Flicker (Media Project)

here is our final piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8njM9uOhTaI

Evaluation (7)

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

In our preliminary task we learnt about the 180degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. From this continuity task I have learnt a lot more about how to make a thriller from looking at the conventions and researching from other thriller opening sequences and how to make meanings. For example from looking at Thriller openings such as Se7en and how it used fast pace editing and seeing how it made the audience feel I would have never have thought to use that idea. Or even from watching the opening to Homeland I wouldn't have realised how effective colour correction is or I didn't even know how to use it.So I have developed picking up on ideas from other productions and making it my own.

I have also developed how to use the camera effectively and how to use the tripod correctly and how important it is if you want your media production to look professional, as before I would have just hit the record button without thinking about the rule of thirds or thinking about keeping the camera steady on a tripod.

I also learnt about the importance of planning what you are going to film. It is important because you will know exactly what you want to film and how it can work in the sequence. Rather than going out and filming anything then comming back and it not looking good in the film, or it simply doesn't work and then you have just wasted a big chunkof filming time. I also learnt about the importance of getting more clips than you need because even if you get 8 more minutes of filming more than you need, I found you need so much more than that. If you have loads of filming it gives you the ability of picking and choosing the best possible shots and choosing what clips best fit rather than working with rubbish ones and trying to make them better.

I have also expanded on my terminology. For example I have learnt words such as engima code, low-key lighting or contrapuntal sound. This has helped me explain why I chose to do things. For example we used contrapuntal sound in our title sequence, this means that the sound does not match the action on screen. As in our title sequence there is grave stones and churches, but the sound plays people laughing and you don't normally hear people laughing in graveyards. Low-key lighting is light that produces shadows, our opening sequence also feautres this in the grave yard and when it flashes on a persons face. We also use an enigma code, this is making the film mysterious and not know 100% what is going on. Our film does this by not having a clear narrative, as in our title sequence it is just a string of clips that some how link together but at the moment it is unclear how.

I have also grasped new technologies such as sound track pro, as I quickly put the sound together. I decided to use a classical piano sound which is fast pace to match the fast pace editing and then also contrapuntal laughing sounds and then also parallel choir boy music for when there is shots of the church or grave yards. I also tried to match certain clips of sounds with certain imagery such as the eye has its own sound for when it opens. Before I did not know how to do this and what sound track even was because I have never used it before.

Evaluation (6)

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING MY FILM SEQUENCE?
I have learnt a lot of things whilst films about camera work. Such as the importantce of keeping the camera steady whilst filming otherwise the film being to look ammeutre and not professional. Or if you want to create shaking as an effect you add it on afterwards during editing. I have also learnt about the angle of shots and how it can make the audience feel without even knowing. For example a low angle shot can show power and importance and the audience will sub conciously recognise this. We used a high angle shot on the church because in our thriller it is important. Also the use of extreme close ups is important in Thrillers and I learnt about the importance of these and how it shows complete detail and make the audience feel uncomfortable being so close up to something and in our media
production we used two on the same eye.

this is Tanzy using a tripod to get a smooth shot rather that being shakey

In our process of creating 'Flicker' we used Vegas for editing as one of our members has it on their laptop and uses it regulary. However I have never used this software before, and I did learn a lot about it. I learnt how to use colour correction and now it is a main feautre in our film sequence. We used colour correction to add an engima code to the sequence because they can't see the whole frame as the element of colour has been taken away which makes it more creepy. Also as the colour keeps switching from normal to red and then to purple this makes the audience uncomfortable as it keeps changing and the picture is the same object but at a different angle or it has changed, however it does also keep the audience engaged in the action because there is always something different on screen. We were inspired by 'Homeland' to use this effect as even though the series is not infact a thriller opening it could well be as it still uses conventions of thrillers such as an enigma code, obtrusive editing or shadows, and matched with the right music tit could be an opening to a thriller, so after watching the opening sequence we tried it and decided we liked it even more than our previous idea so we used it. From the editing we also used fast paced editing to create the scenes to flick through at a fast pace. This creates the audience to feel on edge and occupied by the film and for them not to have time to think about other things. We like this effect because ot was easy to do whilst it looks good with all the different creepy images and we could also flick back to previous images for example the small cross or people walking to suggest what our thriller is about.
I had also never used sound track pro before, this software was easy to use and I liked how you could get the video on screen and match the action with the sound for example how we matched the robot sound to the eye or choir boys to the shots of the church. Our sound was inspired by 'Knowing' because of their whispering sounds but we decided to use laughing instead because we found it more creepy and it matched what we want to create better than whispering.

 here I am using sound track pro.

Evaluation (5)

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

There is no fixed gender for our media production as it could interest both. It could interest females because there is a female eye appearing at the beginning and end of the sequence. This could give them a chance to relate to this character because they are female. Females may also like it because there is no real strong suggestion that there is blood and gore in the film, and females stereotypically do not like blood and gore, nevertheless some may like it.
All film fans would be attracted to our film especially fans of the thriller genre. Film fans should be interested in our media product because not only does it show conventions of a t thriller genre there is also other sub layers such as: romance and horror to attract the wider audience. Thriller fans should be attracted to our film because it does use many conventions of a thriller such as low key lighting, quick cuts, obtrusive editing, shadows and black and white colouring. All these features are used in our opening sequence and will attract Thriller fans because they will recognise these conventions.
The age of the attracted audience will vary because it is a 15. This means families will not be the audience, it is more likely to be 16-29 year old. This is because they are more likely to be intrigued by the use of editing and colour correction in our title sequence but also how grave stones and statues are worked into a thriller film. My media production would attract a young adult age group because our main characters are young, so it would be easier for them to relate to the characters, and as it is set in a town many young people live in towns and cities which makes it even more relatable. If an audience is able to relate to the characters or what is happening on screen they are more likely to become emotionally arched to the media production because they will want to find out what happens to them. 
The audience of Homeland is also the audience of our media production because both media productions are similar in the use of colour correction so as the Homeland viewers already enjoy the use of it they will like ours.
Audience location will be in towns and cities because many of our shots are done in a town or a city. Such as of people walking and the different statues and old buildings. Our audience will be located in a town or city most likely because it is relatable to them. This is because they will recognise many features of their town in the film for example statues and then think that the film's town could be theirs. One important feature of our sequence is a church and grave yards and many towns do have these or they are on the outskirts, which the audience could also relate to. It is important for our audience to be able to relate to our media production because it keeps them emotionally involved with the production which is a use of films.
The audience's life style will be normal having a everyday job from 9-5 or they will be students. Where they shop would be normal high street brands, H&M for girls and Burton for males, these shops can be expensive which shows they have disposable income so they can afford to go out to the cinema. They probably won't be religious as this films shows grave yards being presented in a scary and 'thriller esct' way, which wouldn't attract Christians.
 



Logo of the rated 15 badge

 

 

An example of low key lighting which is a convention of a Thriller

 

 

Evaluation (4)

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Our film would appeal to different Media Institutions for a variety of reasons. One reason is that it is part of the Thriller genre which already has an existing wide range of audiences because it is a very successful genre. This also means it would have a wide appeal to either different audiences or distribution companies for the reason of it attracting a wide range of audiences. It is also a low budget film which in consequence gives it a limited release pattern which means it has limited cinema's and selected theatres will play the film. This also means that only certain distribution companies would distribute Flicker.
 Film 4 may distribute our Thriller because their ethos is: to 'develop new British Talent and be the leader of innovation in the British film industry' Invest £500.000 per film at the rate of 20films per year. To support international independent film- makers by co-investing in innovative and interesting foreign films. 'To offer a platform for British and independent cinema on terrestrial TV by committing to show each Film Four productions on each channel 4 or Film 4.'
This shows that film 4 would be interested in distributing our film because at least 3 of their ethos could be used for our production as we are 'new British Talent' and could help them become the leader of innovation. We could also be one of their 20films per year and then they could offer us a 'platform' because we could be a British production.
They also target films which have a first time feature screen writers of directors, and we are both of these They also look for distinctive films which will make their mark on competitive cinema market. We are both first time screen writers and directors, this means we would fill that criteria. I also feel our film is distinctive because of our ideas such as colour correction and use of sound which makes it original and we have put our own slant and ideas into the Thriller genre by using different colours to capture the audience's attention.

The UK film council might also distribute our film because they work to profile the innovation, diversity, creativity and excellence of British films around the world, and they work to find opportunities for creative exchange between UK filmmakers and international counterparts. This is our media production because we used creativity and innovation to create our film, and it is diverse because we used elements of religion (churches) They also work with film festivals to distribute their films and our film would be good at a festival because we are first time producers, directors, editiors and actors. Then from working with the UK film council and being at film festivals you can then be seen by bigger distributors.

Evaluation (3)

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

 

As in our film's opening title sequence it doesn't focus on a main character it is hard to determine how our media production represents particular social groups.
   In our title sequence it does show some shots of young people. We see a shot of a girls eye opening and shutting (we know it is a girl because she is wearing make-up) the shot is an extreme close up which is a connotation of a thriller. This shot could represent girls as being watchful they pick up on things. The reason we chose a extreme close up was so the audience would solely focus on the eye rather than the mise en scene around it. The extreme close up also suggests that the girl's eye is important which could represent women as being important, because it is also a long section of the media production is on the eye as we refer to it twice. The colour of the eye is also significant as it is bright green. Connotations of green is evil and jealousy. This could also represent females as being evil and jealous, but for what reasons are unknown.

     There is also a brief shot of a young male. The briefness of the shot could suggest or represent males as being less important because compared to the shot of the eye there is very little time allocated for the shot of the male. This shot is also in a grey scale filter which also contrasts with the shot of the eye as it was really bright and bold. This could also suggest/ represent males being less important.

There is also shots of young people walking through town which is repeated, it is unclear why they are being shown but it could suggest that they are more susceptible to danger and are more likely to be influenced to do things, but why is unknown. The shot is also based in a town which could suggest you are more likely to find young people in towns and cities.

Evaluation (2)

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT YOUR AUDIENCE?

I attracted our audience by making our film as eye catching and iconic as we can. For example in our film it keeps referring back to things such as the eye, or grave stones this suggests that the film is going to be about that and it leaves the audience asking why and it will intrigue them, because they will want to find out what happens. The film also uses an enigma code because of the use of colour correction, this makes the film feel creepy because you can't fully see what is happening on screen and by taking away colour you feel on edge because of the fact you can't see all of the action on screen and it hard to pin point where the action's location is. Also because we use colour correction on objects such as statues and trees it creates a more scary film because they are connotations of a horror, this attracts the audience because they will want to find out what happens. Tension is also built throughout the sequence through the music and the action on screen. The music crescendos the sound of laughter and keeps referring back to it which puts the audience on  edge and they will want to find out where the laughter is coming from as it doesn't match the action on screen. The props will attract the audience because of the fact they are seen as violent for the males as we images of a women's eye which has make up on it or spooky things like the grave stones. However things like statues may attract the females as they may want to see how the film incorporates them or they could be interested in the limited characters which are shown in the title sequence, a females eye and a brief shot of a Male's shadowed face. From the questionnaire I did, I found that many people like the action to build, so I used this idea in our sequence. This could attract the audience as because not all the action happens at the beginning so they will want to carry on watching it then they will tell their friends about it.
The audience may also find gratifications from our film. Blumer and Katz showed that films provide escape. I feel our film will do this because it takes the audience from their own lives to a world of mystery, violence and terror whilst having a thriller feel to it. They also say people watch films/ TV because they create and relationship with the characters (social interaction) they can do this with the main characters especially for the female as they will feel sorry for her. They could also identify themselves in the character(s) which could interest them. They could also be informer and educated as they will begin to understand why certain people do things in our film and what happens, which may interest them. Finally the most important thing is that it is entertaining for the audience to watch as it keeps them on edge and wanting more.
We also attracted the audience through the incorporation and development of other media production's ideas. For example the use of colour correction from 'Homeland', their audience may be interested in our production because they would recognise the use of colour correction and wondered how and why we used it.



This picture shows how we kept showing iconic flashes of grave stones and crosses

However the picture below shows the use of colour correction to create an enigma code.  

This picture below shows a females eye, this tells the audience that there may be a female envolved in 'Flicker' which could attract males or females.

 

Evaluation (1)

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

Our film is similar to Homeland and Se7en. It is similar to 'Se7en' because of the fast pace and switching between icons, for example in 'Se7en' it switches between images from everyday  lifestyles like fingers and note books, whereas our flicks through gravestones and everyday sights such as people and the night. We also developed this idea by having certain images that reappear for example a small cross, this lets the audience guess how the rest of the film will incorporate the cross. We also developed this idea by flicking between two images (an angel statue and a hand's reflection) but every time it flicks back to the angel the camera has zoomed in a little.


This picture shows our use of colour correction and also how our media production referres back to grave stones.



 

  Our film is also similar to 'Homeland' in the fact that they both use colour correction on images for example in 'Homeland' they use it on the little girl whereas we use it on grave stones, trees and people. This is good at creating and enigma code as it builds suspense and a sense of mystery because it can be hard to tell exactly what something is because it has no colour to it. Both opening title sequences use two different colour corrections, in our's it is red and purple but in 'Homeland' it is red and blue. We used red because it is a connotation of thrillers because it represents blood, whereas the two colours in 'Homeland' represents the police.
Our music can be compared to the music from 'Knowing' as in their opening sequence there is an eerie whispering sound which builds throughout the sequence, but in ours we have a crescendo of laughter instead, this shows we made it our own idea. We took the idea from 'Knowing' and made it our own  (changed whispering to laughter) because we felt it was really effective at building tension whilst being scary. Our laughter is matched with an ongoing sound of piano music playing, the sounds are contrapuntal as they don't match each other. One (the piano) is quite fast and innocent whereas the laughter has an evil edge to it when matched with the images on screen and it gives an horror effect.
  We also added our own slant through the music as we used a classical instrument (a piano) then added layers on top such as the laughter but then also different types of sounds like screeching for when the eye opens, or the use of parallel sounds- choir boy singing when there are pictures of the church. This is not a normal thing you would find on a thriller opening sequence, and this makes it our own.
 
 

Target Audience

As a guide we can use to guarantee that our film is truly successful, it’s essential that we identify the target audience and construct a profile of those who we consider most likely to enjoy our film. We need to make sure that our film uses the conventions and features that will appeal to this target audience.
Our Thriller 'Flicker' is going to be based at people aged 15+ because it contains a lot of violence and some psychological issues which may be disturbing for any younger viewers. It is not classed as an 18 because the scenes will not be overly explicit.
I think our film will be suitable for males and females as both genders can enjoy thrillers. This is also because our thriller is left for interpretation rather than being straight forward. There will be scenes of violence which is stereotypically for males, however females may also enjoy this, but in case they don't there will also be scenes of romance. This is because romance is typically for the female audience.
Another group this film is targeting is people with a disposable income, this is because they will have enough money to go out and spend on films they want to see.
 

MoodBoard

This is our new mood board which I created, I would still like to use our old eye shot of Tanzy's green eye. I would like to put it at the beginning of the sequence but then again at the end but this time of it closing. On this mood board it has words like enigmatic and different synonyms of mysterious. This is because we are not focusing on a plot this time so it is going to be more unknown. I have also put on here more connotations of thrillers like blood and knives and even graveyards, to ensure we stick to the thriller genre.

Pictures

This picture above shows me and Michael creating mise en scene which is a bloody cut/ scar for our opening title sequence. We are using blood because it is iconic of a Thriller to include some sort of blood. We used fake blood and also we made some fake blood we consisted of Corn Flour, and red and black paint. We made the cut by gluing some tissue paper onto his arm then we smeared to fake blood onto it.

Here is Michael smearing blood onto our prop which is a baionette. This is also an iconic prop for a Thriller so we felt it was important to include to make our film a conventional Thriller.

Here is Conor filming, in this shot it requires movement so instead of using a tripod we decided to do it by hand as it does not matter if the shot is a bit shaky because we were only filming trees and we thought we could get the exact shot we wanted if we did it by hand.

Here is Michael lighting up the trees by holding the light as high as he can to create an up light on the trees so the audience can see all the branches which makes it more spooky.

Here is Michael positioning the lighting again but this time he is lighting his arm and the sword so the sword is reflecting the light in a certain way and at a certain angle.

This picture is of Michael in a tank full of water and me positioning the camera so you can just see Michael's head and not the tank, this is because we just wanted to get his head in the water and not see anything else for a better effect.

Homeland

Link to: Vimeo- Homeland Opening Title Sequence

Whilst watching the title sequence from 'Homeland' I really liked the editing technique of jump cuts in Homeland they used colour correction to create the jump cut. This was really good as it created an enigma code because you could only see certain parts of the shot.
The jump cut also created discontinuity for an artistic effect and this was effective as it keeps the audience's attention.

Some of the shots in the sequence used masks, and even though the series isn't under the horror or thriller genre it did give off a spooky feel to it because of the use of masks. The mask in this opening sequence was used on a little girl which also made it even more spooky because it was placed on a child. The use of the jump cut again on this shot gave the audience even more discomfort because of the sudden movement.

I also liked the effect of repeating shots. The same eye was repeatedly shown but at different angles and sometimes it being open or other times being closed. This was effective because they kept going back to it and it was easily recognised. This eye shot could also be very suggestive for example it could be suggesting that someone is watching you or you are being looked at. I like this effect because the audience could interpret it in many different ways. A maze was also being repeatedly shown, and this can also be suggestive. The maze could suggest struggle or determination or being lost or never ending, once again the audience can use their own connotations to explain why that image is being repeatedly shown. Especially why there are different people appearing in different pathways
I also enjoyed the pace of the sequence as it was fast, this meant there were many shots which all had different meanings behind them and this kept the audience's attention while they created their own story for the characters.

From watching this opening sequence I would like to use many of the ideas I have discussed. For example I would like to use jump shots in editing to make the audience feel uneasy. I would like to use these shots on people's feet and body parts. I would also like to use colour correction to create an enigma code so the thriller becomes even more mysterious. I also intend to use repetition, so the sequence can be suggestive. I also hope the sequence will be fast paced the keep the audience on edge just like in homeland.

Changing Ideas

We have to decided to start again with our idea as we felt  we focused on explaining the storyline rather than tension and giving our opening mystery. We also felt our previous idea was too in depth in a certain idea (a psychotic woman) rather than letting the audience come up with own ideas. After watching opening title sequences from 'Dexter' 'Homeland'
From watching these opening credits we realised how much better we could do if we started again and didn't look into detail about story lines and the meaning behind our film. If we just looked at creating many images and switching between them with clever editing we could make our sequence a lot more 'thrillerest'

Conventions of an Opening Sequence

In the opening sequences films present their title, key credit productions and cast members. They use quality visuals and sound to present these. Sometimes they also put key actors or actresses names at the beginning on top of static or motions pictures, with or without sound.

 ^These are some of the main distribution companies you will see at the beginning of the opening sequence. However for our film we won't be using any of these as they are not known for helping first time film makers, we will be using Film 4.

You will also see production companies such as: Kemp Company and Splendid pictures who produced 'Catch Me if you Can^

^Some title sequences may include top billing actor's names such as in James Bond Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's name appears and so does Judy Dench's. They also include the director's name which features right at the end: Martin Campbell. This opening title sequence shows a lot of names which all helped make this film a big success for example the music producer, executive producer, make-up artist, casting director etc. This all makes this sequence very long .

In our opening sequence we chose not to use actor's names as we are  not very well known so it would not help with making more people watch it. However we did include the distribution company we would hope to use. This research helped me find out what is the main conventions of the opening sequence and made it more clearer what the big film makers include

One Hour Photo- Sound

In this trailer I like the fact that there is always some background music, which is high pitch strings or a drum beat. The sound of high pitch strings are very significant and can be very irritating which is running parallel to the action on screen as the women is becoming irritated by this man who seems to know everything about her. Every time the drum beat is played the scene on screen switches to the next one, I like this because it makes the audience anticipate what the next scene is going to be as the drum beat and scene change is happening regularly. I also like the sound bridge of silence as it goes from a climax of music and action the to a black screen and silence to a wall covered in the families photo and the stalker. This captures the audience attention even more. I would like to include one of these before our final scene of an eye opening I think it will cause the eye to look even more affective and make it look even more scary.

Enduring Love- Editing

In this trailer I really like the flash back to the events as they are fast pace but affective as you can see what happens and relate it to the action in the present and know what they are talking about without being confused. I also think the phrases that appear are clever as they make the film seem like it could happen to anyone as one reads 'There are unexpected events' then the next one is 'some you don't want to remember' also I like the text because the all join on together as after that one the final one is: 'But what if someone Won't let you forget' this is clever as even though there are breaks of action in between the headers it still captures your attention and you can relate it to yourself.

I also think the fast pace sequences are well done as it keeps the audience occupied and doesn't let them think about other things (which is not the action on screen) This is good because it focuses them on the action and makes them want to know what happens in the film. The fast pace also creates suspense which leads to the final scene which is of the name of the film which then goes into slow pace, this is effective as it focuses the audience on what the film is really about. Also the final thought the audience is left with is 'Obession is forever' this gives a creepy feel to the film as it makes the audience feel uncomfortable. This is because obsession can not always be a good thing.

From this film I would like to use a lingering thought which is like the final clip of this trailer ('Obession is forever') as I feel it is really effective by creating the audience to feel uncomfortable as this is what our opening scene does. I also feel the fast pace is effective at building suspense, which can be done in ours by cutting the clips and switching through them.