A2- How to be creative

Screening and feedback for our film

Here is the screening and feedback from our audience. The first clip is of the group watching the film and their reactions. We did this just to see what parts of the film we could improve if we were to carry it on into the future. The feedback was extremely positive but there were some areas that we could work on in order to make our film even better, thus making the session extremely helpful.



Here is the feedback from one of three groups that watched the film. We used a group of students our age to  get feedback on the people who we are aiming to appeal to - Teenagers. However they are females, as we know, the male audience are who we were mainly trying to appeal to, so it was nice to get some feedback from a different audience who we weren't sure would like the film. So it was nice that they then gave us good feedback and seemed to enjoy the film. They especially liked the gripping nature of the clip, which we aimed to get done through the music and lighting. The lighting was another element that helped them understand what the genre was. Being in charge of lighting, it was very important for me to make sure that the lighting reflected the thriller conventions.




Here is our second feedback group. They are three teachers from our school. There is an English teacher, an ICT teacher and a drama teacher. This is a good mix of teachers as they are all professionals in different areas that relate to media and different aspects of our film. They all agreed on what they liked and what they thought could be improved. They thought the transition to the young girl walking through the door, they believed this was too much of a sharp transition and didn't fit with the conventions of the rest of the film. I agree with this and don't think this moment quite works with the rest of the film and if we were to carry on creating the film this is something we would change. However they really liked the lighting and thought that it properly fit the conventions of a thriller except for that one moment.




This is the last extract of feedback and probably the most useful. It's our media teacher discussing our film. It was so helpful because of his honesty. He believed (like the second feedback group) that the cut to the young girl didn't quite work with the film and also believed that the end of the film when the music changes wasn't a smooth transition. This is the case and the transition was somewhat jarring and this stems from doing the music on a separate application, so it was almost impossible to make it perfect for the film as it would need to be adjusted alongside the film which wasn't available to us as it could not be changed when transferred onto i-movie.



Overall the feedback was extremely successful for us. They really enjoyed the film and believed it fit the conventions and had potential. They also believed that there were some wrinkles that had to be ironed out. This really helped us.

Main Film synopsis

A Guide to Kill

After the death of his wife, a man sets himself out on a violent, bloody mission to put down the men who killed his pregnant wife by taking the law on his own hands. What the men don't know is what the punishment for their crimes will be, with prison certainly being out the question.

The Synopsis

 The scene begins with dead bodies scattered around the room, with a mysterious figure appearing to walk around the bodies later to be identified Damien Tucker (Brolin Zinga). A beaten up figure appears laying on the pillar of the room, Mr Gilstrap (Charlie Jones) demanded Tucker to kill him. Mr Gilstraps daughter then appears to the room staring at her father in shock then taken to the chair and is told by Tucker a story of the bad things her father has done.

The film then begins with Tucker and his wife, Delores Anne-Tucker, who looks between 4-6 months pregnant appearing out of church as they have just been married. On their way home, Tucker tells his wife how he would never let anything happen to her because of the work he does, as he is part of the metropolitan S.W.A.T team. Two days after their marriage, just when the newlyweds are about to sleep, a car pulls over outside their suburban house, with five armed men bursting through their door. Tucker runs downstairs with a baseball bat only to get knocked out by tallest of the armed men with his M16. Delores is then dragged out of bed and is whispered by one the armed men "your required answer from Gilstrap" and is then shot in the head and stomach with a 9mm pistol. The men plant the gun in Tuckers hand run out the house.

In prison, Tucker meets up with Tommy Twotakes, a man who used to work for Gilstrap but is willing to testify against him, tells Tucker that the woman who was murdered was killed because she wanted to run away with Gilstrap and have his baby, which she was carrying and if he didn't agree, he would tell his wife, not knowing that the woman he was talking about was Tuckers wife, laughing about it. Tucker then asks how he could get hold of Gilstrap and work for him and Tommy reveals all.

Tucker, released after 2 years with not enough evidence to put him away, goes to the bar where Mr Gilstrap owns. Gilstraps bar is attack by 3 columbians and Tuckers takes out 2 of them, and then is offered a job for Gilstrap.

As time passed, Tucker becomes his right hand man shown through the montage then returns to Tucker and Gilstraps daughter who pleas to Tucker not to kill her father, but instead, Tucker shoots him in the head 3 times and tell his daughter it wasn't business, it was personal.

Main Film

Here is our final film! This is what we have all been waiting for. It took us a LONG time to plan and light and film and edit..... But it is finally done, on youtube and now on the blog. I hope you enjoy it.

Planning for our main task

After our preliminary task, we realised that thorough planning for our main was a necessity. We therefore split off to create different parts for the plan. We had the ideas that we would use Mr Hughes' office (headteacher) as a location. However his busy schedule meant we couldn't have the office for long enough, we therefore went to the common and only used a section to for filming. We tried to make it look like a penthouse or hotel room with its high windows etc.. However the plans created were for Mr Hughes' office. If we had time we would have changed the plans for the new location, however we were very pressed for time due to light constraints and various deadlines.

 

I created the call sheet, this was important as we need to know who needs to turn up when and so on. If we neglected to make the call sheet, it would have resulted in chaos and people turning up when they werent needed and vice versa. Organisation is key for anything that requires team work. This is why the call sheet was important for our groups success.

Brolin created the shot list, we both worked on the storyboard so we know what we wanted to do in the film, after this we created a label for each shot, we then listed the time we would be filming it, the shot number, a description of the shot as seen on the storyboard, the location, characters seen in each shot and props (mise-en-scene) in each shot. This was important as it meant we knew what we had to do. If we had left it and gone with the flow like our preliminary task, we would have been stuck and the filming process would have taken a lot longer.

I then created a storyboard so that we could plan what was going to happen in each shot. It's an important part of the process as it can make the filming process a lot more efficient if you know what you want from each shot. Here are our storyboards:





We also created floor plans. We inspected the set so we knew what it would look like when were filming. We did this to know where the props were, the actors, camera and lights were. This is very important in the planning process. Also We did it to ensure we never broke the 180 degree rule. Yusuf drew a line to indicate which side of the action we had to be when filming. This made the actual filming of the film much more efficient.

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

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

Our Preliminary task.

We learnt many things from our Preliminary task.

What skills did you use in your preliminary task?

The skills we used in our Preliminary task included: using a camera effectively, finding the right setting, match on action, over the shoulder shot, shot reverse shot and using mise-en-scene effectively. Whilst some of these things went well, others didn't and we subsequently learnt from these for our main task.

What went well?

We accurately used match on action when Daniel walked into the office, we showed him walking toward the door, and from inside the office we had his face appearing from the opening door. This worked well as it created a sense of fluidity in the scene. We also effectively used an over the shoulder shot of Brolin looking over Daniels shoulder. This aided us in creating a sense of cohesion. Without an over the shoulder shot the scene can lack a sense of togetherness, if we only had them in separate shot reverse shots we would lose the other person in the scene and it would no longer feel like a dialogue but more of two people separately talking to the camera. As the cameraman I didn't use the camera stand very often which meant I had to try and keep myself very still in order to create a professional nature to the film. Also when following Daniel toward the door I had to move without wheels or tracks so it was quite hard to follow him and keep the camera steady, however I think the group managed this quite well.

What went wrong?

Well, using the camera effectively didn't always go according to plan. Many times Brolin would lean forward in his chair as a sign of 'passion' in his acting, however he neglected to let me know that he was going to do it, so when he did, I often cut out most of his head as I wasn't ready for it. This wouldn't have been the case if myself, Brolin and Daniel had sat down and planned every shot rather than going with the flow. Also, as we were pressed for time, we often didn't watch them back until we got to the editing process. A lack of planning meant there was only so much effectiveness we could have through camera shots, etc. However we learnt from this and myself, Brolin and Yusuf planned our main task thoroughly so that if circumstances forced us to change location or actors couldn't make certain dates, we would plan for this and make sure we had enough time to get everything done.

Using the shot reverse shot didn't work quite as well as we would have hoped. The main issue was the eyeline match. If you watch our Preliminary task, the main problem is the eye contact. Brolin especially was looking all over the place, Daniel was a bit more accurate however not totally. When filming Brolin, Daniel would move out of the way for myself and the camera to get into space, this meant that Brolin had no idea where Daniel had been in the previous shot, this meant it wasn't accurate and it took away from the professionalism and accuracy of the scene. Again, we all learnt from this and Brolin and I would sit in the positions we needed to be in when the other person was in the shot, this meant our eyelines matched throughout and the accuracy of the scene was maintained.

Another problem, and problem the biggest was the breaking of the 180 degree rule. Throughout, when filming Daniel I was slightly too far left of Brolin which left us with a confusing scene. Also at the end of the scene, the 180 degree rule was completely broken. As Daniel left, we were on the right hand side of the scene as he left. We then filmed Brolin shaking his head, again breaking the 180 degree rule. We subsequently made sure that in our main task we remained on the right of the scene the whole time and never broke the 180 degree rule. This meant our main task made sense and we have a fluid, clear scene. IF we were going to break this in our main task, it would have been a deliberate choice, like The Shining when Jack Nicholson is talking to himself in the bathroom. However thrillers rarely break the 180 degree rule. The Shining was a psychological thriller/horror and this meant it would have tried to mess with the audience.

Here is a moment from our film. I believe it highlights everything that is correct with our main task compared to our preliminary task. If you notice, the camera stays on one side of the action. Never breaking the 180 degree rule. Also we used real lights, being the gaffer it was my responsibility to ensure that the lighting created the atmosphere that I wanted, whereas in the preliminary, we didn't know how to use the lights and therefore we had to use natural lighting, the location chosen was right by a glass roof which allowed a lot of light to flood into the office through the windows of the office. This ruined the conventions of an action thriller, which we made sure didn't happen in our main film.

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

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

Different types of media use in 'A Guide to Kill.'
by: CharlieJonesCJ

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

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

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?



Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.


To sum this question up. We decided to look at the seven different types of Psychograhics and the different groups of audience and decide which we believed would be interested in our film. The video explains our answers and the direction we decided to take the film in.

We also looked at what the British Board of Film said about the requirements for making a film for a certain age. We decided that it was best to aim for the age of 15. If we were to make the film with more gore and violence it would mean it would be an 18, this is something Tarantino doesn't sacrifice, many of his films are 18 and notorious for their violent content. However we didn't want to make it a 12 as this would restrict our freedom when creating the film. We have one Tarantino like moment when my character spits out the blood. This tells people that it isn't suitable for younger people as it does have blood and violence. Yet it isn't so explicit to make it an 18. This is why we refused to show mu character getting beaten up. 










 




The choices we made highlighted the audience we wanted. The use of dark lighting and suspense clearly shows the thriller convention. Many people like to watch a film for its suspense and our job was to ensure that there was suspense. This was partially down to lighting.

Also the use of font on the credits had a very modern, sharp edge with again adds to the element of action and thriller. Also we had them appear and disappear in the corner of the video, very much like The International, which again highlights the element of thriller as we have taken inspiration from this film.

Also the use of the 'action-thriller' sub genre is a huge hit and many people enjoy this kind of film. When looking at this kind of film and the way it sells, the audience we targetted are very interested in our chosen sub-genre.

Also, the use of music is key to our audience. It has an underlying, tense bass tone which adds to the tension of the film. This then changes at the end when we introduce the title, the use of the techno beat at this moment is music that appeals to a younger male market, it kicks in their adrenaline and also gets people on the edge of their seats, excited for more. Which is very much a key issue with Action films, if they don't get you excited, you've done something wrong. We wanted to ensure that this didn't happen.

Here is the soundtrack alone which shows the conventions of an action thriller. This was cleverly created by our Sound man Brolin. 

Here are the results of the survey we filled out on teenagers taste in films and genres.

As you can see, some people chose action however nobody chose thriller, what this showed us was that trying to appeal to a younger audience may not be worth it as they don't seem to like thrillers, however we decided that the larger the amount of people that we can appeal to, the more money we could make, this is why we use a fast, techno beat in order to heighten the action aspect to appeal to more teenagers.

How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

Here are 3 clips of my film. They highlight the decisions I made and why I made them according to the genre conventions and how I wanted to engross the audience. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

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

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

The British Film Industry

Case Study: Notting Hill directed by Simon Michell.

Working Titles produced a romcom starring famous British actor - Hugh Grant and famous American actress Julia Roberts. It was going to be the next big Rom-Com. They used a huge budget of $43 million. It was distributed to a huge number of cinemas and it made a huge budget of $363,889,678 worldwide. In it's first week in the box office it made a total of $27.7 million. In 1999 it was the highest grossing romcom. It was then overtaken by 'Runaway Bride' which also starred Julia Roberts. The film was released on the 21st of May and released on DVD on the 15th of November, in the present day, a film is released on DVD very soon after it is released in the cinema so it is still popular.

Working Title was established in 1983. It was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyff. They are now opening a TV division of the company so they can Produce film and TV.

The film is British, the people working on it were British, however it had many American Investors so they could have enough budget to create the film. This could mean they sacrificed their vision in order to get investments from many different companies.

This is a major dilemma for the British Film Industry as they have to resort to American companies in order to get enough capital for the film, whether that is American Distributors or American Investors.

Main Task Script

Here is the script for our main task. I think it highlights the main conventions of a thriller.

Indie vs Blockbuster

I looked at the distribution end exhibition of and Independent film and a Blockbuster to draw comparisons between the two and how different they were.

Opening Credits for Our Main Task.

Our main task, as seen in an earlier post, is a thriller all about one man getting revenge on the man that has murdered his wife, child and framed HIM for the murder. The opening scene is actually the last scene of the film. It then travels back in time to the opening credits.

We want our credits to be somewhat tense, to create this we want to use the computer as it will not only make the film look professional, but most thriller/mystery films don't have big upbeat opening credits unless trying to subvert the audiences expectations. As we have shown the last scene, we want to continue down the same genre path.

The first film's credits to inspire us was 'The International' as it has a sense of calm, the titles appear next to Clive Owens face and around the scene, the sense of serenity creates an air of tension and suspense. Exactly the feeling we want top create through our opening scene.

Another film that has good opening credits is Quentin Tarantino's film - Reservoir Dogs. The fact the upbeat music lulls the audience into a false sense of fun, we then have the sounds of screaming creep over the top of the music. The screaming gets louder and louder as the music fades out, the black out then cuts to the end scene of the film. I like this because the audience are enjoying themselves unsure of  what is going to happen, they are then shocked and drawn into the sudden action on the screen. The fact they have the climax of the film at the beginning really captures audiences attention as they want to know how the plot ended up with this bleeding man in the back of a car.

Overall I like the idea of starting the film with the final scene to capture the audiences attention, although the upbeat music doesn't support our genre, so when composing the music we will be hoping to create something with more tension, which is why the slow, calm introduction of the credits in The International works.

Opening credit analysis.

Opening credit analysis. 

Hello Lonesome.

- What is the genre of the film?
The genre of the film is a drama. It's about six lonely souls who all find love.

- Explain the style, (CGI, drawn, film?)

Special effects. It takes the place of an ideal world, big white houses, open spaces, the nose of traffic quietened. The music offers something quite sinister.

- Explain how the style supports the genre of the film

The sinister music highlights the style of a drama genre as it always has a sinister undercoating which has been buried for a long time and finally comes to pass. 

- How does it introduce you to the film?

We are intrigued by the serenity of this playful world. They are toys therefore giving us an impression of innocence in the film.

- How does it draw you into the film?

We are interested in the alternate world of playfulness yet the stillness of everything gives us a sense of mystery. 

- How is the font used? What effect do they have? How does it link to the films genre?

Its white, block writing, very clear and simple, however they look as though they cast shadows making us feel as though they in this world. 

- What type of transitions are used by the editor? What effect do they have?
Normal shot to shot cuts. Nothing special, no editing effects used. It doesn't overwhelm the audience. We are eased into this film.

- How do the titles reflect the THEME of the film? 

The block writing amongst the still toys could show how the characters are searching for something amidst a world that has stood still for them. The titles are so obvious which gives the impression of hope. 

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

- What is the genre of the film
Action/Adventure.

- Explain the style, (CGI, drawn, film?)

GGI, the camera moves through a fiery cartoon of the events of Hansel and Gretel's lives. 

- Explain how the style supports the genre of the film

The fire and dark colours highlight the sinister atmosphere of the film. Also the constant movement of the camera highlights the fast pace of an action film. 

- How does it introduce you to the film?

We are excited by the flames and sinister colours. Our attention is immediately grabbed.

- How does it draw you into the film?

We are interested in the the newspaper titles as they are providing us with introductory information. We have to read it to understand. 

- How is the font used? What effect do they have? How does it link to the films genre?

The font appears around the action so it doesn't take away attention from the opening film. The white font means we see it but not too much. The old lettering highlights the setting of the film. 

- What type of transitions are used by the editor? What effect do they have?
Quick transitions to highlight the action element of the film. The film is constantly moving.

- How do the titles reflect the THEME of the film?

Burning, chaos, quick transitions. Highlight the excitement of the experience and the action element.

Evaluation of clips

Evaluation of clips

I took three clips from our main task and evaluated them to see whether they appeal to our target market or not. Its a helpful exercise as we can analyse where we are appealing to the target audience and what areas we need to work our to make our chosen genre more obvious to audiences. If any of these shots were to be used in a poster, I need to see whether people would understand what it is that we are trying to deliver to them. 

Clip one.

This clip shows a bloodied bat, a bloodied face and an Ace of Spade dropped on a beaten mans body. This clip clearly highlights the conventions of a thriller. The fact that we don't know who is holding the bat draws the audience in as we want to know who has inflicted the violence. As it is the beginning of the film we know that we will soon find out who he is, which recognises the convention of a mystery. The bloodied bat with the blood on the face makes the audience feel excited as we want to see blood and action, this is the reason people go to watch action/thrillers. It plays with our need for answers and our love of violence. The Ace of spades lying on the dead mans torso again highlights danger and mystery, usually associated with gambling it shows risk. We are excited by what could or couldn't happen. The dark colours around the man again adds to the element of uncertainty. Which excites the audience. It also means we see that something dark is going to happen later in the film which causes this attack. The element of foreshadowing means we are eager to know - what happens next?

Clip two.

This clip shows a blurred face dropping an ace of spades onto the camera which is a POV of the body thus making us feel part of the action.

The light behind the man could highlight how he has left a happy life behind in order to seek violence or revenge. This helps us empathise with the character as we want to know his backstory, why has he left his life and identity behind in his quest for violence?

The fact that the face is blurred highlights the mystery element again, however it teases the audience more than the first shot did as we can almost see who the character is however we struggle to make out his full identity.

The fact the character is wearing mostly black could symbolise the darkness that has surrounded this character due to an event in the film. He cannot escape the dark cloak of grief or anger. The white shirt underneath the black jumper again helps us to sympathise with the protagonist as we realise he isn't bad man, underneath he is good, however it is the grief he has felt which has left him with a cold exterior.

The red tie enforces the argument of danger and violence in the film which excites audiences who come to watch the film because of its danger element.

Clip three.

The third clip is of a slumped character with a bloodied face and shirt, he is still alive and in many shots which means the audience can assume the mystery character is here to get revenge on him.

The blood running down his cheek and shirt highlights the element of violence which the audience hope to see throughout the film.

It is the beginning scene of the action film and the audience's attention is grabbed by the obvious convention of blood and violence which makes the audience feel, not only drawn into the world of violence but they also think about the rest of the film and how inappropriate the content will be for young children, their is an element of importance for the audience, exclusivity.

The lights from outside dotted around highlights the element of mystery, what is going on here? Is it revenge or is it a sudden attack? The use of lighting in the first shot to highlight the happy life the protagonist has left behind could be used here. Is this man good or not? There seems to be elements of both. Everything is not as it seems.

Film Industry and you.

Film Industry and you.

Different types of editing.

Different types of editing:

There are many different types of editing used in film. However today I was looking at a 'match cut' which is the link between two different objects or two different spaces. This is done to 'link the scene' despite filming the two things separately. It helps to create match on action. This is an example from Alfred Hitchcock's film - 'The Birds' in which Tippi Hedran is simply walking to a shop, the match cut helps to create this match on action. Also - Watch out for  Hitchcock's cameo toward the end of the clip.

Editing Task

Editing.

We were all given the task of finding 10 random pictures on google. These are my results:

  I found a group of 'chavs,' a peaceful road, a sad old man, a war torn street, the furniture building which was set alight during the London riots, a car driving away, a group of men from the 1930's, the map of Alaska from the simpsons and an old man walking alone. 

We were then given the task of taking these images and changing their order to create a story. This was the end result:

Shot 1 is a representation of the London riots and the disaster and mayhem that young people caused. This then leads into an empty, ruined street, highlighting the after effects of what occured as a result of the actions of young people in today's society. We then introduce the protagonist, a lonely old man who is shunned by a teenage society. We then see the society that the main character grew up in and how happy he was. Shot 5 is his depressed facial expression and what today's society consists of which leads into the image of a bunch of chavs sitting on a fence.We, as an audience, stereotypically assume that they are up to no good. A gross generalisation, but as the first image highlights, we have created this image, only we are to blame for the stereotypes with which we are branded. Shot 7 is a clear road, we see in the rear view mirror, a dirty track, thus highlighting the road ahead is a bright one, thus leading into the image of this view of 'eternal bliss' in the future. The final shot highlights the end of the characters search for a state of eutopia.

The meaning of the pictures change when placed in a different order, which is something directors think about when creating their films. However the dialogue tells us everything we need to know.