger scale as they are capable of selling it all across the world, just like their previous films. We also noticed that it was a vertically integrated organisation as they own several separate divisions including Lions Gate Films, Lions Gate Home Entertainment, Lions Gate Music and Publishing and Lions Gate Television. With this in mind, we knew it would be very significant for the distribution phase of the film as it would allow them to promote our film on a much larger scale as well as allowing the film to be available in various formats such as the cinema to DVD’s which would increase its popularity and our income. Also they cater for many demographics which would mean that many people would want to watch our film as they know how good the other films they are associated with are. After finally finishing our film we believed that this company was rather too big for our film as it has had links with very high budget films, which we are not, therefore we decided to choose 20th Century Searchlight which is still an important distributor however specialises in helping smaller films (including many British films, such as Trance, 127 Hours and Slum-dog Millionaire), such as ours make it onto the big screen world wide. We believe that this distribution company would be ideal for us as it would help give us the initial boost that our film needs.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within our opening of our film we only managed to represent a small group of people as the two main characters shown are both male and of a middle age which does not give a wide representation of different social groups, however the way we used costumes, framing, lighting and setting we were capable of representing the same type of people (middle aged males) in different ways. 

Our first main character shown is Rick Weaving who is our antagonist and is a psychopath who has recently escaped from a long stretch in jail and is adamant in finding the police officers responsible of locking him away. We managed to portray Rick as a sick, twisted character due to the lighting, costume/make up and setting. This character was preferred by our audience, during the audience research stage, to be the antagonist as they believed that an escaped convict was the most suitable for a crime thriller. Therefore we used an abandoned room as the setting for this character as it makes it believable that he is squatting in a derelict house rather than having a home where he may be caught. We also used some black face  paint to give the impression that he is dirty as well as giving an extra sinister look about  him which is parallel to his personality. The low key lighting from below Rick adds shadows across his face which illustrate his darkness and evilness and adds more suspense and mystery about the rest of him. We chose to use a low angle shot to depict the power that Rick holds at the moment as he has successfully murdered 4 police officers and he is close to finishing his list of targets. This shot also holds Rick in the centre of the frame with a close up which emphasizes his facial expressions which again gives more information about this type of character. Typically within most films, people at this age have accomplished something in life whether it is a strong family, or an esteemed job, which Robert has, however Rick is the binary opposite as he has never accomplished anything successful in life.

Our next character is also a middle aged male named Robert Shore who is our protagonist and is a well esteemed police officer who was part of the team responsible for putting away Rick Weaving many years ago. We chose to have this character as the protagonist because it was not only the most popular within our audience research, but it is also the binary opposite (Strauss) of our antagonist as they are both at different ends of the law so they are naturally enemies.  As both Robert and Rick are slightly part of the same social group (middle aged male) we had to change the way that we depicted them to show their different personalities and characteristics. Our first shot of Robert was a high angle shot which shows that to start with he does not have much power as we have just moved from the scene of Rick so this connotes that compared to Rick he may be weak. However, further on we use some low angle shots and close ups of him which show that he does actually have power. Each shot has Robert in the centre which connotes that he is our main character as he is the main object on the screen and we know from his dialogue that it will be his life that will drive the narrative on (Hero/Propp). The setting for the character shows him standing in the middle of a large garden area surrounded by trees and one building which shows that he may be in the middle of nowhere as the trees show a sense of mystery as anything could appear from them, yet the building shows that he is safe for now as it has a safe homely feel to it. The costume chosen for Robert shows his profession as he is dressed smartly with the iconic epaulettes on his shoulders which are commonly linked with a police officer. By choosing these different aspects we were able to show that both characters were going to be main characters throughout the film and that they are binary opposites so they will find it hard to defeat each other. This idea of having two male characters as the protagonists and antagonists are very similar to the majority of thriller films as males are chosen most rather than females as they normally lead a secondary role as either the princess or helper (Propp) which is why we believe the choice of characters will be successful within the audience as it is what they prefer and also follows some generic conventions

We also show a few characters within the opening who do not do anything, however the way that we have used and presented them helps signify other social groups. The other main social group that we tried to represent were women and how in comparison to men they are inferior within the film industry. The first scene shows both a male and female dead on the floor in black and white which shows the lack of life and different time frame. Yet even though both characters are deceased the male still has more power as there is a gun in his hand which shows before he died he had superiority over his partner. The other female that is portrayed is Robert's wife who is shown in a picture he is holding and is on the phone to him. The fact that Robert is holding a picture of her and their son shows that he is away and she does not have him to protect her from any dangers so again this connotes her vulnerability. The dialogue that is also exchanged shows her vulnerability as she has her son to look after her who has only just joined secondary school which shows that he is young and is not physically capable of protecting her which again shows she is weak as she is putting her well being in the hands of a young boy.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Our final product follows many generic conventions associated with our chosen Crime Thriller Sub genre as many aspects that we focused on seemed to fit into the same style as the films we looked at during our research stage of the process. For example, we decided to edit the colors of the opening shots from normal colors to black and white which we believed added a more sinister appearance as there is no color in the shots which may connote that there is no life around. It also helps signify a different time phase as the clips were in the past as they were previous victims so this old fashioned style may depict this. We also decided on this as it followed some conventions used in well known thrillers, such as 'Savages' as this begins with a black and white edit to show a different time line.

The sound we decided to use also followed the idea of a Crime Thriller as it is rather mellow and the words used are parallel to the images on screen as they talk about death whilst the images show a dead couple and a psychopath. According to our audience feedback the chosen music helped to indicate what style of film they were watching which also helps them get into the mindset of a Crime Thriller. There was only one song used throughout the entire opening however once a character began to speak the sound of the music minimized allowing the audience to focus on the dialogue rather than the music. 

Our style of opening credits are also well associated with some hollywood thrillers including 'Se7en' which begins with a psychopath preparing himself for his next murder with breaks between each shot revealing the names of the actors and actresses involved in the film, which is where we got our inspiration as we believed that this style of opening helps to spread shots which adds to the suspense right from the beginning which is a typical convention for a thriller film as the audience must be thrilled from the beginning. 

Our opening also included our production company intro which is traditional for all film openings as it presents what company they are working with and who helped them create their film, which is why we decided to show it at the begin.

However, after looking through our chosen movies for research we decided to go against the idea of beginning with an actual murder taking place or an action scene to begin with, as we decided to begin with a slow pace which set the scene for the film as it shows a previously murdered couple so this shows that this may be thriller as they do not know how they died or why. By simply doing this we go against some conventions within Thriller films as we have missed the actual murder taking place which is not usual in most thriller films, but we chose ours as we believed that it would also intrigue the audience as they will begin asking questions, as they will create an enigma to start with. 

We also decided to try and develop a particular convention within some thriller openings, again like 'Se7en', which was having pictures of the killers victims within the first few scenes as it creates a better understanding of the villain as the audience are able to know about what he has previously done and know that he is a very dangerous person. Our film opening consists of the killer crossing off his 4th victim whilst 'Se7en' also shows pictures of the killers victims.

Another way that we followed conventions of other thriller movies was the way that we used camera angles and lighting. We had used a wide range of camera angles to give different portrayals of characters, whilst following a key aspect of most thriller movies which was the use of close ups to enhance the characters facial expressions and add importance to certain aspects, as well as low angles to show the characters importance within the frame. We also used a pan of the family pictures which then led onto a shot of 5 pictures on a wall which gave a connection between the shots as they both include images that are important to someone, and this connotes that Rick is the antagonist right from the start. The lighting that we had chosen was especially chosen for the scenario as we had to try and portray Rick as a sinister man with darkness within him , therefore the choice of a single filament light on the floor was ideal as it gave a much more menacing look about him. However we went against some generic conventions of a thriller movie as the normal use of cameras in most thrillers is that they sneak around the rooms to show that something is hidden and something could happen, yet we chose to we open with our shots with no movement as we wanted our audience to clearly see what had happened but not reveal too much. 



According to our audience feedback, the way that we had portrayed our film, they were able to understand that they were watching a crime thriller, which is exactly what we had hoped for as we know that our film is portraying exactly what we want.

Final Product

Storyboard- Amended

Storyboard- Original

The script

The script for The List

Connor: Hey darling, how’s it going?

Harri: Not too bad. We both miss you, its been too long.

Connor: Yeah I know it has but I’m home soon.

Harri: Good we can’t wait to see you.

Connor: Anyway, how’s Robby and school?

Harri: He’s great and fitting in well.

Connor: Aww brilliant. Is he looking after you?

Harri: Yeah of course but he misses you loads, well you’re back tomorrow so we can have a good catch up

Connor: But I have to go now but I’ll see you tomorrow, I love you.

Initially we had planned to speak to ‘Robby’ the son, however due to casting problems we were unable to do this, therefore we changed the script so the conversation was only between Harri and Connor, rather than with a third person.

Character Profiles

Character Profiles

RICK WEAVING (VILLAIN)
Rick is the villain in our narrative, he looks psychotic – he has long hair, that covers his face, rough clothes and looks generally very untidy - which is ideal because he’s an ex-convict. He’s seeking revenge on the 5 police officers who put him in jail, at the start of the narrative he’s already had revenge on 4 of the officers and the last police officer, Robert Shaw, is who he’s seeking revenge on, he does this by kidnapping Robert’s son and killing his wife. Rick is a very a aggressive and angry person, most think this stems from the fact that his father was very abusive and both his mother and father were alcoholics, so his only way to turn was to crime. His character is a generic convention of a crime-thriller as and audience expects to see a villain and when looking at the audience survey, it was clear that the audience expected the villain to be an ex-convict.

ROBERT SHAW (HERO)
Robert is the hero in our narrative, he looks innocent – neat hair and clothes, he looks friendly and is polite – which is expected because he’s the hero, and his son plays the ‘damsel in distress’ (Propp), his wife also plays the victim as she is killed by Rick. He’s the 5^th victim of Rick’s; he’s the last one on his list that Weaving is planning on getting revenge on. His character is also a generic convention of a crime-thriller as the audience expect for a police officer character to appear, this was made clear by the audience survey as a police officer was one of the top choices from the people asked.

We have based the characters on Propps’ narrative theory as we have used a villain and a hero, which according to Propp are the stock characters within any film and can be applied to all. We’re also using Strauss’ theory of binary opposites as we have two characters that have different aims within the film.

Synopsis

Synopsis

Rick Weaving is the bad guy in our movie, after previously escaping from prison. Throughout the film Rick will be pursuing police officers who were responsible for his recent time in prison. On the wall in his derelict shelter, Rick has five photos of the police officers who are his selected targets. These five police officers are the people who he wants to kill. In the opening of the film, there are shots of the fourth police officer murdered with his wife, and then following shots of his face being crossed form the list and the fifth officer being circled.

Robert Shore, who is our fifth police officer is seen on the phone speaking with his wife whilst holding a photo of his wife and their child. This scene shows that Robert has been away for a while as he seems to idolise the picture and this is also backed up by the dialogue with his wife. This is the equilibrium at the beginning of the film which is essential. Rick has decided to go after Robert’s family while he is away which causes there to be a disruption in the storyline which ultimately carries the story forward.  

As for the disequilibrium, Robert returns home the following day to find his wife dead and his son having been kidnapped. In replacement he finds a note saying ‘Revenge is sweet…R’. This angers Robert and primarily convinces him to track down Rick and save his son. Whilst on his quest, Rick attempts several attacks on Robert which are unsuccessful until one attack almost ends Robert's life. However, Robert comes back stronger against Rick.

In the final scene Rick is brutally murdered in a wood chipper attack performed by Robert in the final scene. After this encounter has happened, he establishes a new equilibrium as he rescues his son.